It's a very good point, however I am now allergic to traditional social media , as they really make me truly unhappy, and more importantly I don't recognize myself with the audience, I really despise mass censorship and control of the info, so I need to brave myself and learn how to play the game like everyone else...
I still think that the best way to promote is yourself, is to buy some ads... That simple... (even if some of those likes are fake on Facebook for e.g)

I've never managed to grow that snowball effect you are mentioning, not without spending money