​Read time: 5 mins

Hi Reader,

The same questions keep finding me.

Over the last few weeks, I've been running content sessions, a training for professors at UOC, an informal community session at my coworking space in Manresa, and training sessions via the local council.
Different rooms, different people, different levels of experience with the tools.

The questions are almost always the same.

"I don't know what to post."
"I don't want to ruin my feed."
"I'll just ask GPT to put something together."
"If AI can do everything, what's left for us?"

That last one is the real question underneath all the others. It's what people are actually asking when they talk about algorithms and whether it still makes sense to show up online with something of their own.

Yes, AI has raised the floor. Dramatically. Anyone can now produce passable content at volume, in any language, in any format, on demand. That capability is no longer a competitive advantage. Comfort with AI tools is the new minimum. The new baseline.

What sits above it is harder to automate. Criteria. Taste. A point of view built from experience, failure, and genuine curiosity about the people you're trying to reach. Those things still require a human who has actually lived something worth sharing.

This issue is about what that looks like in practice. Seven principles I keep coming back to, whether I'm in front of a room of academics or sitting around a table with people who just want to figure out what to post on Monday.

Not all of this will be helpful to everyone. There are too many ifs, buts, and maybes.
But at least one of them will be helpful to most.

1. Create to serve

This is the foundation. Society rewards those who give it what its asking for. The internet hasn't changed that. It just delivers the rewards and punishments faster.

If your content strategy starts with "what do I want to say?", you've already started wrong.

Start with "what does my audience actually need?" Service first. Trust builds from there. Everything else follows.

What is obvious to you isn't obvious to everyone.

The clearest test before publishing anything: does this serve them, or does it serve my ego? Be honest about the answer.

2. Positioning over presence

Know what you want to be known for. Infinite content is accessible to everyone, right now. To compete, then, the clearest voice wins, not the loudest.

The question isn't "am I posting enough?"
It's: when someone thinks about your category or sector, do they think of you? If the answer is no, posting more for the sake of it is not the answer.

3. Treat your audience as the main character

Nobody cares what your profile grid looks like. Nobody consumes your content for you. They consume it for what they can take from it.

If the average joe has 10 minutes to scroll on instagram, the last thing they're doing is checking your profile.

I use a small exercise in my sessions. I ask people to write a note that starts: "Dear algorithm, I want to see more of..." Then I ask a few people to read theirs out loud.

Nobody ever writes "I want to see more brands talking about themselves."
They write what moves them, what teaches them, what makes them think or laugh or feel less alone. Your audience is doing exactly the same thing when they open Instagram. The most common, and most expensive, mistake is forgetting that.

4. Live first, create later

The best content comes from a full life, where you're not thinking "Shit, what am I posting this week?"

Editorial calendars generate volume. Very rarely do they produce something worth keeping.

If you don't know what to say, explain stories from your day to day, your real life. If you have nothing to share, get out there and live a little. Have more conversations, more experiences, more rest. A creative block isn't a discipline problem. It's a nourishment problem. Live. The content will come.

5. Experiment, or get left behind

The 5th time you see something is much less interesting than the 1st time. That's why standup comedians try new jokes at the end of shows, and your favourite music album has at least one song that has you raising your eyebrow.

The best in the game evolve and try new things.

A rule worth keeping in your back pocket: 70-20-10.

70% is your bread and butter — the content you know works, the stuff your audience shows up for. The songs in the album that will get played on the radio.
​20% is iteration — the same angle in a different format, a different platform, an unexpected register. The tracks the true fans will recognise when it's played where they least expected.
​10% is pure experiment — new formats, strange ideas, things that might not work. The artist just being themselves and having fun.

That 10% is what separates people who are building something from people who are just publishing.

Afraid of the flop? Welcome to the game. An experiment that doesn't land isn't a failure. It's data. Use it. If your content isn't failing at least once a week, you probably aren't trying hard enough.

There's no point waiting to be inspired. The difference between amateurs and professionals is execution.

6. AI is a collaborator, not a shortcut

AI can help you think faster and produce more. It cannot show up in front of your audience with integrity. That's still your responsibility.

If you aren't willing to put in the minimal effort, you won't receive human attention.

So many people still think that they're audience isn't that smart. That posting something generated by GPT will go unnoticed, and they're wrong. Then they'll blame "the algorithm" for the poor performance.

Protect your perspective. Build trust.

7. Own your audience

Social media is rented land. Algorithms shift, platforms decline, reach gets deprioritised overnight. The newsletter, the mailing list, the channel you control: that's where the long game is played.

Social is for discovery. Owned channels are for relationship. That place where you can express yourself beyond a 16:9 ratio and trending audios.

If everything you've built lives on a platform someone else controls, you don't have an audience. You have access to one. There's a difference, and it matters the day the rules change.

If you got this far,

you're part of 70% of subscribers, so thank you, Reader.

I'd love to know what you'd like to see more of on your feeds.

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See you soon.

​Peace,

Has

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