20 Rules for Content in 2026

Welcome back to The Signal, a weekly letter where I share stories, trends, strategies and insights to help you win on the internet as a creator or entrepreneur.

Today we’re going to cover 20 rules for content in 2026.

20 Rules for Content in 2026

Social Media is changing faster than ever.

What worked yesterday, might not work today.

I wanted to share my ‘rules’ for content in 2026 – which I think will be an extremely pivotal year. 2026 is the year that AI becomes truly indistinguishable from reality. The year where creation no longer has any boundaries and content output begins to grow exponentially. Taste, brand and distribution is now the game.

Now, in reality, there are no rules to content.

The playbook is always being rewritten.

These are my rules that have helped me generate ~$1.4M so far this year – in my third full-time year as a creator.

Not everything will be helpful to all, but most will be helpful to many.

Rule 1: Positioning is the KEY

My creator business will triple this year in profitability.

But – my engagement is basically the same as it was in 2024, and my output has dropped dramatically (2 kids under 2!)

The biggest reason as to why this is the case is simple.

I started obsessing over positioning.

In 2024, I prioritized views and engagement. I would create videos about viral topics without much nuance or much of my own raw perspective. I mostly stuck to a single format and stressed over volume, instead of quality.

But I took a step back and realized that this strategy was leading me to becoming just another random content maker, of which there is an endless sea of.

So, my strategy in 2025 shifted. I charted a path towards becoming the person that people think of when my category is mentioned.

When I think of photography creators, I think of Peter McKinnon. When I think of productivity creators, that’s Ali Abdaal. Graham Stephan or Andrei Jikh for finance. MKBHD for tech reviews.

That’s the power of positioning.

…and position equals pricing power.

My entire goal in the next 3 years is to have people think about RPN when Tech & AI creators are mentioned. I don’t want to be just another “cool AI creator.” I want to own my niche of Tech x Creativity x Storytelling. I have a plan on how I will attempt to do this starting in 2026. If you think it might be helpful to you reply and let me know and I can share it.

The biggest tactical shift I’ve made to start building towards this goal is to position my content as a unit of conversation that will find its way into high-level group chats.

Before making anything, I ask myself “will the people that I respect, respect this?”

Rule 2: Not All Views are Created Equal

This is why focusing on positioning over general virality and views matters so much.

There are educational creators on YouTube with 10K subscribers that are much more profitable than an entertainment Instagram creator with 2 million followers.

I’ve made the argument that a respected VC on X with 12K followers has much more influence than a TikTok dancer with 5 million.

Again, one of the most important changes I made from last year to this year, was to stop only making content that I know would get views.

Quick Example

Look at the numbers on this video. My goodness.

10 MILLION views and 1 MILLION likes.

But… the creator behind it has less than 1,000 followers.

It didn’t move the needle in any meaningful shape or form.

Or take a look at this video I made about a company trying to invent “scent teleportation.”

It was already viral on the internet, and I just talked about… Cool. Of course it did well.

Didn’t move the needle for me. Largely meaningless “junk food” views.

You get the idea – not all views are created equal.

Optimize for depth, brand affinity, and respect.

Rule 3: The Format is the Formula

I can’t stress how important it is to have a unique, repeatable format for your videos. Multiple even.

They help to improve consistency, unlock scale, and lift brand recognition.

Here are some examples of great repeatable formats:

• My narrative-based talking-head split screen format and my ‘cinematic editorial’ format I can always rely on. It is muscle memory for me at this point and I can produce these really fast at highest quality. They are also highly desirable for brands.

• Zakaria’s “as you can see” colorist format

• Zauey’s ‘tech yap’ format

• Mason’s ‘POV: you’re a dad’ series

• TJR’s ‘talking to the camera all day as if it were FaceTime with a friend’ format

However, this leads to the next rule…

Rule 4: Experiment or Die

You never want to marry a specific format.

The 5th time you see something is a lot less interesting than the first.

Never stop experimenting.

Because this is very common in creator land, especially Instagram:

‣ crack a format

‣ start gaining momentum

‣ hyper-fast growth

‣ momentum slows

‣ stagnation

‣ decline

There are endless creators who dominated their respective platforms in say 2017 who failed to experiment and evolve and are largely dormant in 2025.

Just like the best artists, the best creators evolve.

Here’s a general rule you can try to follow to stay on your toes:

70-20-10 rule

70% of your content should be your bread and butter – content you know will work and that the audience craves.

20% can be iterations on that content or repurposing into new styles.

The last 10% should be dedicated to experimenting with completely new formats, ideas or styles. Do not worry about flops. They are part of the game! Use them for data.

Rule 5: Repurpose Everything

It takes ~5 minutes to repost that same piece of content to every platform.

If you posted a short-form video to Instagram & TikTok, there is no reason not to also share it to LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube… Threads, Snapchat – hell even Reddit or Substack.

This is something that I have been historically bad at, but it’s a rule I’m setting for myself in 2026.

The north star is to repurpose every single piece of content native to the culture and best practices of each specific platform, but at the very minimum we should all be increasing the surface area of our brand by reposting.

Rule 6: Your Brand is the Moat

Earlier this year, an incredible AI creator named Ohneis exploded onto the scene.

The style he created was so unbelievably compelling. He earned hundreds of thousands or millions of views per video.

Over the next few months, I started seeing literally dozens (if not hundreds) of Ohneis clones appear. Because his format was very easy to clone – it was faceless, and used AI visuals and an AI voice.

There was such an enormous volume flooding the feeds, that they quickly diminished in effectiveness. And there was no way to really differentiate any of the accounts from one another.

AI can and will clone your style, but not your story.

Make it remarkably unique. People stay for you.

Let’s Talk About Brand Deals

So far in 2025, I’ve booked over $1.2M in brand partnerships, at around 84% profit margins.

This currently represents over 80% of my income. The other ~20% is from direct-from-platform payments (TikTok creativity program, Threads bonus etc) product sales (like Tone Studio) and consulting.

By 2027, brand partnerships will ideally represent ~25-30% of my income as I begin shifting my priorities to proprietary products and a paid community.

I’ve been incredible fortunate to work with many of the big tech companies and unicorn startups this year. I’ve blurred the names above because I don’t want to reveal individual brand spend, but I’ve been able to build great relationships with the likes of Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce, Adobe, Shopify and Spotify.

In the process, I’ve learned a lot about what brands are looking for, how to land brand deals, etc.

Let’s dive in.

Rule 7: Organic Love

Do you want to know the biggest reason as to why my brand inbound has been so strong?e

I work for free – a lot.

Most of the lucrative relationships I have built this year started with me making an organic video about a brand or product.

For example, I made this organic video about Higgsfield, because I truly enjoyed the product and thought the audience would get value from it. That turned into a long-term, paid relationship.

My relationship with Meta, Adobe and Microsoft started in the exact same way.

Turns out, the easiest way to get on a brand’s radar, is to make content about them. It builds incredibly strong affinity.

This wasn’t a deliberate strategy on my end, I actually found this out on accident.

Speaking of relationships, that’s exactly what brands want – long-term partnerships, not one-off posts. Deliver over-the-top quality, communicate well, and they’ll keep coming back.

Here’s another thing.

Brands often find creators for campaigns with a simple search on social.

Let’s say Bolt is looking for creators to work with on a major campaign. They may search for “Lovable” or “Emergent” to see who’s made great content covering their competitors, and reach out.

Tip: Always have your business email in your bio. Make it as easy as possible for brands to reach out.

Now, the other major way brands find creators is through databases. Which leads me to the next rule.

Rule 8: Followers Don’t Matter… But Engagement Absolutely Does.

There’s a lot of talk on the internet about how followers no longer matter.

We’re in an interest media era and algorithms are tuned heavily to discovery. So in that regard – there’s a lot of truth that.

However, when it comes to brand deals, it still does matter somewhat.

A lot of the bigger companies identify creators to work with through databases like CreatorIQ or Pillar.

They segment by niche, then sort by followers.

But, even the least savvy marketers now understand that engagement rate is a much more important signal. Which is why if you want to support your creator business with brand deals, I always recommend quality over quantity.

However, it’s become less a numbers game and more of a… again… positioning game.

Rule 9: Respect the Audience – 80/20 Principle

If you’re going to support your business through brand deals, try to follow the 80/20 principle.

I try to post 4 pieces of organic, high-signal content for every paid partnership that I do.

I think most creators under-value the level of trust loss at scale that happens when everything is an ad.

It doesn’t just go for brand deals. If everything is a direct advertisement for whatever it is you’re selling, the relationship you have with your audience will fade over time.

This is a very similar concept to Gary V’s jab jab right hook.

Rule 10: Yes… The Riches are Still in the Niches

As Alex Lieberman put it in a group chat we are in:

“Going more narrow and monetizing audience directly and more deeply is being rewarded more than ever before.”

If you’re interested in the fastest and most effective path to growth and profitability – niche down.

Algorithms love clarity.

Audiences bond faster with someone who feels like an authority in what they are interested in.

And brands prefer niches – if you’re a fitness creator with 10K followers a supplement brand will be much more interested in your audience than a ‘variety creator’ with 100K because conversions will be much sharper.

The same goes for info products, or whatever else you’re selling.

Now, niching down can be a trap in the long term. You might not want to box yourself in. So my recommendation is to start hyper-niched-down, then expand:

Phase 1: Clarity – Go triple tunnel vision into a niche and obsess over it. It has to be something you’re genuinely interested in. You can position yourself as a curious tinkerer, you don’t have to be an expert. But you do have to love it. Otherwise you will burn out or crash out 10 of 10 times. Not 9 times out of of 10. 10 times out of 10.

Phase 2: Depth – Here’s where you have to do something to differentiate yourself. People come for the niche, but stay for you. Do you have unique humor? A new format or style you can bring to the table? Figure out your unique blend that only you can offer.

Phase 3: Expansion – Gradually widen the line. Here’s where you can effectively become the niche. Start introducing adjacent topics. What else are you interested in?

This is what I did.

I started by just covering AI updates, and talking about the most important stories in the industry.

Then I started introducing really weird and unique concepts.

Now I’m in the position where I can tell a story about a creator or make strange experimental films and it all ‘makes sense’ for the brand.

Now… Let’s Talk About Actionable Ways to Produce Good Content

Rule 11: The Story is the Strategy

The algorithm worships storytelling.

Story is the absolute main ingredient to content. It’s the meat. The foundation. Everything else is just seasoning.

Content without story is all going to be automated this year by AI. You’re quite literally just an NPC in danger of being automated away if you’re not focused on telling a good story.

Rule 12: Make Your Audience the HERO

This sounds harsh, but it will actually set you free.

Nobody truly cares about you. Or me. Or anybody else for the matter (aside from their close friends and loved ones.).

Ultimately, they are consuming your content for them, and what they can get out of it, whether that be education, inspiration or entertainment.

People care about themselves, and their story.

So when you tell your story, make sure they can see themselves in it.

I wrote about this with a few examples of creators who do this really well a few years ago.

Rule 13: Audio Must Be CHERISHED

Creators constantly undervalue audio.

“Over 50% of people scroll without sound on!”

True, but I do have a theory that a strong % of those who have their audio off will turn up the sound for the right piece of content.

I might make the argument that good quality audio is more important that quality visuals.

A video with mediocre visuals but perfect audio will keep someone locked in. The reverse is rarely true.

Audio is the emotional bloodstream of content.

Visuals tell you what’s happening. Audio tells you how to feel about it.

If you master sound, you’re not just making a video – you’re creating an experience.

Quick adjacent tip: Change the name of your original audio on Instagram to ‘follow “x” for more.’

Rule 14: Treat AI as a Collaborator, not a Replacement

Here’s an excerpt that included me from a recent oped that Matt Medved wrote about how to break through in the age of infinite media.

Foundational Tips

Rule 15: If You Don’t Love it You Will Lose

You have to GENUINELY LOVE THIS GAME.

Money is a great outcome… not a good intention.

I said this in rule 10 but I am going to say it again because that’s how important it is.

If you’re making content about something you’re not genuinely interested in, you will get smoked. You will burn out 10 out of 10 times.

Make absolutely certain – especially in 2026 with how ultra-competitive things are going to get – that you have a deep and genuine interest or curiosity into whatever it is you are going to make content about.

This keeps you in the game, which already puts you ahead of 95% of creators.

Rule 16: On To The Next

Don’t get discouraged if something doesn’t perform well right away. Short-form content is more evergreen than ever. It can often take the algorithm weeks to find the right audience.

I’ve had videos pop off several months later even.

Make yourself available to comment back to everyone possible, but otherwise, do not keep refreshing the videos checking the performance. Come back a few weeks later to analyze.

Rule 17: Comparison is Your Coffin

The creator game is very much you versus you.

Comparing yourselves to other creators is perfectly natural. But it can also mark the beginning of the end if you let it get out of control.

Here are some things that might help:

• Separate Position from Timeline – Don’t compare your chapter 2 to their chapter 12. I started 3 years ago, and have been able to ‘outpace’ most creators who started at the same time. However, I have 15 years in the game building adjacent skills. So my ‘3 years ago’ is a much different story from someone else’s 3 years ago. Nothing will ever be a fair and even comparison. Focus on your own journey – a little bit better, every day, over a long period of time.

• Understand the Nuances of Numbers – The algorithm skews visibility. You are comparing yourself to the top <1% of creators, because that’s what surfaces to you. Also, different niches have different TAMs. You never know the full story, so stop obsessing over it.

• Reframe Envy as PROOF - You are no longer envious by their success. You are validated. If they can do it, so can you.

Spend more time making than consuming.

Trust the process. Comparison will only bother you if you don’t fully trust your path.

And the ONLY comparison you should be making is against your yesterday.

Rule 18: You’re Only (Roughly) As Good As Your Last 10 Pieces of Content

The popularity of TikTok shifted the entirety of social media from a social graph, to an interest graph.

A lot of creators complain about this, but I think it’s made social media more meritocratic than ever.

It’s a highly competitive market that is now predicated on quality of content, instead of size of existing audience.

The downside is that getting consistent engagement is harder than ever. So in theory, you really only are as good or as effective as your last few pieces of content.

But the upside, is that I think this is the best time in history to be a creator. It has never been easier to create several different types of businesses or methods to monetize your audience.

The fact that we can just post the same piece of content to several different platforms and magically get hundreds, thousands or millions of new eyeballs on it, compounded over endless shots on goals… IS INSANE. Do not take this for granted. It has never existed in the history of humanity, and may never exist to this level again.

Rule 19: Live Life First

I’m going to keep this one short.

If you don’t know what type of content to make, just tell stories from your life.

If you don’t have any stories, live more life.

Which leads me to a quick prediction. Older, more experienced creators are going to eat in the next decade.

Once they upskill into the skills that younger, native-to-social creators have for telling stories and creating content, they will dominate.

The more life you live, and the more experiences you have, the better the content.

Rule 20: Create to Serve

And finally… my foundational mantra and everlasting mission in this game: Create to Serve.

Please watch this video.

Additional RPN ‘rules”

• Never over-edit. You can ruin content by over-editing. You can never under-edit.

• Quality beats quantity in 2026. The competition is for retention, not creation.

• Don’t be too cool for captions. Instagram is now searchable via Google. So are most major platforms.

• Trust is the only algorithm in a world of infinite content.

• Nothing goes up and to the right forever. Swings are part of the game. Don’t sweat the ups and downs. Everyone has flops. Keep pushing.

• In 2026, creators who win will look less like influencers and more like media companies powered by a single, irreplaceable personality.

• Effort is love. You can’t automate quality. My daughter wakes me up every day at 6AM, but I can't tell you how many times I've stayed up until 2-3AM working on perfecting one frame, captioning, sound design, whatever it may be. Those extra hours of love you put into your work may not feel meaningful piece-by-piece, but it compounds over time, and people take notice.

Personal Updates

I will be spending some time in California in September.

If you’re in LA and want to connect, I will be at World’s No Bot Shop on September 6th.

If you’re in SF and want to connect, just reply to this email.

Roberto Nickson

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