New here! What would be your advice?

Hi, I am James. I provide marketing consultation with my team. I joined Producthunt because a friend asked me to support their product here. But I realized I was missing out on a lot. There are so many amazing people here. What would be your advice for a newbie like me to connect with more people here on this platform? Also I want to know how Producthunt works. Last night, I saw that a product was ranking above than other one that had more upvotes. How can one ensure to get top ranking here if upvotes are not the metrics?