In 2019, all-time great director Martin Scorsese said of Marvel movies:
“I don’t see them. I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema. Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks.”
The internet lost its mind, so much so that Scorsese wrote an op-ed in the New York Times a month later to explain himself.
His point was that Marvel films are “market-researched, audience-tested, vetted, modified, revetted and remodified until they’re ready for consumption.”
Whether he realized it or not, Scorsese was talking about more than movies.
Are We Just Copying Each Other’s Homework and All Working for Meta?
I’ve used social media since its advent. Somewhere in my mind, it’s supposed to work like it did in 2010. It doesn’t.
For fun, I’ve been testing different pieces of content on Instagram. When I chase trends like a B-roll video of me staring out the window and overlaying it with text, I get views. When I try to “add value”… very few.
If chasing trends is the key to getting views, that also means a lot of people are just going to copy said trends.
I like Marvel movies, but to Scorsese’s point they do not allow much room for individual style. Marvel movies are widespread, not just audience-wise but from a creative team standpoint. That’s what happens when you get big brands.
Social media as a whole is doing the same thing: flattening the creative. With Trial Reels, individuals now do the same thing TV studios do: test the pilot, watch the numbers, make more of whatever the audience likes.
If you want to succeed on those platforms, that’s what you have to do. If you want to direct a Marvel movie, you’re going to have to stick to a template of sorts. Such is the price of widespread distribution.
I don’t say this with any contempt. Marvel movies and influencers make a lot of money, but both directors and creators must pay the price.
If my instincts serve me correctly, you and my other readers aren’t in that camp, so let’s look at this another way.
Who Are You Creating For First?
Social media is not human-first anymore, it’s algorithm-first. Everyone is feeling the same crunch. That leaves two options:
- Create for the algorithm and get numbers. Chase trends, test pilots, stick to the template. Just know what you’re signing up for.
- Be clear about who you’re targeting, ignore the numbers, and hope you’re going to reach the right people eventually.
When it comes to people, there are two kinds:
- The Scroller
- The Reader / Listener
Unfortunately, The Scroller is on the algorithm side. Their thumb is deciding (LOL) and the algorithm is feeding their thumb.
The Reader / Listener is on the human side. They bought your book, typed in their email, or hit subscribe on your podcast. They chose you on purpose.
Most of people have this backwards. They treat a social media feed as the main thing and the Reader / Listener as an afterthought.
I’ve received really encouraging feedback on this newsletter since starting it, with several even saying it’s the only one they regularly read. I’m so grateful! I’d rather have a few of those than a ton of Scrollers.
When You’re Proud of What You Make, Promoting It Is Never an Issue.
…thus, the creative process has to be kept pure. My little guide I use to stay on track:
Authenticity over fame. Fame over obscurity. Obscurity over selling out.
It’s not perfect, but it works for me.
When things on social aren’t working, it’s easy to overcorrect to the point of assuming that ambition and authenticity are polar opposites. They aren’t. But you can start to believe it and then take a weird pride in obscurity, complain about social media, or any other number of things.
A newsletter is the one place I don’t have to be Marvel-movie’d. Same with my podcast. I’m not testing any focus groups. I can let my creative expression flow and actually sound like myself. Two tips from my own experience:
- Write for climate and tone, not just information. A “useful” newsletter gets skimmed these days. One that makes you feel something often gets forwarded.
- Exhibit emotional range. In a given month my readers tell me they’ve felt comforted, sad, warmed, grounded, encouraged, cracked up at something I wrote, or even cried. To create for that kind of range is learnable.
I’ve been working privately with a few clients the past six months. Results from creating things they’re proud of:
- Dead email lists revived, including one with over 1,500 subscribers that wasn’t emailed for nearly two years
- A 53 percent open rate on a list one client described as “ice cold”
- One LinkedIn newsletter that went from zero to 451 subscribers in three weeks, with open rates holding at 51 to 52 percent as the list grew
- 194 opens out of 299 on a first send, and six readers asking for a conversation
- An op-ed published by a client who had never written one
- “I reworked my newsletter and it is sooo much better than where it started. Really helped me look at this differently and it’s so much more fun too.”
- “It does feel like something shifted. I feel like I’m finally building momentum and I want the language I’m using to match the work.”
- “I think it’s genuinely accelerated my business.”
My clients have become “CopyProof,” and the numbers followed.
***
Two years in a row at Social Media Marketing World, I gave a talk called CopyProof: How to Write, Market, and Persuade in a Way That’s Unmistakably You.
That was before COVID, ChatGPT, and Trial Reels. I was talking about standing out from other humans back then. Today you have to stand out from AI, too.
I’ve been sitting on that title for years (it’s trademarked) but the idea of being CopyProof has never been more relevant than it is right now, so I’m hosting a fresh, newly researched, rebuilt-from-scratch, vetted by real clients, presentation for the age we’re in now.
CopyProof: How to Write, Market, and Persuade in a Way That’s Unmistakably You
Thursday November 4th
1pm ET / 12pm CT / 11am MT / 10am PT
Here’s what I’ll cover:
- Why the purpose of marketing is still to persuade, and how to do it tastefully when most content reads like it was regurgitated from one AI to the next, to the next
- The TIMELESS principles I’ve used with John Maxwell, Donald Miller, JJ Virgin, and dozens of personality-based businesses to infuse their marketing with personality, nuance, and psychology
- Creating for climate and tone: why “useful” gets skimmed now but “felt” gets forwarded, and the emotional range that makes someone say “you are the only one I read”
- Where to put all this so a human actually reads it (a newsletter, a podcast, a book), and how that turns into clients without a pitch
- My “Marvel-movie it” stack: the AI tools I use to turn one piece I’m proud of into a week of content, without letting it get flattened
If your business involves any kind of writing or speaking… and you’re done being at the mercy of the two (ahem) A-holes: AI and the Algorithm, join me.
One more thing: there are genuinely ONLY 100 SEATS on this Zoom meeting. I think this call will go over capacity, so make sure to register. (Sorry, no replay on this one.)
See you on November 4th?
Mike Kim
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
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There’s still a world of opportunity ahead.