I'm also new on Steemit and don't have too many followers either, so I'm using my SBD on Bid Bots and various "Minnow Support" projects.
The reason for this is not so much the Author rewards I get when random strangers and/or bots upvote my posts (the vast majority of these votes are worth < $0.01)... but with enough upvotes I can get my post onto hot and/or trending pages of various topics, and with that I'm exposed to REAL people who then follow me, and hopefully will allow me to stop using bots in the long-term.
Once that happens I will most definitely be using all my SBD to power up.
P.S. Congrats on the 400 milestone :-)
Thanks for the comment! I've considered bid bots but for some reason, I don't get the best gut feeling with them. Not sure why. Just a level of uncertainty I have with the whole process. Until today, I hadn't spent any of my SBDs. I felt a bit uneasy about pulling the trigger, but I know they went to a good place! :-)
Yeah, I (sort of) agree... some of the larger bid bots (for now anyway) seem to be a waste of money... spending 2 or 3 SBD for a single upvote resulting in a vote less than the bid seems that it only benefits the bot at the end of the day... however, there are a few bots targeted at Minnows specifically that, with the little anecdotal evidence I have gathered so far, do benefit the author. Specifically when it comes to being discovered as a result of getting onto the hot/trending lists.
Like I said... I hope that in the coming weeks/months, these bots will become "useless" to me, and I won't be needing them, but for now they are helping... Time will tell.
I see it as advertising, and I'm not against that at all. I did see a post that used over 200 SBD towards bid bots do really well today. This was also a newer account with less than 100 followers. So, kinda jealous on that one, but I'm not ready to try that just yet! Lol
expose to Real people which is Me!