fbpx
Photo: Alfazet Chronicles, YFS Magazine, Adobe Stock

AI For Digital Content Creation: Friend or Foe?

Michael Tanner discusses the impact of AI on content creation and explores AI-based language generation and content optimization tools available to marketers.


Michael Tanner discusses the impact of AI on content creation and explores different AI-based tools available to marketers. He focuses on two types of tools: language generation and content optimization. The language generation tools, such as GPT-3, Copy.ai, Articoolo, or Quillbot, use natural language processing to automatically generate high-quality content based on a given prompt or template. On the other hand, content optimization tools like Yoast SEO, SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, or Buzzsumo use machine learning algorithms to analyze and improve existing content. Tanner emphasizes the importance of understanding your audience and using the right insights to produce original content that resonates with them.


In today’s digital landscape, the ability to create high-quality, engaging content that attracts prospects is a must-have skill for any digital marketer. With AI technology, marketers now have automation tools that write content at lightning speed, dramatically jumpstarting the creative process and speeding up what has historically been a time-intensive task.

In this new world, business reviewers and approvers must now remember that a non-human author may have generated all or part of what they are reading. The need to “trust but verify” becomes essential.

 

Exploring Language Generation and Optimization Tools

The typical professional who reads blogs and other content has probably never considered whether a human being wrote the article they just read. But AI has now progressed to the stage where this is a legitimate question. There are several categories of AI-based tools that marketers should understand.

  • Language generation tools use natural language processing (NLP) to automatically generate written content based on a given prompt or template. These tools can help create news articles, social media posts, product descriptions, and more. For example: enter a prompt of “write a blog post on how to choose a blender,” and within seconds, there is a draft.
  • Content optimization tools use machine learning algorithms to analyze and improve the existing written content. These tools can help optimize headlines, meta descriptions, and other on-page elements for search engine optimization (SEO) and other purposes.
  • Grammar and style checking tools that use NLP to automatically check the written content for grammar errors, spelling mistakes, and other issues. These tools can also suggest corrections and improvements to the text.
  • Content curation tools automatically use AI to find and organize relevant content from various sources. These tools can help create content calendars, curate news articles, or even write summaries of research papers.

This article will explore the first two of the four categories of tools: 1) Language Generation and 2) Content Optimization.

 

The Power of Language Generation Tools

Natural language generation tools, such as GPT-3 (ChatGPT), Copy.ai, Articoolo, or Quillbot, use natural language processing (NLP) to automatically generate written content based on a given prompt or template. Marketers can now quickly and easily create blog posts, social media posts, and product descriptions in a fraction of the time. In many cases, all they need to do is provide a prompt or template, and the tool will generate a unique, high-quality piece of draft content in minutes.

“Language generation tools aren’t just about saving time; they’re also about creating personalized and compelling content.”

Language generation tools aren’t just about saving time; they’re also about creating personalized and compelling content. Until recently, AI has often felt like it had promise but wasn’t ready for prime time. Automatically generated content just felt sterile –– not compelling. But now, the level of logic and content that these tools generate automatically can be shockingly good.

For example, marketers can create multiple pieces of content on the same topic from different angles, which helps reach a wider audience. And by using the tools to generate drafts with additional filters, an author can iterate to generate highly persuasive marketing language that can increase conversions and boost sales.

 

The Importance of Content Optimization Tools

Content Optimization tools, such as Yoast SEO, SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, or Buzzsumo, also play a valuable role. These tools use machine learning algorithms to analyze and improve existing written content; they can optimize headlines, meta descriptions, and other on-page elements for search engine optimization (SEO) and other purposes. With Yoast SEO, for example, you can run your content through the tool and receive feedback on keywords, headlines, meta descriptions, and internal linking that can improve it for SEO purposes.

 

The Key to Effective Content Creation

Although this post has focused on the tools for content creation, everything starts with helpful insight. So knowing the audience for any content to be written is paramount, including understanding what topics, keywords, and themes are likely to resonate.

Many of the previously mentioned tools provide an ability to deeply analyze and understand an audience and how competitors use keywords to drive digital interest. Tools such as SEMrush, Ahrefs, Mozz, and others provide rich insights about keywords that drive web traffic and how competitors target appealing content.

Content curation tools, such as Buzzsumo and Articoolo, also use AI to automatically find and organize relevant content to help marketers gain insights about their audience’s interests and preferences. For marketers, knowing how to bring these insights into original content is important because it ultimately leads to higher engagement and lead conversions.

 

ChatGPT Transforms Blog Writing: A Case Study

This blog post can serve as a simple case study. At 9 a.m. on a Friday, I was having coffee with a CEO friend who, like me, is a tech geek. We were talking about AI, and we started discussing ChatGPT. As a beta user, I was familiar with ChatGPT, and I had an hour on my calendar to run a test.

So, at precisely 10 a.m., I opened ChatGPT and started to “write” this blog. I first asked the tool to generate an outline and then asked questions about each topic area. Finally, I input: ”write a blog of approximately 1000 words using the initial outline. Write creatively. Use names of specific tools as examples. Include headlines emphasizing essential keywords.” By 10:20 a.m., I received a first draft of what was to become this article.

 

The Risks of AI Tools for Content Creation

The preceding example suggests that as with many innovations that disrupt traditional work processes, Language Generation and Content Optimization tools have promising benefits. But it also highlights some potential risks.

As with other technology innovations, those using the tools effectively, in the beginning, will have an advantage. But as the world adapts, the expectation of “normal” productivity will increase. Some writers will inevitably over-rely on technology and insufficiently validate their writing as deadlines shorten, introducing the potential for errors. Beyond the marketing function, I suspect the potential for abuse when writing academic and research-oriented papers will be even more profound.

Even so, when appropriately used, these tools now give marketers unparalleled opportunities to improve the creative process and become better communicators. The experience of writing this article can’t help but remind me of the famed science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke and his third law – that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

 

Micheal Tanner is a CMO with Chief Outsiders, the nation’s largest and fastest-growing firm offering fractional Chief Marketing Officer services with Fortune 500 experience.

 

© YFS Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Copying prohibited. All material is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this material is prohibited. Sharing of this material under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International terms, listed here, is permitted.

   

In this article