I agree with you for any other social media.. your will fit 100%.. but not on steemit
Steemit is power that brings power.. the majority here on steemit are not here only to socialize, but they found that socializing here is not a waste of time.. instead it's a direct investment of time

Let's put it this way..
Case 1: a good post that is explaining about issue x.. but not really efficient article.. but the post was posted buy someone who have a high reputation user with 5000 follower and you somehow liked it
So anybody who have been on steemit long enough will vote up to this post.. because it's somehow good and the most important it will make money return to them

Case2: a high quality post addressing issue x.. and explain it very nicely and very understandable, but unfortunately it was posted by a newbie with let's say 10 followers... the people who would see it will read it but won't vote it up.. because it's obvious that this poor guy's post is not going to make money.. which mean it will be a waste of the voting power that can be used in another post and makes money

However once you have enough sp and enough followers quality and quantity post will boost your audience for sure
But not in the beginning... I believe that in the beginning you would definitely need some whale to resteem some of your post (by the way i got here through a whale resteem to your post)