Basically what the title says. I am not typically a content creator, but do try to engage in posts that I can. I’m doing my best to try and help some of the smaller instances for hobbies I am into grow, admittedly I have been slacking a little. For sports I try to post relevant news articles for big stories, for games I try and post questions or something that could get people engaged in conversation. For the most part though it seems like the post get little to no traction. So I am here for suggestions and to see what has been working for other people. Is there something more I could be doing besides making my own video content to get people more engaged?
edit: I probably used the wrong terminology. I am trying to help communities I am actively joining grow, not my own instances that I am creating and or hosting. A lot of this is still new to me.
TL;DR: There is no singular answer to your question, imo. Essentially just run the instance transparently, reliably, and actively, and it will be attractive to people.
I’m not sure that there is one “best way” to grow an instance. An instance is essentially the fundamental governing framework for how the users interract with each other. You structure the rules around how you believe the users on your instance should interact, and those who agree with those rules will be drawn to them. Ideally, for sustainable growth in an instance, you also need reliable server infrastructure – the instance should be responsive, and have a reliable uptime. An instance’s admins must also actively moderate content. An instance with inactive moderators is not sustainable, and will quickly delve into hosting unwanted content on the instance which is undesirable for users.