It's just rather hard to get noticed on here. There's so many new people on steemit now that it's easy to get lost in the sea of minnows.
In my opinion, having a whale notice you is very difficult, and doesn't help all that much. What seems to help the most is finding other people on here who are interested in the same subjects that you are, and interact with them. If you actually have something to say on subject their posts, some of them will look at your channel to check you out and to see what you write about. If they like what they see, they might follow you. You don't need a large amount of followers to make progress on steemit, what you need is followers who are interested in what you write about. For instance, I have more than 400 followers, I average less than 20 likes on my posts. What I need is more followers that like the subjects that I write about. That is what everyone on steemit needs to be successful.