What does it take the be a successful photographer?

Just what's on my mind ... Question: I've been listening to various film-related podcasts and watching YouTube videos related to film photography and I'm just wondering as an aspiring, undiscovered fine-art photographer, do I need to be a social media producer to be taken seriously or to move my art forward, i.e., become better known to attract collectors, buyers, curators, galleries and students for my potential workshops?

I find that producing a zine or book is easy enough with today's technology, HOWEVER, distributing a publication, that is the difficult part. In the same way, I wonder how to get noticed - gain a following and the attention of the movers and shakers in the visual arts world. I often wonder how name-brand photographers got there - I'm sure for each photographer there is a different story - there is no one size fits all I suppose. Brings me back to the question: I wonder if I need to be heavy into social media to get noticed photographically.