Not easy at all. I try to humanize my output but for every person that likes that, it will drive one away who wants nothing but t-shirt news. Giveaways are a popular way to build a following but it's never really paid off for me.
Currently I have a tee up for sale for a week at a small/medium sized site and so far, a series of fb and twitter posts have hardly reached anyone.
Reddit can generate huge amounts of traffic for viral content.