I'm really not sure how to reach an audience here and I can't give specific answers to your questions. I am building a following and I hope at least some of them will see my posts on their feed. I try to avoid 'clickbait' type posts as it just feels wrong to me. I'll write about things I care about and hope others will enjoy. I really want to start conversations.

You can now promote a post with Steem$, but it looks like you need around $100 to get near the top of https://steemit.com/promoted/

My strategy is to keep engaging with others in comments and to do a couple of posts each day on topics that interest me.