I recently wrote about how taste and distribution are becoming the new differentiators as AI floods the internet with content.

In this article, I’ll share three tangible ways you and your brand can stand out as more creators adopt AI and competition in social media feeds increases.

These strategies will help you build a resilient, recognizable brand — especially as the “infinite content machine” that Roberto Nickson calls AI makes it harder to grow an audience and get your message seen.

Weathering the AI content flood

AI has has lowered the barrier to entry for content creation, making it easier for everyone to create and publish decent quality content.

• AI writers like ChatGPT, Claude, and Copy.ai can turn a few bullet points into long-form content, landing pages, or social copy.
• Tools like Sora, Runway, and Invideo AI can now produce entire videos from just one sentence.
• And in the first half of 2025 alone, Adobe, Canva, and TikTok upgraded their AI toolkits — putting professional-grade editing, design, and writing tools in the hands of anyone with a browser.

As the cost of creation plummets, output skyrockets. Our feeds will fill up with quality content and become more competitive.

When anyone can hit the “good enough” bar with a well-phrased prompt, it’s not enough to look polished or sound smart. The edge that once came from production quality is disappearing.

Marketing leaders and creators are planning ahead for this reality:

• Ish Verduzco encourages doubling down on personal branding and distribution to stand out as AI lifts the baseline quality of content across the internet.
• Justin Welsh wonders if we’re in the midst of a “great social media exodus,” where creators shift from top-of-funnel platforms to owned channels like newsletters and community spaces. Places where they don’t compete with AI for reach or attention.

Even algorithms are under pressure.

With thousands of lookalike posts and recycled hooks flooding the system, repetitive formats get deprioritized. Quantity alone doesn’t move the needle anymore.

Crisp visuals and polished delivery earned attention. Now, people scroll faster, spot sameness instantly, and expect more.

To stand out in feeds that refresh at machine speed, you need more than aesthetics or volume. You need something defensible that will last.

Here’s how to build it in the age of AI.

1. Share unique research, data, and insights

As we compete with fast, polished, AI-generated content, our real edge comes from what AI can’t see, feel, or experience: our lived perspective and proprietary knowledge.

In this landscape, how you say things and where they come from can be differentiators.

How to create a unique perspective:

• Combine data from multiple sources—Build novel insights or predictions by curating data from different sources. AI is great at regurgitating what already exists, but your value comes from seeing the connections it doesn’t. Combine industry stats with anecdotal feedback from your audience or blend public benchmarks with your own internal data to draw fresh conclusions.
• Share data only you have access to—This could be analytics from your newsletter, social content performance breakdowns, behind-the-scenes business numbers, or even aggregated survey responses. When you publish insights based on your own data, you’re offering something AI can’t replicate and building authority.
• Lean into personal experience—Tell stories from your career and “build in public.” Lessons from experiments that didn’t go as planned. What changed your approach. These stories signal real-life reps that are more relatable than regurgitated prompts. They build trust.

Think of this like SEO for AI. The more original, source-worthy, and referenced your content is, the more it will become a foundation for future AI answers. Being cited — by humans or chatbots — starts here.

Some recent examples I like of people sharing unique insights:

1. Christina Le’s Substack “TheseChapters” where she shares real, build-in-public-style lessons as she navigates being a first-time Head of Marketing. Her takes standout because they are equal parts honest and tangible.
2. Ish Verduzco’s Internet Empires podcast series. He’s curating perspectives from leading creators and publishing them via video podcasts and case studies on his website. People are tuning in to get “here’s how I did it”-style lessons.
3. Richard van der Blom and his team created a beast of a LinkedIn report tracking latest content trends on the platform. They analyzed a massive quantity of posts and published the results via the report and a LinkedIn drip campaign sharing specific sections.

This type of content wins because it can’t be copy-pasted and because of how much we trust the source.

When you make your creative taste and thinking the product, you create something defensible that only you could publish.

2. Express distinct style

When AI levels the playing field on content production, your style and delivery becomes your signature.

Creating content in a way that feels unmistakably “you” is something AI can’t do. When every post looks good in our feeds, what people remember is the one that feels personal and human.

What distinct style looks like in practice:

• Visual identity — Think colors, fonts, layouts, and formats. A simple design system that repeats across your content and channels to build familiarity. In a noisy world, familiarity wins. People will know it’s yours before they even read your name.
• Format and structure — Do you use carousels with one-sentence-per-slide clarity? X (Twitter) screenshots as your LinkedIn post image assets? Handwritten notes in your thumbnails? The same setting for your short-form videos? These become part of your brand language and create a structure that leads to recognition.
• Tone and voice — AI can mimic tone, but it still struggles with consistency and nuance. Use that to your advantage. Let your natural speaking or writing style shine through — quirks, phrases, humor, and even typos. If you’re casual, be casual. If you’re sharp and witty, bring on the dry humor and hot takes.
• “Lifestyle pillars” — People often remember the small human things — your dog popping into frame, your morning coffee ritual, the hat you always wear when filming. These aren’t outtakes — they’re differentiators. They show you’re not just a content machine and they serve as cues that remind people of who you are.

AI can copy a template. But it can’t copy your lived-in feel — the things that are natural to you but impossible for a tool to replicate.

Some recent examples I like of distinct style:

• Justin Schuman’s tone and approach to his short-form videos. Justin presents himself with this unapologetic, “this is me” style that is instantly relatable. It also inspires his followers to be themselves online.
• Marisa (meshtimes)’s design aesthetic on her Instagram and TikTok. Marisa creates content about her life as a designer, ranging from design tutorials to time lapses of her typical work-from-home day. Everything she posts has her unique vibe, including shot selection, fonts, colors, and music.
• Sarah Suzuki Harvard’s LinkedIn carousel series sharing clever, relatable takes about being an employee today. Her refreshing, witty style and tone stand out in the LinkedIn feed and clearly resonate.

Establishing your style takes time. And you don’t need to get it right on day 1.

But what you should do is start experimenting with creating in ways that feel natural and embrace the things that feel like you.

The sooner you start sharing more and showing up as yourself in your content, the sooner you will establish a unique brand presence that AI can’t replicate.

3. Do the human things that don’t scale

When content is mass-produced and conversations are increasingly automated, doing things that don’t scale becomes a secret weapon.

Ironically, decades of pushing for faster, more scalable marketing have brought us full circle to the things that feel personal and real.
We’re craving what digital tools and AI can’t replicate: intimacy, spontaneity, emotional depth.

I see it as an equal and opposite reaction to AI’s automation and digitalization: a renaissance of human connections, hand made goods, and IRL experiences that AI can’t have for us.

These “human” touches are your moat:

• 1:1 calls and DM convos—Instead of optimizing everything for reach, carve out time for depth. A quick voice memo in response to a comment. A thoughtful reply in the DMs. These micro-interactions don’t show up in analytics — but they build loyalty and trust at a level algorithms can’t touch.
• IRL and virtual events—Whether it’s hosting a live workshop, joining a cohort, or just hopping on a community Zoom hangout, face-to-face interaction (even digitally) rewires how people remember you. It’s personal, sticky, and almost impossible to fake.
• Community platforms — Substack, Reddit, Discord, Telegram channels — Creators and brands are using these platforms as spaces to go deeper and connect. The result? Stronger relationships, stronger brand recall, and brand / creator loyalty.
• Newsletters — Your newsletter list is algorithm-proof distribution. It’s where you can show up vulnerably, speak casually, and say what doesn’t fit into a 60-second reel. It’s where relationships are built and nurtured.

The irony is: the more tech takes over the surface-level stuff, the more people value the “old school” effort. Personalization, conversation, presence.

Some recent examples I like of human touch:

1. Niharikaa Kaur Sodhi’s newsletter where she shares honest takes on her journey as a writer and entrepreneur. I’ve even seen Niharikaa send out a few newsletters with typos or mistakes and follow them up with an off-the-cuff apology email. And somehow it made me want to read her stuff even more.
2. Justin Welsh’s new Substack community where he connects more deeply with his followers. Seeing how he’s brought his community to a space where DM-style interactions can happen feels accessible and real.
3. Alex Lewis’ LinkedIn where his content is a mix of insights from his professional social media career and his personal life. Alex brings so much from his personal life into his content and you can tell the connections he’s building are real and that his vulnerability resonates.

These human elements won’t scale infinitely — and that’s exactly why they work. In a world of mass automation, they signal human-made. They remind your audience there’s a real person behind the brand.

And as AI pushes these internet shifts, real will outperform robotic.

Final thoughts on standing out in the AI flood

You don’t need to outproduce AI. You need to out-human it.

That means leaning into the things it can’t do:

• Sharing stories only you’ve lived and insights only you can come up with.
• Developing a style only you can pull off. Whether you use AI tools to help create it or not.
• Building relationships and connections AI can’t get in the middle of.

The creators and brands that win in this next chapter of the internet won’t be the ones who use AI the best. It will be the ones who stay the most human while doing it.

So as you adopt these tools, keep asking yourself:

What can I create, say, or show that AI never could?

That’s your moat and the way you standout in the age of AI.

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