Growing on social media fast with 0 followers

If you want to grow on any social media platform starting from zero followers, here’s a secret framework I’ve used to grow my Instagram to over 210,000 followers, my Twitter to over 250,000, my LinkedIn to 45,000, and Threads to over 30,000 followers. I’ve also used this framework to grow my social media ghostwriting clients by hundreds of thousands of followers. This consistent and predictable framework has taken me over three years to master, but you can get it for free in the next few minutes. Let’s break it down into four simple phases:

Step One: Picking Your Niche

The first step to growing on social media fast with zero followers is to pick the theme of your account and decide what you want to talk about. Imagine a tree; this step is all about finding the plot of land where you want to plant your beautiful tree. This is where most people make mistakes. The theme of your account should align with two things: your interest (what you enjoy learning and talking about) and market demand (what others enjoy learning and talking about). When you have both, this is called a content-market fit. If your account is based on your interest, it’ll be easy to create content, but without market demand, you won’t grow or make money. Conversely, if your account is based on market demand alone, you’ll grow quickly but may burn out because you don’t enjoy creating the content. The key is to find something you’re interested in that also has market demand. For example, if you love fitness and there’s a large audience interested in fitness content, you have a good content-market fit.

When starting, focus on one specific topic. Many beginners try to go broad, blending in with everyone else. Big creators often started small and narrow, then grew vertically and broadened their topics. Think of your specific topic as your tree trunk. As you grow, you can branch out to more broad topics. Initially, focus on building a die-hard fan base around a specific topic. Over time, as people get to know, like, and trust you, you can talk about whatever you want because they’re invested in you as a person.

If you’re unsure which of your interests have market demand, you can use this three-step method:
1. Make a list of all your interests.
2. Use a tool like ChatGPT with the prompt: “These are all my interests (insert your interests). For each interest, list out potential topics I can talk about that I can sell a service or product around. These topics should either make people more money or improve their health. Do not include anything that doesn’t fit this criteria.”
3. Pick the topics that interest you the most and search social media and Google to find out if there are people selling services or products around that topic. If there are, this is a good sign that there’s market demand for that skill.

Step Two: Create Content Buckets

Think of content buckets as the roots of your brand. The goal of these roots is to build a social media following of people who know, like, and trust you. You can do this by creating content around three categories, which I call the GAP framework: Growth content, Authority content, and Personal content. These three types of content bridge the gap from a stranger to a die-hard fan.

Growth Content: This is when you talk about popular trends and figures, leveraging their interest to drive traffic to your profile. For example, as a fitness coach, you could create content on how to use a trending tool to create a nutrition plan or break down a famous person’s workout routine.

Authority Content: This shows your competence in your niche, such as lessons, tips, or case studies. It incentivizes people to follow you because you’re actively helping the market by giving actionable advice and solving problems.

Personal Content: This is about what makes you unique—your stories, worldviews, and personality. Personal content builds a deep connection with your audience, creating true fans who adore you. Unlike other types of content, your personal stories and views can’t be copied, making you stand out.

To summarize the GAP framework: Growth content gets people to know you, Authority content gets people to trust you, and Personal content gets people to like you. These three types of content work together to accelerate your growth more than 99% of accounts.

Step Three: Generate Endless Ideas

To come up with endless content ideas, use ChatGPT with the prompt: “My target audience is (insert your target audience). Give me a list of their most common and biggest pain points.” Then, reverse this list into how-to statements to create actionable advice. This can be in the form of growth content, authority content, or personal content.

Step Four: Apply the “What, Why, How” Framework

To write engaging posts, use the “What, Why, How” framework:
1. What: Tell your audience what you’re talking about.
2. Why: Explain why they should care.
3. How: Show them how to take action.

This framework forces you to cut the fluff from your writing and gives your audience a complete understanding of your topic.

Growing on social media fast boils down to these four phases. Apply this framework, and you’ll be on your way to growing your social media presence from zero to thousands of followers.