SHOULD MARKETERS EMBRACE AI-GENERATED CONTENT?
There's a lot of chatter about AI-generated content right now. For marketers, the possibilities seem almost too good to be true.
Endless content?
For free?
Delivered in seconds? 😱
As with most good things in life, there's a catch. AI-generated content may be fast and easy to produce, but it won't do your job for you.
For starters, ChatGPT, Google's new Bard chatbot and Bing's latest AI search function have all been caught pumping out some seriously inaccurate information. But that can be fixed with fact-checking and research.
The real problem is the idea that AI could actually take over the role of a content marketer. Here's why we disagree:
1. CONTENT ≠ CONTENT MARKETING
Creating content is not the same as content marketing. AI will write whatever you tell it to, regardless of if it actually supports your marketing goals.
A content marketer understands your buyer's journey and goals so they can create the content you actually need.
2. NO THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
By nature, AI cannot generate a truly original stance or opinion. If you're trying to establish thought leadership, AI-generated content won't get you very far.
3. IT DOESN'T KNOW YOU OR YOUR AUDIENCE
AI can't fully grasp your brand or your audience — two of the most foundational elements of any piece of marketing content.
The truth is, it's impossible to distill the complex needs and motivations of your buyer personas into a straightforward, AI-friendly prompt.
Likewise, you can tell AI to write in your style, but it can't skillfully weave your values, voice and tone, and competitive positioning into every touchpoint.
So if AI can't replace content marketers, then what is it good for?
Despite its shortcomings, AI-generated content can still be helpful for marketers. Here are some examples of how you can leverage AI writing tools to save time and scale your content operations:
1. CONTENT DISTRIBUTION 🔊
Repackaging your content for different channels is one of the most effective ways to level up your content strategy. ChatGPT can take your blog posts, podcast scripts and other content and repurpose it in a variety of new formats, including Twitter threads, key takeaways and email blasts.
2. A/B TESTING ✅
Let's say you want to find out if you should emphasize the quality or speed of your services in your ad copy to maximize conversions. You can ask ChatGPT to spin up different versions of your ad copy that are geared toward each value proposition to use in an A/B test.
3. KEYWORD & TOPIC IDEATION 🔍
With ChatGPT, you can essentially canvass the entire internet to find out which topics and keywords are commonly associated with each other.
If you have a top-performing blog post, for example, you can plug that topic into the tool and see what related topics you should cover to build out a complete topic cluster. Just be sure to back up your keyword strategy with actual data from a tool like Semrush.
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We've just barely scratched the surface of the possibilities — and drawbacks — of using AI-generated content today. For more of our thoughts on this topic, check out our article The Pros and Cons of Using an AI Content Generator.
😉 TLDR: AI-generated content can't replace content marketers, but it can help you save time and scale your content operations.
