Social Media's 1M-Follower Formula

Brendan Kane's journey from Hollywood coffee runs to social media mastermind reveals one thing: virality isn't random.

Author

Jordan Belfort
May 02, 2025

👋 That reel you posted got 12 views (and 9 were your mom). Time to stop the scroll-of-shame and learn from Brendan Kane, the man who reverse-engineered virality after spotting a massive opportunity in Hollywood: studios were spending millions on content but had no idea how to make people discover it online.

Read time: 3 minutes | 695 words

TOGETHER WITH WISTIA

Millions of video insights. One hour. Zero excuses.

Tune into Wistia's State of Video live show on Wed, April 15 at 1 PM EDT. It’s going to be filled with video tips, trends, and insights from Wistia’s 2025 State of Video Report. You’ll learn how to scale your video strategy for less money with AI, how to repurpose your webinars into evergreen content, and lots more. Plus, Wistia will fill you in on the latest video learnings from top-tier companies like Semrush, Dropbox, Superside. You won’t want to miss it.

STORY 

🧪 The Science of Going Viral with Brendan Kane

Eighteen years, 60 billion views, $1 billion in revenue. These are the results of Brendan Kane's scientific approach to social media. From Hollywood coffee runner to digital strategist, Kane cracked the code on virality long before your cousin started calling himself an "influencer." Here’s how:

In early 2000s Hollywood, Brendan Kane arrived with the same dream as thousands of others—to become a film producer. But he quickly realized a harsh truth:

"When people would ask me why I came here, I'd say I wanted to be a film producer, and I'd see everybody's eyes glaze over because I was one of a million people."

While making coffee runs at Lakeshore Entertainment (learn more), Kane observed studio executives panicking about marketing their multimillion-dollar films. They needed hundreds of millions of people worldwide to discover their content in just months.

Kane's secret advantage? Online businesses he had built in college had taught him about digital traffic sources—knowledge that transformed him from errand boy to digital innovator.

THE FIRST-EVER INFLUENCER CAMPAIGN

In 2007, Kane orchestrated something revolutionary: the first YouTube influencer campaign when "influencer" wasn't even a term.

He simply made a list of the platform's top 25 creators—including Ryan Higa and Lisa Nova (who later created Maker Studios)—and asked, "Do you want to interview a movie star?"

This was years before brands would pay millions for such access.

7 PRINCIPLES THAT DRIVE VIRALITY

Kane's 18-year journey revealed that social media success isn't mysterious—it's a science. His research culminated in his book One Million Followers: How I Built a Massive Social Following in 30 Days.

His core principles:

1️⃣ MASTER ONE STORYTELLING FORMAT

"If Martin Scorsese changed the three-act structure every time he made a film, would he be a world-class director? Probably not."

Instead of chasing trends, commit to one format. Kane's friend grew to 21 million TikTok followers with a single concept: approaching strangers for spontaneous photoshoots.

2️⃣ RETENTION IS EVERYTHING

A six-second difference in average watch time can represent 95 million views in performance differential:

  • 100M-view video: 27 seconds average watch time

  • 5M-view video: 21 seconds average watch time

3️⃣ APPLY THE "GENERALIST PRINCIPLE"

Finance expert Graham Stefan's most-viewed video wasn't "5 Ways to Maximize Car Financing" but "How I Bought a Tesla for $78"—a hook that made financial education irresistible. 👇👇👇

4️⃣ CREATE TENSION AND RELEASE

Kane applies "Jenga Theory" to content:

"In making a movie, how do movies go? They build tension, they release tension."

Flat, monotone delivery fails to keep viewers engaged.

5️⃣ LEARN ITERATIVELY

Don't batch-produce content. Create one piece, analyze its performance, then apply those lessons to the next.

"It's like with sales—every call you take, you're learning something in the beginning."

6️⃣ UNDERSTAND QUALITATIVE NUANCES

Kane's team categorizes content into:

  • GOLD: High performers (1M-20M views)

  • SILVER: Average performers (~100K views)

  • BRONZE: Underperformers (<10K views)

They analyze what qualitative elements separate each tier.

7️⃣ PERFECT THE FIRST SECONDS

Many creators overwhelm viewers with too many elements at once:

"Being very intentful in what that visual hierarchy is, what do I want people to know that's going to get them to stick around."

THE SCIENCE OF GOING VIRAL

Through his company Hook Point, Kane has transformed what many consider luck into a science of effective storytelling. His process has generated:

  • 60 billion views

  • $100 million in earned media

  • $1 billion in revenue

For those seeking their own viral success, Kane offers this wisdom:

"Study before creating. If you're going to consume social media content, at least have the lens to try and understand what this content creator is doing that's causing them to get 10 million views."

Social media success isn't mysterious or random—it's storytelling calibrated to how our brains process information in the digital age.

MEME