How to use the people around you as content farms

You do not have to churn out social media posts alone

Being able to write publicly is a huge privilege. If you have an idea, you can actually try and get it to people. And while they might not listen, at least you know where they are. If I had been born at a different time, the best I could have hoped for was to write to my husband who was off at the war, and maybe my sister (I don’t know much about history), and maybe neither of them would have responded.

At the same time, social media demands volume. This is a bit at odds with humans who, in my opinion, do not always have something to say. You need an audience to be present once you’re ready to cook, but to generate that audience, you have to be in the kitchen consistently.

Anyways, one of the greatest solutions I have found to this problem is to simply start farming your social circle for content. Influencers have been doing this since forever, but it’s a muscle that you have to train, and as every day people, the rest of us can overlook its viability.

1. Make sure everyone in your life knows that you can (and do) screenshot

   1. My girlfriend and sister are naturally funny. But, I believe they both upped their games once they realised I was screenshotting and posting their best bits without asking. Now, I believe social media exists as a kind of subconscious, ever-present observer in their minds, resulting in more crafted text responses.

2. Find funny people and post the things they say and do

   1. This one is really straightforward. For example, my coworker recently went to a wedding where the bride and groom played rock, paper, scissors to decide which last name they’d take. It currently has over a million views on TikTok. If I was at that wedding, I could have posted about it on twitter and maybe gone viral.

3. Find smart people and post their insights

   1. This one is also straightforward.

4. Find people who are active lurkers on social media, but too scared to post

   1. These people are the best because they know the trends and the language. They can forward you good content and even drafts, and then, they’ll ask you to post. You get social points for “helping them” and also content. If you’re this kind of person, please dm me.

5. Do not be afraid to drop everything and document what’s happening

   1. My girlfriend said that she watched an interview in which Lin-Manuel Miranda said that he left a birthday party right as he arrived because he was suddenly hit with inspiration for the song, Wait for it (which is in Hamilton and it’s very good). Anyways, this might not be true because I couldn’t find it on Google. If it is true, then it’s an important anecdote and also exactly how I feel when I zone out of my friend’s story to type on my phone. I think the second someone says or does something funny or interesting, you should pause the conversation and write it down. Your friends will learn to be okay with this over time, especially if they see their ideas getting likes.

6. Make your coworkers edit your posts

   1. Sometimes, I have to pause work to tweet a really funny idea that just popped into my mind, and sometimes this requires me to make a meme. But, it can take a bit of time to get the wording just right. This tip isn’t “content farming” per se, more like “editor farming.” But regardless, usually what I do is I start quietly chuckling to myself until someone says, “what are you laughing at?” Then, I make them fix the wording of my joke or meme for me.

We cannot all be 100xers. I have no idea how, for example, Bentham’s Bulldog writes the amount that he does. It’s extremely impressive and I cannot do it, but I don’t need to. One 30-minute conversation with him and surely I could farm out at least three tweets, maybe a post as well. And you can too. And I think that’s beautiful.