3 Rules for Social Media Growth in 2026 (No Hacks Required)

Why Depth, Volume and Live (DLV) beat luck and hacks every time

The DVL discipline will change the outcomes of so many of you. That’s DVL: depth, volume and live.

I’ve gotten 100+ DMs saying the exact same thing: “I am posting like you said but not growing,” then I go and check and people have posted once a day for three weeks, and expect to be Charli D’Amelio. My friends, it’s like everything in life: The discipline to actually produce high volume content and a system to help you do it (Google: “Garyvee content model deck pdf”) is the way to get actual results.

Want to “blow up” and live a life that’s so amazing? Use content as a driver for your success. You’ll get ready to make tons of content for years everyday and then maybe, just maybe, it will be there for you or your brand. You can’t complain or hope your way to success.

What do people get wrong with depth, volume, live? On depth, they don’t do it. On volume, they don’t do it. And on live, they don’t do it.

Fear is one thing, but lack of patience, lack of skills. I don’t think people understand thumbnails, the importance of the first few seconds of a video, hooks, cadence, and writing good copy. I don’t think they understand platforms.

My friends, please take advantage of these platforms. Posting on social networks is free. There is no other advertising medium in the world that’s free. Obviously, you can run ads on social media, but posting organically is free, and so many of you are missing that. Bring value to the audience over a sustained time.

1. Depth: The Work Everyone Skips (And Then Wonders Why They’re Stuck)

So many of you want more followers and sales but don’t reply to a single DM or comment. From 2007-2011, I replied to every tweet I got. It’s how I got here. And I went on Summize before it was bought by Twitter and became Twitter search, and I searched for wine terms and answered peoples’ questions—deeply.

You want to build? Go deep with the few who are actually interested in what you are doing or saying or making. Taking for granted the few you have because you’re hoping for many is a huge mistake. Friends, please go to your last five posts and reply to every comment and go to your DM’s and engage with the few you got.

Eventually the numbers get too high to do it for every comment and DM, but if you have less than 10,000 followers, you need to be on this train. Answer all your DMs. People out here got like 13 fans, trying to get to a million, and don’t give a f*ck about their 13 fans.

Some of my boujee, rich, smart friends make fun of me for doing a two hour live show…but I’m going deep. Get in the trenches. Be a worm in the dirt.

I still believe in replying to everyone on Twitter. I still love responding to people ad hoc. What makes social media unique is the conversation element. I do think that in 2007, 2008, 2009, it was all hippie, nirvana land. It’s not that anymore. That leads to peoples’ different relationships with social media, but I get great enjoyment from engaging in communities.

And look, I’m very sorry to say this, but I do not believe that 98% of the people that are building content and audiences online care anything or very little about their audience. People don’t have the discipline to do the little things day by day without seeing results, without realizing they’re creating a movement.

I used to go to sleep at 4 AM. I’d wake up at 10 AM and get my six hours of sleep, but I was going hard. I wanted to go to sleep at night replying to everybody and every email. I thought that was imperative. I didn’t have a platform other than making real relationships. I believe in that today.

You also don’t need stardom. You need 10,000 true fans. Shoutout to Kevin Kelly, who wrote “1,000 true fans” back in 2008. That’s absolutely right and now I believe with inflation of the game, this is now 10,000 true fans, which is where it gets really interesting.

With 10,000 really hardcore people paying you $5 a month for a Substack or a Patreon or something different, or $5 tip each month, or a closed group, comes out to $50,000 a month or $600,000 a year. That puts you in the 1% globally.

My point is that 1,000 is now 10,000. If Kevin wrote this today, he would probably say 10,000, because it’s the same effort with the algorithms, with interest graph virality, screen time, social time, and inflation. Go deep, and get your loyal base.

2. Volume: You’re Not Posting Enough (And You’re on Too Few Platforms)

Everyone needs to post more often and on more platforms: YouTube Shorts, Facebook classic, Snapchat Spotlight, Substack, LinkedIn, X. You all need to be on more.

The problem with many people is they’re one dimensional or just on Instagram. I don’t think there’s such a thing as “posting too much.” You’re going to post tomorrow and nine people will see it. There’s eight billion people on Earth.

You need to be on seven platforms. I’m talking X, Facebook, and then inside of it: Facebook and Facebook Reels; Instagram and Instagram Reels. Tons of people should be doing stuff on Pinterest. LinkedIn is a monster. Facebook is still a monster. YouTube Shorts is a monster. YouTube long-form is a monster. There’s a lot going on.

This goes back to the merit. When I popped out in like 2006, 2007, 2008, most people actually thought I’d be gone in a year because I’m too much. People thought, OK, this is all sizzle. The reason I’m still here today is that I have enough to say.

And just “posting content” isn’t enough if you’re not really leveraging the full potential of a platform. With YouTube Shorts, yes, there’s real organic reach, but make sure you’re being smart about search-based titles to help keep your content more evergreen in the long run.

Because YouTube Shorts is a major opportunity. Unlike Instagram Reels, unlike TikTok, YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the world. That YouTube Short can live for a very long time. When you name the video, think about naming it for people who are searching it. Just taking the video you’re doing on Instagram and TikTok, bringing it over to YouTube Shorts, and just naming it smartly, from a search perspective, will disproportionately grow the opportunity of your awareness and branding.

It’s a very, very big deal. So many of you are only comfortable with one or two platforms. Take seriously multiple platforms, seven different platforms, because every platform you’re not going hard at, is a missed opportunity. At the end of the day, you’re posting to create demand for your business, whether that’s selling deli sandwiches, sneakers, babysitting gigs, records, non-profit donations, or whatever you do.

There are social media posts I’ve posted four different times with a slightly different variation, and the first three got 70,000 views on average, and the fourth one got 6.3 million.

Look at MrBeast, the king of YouTube, and here’s what he’s telling you, which applies to all the platforms: make 100 videos and improve one specific thing with each upload, focusing on audience retention through better hooks, thumbnails, pacing, and payoffs, rather than aiming for perfection initially.

Is there a ceiling where volume hurts? No. It matters on individual creative, but with effort, allocation, belief in the system, and AI, there’s no ceiling. Keep posting. Everything needs to be operationalized: handles, process, and creativity.

Becoming one dimensional with where you post your content is a dangerous game. If you only stick to the one platform that is currently working for you then you will not be prepared for when those platforms become less relevant than the next.

Nothing lasts forever and you need to have as much presence on as many platforms as you can for when attention shifts.

And you can lean into what you’re good at, whether that’s video or writing or podcasts or something else. I can’t put two sentences together in my life. I didn’t try to become a great writer when the blogging thing happened, because I bet on my strengths instead.

3. Live: The Most Underrated Growth Lever on the Internet

If people understood what TikTok does — that you can be creating new fans all the time while going live — they’d be going live every day….all the time.

I’m always watching for under-priced distribution in media landscapes, and I couldn’t push you more to go on TikTok Live every day and spend 30 minutes with people who randomly show up to your live. I wish I did more of this…too bad I’m running 10 businesses, lol.

TikTok Live is a beast. If you went live every day, you’d be flabbergasted. There are moments when attention on a platform is misunderstood or underestimated.

There’s also social shopping within live. Friends, live social shopping is gonna explode even more in 2026. People are wondering: What do I sell? What should I do? Where do I do it? You need to devote five hours to learning about live shopping. Google it, use ChatGPT, study it. This is an incredible era where live shopping will become a huge opportunity for so many of you.

To do well with live, it’s about host strategy, self-awareness, and whether you are good at selling or not? A lot of people are funny, attractive, clever, knowledgeable, but not good at selling. That will hold you back.

You need a co-host. Look at QVC. The hosts know how to conduct the sale. On TikTok, you have to repeat the hook every five to fifty seconds. On Whatnot you can go deeper. Giveaway strategy matters. And you’ll know, before virality, that the signal you’re on the right path is sales. You see it fast: Read the comments, engage. That’s the data you need.

I’m obsessed with TikTok Live. A lot more people need to use social media lives the way streamers use Twitch. Everybody doesn’t go live because they think they have to do something. I think you should go live while you’re eating lunch.

There’s an incredible amount of discovery for your brand through live, because the longer you’re live, it’s showing up in the algorithm and non-followers are discovering you.

Friends, I want to hear from you. Seriously. Whether you're in the trenches with 13 fans or scaling toward 10,000, hit reply to this email or jump into the Substack app to leave a comment. What’s your 2 cents on the DVL model? How many of your current followers’ names do you actually know? And are you actually 'posting and not growing,' or are you just not posting enough?