Except that following someone only became a thing late last year, so users like Raydog didn't get popular by other users following him. He got popular because he made good memes and stayed away from political fighting.
Just make good memes that a lot of users like and be nice to others and you'll get more attention. And it takes a lot of work to get the points. I mean, maybe not as hard today as it was when I started, but it still takes some time.