Greetings my friend ,,, It is interesting your contest, because you are reaching the heart of this community, every word that I see that comes from a user, says it with the heart, and the truth I see this very positive, I love this type of Attitudes, besides creating endless questions,
Answering your question; It bothers me that many here have already responded, that a user arrives saying that he is going to vote and follow you, if you follow him, it is absurd that, if a person decides to follow someone is by own merit ,,, greetings to all post participants and I hope to be among the happy winners,
To understand any community you must go to the root, which a majority root of this community is just everyday users, not whales, etc. So as you said, you have to reach the heart, it is there that you'll find truth.
If I had the typical mindset of someone who asks for follows, I'd make it a rule in my contests to follow me. I don't ever plan on asking for follows, if someone follows me I hope it is due to the fact that my posts have something that interests them.
Which at the moment, this post gives users the potential to earn SBD, so I can understand some of the follows. For me, contest like this allow everyone to have a voice that will be seen by many, if even momentary.