So as john_cogs mentioned above, I did a presentation on the best way to engage with HN today. The benefits I listed included:

   * traffic (which is nice, but not super sticky)
   * the comments (which I've found to be insightful and useful in showing both flaws in my arguments as well as additional areas for research/writing)
   * the follow-on traffic, as people share it in newsletters, slacks, facebook groups, twitter, etc, etc

The best way to engage with the HN community? To be part of the community (comment, share interesting things that are not your own, etc) :).