Hi Shayne! Thanks! Great advice. Any tips though on how to create more engagement? I think long term comments are much better than upvotes (while less lucrative in the short run). I am thinking about rewarding my followers for high quality content:
My thinking goes as follows: for newbies, the system needs some grinding before they have the steempower that will reward curation.
What if I have a kind of comment lottery for my followers? So anyone has a shot at getting some SBD with a little of honest effort.

It would be worth it to me to reward 3 categories with say 10 SBD each: (have to evaluate if this breaks even of course, I can put some money up front but if it doesn't pay for itself it would not be sustainable)

the best quality comment of the week (e.g. most comments on their comment in my posts),
best question of the week/ day ( can be very short but thought provoking, again see comments)
Most useful comments in my feed ( defined as comments that get other useful comments)

Personally I don't like the upvoting game as it is currently going, the established ones are getting robo followers and are already upvoted with 100 votes in 5 minutes before there are 10 views... (not complaining, nice if you can get it and I would not complain to be in that situation)

How are comments weighted in getting featured in the trending comments?
Who would make a thoughtful comment for 10 SBD?