You’re scrolling LinkedIn, coffee going cold, and one post stops you. You read a single sentence, and you already know: a human did not write this.
We’ve all been there. And honestly? Most of us have been on both sides of it.
Here’s the thing: everyone is using AI right now, us included, and that’s completely fine. The sin isn’t using the tool. The sin is letting it do your thinking for you and then hitting publish without a second glance.
When your content sounds like it could have been written for any brand, in any industry, on any given Tuesday, it probably was. And your audience feels it, even if they can’t explain why they kept scrolling.
Your content needs to sound like you. Here’s how we actually make that happen.
Start With a Strategy, Not a Prompt
The brands getting burned by AI content aren’t failing at the writing, but failing at the setup. Before a single word gets drafted, you need to know your goal (the real one, not just “can we get this post viral”), your audience, your competitors, your voice, and where you’re actually showing up.
That last one matters more than people think. You do not need to be on every platform. You need to be on the right one. A local interior design studio? Instagram is a no-brainer. People are saving dream living rooms at 10pm and finding their next designer in the process. LinkedIn? Unless you’re chasing commercial clients or partnerships with other businesses, like architects, your customer likely isn’t there looking for you.
This is the work we do before anything gets created. We look at your brand, positioning, audience, and what the growth levers are in your business, and build the strategy around what will actually move the needle. The rest of our process, we’ll save for the conversation.
Give People Something Real to Look At
No AI prompt is going to hand you your best content asset: your people. Real, hand-shot content from your team does what no stock photo or generated image ever will. It gives your audience something to connect to. Faces, personalities, and brands that actually exist somewhere in the real world.
At Hey Mr, our content captures are built around your strategy. We show up knowing what to shoot, why it matters, and where it’s going. The visuals serve the plan, not the other way around.
Now, the Content: Here's How We Spot It
AI is a useful tool when you bring it a real direction. It falls apart when you hand it a vague prompt and post the first draft. We know what that looks like. Here’s the dead giveaway list.
The Em Dash
Obviously. A true grammar icon. Also, the fastest way to get clocked as an AI post in 2026. The em dash isn’t inherently bad, it’s just been used so aggressively by every AI tool on the market that it’s lost all credibility.
Our take: earn it. If the sentence works fine without it, cut it. If your post has more than two, start over. The em dash is punctuation with purpose. Use it like you mean it!
"It's Not ___. It's ___."
You’ve read this sentence 400 times this month, just with different words dropped in.
“It’s not about more content. It’s about better content.”
“Not because we love what we do. But because we’re obsessed with it.”
These phrases aren’t wrong, but they’re just so overused that they register as filler. If you catch yourself writing this way, stop and just say the actual thing. Direct always lands better than a formula.
The No-No List
Some words are perfectly fine in normal life and an immediate red flag in a caption. If these are showing up unedited in your content, something got posted too fast.
- Ensure
- Delve
- A testament to
- Human-first
- Leverage
- The landscape (as in, “the current marketing landscape”)
Read your content out loud before it goes anywhere. If you wouldn’t say it in a normal conversation, it shouldn’t be in your caption.
Sentences Built for No One
Your Content Should Sound Like You
Use AI to go faster, and make sure your strategy takes you somewhere worth going. And before anything goes live, ask yourself honestly: Does this sound like us, or does it sound like everyone else? You could even ask AI: “Does this sound like me?” How can you make it sound more like me?
If the answer isn’t a confident yes, that’s exactly what we’re here for.
At Hey Mr, we build the strategy, capture the content, and make sure what gets posted actually sounds like the brand behind it. Let’s talk.