If I Started Social Media From 0 Followers In 2026, I'd Do This
Six years, 25 million followers, and one creator's full playbook for starting from nothing.
Posted
6 days ago
Duration
Format
Listicle
educational
Views
64.8K
1.1K likes
57 · 43
Big Idea
The argument in one line.
Growing on social media in 2026 is less about chasing virality and more about six repeatable habits: authentic storytelling, platform-native editing, data-driven iteration, daily consistency, a 90/10 make-to-consume split, and building a small team.
Who This Is For
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
You're starting a personal brand or business channel from zero followers and want a repeatable system instead of one-off viral tactics.
You already post regularly but your comments sit unanswered and you have no mailing list capturing the audience you're building.
You're the sole creator behind your content and want a low-cost way to build a team instead of burning out solo.
SKIP IF…
You already have a documented content system with an editor, a dedicated poster, and an active email list, this restates fundamentals you've implemented.
You want tactical hook-writing or single-video editing techniques; this is a six-year system, not a shot-by-shot breakdown.
TL;DR
The full version, fast.
Simon Squibb, a creator with 25 million followers and 500 million monthly views, breaks down the six habits behind six years of daily posting. Be authentic instead of copying a persona; tailor and edit videos natively inside each platform's app and reply to your own comments; track retention data and push every viewer toward a mailing list you own, since platforms can suppress reach at any time; post daily because there's no such thing as passive income, batch-recording when you can't shoot live; spend roughly 90% of your time making content and 10% consuming it; and treat content as a team sport, recruiting a camera person, editor, and poster by sharing revenue upside instead of cash.
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Squibb states his results (25M followers, 500M monthly views) and promises the full playbook.
00:22 – 01:24
02 · Lesson 1: Be authentic
Tells his own origin story (homeless at 15) as the model for why authenticity beats copying a persona; plugs his book 'What's Your Story'.
01:24 – 03:57
03 · Lesson 2: Tailor your content per platform
Edit and caption natively inside each app (TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube) and reply to your own comments on every platform to feed the algorithm engagement signals.
03:57 – 06:01
04 · Lesson 3: Read the data, own the data
Watch retention per video to decide whether to re-edit and repost, then push every viewer toward a mailing list you own instead of renting reach from a platform.
06:01 – 06:23
05 · World's Biggest Business Competition
Plug for Squibb's own free competition giving away up to $1M and business help.
06:23 – 09:06
06 · Lesson 4: Consistency
There's no passive income, only daily posting; each consecutive post raises the odds of success; batch-record when you can't shoot live; includes the Tide sponsor read on getting paid once interest converts.
09:06 – 10:04
07 · Lesson 5: Discipline
Consume 10%, make 90%; use the platforms to leverage your reach instead of letting them leverage your attention.
10:04 – 12:23
08 · Lesson 6: Team
Content is a team sport, not a solo act; recruit a camera person, editor, and poster by sharing revenue upside instead of cash.
12:23 – 12:36
09 · Win £1,000
Sign-off giveaway: post what you learned and tag Squibb for a chance at £1,000.
Atomic Insights
Lines worth screenshotting.
Posting a video every day for six years, not a single viral hit, is what built 25 million followers.
Editing a video inside each platform's native app, instead of uploading the same file everywhere, signals original content and gets pushed harder by that platform's algorithm.
Replying to your own comments feeds the algorithm engagement signals that most creators are too lazy to bother collecting.
A mailing list of 1,000 people you can email directly is worth more than a million views on a video with zero engagement.
There's no such thing as passive income in content; consistency is the actual mechanism, not a byproduct.
Each consecutive daily post statistically raises the odds a video succeeds, so skipping a day resets the compounding instead of just delaying it.
Batch-recording lets you keep a daily posting cadence even on days you can't physically shoot.
Spending roughly 90% of your time making content and only 10% consuming other people's keeps you inspired without drowning your own output.
Content creation is a team sport: even an experienced solo creator's quality visibly drops without a camera operator, editor, and dedicated poster.
You can recruit a camera person or editor for free by offering a percentage of a video's revenue instead of a cash rate.
Attention only becomes revenue if you're ready to invoice and get paid the moment someone wants to buy.
Owning 10% of a business you enjoy beats owning 100% of one you have to run entirely alone.
Takeaway
Six habits behind 25 million followers
SOCIAL MEDIA RULES
Six years and 25 million followers taught him that platform-native editing, a mailing list, daily consistency, and a real team matter more than chasing any single viral video.
02Lesson 1: Be authentic
Tell the real origin story behind why you're doing this instead of copying someone else's persona; specificity is what makes content resonate.
If you haven't achieved results yet, talk about what you're struggling with and learning instead of dispensing advice you haven't earned, audiences spot a fake guru fast.
03Lesson 2: Tailor your content per platform
Edit and caption videos inside each app (TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube) rather than cross-posting one file everywhere; the algorithm favors content it can tell was made natively for it.
Reply to your own comments on every platform; engagement in the comments signals the algorithm to keep pushing the video, and most creators are too lazy to do it consistently.
Tools like ManyChat can auto-reply to comments and follow up with viewers, turning a one-way post into a two-way conversation at scale.
04Lesson 3: Read the data, own the data
Watch retention data to see if viewers finish and rewatch a video; if they drop off, re-edit and repost rather than moving on.
Push every video toward growing an email list; a list of 1,000 people you can email directly beats a million views with zero interaction.
Platforms can suppress or block your reach at any time, so owning an audience you can contact directly is the only reach that isn't rented.
06Lesson 4: Consistency
There's no such thing as passive income, treat daily posting as the switch you have to keep flipping yourself, not something that flips on its own.
Every additional consecutive post statistically raises the odds of success, so missing a day resets the compounding instead of just pausing it.
When you can't shoot daily, batch-record in advance so posting stays daily even when production doesn't.
07Lesson 5: Discipline
Split your time roughly 90% making, 10% consuming, enough input to stay inspired without it crowding out output.
Use platforms to leverage your reach; don't let their feeds and notifications leverage your attention instead.
08Lesson 6: Team
Treat content creation as a team sport: a dedicated camera person, editor, and poster each raise production quality beyond what one person working alone can sustain.
Recruit help for free by sharing revenue upside, like 50% of a video's earnings, instead of paying cash you don't have; the offer can turn a helper into a co-founder.
Owning 10% of something with real impact beats owning 100% of a business you don't enjoy running alone.
Glossary
Terms worth knowing.
Audience retention
The percentage of viewers who keep watching a video past a given point; platforms use it to decide whether to keep recommending the video.
In-app editing
Editing and captioning a video using a platform's own built-in tools rather than uploading a file edited elsewhere, which signals to that platform's algorithm the content was made natively for it.
Batch recording
Filming several days' worth of videos in one sitting so a daily posting schedule survives days you can't shoot.
“Most people, when they do social media, they think it's one person and a camera. It's a team sport.”
reframes the whole solo-creator myth in one line→ IG reel cold open↗ Tweet quote
The Script
Word for word.
Read-along
Don't just watch it. Burn it in.
See every word as it's spoken — crank it to 2× and still catch all of it. The same dual-channel trick behind Amazon's Kindle + Audible.
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metaphoranalogystory
I spent the last six years learning how social media works and the results are in. I've got 25 million followers, 500 million views a month. I figured it out.
I know how it all works and I'm going to teach you it today.
So number one on my list of things that you need to know. Be authentic. You have to tell your story.
You have to share your reason why you're doing it. You probably all know my story. I was 15 years old when my father died and I was kicked out of home.
I was homeless and I tried to get a job and I couldn't get one. I tried to go to social services and get help and they said no. I was on my own.
And the only thing... that i could do or start a business i didn't want to be an entrepreneur i needed to be an entrepreneur and telling you that story helps you understand why i'm doing something and you need to tell the same story don't try and be someone else you're unique and you must play to that strength by the way i've written a book called what's your story if you're not sure how to craft a story or make your story real the links down below this book can help you do it but being authentic is key so learn to know who you are If, for example, you are building a business and you perhaps are tempted to start giving advice to people, perhaps you're not there yet.
Better instead talk about what you're struggling with and what you're learning along the way and building public that way as opposed to pretend to be a guru, right? I see a lot of people pretending to be something they're not. You don't need to do that.
The second thing I want to teach you is you've got to tailor make your content for each channel. A lot of people when they go to do social media, what they really want to do is a quick video, put it up and get millions of views. But the real way...
to make social media work is to think about the channels that you're on. And one simple hack is each of the apps like it if you actually tailor the videos inside the app. And when you go and load up a video, for example, on TikTok, use the in -app edit to make the screen caption really clear because when people see a video they want to know what the video is about and then the hook of course hopefully is interesting you need a hook on a video but that will draw people in and that's what you need initially to get people to watch video but what i'm getting to is like that platform likes to think that the content is tailor -made for that platform so snapchat youtube tick tock instagram go in and edit your video in those apps it's a hack that not a lot of people have shared because i think people are lazy and they don't want to hear it don't be lazy that's a very important part of making sure social media works do the work and also why i'm at it tailor making each of the platforms also means going into the comments and replying on each platform ideally yourself but equally if you need to go and get help to do it but reply to people give them information you can even use tools like many chat which don't sponsor this video but it's a good tool where you can basically get the app
to reply to your comments and engage with people, send them information, send them follow up, but learn to engage in the comments. Again, not a lot of people do that and they get a bit lazy and they can't be bothered. They might check it for the first 10 minutes and then leave it.
You're leaving engagement on the table. If someone asks you a question and you reply with an answer and or a question, they reply again. The algorithm likes to see on all platforms engagement with the audience in the comments.
and i will just finally say on something like snapchat they want you to make the actual video in the app recently launched a feature where you can see if the video was made in the app so you record the actual video in the actual app and then it shows on snapchat that it was recorded on snapchat it wasn't an uploaded video it was created in snapchat and the way you can also look at other platforms is on stories for instagram you want to create the video in real time but actually recording the story in the moment.
Don't make a standard video and upload it into stories, create an original video. And the general principle for every platform, but I will go into this more depth another time, but the basic principle is make the app believe that it's an original piece of content for the platform that you're uploading on. And that will ensure that the platform thinks it's unique content it should push out.
The third thing I want you to understand is how important data is. Now data on social media is really split into two camps. The first is what does each video data show you?
Is the hook getting retention? Are people staying on the video and are they watching it again? If you can see in the data that they're not watching the video to the end, you might want to re -edit the video and put it out again.
Basically what the platforms want is for the video to get watched initially and then for it to be repeated so you stay on platform and it's fine to understand how these platforms work they make money if people stay on platform right so they want you to make content that people engage with so looking at the data to see is the graph showing a retention are people staying on the video and are they watching it again will help you understand whether you've edited it right the other side of the data that you need to think about is every time you put a video out you ideally want someone to join your mailing list you want people to join your community so one of my ambitions with the 25 million followers i have is to get you guys to sign up to my main list and by the way if you want to there is a link down below in this youtube video but my point is of course you have to offer value to people to do that so in my case i'm doing a weekly newsletter teaching people all the latest trends and business news that they need to know to make their business successful of course you need a hook give people a reason to sign up but every time a video goes out i don't want to rely on any social media platform in the future
actually working actually not blocking me actually not just suddenly suppressing my videos so every time i make a video i want to encourage people to join my mailing list in some way even if it's in the body text down below or i encourage people in the video to do it directly but that's what i want you to also think about because if you have a database of a thousand people that you can email about your business your service your product will ask them to promote your business service or product that's so much more powerful than maybe a million views on a video where there's no engagement right well there's no interaction So ultimately, collecting data and analysing data is a real key part for making social media sustainable in the future and successful in the short term.
If you're listening to this and thinking, I need more help, or I'd like to do this with other people, we're running the world's biggest business competition. And basically, we're giving up to a million US dollars away and free help. So if this is something you're interested in, it's absolutely free.
The link's down below. Join. It'll be fun and we'll help you make your dream a reality.
the fourth thing i want to tell you is something that i know when i tell people this quite often they reject it you don't want to hear it you have to be consistent there's no such thing as passive income i know you don't want to hear it i know it makes the video less exciting because i'm telling you the truth that you have to want to do the work which is why i always say follow your dream because if you follow your dream then ultimately you can be doing something that you love I wanna fix the education system.
I wanna get knowledge in the hands of young people in particular who weren't given it at school to follow the dreams they wanna follow, right? You have to be authentic to you. Like, what is it that you wanna sell?
You have to apply yourself every single day. One of the reasons I've been super successful in social media is because I've posted a video every day for six years. Go back and look on my TikTok.
You'll see some of the early videos are really bad. The very first video I did was me and my son at the zoo. And I was just learning how to use the filter, the music in the background.
But basically, I posted every day, no matter what. Even if I had a big video and I was scared to post another one in case it got no views, I posted it anyway. You have to get up every day and be consistent.
And you have to not be lazy. And one way to get over laziness, a quick hack, if you don't put the video out, someone dies. you have to control your mind to make you do it if you don't make a post tomorrow from all this knowledge that i've given you then you won't be successful but if you make a post tomorrow there's a 10 chance you will be and if you make another post the following day there's a 12 chance you will be you have to be consistent you have to be persistent now it might be you can't make a video every single day so another hack in social media is batch record make sure you post every day either get quick at posting or ask your mum and dad or a friend post for you but do it every day you'll be making money from social media while you sleep and if you stay consistent over time that attention can turn into trust and that trust can help you sell your product or service but when someone watches your content and decides they want to buy from you you need to be ready to turn that interest into an actual sale where does the money go how do you invoice them and how do you keep everything organized so you look professional from day one
I've seen people put all the work in to build an audience and win a customer only to lose momentum because they weren't ready to take the money. And that's why I recommend Tide who are sponsoring this video. You can set up a business account quickly, send invoices and get paid without all the usual friction so you can focus on creating content and growing your business.
If you're watching this in the UK and building a business of your own, you can get set up properly using the link below. And right now, if you sign up using that link, use the code Simon and spend £100 and you'll get £50 back. Because social media isn't just somewhere to consume content.
Used properly, it could be one of the biggest opportunities you have, especially if you're young. The fifth thing I want to teach you, discipline. Using that word again a little bit, consistency.
What I always say, consume 10%, make 90%. in content you want to make sure that you're in touch with what's happening and i do actually consume quite a lot of content nine hours in my day is put towards making something and one hour in my day is put towards consuming something you don't want to consume too much but you need enough to sustain inspiration knowledge insight how are other people doing it i do street content it's not an original idea it was an original execution use the system don't let the system use you that's how you get rich in life you learn to leverage the place you learn to leverage the platforms so your life's better.
Don't let them leverage you. Get the balance right. The final thing I want to teach you is probably the most important and equally one of the hardest to actually achieve.
Most people, when they do social media, they think it's one person. and a camera making content is a team sport behind the camera right now I have my two colleagues helping me do this video and without them this quality of this video would be lower perhaps even the way I deliver it even though I know business I've been doing business a very long time I still might miss something because we can't do it on our own the school system teaches us to sit down and do an exam on our own and if you get an A you're successful and if you're D you're a failure in the real world every business I've ever built is done in teams so as as possible you want to try and build out a team now everybody's different but I'll give you a little advice on what team structure to go for to make social media very sustainable you really need a few different key people and you can be any one of these people yourself or bring someone in and I'll teach you quickly how to bring someone in so it doesn't cost you a lot of money but first
of course you need a good camera person someone that understands how to use a camera and make sure they capture the footage that you are producing the second thing is you need an editor now the editor and the cameraman can be the same person they don't necessarily have to be and sometimes people that are good at camera work doesn't mean they're good at editing and vice versa but of course holy grail will be both all the business knowledge is in my head but i think you need someone often to structure out what is the content how will it play storytelling is very important but you kind of need that that team and then ideally you need someone who is focused on posting up the videos again these all can be one person if you get lucky but i want you to know how i've structured it of course my channel is at massive volume now so i can afford to have all of those people part -time but it wasn't always the case now the hack for getting a team on board is actually a hack for making every business successful share the upside there are 716 000 kids in england right now that can't find work they come out of uni and they can't find a job that's a lot of talent that isn't earning right now but if you said to them hey let's start a youtube channel teaching people how to play chess and i'll give you 50 of the revenue that the youtube video produces perhaps that person will give you their time for free perhaps they'll come and join you as a co -founder in the business share upside in your business is what
of the biggest hacks i've personally learned i don't want 100 of a business i don't enjoy doing every day i'd rather have 10 of something that's having a big impact in the world and i'm able to do it with people i love working with that are working as hard and care as much as i do and that's worth giving up equity to despite what you hear about having to have it all for yourself trust me success comes working in teams i hope you've enjoyed today's video i want to give a thousand pounds away to anyone that makes a social media post sharing what they've learned here or just putting up a video from what you've learned today and tagging me in it i'm going to give a thousand pounds to one person thank you so much for listening today goodbye
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
Simon Squibb opens by putting his numbers on the table, 25 million followers, 500 million monthly views, six years of daily posting, then spends the next twelve minutes reverse-engineering exactly what he'd do differently starting from zero today.
Frameworks
Named ideas worth stealing.
00:16list
Squibb's 6 Rules for Starting Social Media From Zero
Be authentic
Tailor content per platform
Read and own the data
Be consistent
Have discipline (90/10)
Build a team
The numbered structure of the whole video, delivered in order across the 12-minute runtime.
Steal forany creator-onboarding checklist or 'start here' resource
CTA Breakdown
How they asked for the click.
VERBAL ASK
08:25product
“if you sign up using that link, use the code Simon and spend £100 and you'll get £50 back”
Mid-roll sponsor read for Tide, placed right after the consistency lesson's point about being ready to invoice once interest turns into a sale, so the pitch reads as the natural next step rather than a bolted-on break.
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A 34-minute screen-capture walkthrough of turning a research tool and a five-post swipe file into a finished Substack outline, using AI for structure and never for the actual sentences.
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