The New Rules of Social Media (2026)

Brand is the only defensible asset left. Here's how to build it

We don’t even live in social media anymore. We now live in interest media. Five years ago, you got content from the people you followed, even if you didn’t give a shit what your cousin was doing that day. Today, when you open up TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook, you’re getting content based on what you’re currently interested in.

Attention has moved. We live in a world that is incredibly fragmented, and I think we all know that.

The Intoxicating Part

The most intoxicating thing to me right now, in the warfare of attention to build your business, is this: even if you’ve done nothing right for the last 15 years, the world we’re in now allows you to close the gap very quickly.

I’ve been making content for 20 years. In that span, even if you’ve done nothing right, and your third TikTok can fundamentally change the course of your career. I’ve literally worked my face off for 20 years, 15 hours a day, to amass 50 million followers. And if you make a very good piece of content — your fourth piece of content ever — it can literally lead to 15 to 20 new clients and leads, or an employee you’re looking to hire, or whatever you’re up to. Run for mayor in your town. I don’t give a shit. What I care about is you understanding the intoxicating nature of the merit of a single post now, not what you’ve done to get to that single post.

You Just Suck at It

How many of you tried a little bit and didn’t get the results you were looking for? For most of you, I have good news: it works. You just suck at it. And that’s a good thing — it means whatever you were doing wasn’t working, and that’s fixable.

Maybe you gave up too early because you didn’t have the patience for how much content needed to be done to break through. Or maybe your content is completely selfish — it’s only “hey, this is what I do, and I’d like you to give me money so I can do it for you.” That’s not going to work.

It’s like boxing. If every single post you have is a right hook, the audience gets used to it and they duck. If you do not put out the jab content — the feint content — to set it up, you will lose. In my world, with the hope to grow your business, the jab content and the feint content is basically information given for free, with the hopes that it helps. That value creates the karma and the energy that leads to the sale. What’s built my career — and the careers of the people I’ve watched who are most committed to bringing value to their audience — is letting the residual effects of that value drive the business. Doing good things leads to good results.

Post It Organically First

Here’s the issue I have that’s different from a year ago: this social media thing is free. Google AdWords, you pay for. Direct mail, you pay for. Print ads, you pay for. Social is free — though you can spend ad dollars on it, which I recommend.

Here’s a nuanced point I hope you take seriously: the days of making a video or an ad or a picture and running media on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok cold to get clients are over. You should always post every piece of content you make for a sale or an ad organically first. If it performs well in views compared to your norm, that’s what you start running media on. A lot of people are wasting money on social because the ad can’t get views unless the creative is relevant.

The Follower Myth

How many pieces of content did you post the other day? Six, two, ten — good, big dog. I posted 432.

I’m serious. Some of you are starting to notice new accounts popping up for me — it’s not just GaryVee anymore, it’s GaryVee on Podcast, it’s Uncle V on TikTok. By the end of the year I’ll probably have over a thousand different accounts, because you don’t need followers to get views. I stopped crying about my 20 years of work getting commoditized and decided to go on the offense of the same thing. This, my friends, is about adaptability. This is about being prepared for the moment.

Some of you have seen the clip where I met a young girl after a talk and she said, “I know one day I’m going to be somebody,” and I said, “You’re somebody now.” I started a TikTok account called “You’re Somebody Now.” The first post on that account, with zero followers, was a slight edit of that video. It got 8.2 million organic views. With zero followers. That’s what interest media means.

Brand Is the Only Defensible Thing

When every single person goes to an AI bot and says, “I need a chiropractor now, who should I go with?” — you better understand that every one of you now lives in an AI world. This is only going to compound dramatically. And I need you to have a brand, because brand is going to be the only thing that’s defensible in this extreme technology world.

Call Your Old Clients

Now let me take you to the complete other extreme — and I believe this has the capacity to grow your business dramatically. I’m asking all of you to call, text, write to every client you’ve ever had. All I’m asking is that you reach out and see how they’re doing. Nothing else.

I’m not telling you to do it because you think they’ll re-up with you, or because you’re hoping they remember you and think “oh, I need you.” I mean it the way I’m saying it: just be a good person and say hello. When you reach out, you are not looking for a transaction. You are looking to say hello.

That’s the whole game we’re about to go into. The whole world is about to be a barbell — extreme technology on one end, AI, robots, weird stuff we’re not ready for — and then all the way on the other end, 1950s. This is actually an opportunity, because now you have nothing to complain about. You don’t have to get on the new technology kick with me, Masileto. But you’d better be doing some old-fashioned, 1940s-grandpa stuff instead. And if you don’t do one of the two, well — you’re in trouble. You’re going to have to pick one.

And for whoever is disciplined enough to have their actions match their ambitions and the words that come out of their mouth — you need to do both.

On Substack

There’s another platform that’s really caught my attention and is gaining incredible steam. How many people don’t make social content because you don’t like how you look on video, or you’re awkward on camera? So many.

Here’s one thing I’ll say: we are not in seventh grade anymore. Nobody’s grading you on whether you’re ugly or interesting. You don’t need to be over the top and high energy — you can be monotone. There are many different ways to deliver information. I’d like to push you to get out of that “high school” mindset around how you’re perceived.

You must get serious about spending five to ten hours doing homework on Substack. Substack is one of the most important new platforms for information. And here’s the thing — you can go into ChatGPT and say, “GaryVee just talked about Substack, I’m a chiropractor, what do I need to know?” and hit enter. Information is now useless. It’s literally a commodity. It is not valuable on its own.

Yet people will still pay for it if they connect with the person delivering it. If you’re a good writer, it becomes a lead-gen engine for your business. You’ll be doing the jabbing, not the right hooks, showing up and writing things people should do, tips and tricks, things you’ve observed from being in this business for 20 years.

Make 2026 an Action Year

Preparation — the theme of all this, being ready for the moment — is very interesting and exciting mentally. But if you’re not practicing, you could be mentally prepared to run the New York Marathon, and if you don’t train for it, only so much is going to happen.

Take 2026 and make it an action year, not a thinking year. You want to grow or fix your business, make yourself bulletproof, be prepared for the moment? Good news, the moment is coming.

You can take it and control it, like one of those stories where the sword is more powerful than the person, and you can tame the sword and weaponize it for yourself. Or you can let it slice your head off.

That’s up to you. I pick the first one.