You are not alone, my friend. I'm not sure if this will help you as it did me, but I was hanging out on a whale post where someone was sharing these same type of struggles...which I, too, can relate to. Anyway...the advice given there was to use the topics to the right instead of just perusing New, Hot, or Trending.

Select topics that you are interested in where you can find like-minded people. Comment.

That was pretty much it. Since these are smaller communities, it's easier to stand out....so that's what I'm doing now. I hope it helps you as it did me. I thought, "I'll try that and see how it works."

Good luck!