Social Media is Dead:Why You Need to Start Creating for Interest Media in 2026

Thu Feb 12 2026

Summary

Podcast Summary: The GaryVee Audio Experience
Episode: Social Media is Dead: Why You Need to Start Creating for Interest Media in 2026
Release Date: February 12, 2026
Host: Gary Vaynerchuk
Guest Moderator: Sean

Episode Overview

In this engaging and motivational episode, Gary Vaynerchuk shares his perspective on the state of digital marketing in 2026, arguing that "social media is dead" and the new era is "interest media." Speaking to an audience of entrepreneurs and life insurance agents, Gary offers practical advice on building a brand, the real drivers behind success, responsible content creation, and the importance of self-awareness, patience, and conviction. The episode is rich with anecdotes, memorable quotes, and actionable insights, all delivered in Gary's signature direct and passionate style.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Death of Social Media and Rise of Interest Media

Gary explains the transformation in digital platforms:
- Social media as we knew it (follower-based content distribution) is over.
- Today, algorithms prioritize content based on user interests and behaviors, not on who you follow.
- "The creative itself, the video and the picture itself, is the merit of distribution, not how many followers you have. That is profound." (Gary, 05:39)
Opportunity for all:
- The playing field is now level; a new creator’s content can outperform that of influencers, regardless of following size.
- “If you start tomorrow, your third post with nine followers... can get more views than my post in three days... That’s a level of merit and opportunity that is insane.” (Gary, 03:50)
Emerging platforms:
- Gary highlights Substack as a currently undervalued, high-attention platform moving into newsletters, video, and podcasting.
  - Recommendation: “Every one of you need to write down Substack.” (Gary, 06:35)

2. Content Strategy: Bring Value, Not Just Sales Pitches

Shift from convincing to bringing value:
- “The greatest way to sell is to bring actual value. Convincing is a bad sales energy. Conviction is a tremendous sales energy.” (Gary, 19:38)
Educational content over direct pitching:
- Instead of pushing products, educate audiences on financial literacy or smart saving habits, paving the way for later sales.
- "If I have to sell life insurance, I’m selling it a year before I’m talking to them by putting out content every day about stop buying Starbucks for $5 a cup and put that $5 in your saving account and make some fucking Folgers at your house." (Gary, 20:18)
Set up sales with jabs (value), not just right hooks (pitches):
- “Very hard to knock someone out if you throw right hooks every time, you’ve got to set them up with a jab.” (Gary, 20:13)

3. Patience, Discipline, and Internal Motivation

Patience as a competitive advantage:
- “Patience is easy for me because I don’t give a fuck about other people’s opinions about me.” (Gary, 10:33)
- Lack of patience is often rooted in a desire to impress others with material things.
- “You want to make as much money as possible to buy dumb shit to impress people you don’t even like.” (Gary, 10:46)
Accountability and self-awareness:
- Gary urges radical ownership:
  - “Everything in your life right now... that’s a problem is 100% your fault.” (Gary, 21:03)
- Don't waste energy complaining or blaming others; use that time for action and improvement.
- “Every minute you spend on complaining or dwelling or blaming is a minute you’re not spending on all.” (Gary, 21:45)

4. Overcoming Fear and Doubt in Content Creation

The paralysis of caring about others’ judgment:
- Many people don't post because they're afraid of criticism or don't believe in their product.
- “If they're posting because they're scared about other people shitting on them, they need to ask the next question. Are you insecure? Or maybe you don't believe in the format and that's okay too.” (Gary, 26:47)
Be all in or not at all:
- “What you can’t do is be half pregnant and a lot of motherfuckers I’m looking at right now are half fucking pregnant.” (Gary, 27:34)
- Commitment is required for breakthrough success.

5. Building a Real Business: Reinvest and Avoid Flashy Traps

Reinvest in the business, not yourself:
- “The single biggest reason that I built real companies in my life is because I don’t start businesses to take money out of it, to buy things for me. I start businesses to take the money that the business makes, to put it back in the business to make it bigger.” (Gary, 30:15)
Don’t confuse entrepreneurial ventures with a job; invest profits into growth, not lifestyle.
Gary's personal example:
- He worked for his family business at average pay, reinvested everything, and only started his own company at 34, building from scratch.

6. The Power of Self-Awareness and Uncompromised Values

Be true to yourself:
- “I think compromising what’s in your soul is a death sentence. To have the mental talent to get to the self-awareness... to the level of humility...” (Gary, 38:30)
- Gary’s lack of compromise on kindness, authenticity, and morals is central to his philosophy and success.
Compassion and empathy:
- Judgment of others is rampant but counterproductive.
- Approach others with empathy, assuming their behavior comes from pain or hardship, not malice.

7. Sales Motivation: Love, Hope, and Optimism Beat Fear and Hate

Don’t sell based on fear:
- “Fear and hate are really good at winning the first three and a half quarters of a football game. But love and hope and optimism wins the game in the end.” (Gary, 41:23)
Focus on the real value and peace of mind insurance brings, not scare tactics.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Opportunity in New Era:
- "The creative itself, the video and the picture itself, is the merit of distribution, not how many followers you have. That is profound." (Gary, 05:39)
On Making Content:
- "Even the best people at social just want to do one or two platforms. Most of you don't want to do another platform because you don't have the humility to start at zero again." (Gary, 04:59)
On Self-Worth and Patience:
- "My mother's an angel. I'm built on her shoulders. I'm a nice person. I get no validation from how much money I have or followers I have or the claps you gave me." (Gary, 13:16)
On Taking Ownership:
- "Everything in your life right now that's a problem is 100% your fault. This is incredibly important..." (Gary, 21:03)
On Reinvesting:
- "The single biggest reason that I built real companies is because I don't start businesses to take money out of it, to buy things for me." (Gary, 30:15)
On Compounding Success Authentically:
- "I think compromising what’s in your soul is a death sentence." (Gary, 38:30)
On Kindness & Legacy:
- "I will not compromise on kindness at any turn. I will only speak my fucking truth. I will only sell something I believe in. Period. End of story." (Gary, 15:24)
On Sales Motivation:
- "Fear and hate are really good at winning the first three and a half quarters...But love and hope and optimism wins the game in the end." (Gary, 41:23)

Key Timestamps

00:00: Gary on value-driven sales and avoiding convincing.
01:33: Social media's shift to interest media; algorithm change explained.
03:50: Instant, merit-based opportunity for all creators.
05:39: Followers matter less; creative quality is currency.
06:35: Substack as the next major platform.
10:33: Patience is rooted in not caring about others’ opinions.
13:16: Kindness, self-worth, and the impact of Gary’s upbringing.
19:38: Conviction in sales and providing value, not convincing.
20:13: Sell through education and longer-term content strategy.
21:03: Radical accountability and taking ownership.
26:47: Addressing fear in posting and content creation.
27:34: Fully commit or don’t bother – “half pregnant” analogy.
30:15: Reinvest in business; avoid lifestyle creep.
38:30: Self-awareness, uncompromised morality, and humility.
41:23: The ultimate sales edge: optimism and service over fear.

Final Takeaways

Interest media means the door is wide open for creators, regardless of follower count or starting point.
Focus on producing value-adding, educational content that serves the audience’s real needs.
Play the long game: reinvest in your business, commit fully, and don’t chase superficial validation.
Operate from a place of genuine care, optimism, and self-awareness—this drives long-term results and personal fulfillment.
Be unflinchingly true to your values and bring your whole, authentic self—success follows.

Enduring Advice:
“Don’t compromise your soul. That’s a death sentence.” (Gary, 42:01)

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Transcript

Gary Vaynerchuk (0:00)

The greatest way to sell is to bring actual value. Convincing is a bad sales energy. Conviction is a tremendous sales energy. The content you should be putting out on social is maybe educating people how to be more financially literate so they could afford the life insurance versus talking about the life insurance. This is the GaryVee Audio Experience.

Sean (0:24)

First of all, thank you for being here, man.

Gary Vaynerchuk (0:26)

It's a pleasure.

Sean (0:27)

It's our pleasure. I want to, I want to get right into it. We got, we got a room full of people that are trying to build their brand. They're all different levels. Somebody started. Yes, I might have met it for 12 years and you know, I was messing around with social media a couple years ago and somebody was like, who do you see the most on social media? I was questions and I said, gary Ve and he said, how did that happen? And I went, I don't know, I'm not Gary B. And you've seen my social media so ain't working. So I don't know. Marketing genius is an understatement in my opinion, from watching from a distance. Can you start by just they're building their brand. Most of them are trying to recruit agents. They got leads, they're buying leads. They have prospects to sell life insurance too. But 95% of people in this room are trying to build a business recruiting people they do or don't know. 99% of that is through social media. Can you talk to us about any basing foundation issue, looking to start with or anything that we need to know now?

Gary Vaynerchuk (1:33)

Well, I have some really good news. You know, social media, when I got involved back in 2005, 6, 7 came very natural to me because I had built my dad's liquor store on email marketing. And email marketing was get as many people on the email as possible, put out good information, a good wine deal, a good price, good information. And a percentage of them would convert social made sense to me, get followers, put out good information and that will build a real brand. And then if I wanted to sell wine or books or collectibles or hats, that would work out as a business. I have really good news for all of you. I have. And thank you for the kind words. And I think a lot of you know this, some may not, but I've done a damn good job for 20 years doing the game. And literally four years ago, all the advantages I had on every one of you went away and that's good for you. And it fucking sucked a little bit for me, but it didn't scare me because the game of Marketing is the game of marketing. We talked sports in the back. Business has always been like sports to me. Like, there's no crying in baseball. Like, things change. We've watched the greatest athletes of all time look a shadow of themselves because, you know, Mother Time is undefeated, as they say. And so this is really important because it's gonna make a lot of you feel very encouraged. I'm happy because seven, eight years ago, I would come and if I did this talk, I would have to talk to you about the thing that I know most people are not good at, that I'm very good at, which is patience. I would have sat here six years ago and told all of you that you need to make an enormous amount of good content for the next two or three years, seven days a week, every day. And you'll get to some nice baseline, and then you'll start to cook. We no longer live in social media, friends. Social media died four or five years ago. Now nobody has coined a new term. I'm trying to say what I call it. It's called interest media. All of you know this. How many people here have been on social media? One of them Facebook, Twitter, one of them for over eight years. Raise your hands. Should be an enormous amount of the crowd, right? You know what I'm talking about. Happened 10 years ago. Eight years ago, you would see content from the people you followed. Now you're seeing content based on what recently you're kind of paying attention to whether it's bullshit politics, whether it's sports, whether it's. Whether it's bikini clad girls or dudes with abs cooking baseball. We are now in interest media. Why is this super intoxicating for everyone in this room? It's because so many of you have actually been horrible, underperforming, not diligent, not disciplined, not gangster, about the single most important platform of attention in the world called social media. And now that's irrelevant to because you've actually not lost time, not lost advantages, not been outflanked, because literally, if you start tomorrow, your third post with nine followers on TikTok or 48 followers on Instagram, can get more views than my post in three days. That's a level of merit and opportunity that is insane. And it should have every single person here running the fuck out of this conference room right now. Cause you know what I'm about to say for the next 45 minutes anyway, and go and post some shit. I hope you're enjoying the podcast right now. Make sure you follow the podcast. That's why I'm interrupting. Let's keep going on this show, but follow the podcast. It'll make my mom super happy. Did everybody really understand what I just said? It really is like, I'm sorry to interrupt, but it's insane that that happened. Like, again, back to me being like, I'm not pissed because I love the game, but damn, I was so right for so long and put in all that work and literally we're on even playing field. The creative now, the creative itself, the video and the picture itself is the merit of distribution, not how many followers you have. That is profound. What I know is I'm still gonna outflank all of you tomorrow because I'm committed to posting on all eight platforms. I've got millions on LinkedIn all the way to Snapchat with TikTok and Instagram and Facebook and YouTube shorts and Twitter in between. Even the best people at social just want to do one or two platforms. Most of you don't want to do another platform because you don't have the humility to start at zero again. Yeah. Yeah. Watch this. Sean, how many people remember in 2017 when I was screaming at the top of my lungs to do TikTok, but you didn't jump on because you thought it was teenage girls and you didn't want to start over because you had Instagram followers? Raise your fucking hand and own it. That was huge. That was a huge miss. I'm gonna give you one right now. It's called Substack. How many people here consume Substack? Raise your hands. Almost no one. I'm telling you right now. Substack. I saw that man with the hat shake his head and said he was right, but I'm stunned by how few. Substack is fucking huge. It was predominantly newsletters, very long form written content for free or subscriptions. But I'm watching them move. They're bleeding very heavy into Twitter's category, and now they're doing video and podcast. Every one of you need to write down Substack. How many people here are embarrassed or, like, not in love with video, but they feel like they're very good writers? Raise your hand. I just want to see. So every one of you that just raised your hands, you have to spend two hours on ChatGPT or Google and learn what substack is. And you must start. These are platforms of attention. Attention is the only currency that matters. You can't sell shit if you don't have someone's attention. You cannot sell sell shit unless you have someone's attention. And you can do that door knocking, you can cold call, you can do email, but there's nothing you can do where you make one post and it can reach a million people for free. I'm about to leave. I'm good, thank you. I don't know where you're gonna go, Sean, but it's so fucking. You know what's funny about marketing? I think of it as health and wellness. Do you know how, not how many people here, by show of hands, would like to get a little more fit, get more muscle, get a little more tone, Raise your hand, watch this. Do you know how you do that? You fucking eat better. Stop putting shit in your body that's chemicals and eat cleaner. Go to the fucking gym and do the exercises properly. Easy done. There's a problem. Now go do it. My friends, information is fucking worthless. We live in a world where information has become worthless. Memorizing and knowing information is worthless. You can ask ChatGPT or Gemini anything and get the actual answer. Life is now fully about mindset, perspective, motivation, discipline, execution, and all the emotional intelligence strengths it requires for somebody to be a winner versus a loser in any game they play. And that's where we're at. And for some people it's great, and for other people, it's not great. I just wish on everyone here besides health, the accountability and self awareness to know they're fully in charge so they can go and get it.