Unless you have friends when you start off, most people get pittance for their first few posts and sadly many drop off afterwards, so engaging and getting involved with communities is crucial.

But even then, sometimes that's not foolproof. Having been around for year and a half, I still end up with a lot of one way communication ie engagement on other people's post, but not many incoming ones on mine. So that's another thing newbies have to bear in mind and not be put off by.