Honestly, I do not think good content is enough.

You can have great content but the issue is the same here on Steemit as well as in the physical world; consumers. You can have great content/products all day long, but if there is not a consumer for your product, you are not going anywhere.
A great product/content is only have of the equation. If you don’t have a large following (large market), or a large follower(whale/distributor) then you won’t make much in the way of profits/up votes, and even good feedback/conversation about your product.

The “successful” equation in my opinion is a good product combined with a good follower base (market), where either one can fluctuate based on the other. So for instance, you can have ok content but have a huge following and you will be just as successful, if not more than someone who has outstanding content but no followers (market).

That is my personal observations thus far, the follower base size and the quality of those followers is what will determine you success rate. That is if you are going for profits as quickly as possible.

This opinion is excluding the use of bots; which I see you already have started experimenting with that market base.