I spent my first month or so running after the whales, the race to comment and upvote everything they post was frantic.
But then I realised, they don't give a fuck about a minnow (or is it redfish like me), if though I got a 1% or less upvote occasionally. That is not a way to grow. As a minnow coming up, the key is to have an 'army' of minnows that easily find your posts interesting and also target some community votes. It takes time but that is a great to grow, and you grow together.
That is where its at.