Social media growth for creators: platform strategy, brand deals, and gut instinct

Executive overview

Most creators plateau because they over-optimise for a single platform and talk themselves out of content that feels right. The algorithm now rewards individual pieces of content, not follower counts or page history.

The core insight: post on all seven platforms with platform-specific packaging — one great piece of content repurposed well beats a narrow strategy on a single channel.

Trust your gut over analytics

• Overthinking is what kills momentum; most creators got their start by not overthinking
• If a piece of content feels right in your stomach, post it and leave it up even if it underperforms
• Archiving content that doesn't hit is a high-school move — stop doing it
• Intuition is faster and more accurate than secondary-brain rationalisation for most creative decisions
• Fear of losing audience is what stops growth; doing your thing is what grows it

The seven platforms that matter

• Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, YouTube Shorts, TikTok, LinkedIn, Snapchat Spotlight
• LinkedIn and Snapchat Spotlight are the two most overlooked — high attention, low competition from creators
• Facebook is not dead; fastest-growing demographic on Gary's Facebook right now is 20–30 year olds
• Post the same video across all platforms but change the thumbnail, first three seconds, and copy for each
• Winning on one platform changes your life; winning on all seven is the whole game

How followers and algorithms have changed

• The algorithm shift of the last three years made follower counts largely irrelevant
• Individual pieces of content now have their own algorithmic reach independent of page history
• In the next 24 months, follower count will likely be eliminated as a distribution signal entirely
• Multiple pages or accounts are fine — each is just another surface for individual content to win
• A dead or old page? Test a new one with a slight creative spin rather than trying to revive it

Getting brand deals through outbound

• Most creators wait for inbound; the actual move is proactive DM outreach
• Start with every product your family already uses — DM the brand from your personal account
• With 700K+ followers, a simple "we love your stuff" DM will get noticed by brand managers
• Use ChatGPT to pull the Instagram handles of the top 25 brands in any category, then batch-DM
• Thirty minutes to an hour of this daily compounds into unlimited deals within six months

Selling without alienating your audience

• Make the bio your selling engine — one link, one offer, clear CTA
• Remove friction: every extra click kills conversion; one link beats a Linktree-style menu
• Add a PS banner at the end of content clips ("PS — link in bio for the course") instead of pitching in-video
• Go on smaller podcasts to plug products in a context where the audience expects it
• You do not need to sell in content if your profile is doing the selling for you

Live shopping as the next creator revenue layer

• Live shopping is where social media was in 2012 — attention is there before most creators have noticed
• Platforms: TikTok Shop, Amazon Live, eBay, Whatnot
• Creators with large family audiences can drive eight-figure revenue selling household products live
• Whatnot is the most underused entry point right now; worth downloading and watching a few hours of live sessions to understand the format

Taking breaks and managing pace

• Burnout produces worse outcomes than a temporary dip in views
• Playing it out: the downside of a break is losing momentum; the downside of not breaking is real psychological damage
• Unhappiness at scale causes coping behaviours that are far more destructive than lower income
• If you don't want to post for a day, a month, or a year, that is the right call
• Consistency matters, but forced consistency is a trap

Building a speaking career

• Film every talk on small stages and post the full video to YouTube
• Clip the talk into social content across all platforms
• Speak for free at scale to generate content, not just to build a CV
• Bookers find speakers through clips on the internet — merit and visibility do the work