Should social media posts look polished or plain?

Once AI came out, I made all these unique graphics and really cool ways to display things. I think they look awesome. They don't convert.

"No regular person makes those things. Simple text, simple everything. The fancier you make it, the more it stands out as not the content I'm here for."

What does the evidence say?

• A plain post of mine, white background, dark text, no branding, no nothing, did about 2,200.
• Operators posting as basic as possible are the ones crushing it.
• In my Meta ads, creative I thought looked good lost to plain video with text on top.

The logic is the same everywhere: plain feels like user-generated content. It looks like it belongs in the feed.

Why does more effort make it worse?

"The more effort you put in, the more quality you think you're making something, you're kind of making it worse. It's better, but it's worse at the goal you're trying to solve."

Your goal isn't a beautiful post. It's a post people stop on, read and share. What you think people want is usually wrong.

Does this apply to video too?

Yes. For YouTube and shorts, don't spend energy on professionalism or your background. Rough production can actually help, because it makes you more human. Handheld iPhone video beats a studio setup for this kind of content.

What about AI-generated people?

Avoid them in public-facing content if you can. People are getting too mad about AI people. You can use AI in a lot of ways, but the people one really gets a reaction. Oddly, in ad tests they performed better than I expected.

Am I fully convinced?

I'm torn. I created designs I really like, and then I watch people go as basic as possible and that's what wins. I lean toward the evidence.

Plain doesn't mean careless, either. When a competitor copied my text-over-background-video ad with a boring background and weak copy, it still worked a little. My takeaway: if a B-minus version works, an A-minus version should work better. Clear text and a good background still matter.

What posts get engagement for free?

Question-style posts that everyone likes to answer. They're a simple growth hack, and they don't need any design at all.

For the paid side of this, see whether ugly Meta ads beat polished ones.