The last few decades were dominated by corporate brands built through interruption, brute force, and broadcast media.

However, this has become too expensive and inefficient.

We’re tuning out and turning off.

The next decade and beyond will be dominated by Brand You.

I spoke to the awesome Chris Do for his podcast. The dude has nailed personal branding (my view is that “personal branding” is just publicly showcasing and accentuating your personality… but that’s a post for another day).

Elon Musk has almost 10 times the followers that Tesla has (on X/Twitter).

Richard Branson has 20 times the followers that Virgin has (on Instagram).

People want to follow people.

Your business isn’t B2B or B2C. It’s H2H — human-to-human.

So the natural question (one I get asked often) is, how do you build an audience?

The answer is in plain sight.

Find your favorite creator on YouTube then go to their YouTube profile.

Click the Videos tab and sort by Oldest.

I did this for MrBeast (247M subscribers), Justin Beiber (72M subscribers), and Chris Do (2.4M subscribers).

Do you know what their early videos all had in common?

They SUCKED!

Every master was once a disaster.

In my new book, Lean Marketing, outlined the four-step formula for social media success…(but trust me, you’re not going to like it):

1. Pick a platform

2. Post every day

3. Get better every day

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for two to five years

Someone asked Warren Buffett, “Why doesn’t everyone just copy your strategy?” His response was, “Because nobody wants to get rich slow.” The same goes for building an audience.

Most people who “try social media” won’t focus on a platform.

Even fewer will have the endurance to post daily.

Fewer still will work on improving their craft.

Almost no one will do all the above for 700+ days in a row.

The best time to start building your audience was yesterday.

The second best time is today.