Новые подписчики приходят медленно, зато каждый лайк кажется важным.

Приходят is imperfective, present tense, 3rd person plural. In this sentence it doesn’t describe a single future arrival, but a general, ongoing situation:

• Новые подписчики приходят медленно
  = New subscribers come / are coming / keep coming slowly (in general, over time).

If you said:

• Новые подписчики придут медленно (perfective, придут)

this would sound like you’re talking about one specific future situation (e.g., “They will come slowly tomorrow”), which isn’t the idea here.

Russian often uses present imperfective to talk about a general trend or repeated process, where English might use “come/are coming/keep coming” or even a generic present like “New subscribers are slow to appear.”

Зато means something like “but on the other hand / but at least / however, in compensation”. It usually introduces a positive (or at least consoling) fact that compensates for a negative one.

• Новые подписчики приходят медленно, зато каждый лайк кажется важным.
  = New subscribers come slowly, but on the other hand every like feels important.

Compare:

• но = but (simple contrast, neutral)
• зато = but, in return / at least / compensating for that

If you substitute но:

• Новые подписчики приходят медленно, но каждый лайк кажется важным.

This is grammatically fine, but the emotional nuance is more neutral: just contrast, without the “compensation” flavor that зато has. Зато sounds more like “Well, at least there’s this upside.”

In Russian, зато is treated as a conjunction that links two independent clauses. Each part has its own subject and predicate:

1. Новые подписчики приходят медленно

   • Subject: подписчики
   • Predicate: приходят

2. каждый лайк кажется важным

   • Subject: каждый лайк
   • Predicate: кажется важным

When two full clauses are linked by зато, a comma is required:

• […], зато […].

So the comma is there for the same basic reason English would have a comma before “but” when joining two full sentences.

The verb казаться (“to seem”) normally takes a predicative complement in the instrumental case:

• казаться кем? / чем? → “to seem what?”

So:

• каждый лайк – nominative, subject
• кажется – verb
• важным – instrumental masculine singular (form of важный)

Literally: “each like seems as something important,” hence:

• каждый лайк кажется важным = each like seems important.

Using nominative (каждый лайк кажется важный) is colloquial and generally felt as incorrect in standard written Russian. The “proper” pattern with казаться is:
[Nominative subject] + кажется + [Instrumental adjective/noun]

In the Russian sentence, the subject is singular:

• каждый лайк = each like (not “likes”)

The verb must agree with this singular subject:

• каждый лайк кажется важным (singular)
• каждые лайки кажутся важными (if it were plural: “all likes seem important”)

English often uses plural (“likes”) where Russian may prefer “each like” (каждый лайк). As long as the Russian subject is singular, the verb must be singular: кажется.

Новые подписчики is:

• Case: nominative
• Number: plural
• Gender: masculine (by default for mixed/unknown, and because подписчик is masculine)

They are the subject of the verb приходят:

• Кто приходят? – новые подписчики → nominative case.

Form breakdown:

• подписчик – singular nominative (“a subscriber”)
• подписчики – plural nominative (“subscribers”)
• новый подписчик – “a new subscriber”
• новые подписчики – “new subscribers”

Yes, you can change the word order; the basic meaning stays the same, but the emphasis shifts.

1. Новые подписчики приходят медленно.
   Neutral emphasis on новые подписчики as the topic:
   “New subscribers come slowly.”

2. Медленно приходят новые подписчики.
   Stronger emphasis on медленно:
   “Slowly (and that’s the key point), new subscribers come.”

Russian word order is relatively flexible. Moving медленно to the front often makes the slowness more prominent or expressive, as if complaining about the slowness itself.

Both are grammatical and natural; which is better depends on what you want to highlight.

Literally, приходить means “to come (by foot)” or “to arrive.” But it is also used metaphorically for people joining, appearing, or showing up in some context:

• Новые подписчики приходят
  = new subscribers are coming / appearing / joining (on the channel/page, etc.)

Other similar uses:

• Комментарии приходят медленно. – Comments come in slowly.
• Покупатели приходят редко. – Customers come rarely.

You could say:

• Новые люди подписываются медленно.
  (“New people subscribe slowly.”)

That focuses more on the action of subscribing itself. Приходят gives a slightly more figurative, conversational feel, like “They’re slowly showing up.”

Yes. Медленно is an adverb meaning “slowly” and it modifies the verb приходят:

• приходят как? – медленно.

So:

• Новые подписчики приходят медленно
  = New subscribers come slowly / come in slowly.

Related forms:

• медленный – slow (adjective): медленный рост (“slow growth”)
• медленно – slowly (adverb): рост идёт медленно (“the growth is going slowly”)

Лайк is a borrowed word (from English like), but in Russian it is treated as:

• Gender: masculine
• Declension: regular masculine hard-stem noun

Singular:

• Nominative: лайк – a like
• Genitive: лайка
• Dative: лайку
• Accusative: лайк
• Instrumental: лайком
• Prepositional: о лайке

Plural:

• Nominative: лайки – likes
• Genitive: лайков
• etc.

In the sentence:

• каждый лайк – nominative singular (subject)
• важным – instrumental singular to match masculine лайк with казаться.

Yes, both forms are possible, but they differ in nuance and structure.

1. …зато каждый лайк кажется важным.

   • зато = “but on the other hand, at least” (compensating)
   • кажется важным = “seems important” (subjective feeling)

2. …но каждый лайк важен.

   • но = “but” (simple contrast)
   • важен = is important (short-form adjective; more factual/neutral)

So:

• зато … кажется важным – more emotional and subjective:
  “Subscribers are slow, but at least each like feels important.”

• но … важен – more neutral and factual:
  “Subscribers are slow, but each like is important.”

The original emphasizes a personal perception and has a mild consoling tone.

With казаться (“to seem”), the instrumental is the standard, natural choice:

• он кажется умным – he seems smart.
• эта идея кажется странной – this idea seems strange.

With быть (“to be”), both instrumental and short form adjectives are possible, but they differ in tone:

• Он был важен. – He was important. (statement of fact; short-form adjective)
• Он был важным человеком. – He was an important person. (instrumental; categorial: “what kind of person was he?”)

In the sentence with казаться, you normally do not use важен:

• каждый лайк кажется важным – correct, natural.
• каждый лайк кажется важен – sounds wrong/colloquial to most speakers.

So the main rule to remember:
казаться + instrumental → кажется важным, кажется странным, кажется нужным, etc.