Trung Phan's strategy splits content into smart (long-form, educational) and dumb (short, funny). Post both types on every platform: use memes and clips to grab attention, then deliver real value with deeper videos. Joma Opa does this with coding tutorials and tech skits. Even Marc Andreessen and Elon Musk post memes.
Trung Phan accidentally taught me the ultimate content strategy. Smart content versus dumb content. Let me explain. Back in 2021, I saw writer Trung Phan say that he posts smart threads and dumb memes. It blew my mind. You post smart threads or long-form content to educate, and you post dumb, dank memes to entertain. When possible, you try to combine the two and educate and entertain at the same time. I'm using the smart versus dumb strategy on every platform. The dumb funny content is the honey. The smart education is the protein. So here's how it works on each platform. On Twitter and LinkedIn, I post a mix of smart, long-form posts and videos about creativity and marketing, and dumb, funny memes and videos. You might think people will take you less seriously if you're posting dumb, silly content, but everyone from Marc Andreessen to Elon Musk posts memes and jokes online. You'd be surprised, people might actually take you more seriously because they could tell you're not trying to show off your intellect all the time. On the video-centric platforms, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, I post a mix of smart, meaningful videos like these, plus dumb funny short videos. Because of the way the algo works and my account size, the dumb shorts, especially on YouTube, are more likely to get thousands of views, but the smart long-form content will be evergreen and help people for years to come. The best example I could think of for YouTube would be Joma Opa. He posts smart videos about coding interviews and dumb hilarious tech skits. Even YouTubers like MrBeast and Danny Duncan do this a bit. Most of the time on their channel is dumb funny unserious content, but they do a lot of smart interviews about their lives and YouTube strategies as well. Remember, you can be both serious and funny. Don't be afraid to show your human side and laugh online. I'm giving you permission. You're allowed to be both smart and dumb.
