[BaileyMonroe]

I’m thinking about starting from scratch with either Instagram or YouTube. I don’t really have any budget for upfront investment, so my plan is to build an account organically, grow it as much as possible, and potentially sell it later.

My main question is whether consistently posting short-form content is enough to get an account moving without spending money on ads or promotions.

Between Instagram and YouTube, which one do you think has better potential for growing an account from zero? Would you focus mainly on Reels/Shorts, or would you mix in some longer content as well?

I’d appreciate hearing from anyone who has actually grown and sold social media accounts. What would you choose if you were starting with basically no budget?

 

[kcollins398]

Insta ill be more gd fr al types of collabs

 

[wfarrell150]

If I had zero budget, I’d start with YouTube Shorts and repost the same original content to Instagram Reels. One piece of content can give you two chances to find an audience.

 

[ajohnson295]

I’d personally choose YouTube. Shorts can bring discovery, while long-form gives you another way to build a deeper audience later.

 

[SueArcher]

Yes, organic growth is definitely possible. The difficult part isn’t posting every day; it’s figuring out what people actually want to watch.

 

[AdamAnderson45]

I wouldn’t spend money on ads at the beginning. I’d use that time and effort to test different content ideas first.

 

[ahicks]

For an account you eventually want to sell, I’d focus on the niche more than the platform. A targeted audience is probably more valuable than a random follower count.

 

[vwatkins]

I started a page with absolutely no budget a while back. At first, I thought posting every day would automatically bring followers, but that wasn't really the case. My first few weeks were almost completely dead. Then one short video suddenly started getting shared, and that taught me that finding the right content idea matters just as much as consistency.

 

[MelissaSmith]

If I were starting again today, I’d probably begin with YouTube Shorts. I like the idea of using short videos to test different topics without spending money. Once I knew which subjects were getting attention, I’d turn the best ones into longer videos. I’d still repost the Shorts to Instagram because there’s no reason to ignore another free traffic source.

 

[mbarnes893]

I remember spending weeks trying to make my first account look perfect before posting anything. Nice logo, bio, profile picture, everything. In hindsight, almost none of that mattered at the beginning. The first thing I should have done was simply publish content and see whether people actually cared. If I started from zero again, I’d spend 90% of my effort on content.

 

[RebeccaHarris74]

I’d definitely avoid paid promotion at the start. When you don't have a proven content format, paying for traffic can make it difficult to know whether people genuinely like the content. I’d rather make 50 different organic posts and learn from the results before spending a single dollar.

 

[Meghantran]

My approach would be to make a list of 50 content ideas before starting. That way I wouldn't be sitting there every morning wondering what to post. Once I had the list, I could focus on making the videos instead.

 

[SusanIngram]

If I were starting from zero, I’d make short-form content my main strategy for the first few months. It’s easier to produce and test ideas quickly. Once I found a topic that consistently worked, I’d start adding longer videos.

 

[Dawny Oliver]

I’d actually use both platforms instead of choosing only one. Make one original video, remove the platform-specific branding, and publish it as a Short and Reel. You get more testing without doubling your production workload.

 

[JodiChang]

You definitely don’t need paid promotion to start. The bigger challenge is consistency and learning from the numbers. If ten videos flop but the eleventh gets attention, study what was different rather than simply posting more of the same.

 

[khernandez609]

I’m thinking about starting from scratch with either Instagram or YouTube. I don’t really have any budget for upfront investment, so my plan is to build an account organically, grow it as much as possible, and potentially sell it later.

My main question is whether consistently posting short-form content is enough to get an account moving without spending money on ads or promotions.

Between Instagram and YouTube, which one do you think has better potential for growing an account from zero? Would you focus mainly on Reels/Shorts, or would you mix in some longer content as well?

I’d appreciate hearing from anyone who has actually grown and sold social media accounts. What would you choose if you were starting with basically no budget?

youtube shorts

 

[lgalloway393]

My vote would be YouTube because I think the content has more room to develop over time. I’d start with Shorts for discovery and gradually introduce longer videos once I understood what the audience was interested in.

 

[TheresaBarron]

I’m thinking about starting from scratch with either Instagram or YouTube. I don’t really have any budget for upfront investment, so my plan is to build an account organically, grow it as much as possible, and potentially sell it later.

My main question is whether consistently posting short-form content is enough to get an account moving without spending money on ads or promotions.

Between Instagram and YouTube, which one do you think has better potential for growing an account from zero? Would you focus mainly on Reels/Shorts, or would you mix in some longer content as well?

I’d appreciate hearing from anyone who has actually grown and sold social media accounts. What would you choose if you were starting with basically no budget?

instagram works well for beginners

 

[ehammond816]

Instagram could work very well if your niche is highly visual. Fashion, fitness, food, travel, lifestyle, memes, and similar topics can work naturally with Reels. I’d choose the platform based on the type of audience you want rather than simply picking whichever seems easier.

 

[vlutz731]

If the end goal is selling the account, I wouldn’t build it around random viral videos. I’d try to create a recognizable niche and audience. A page with 100k followers who came for one specific type of content may be more interesting to a buyer than a page with a larger but completely random audience.