Hi it has been awhile! Haha yes I still sometimes use old phrases due to me reading so many books haha.
It happens that we are engaging like a hero and nothing happens. People ultimately decide how they would respond to engagement. They can appreciate it and maybe upvote your comment, best case scenario you get an upvote and you gain a follower because you left a great comment or worse they just ignore you.
I comment to about 17-25 different posts a day. Sometimes I win, sometimes I don't.
You also have to see if your content is resonating to the right people. This is the importance of communities.
Hope some of these help. My first month in Steemit I was doing terrible. Just cents for long posts but I just kept Steeming and networking.