It’s easy to feel invisible on social media.
You spend hours writing, planning, making, filming, and editing your content.
You push through the awkwardness and anxiety of being on camera.
You spend time engaging on the platforms.
You do all the right things.
But when you hit publish…
Nothing.
A handful of views at most.
The first few times, you can explain this away.
It’s a new account. You’re still learning. The algorithm’s figuring you out.
But when weeks pass and the situation hasn’t changed, it starts feeling hopeless…
Will all the hard work ever pay off?
Is there any point in continuing?
As a newbie to social media, I know these doubts well.
Every time I post, there’s a little voice of hope in my head saying this will be the one.
But it remains a work in progress!
I thought I’d share my plan for turning this around.
I’ve been creating content for years and built websites that got over a million pageviews a year.
Now it’s just a matter of doing it on social media.
Alongside making better content, I think success revolves around three factors:
- Engagement
- Frequency
- Time
Let’s start with engagement.
Engagement
Want to know a secret?
The explosive growth you see many creators get on social media isn’t just because they make good content…
In many cases, they’ve also teamed up with other people to engage with their posts.
Every time they hit publish, they get a quick influx of likes and comments, which tells the algorithm their content’s worth pushing to a wider audience.
It’s like doping for social media.
But the lesson is simple:
Engagement is essential.
For now, my plan is to dedicate about an hour each day to engaging on my chosen platforms.
It won’t give my posts a major boost, but it should lead to a gradual increase in eyeballs and followers that compounds over time.
Next up is frequency.
Frequency
The quality of your content is obviously important.
But I think quantity is more so.
At a certain point, this is a numbers game.
The more darts you throw at the board, the more points you get – and the more chances you have to hit the bullseye.
Putting out lots of content reveals what works and what doesn’t.
It also gives you more practice (which helps you improve faster as a creator).
And it lets you rack up views and engagement.
For reference, I think Alex Hormozi puts out over 65 pieces of content every day.
That’s unrealistic for most of us.
But there are ways to increase output without working 24/7 to do it.
Here’s a quick example:
Imagine writing a short-form post on X or Threads.
You could screenshot that and turn it into a post for IG and LinkedIn.
If you took multiple screenshots of past posts, you could publish a carousel.
And the caption you wrote to accompany the IG post? You can turn that into another short-form post, which could become another screenshot.
Next, you could take each screenshot and paste them over b-roll clips.
That would give you several reels/shorts for YouTube, TikTok, IG, and Facebook.
From one short-form text post, you’ve now created 10-15 pieces of content.
On to number three:
Time
I have to keep reminding myself not to rush.
Realistically, building a following and personal brand doesn’t happen overnight.
And it shouldn’t.
Because these things are valuable, and any worthwhile goal is difficult to hit.
That’s why it makes sense to extend my time horizon.
I have to expect this to take longer then I want it to and be okay with it.
Because if I don’t, I’m 10x more likely quit.
I’ll end up too stressed out and demoralized.
By contrast, if I’m ready for this to take as long as it takes, there’s nothing to be disheartened about. It reduces the goal to a simple matter of time.
That’s why patience and consistency are crucial.
The people who succeed online (and in life) aren’t always the most talented.
Often, they just didn’t give up.
A final thought:
What are you going to all this trouble for?
If it’s purely to get likes and follows, then there are better uses of your time.
Alone, they don’t add any actual value to life.
I’ve seen this a lot recently with online coaches.
For example, one woman had over 60k followers, but only because she’d been posting meme-style videos.
They’d have been doing next to nothing for her actual business.
So, be clear on what you’re chasing.
Is it dopamine? Or tangible outcomes?
If it’s the latter, know that you don’t need masses of followers or engagement.
It’s more important that you address your target audience’s pain points, relate to them, and offer insights on how to solve them.
You’ll get fewer views because you’re targeting a much smaller subset of people.
But the ones you get will have a significantly greater impact.
Hope this helps,
Danny
