In order to catch a whale, you must track the whales. You can see a list of the highest ranking people on Steem based on different variables on SteemWhales. There are other sites that can show you more specifics on their activity as far as what they normally vote on, all of their comments, etc. Try to identify a whale who seems aligned with the vibration you are going for based on their activity. Then start following them and replying to their content with extremely relevant and quality responses. You want to get their attention without seeming spammy and hope that they click on your username to see your page. Keep in mind whales are master curators and are looking for hidden gems of content that will really add value to the platform. I can tell you details of some of the things that they are looking for as well as things that are an instant turn off to them.

Investing some money into SteemPower is the easiest method to climbing the ranks in my opinion as it allows your comments to get moved to the top easier and get more visibility as well as allows you to compound your earnings. Getting a group together is a great idea, and there are even ways to setup autovoting on your friends content.