6 ways to humanise your content in a sea of AI slop

It would be easy to say that AI will be a big trend on brand socials in the next year.

Because of course it will. It already freaking is. The tools are getting better, the slop is getting faster, and the pressure to pump out more content with fewer people isn’t going anywhere. But here’s the actual truth: it’s not AI itself that will define social in 2025 — it’s the reaction to it.

Many brands willingly slopify themselves into oblivion. The ones that will stand out are those that invest even deeper into creative with craft.

Not content. Creative. The kind that’s thoughtful, human, and, most importantly, provable. I want to preface this article saying I’m no AI hater. I fully embrace the tools here to help us do good work. But not everyone feels that way, alas. And so we see the rise of the "Proof of Reality" post.

These are the videos, carousels, and captions that act as creative receipts. The behind-the-scenes process. The hand-drawn sketches. The creative brief. The original voice memo. The Figma board. The moment in the group chat when someone said "what if we made it weird asf" and everyone went silent before texting: "wait that’s actually good." This content isn’t about entertainment. It earns trust.

So, what does that look like in practise?

Here are a few formats you can start playing with:

1. The process carousel. Turn your post into a mini case study. Slide 1: the final result. Slides 2-5: the sticky notes, failed attempts, rough sketches, client feedback, or brainstorm moment that birthed it.

2. Show the tool, not just the output. Whether it's a Figma board, a messy Premiere timeline, or a scribbled-on Moleskine, showcasing the tools behind the creative adds instant credibility (and a subtle flex that real humans were involved).

3. Voice memos and lo-fi inspo. Don’t underestimate the power of an iPhone voice memo or a “we found this in our Slack thread” post. It shows spontaneity and process and gives people a peek into the why behind the what.

4. Time-lapse and screen-record BTS. Simple, effective, and oddly hypnotic. People love watching things get made, even if it’s just watching a designer fiddle with kerning for 2 minutes.

5. Caption receipts. Try pairing a polished post with a caption that explains the thought process. Not a press release. Just a sentence or two that hints at the human input. "We debated whether this was too weird. We did it anyway."

6. Personal stories. AI will never be able to create content about your actual human experiences (at least, not without a lot of help from you). So create content about something that actually happened.

Why this works:

• It’s a trust builder in an increasingly AI-generated world

• It signals craft—a quiet rebellion against low-effort content

• It earns engagement because it invites curiosity and conversation

• It differentiates you from the AI mush by putting intention front and centre

Look, you don’t have to show everything.

And you don’t have to pretend every campaign came from a genius muse moment from the gods themselves. But a little peek behind the curtain? That’s the new social currency. In the era of automation, proving your humanity isn’t cringe, it’s a competitive advantage. So go ahead and drop the receipts.

-Sophie, Writer