Is it possible to get a huge fan base on your blog without using social media?

[Jake]

Counting fans is really a social site metric and not so important for blogs which typically get most of their traffic from search engines, so search keyword search ranking is what really counts.

Unfortunately self indulgent diary style blogs rarely reach the popularity as a topic specific, magazine style blog.

Here's a Search Engine Optimization primer by an SEO authority, teaching the more legit ways to boost your ranking.
http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo