From manufacturing to digital marketing, artificial intelligence (AI) tools can perform a lot of the repetitive, time-consuming tasks that often slow down our productivity. By leveraging AI content marketing, we can free up time, and devote that energy to more important tasks. In this blog, we explore why AI is best used as a tool to support content creators rather than a method to create content from scratch.
Key takeaways
- AI content creation tools use machine learning to deliver blogs, social media copy, and other types of content based on the prompts you enter.
- Unfortunately, AI tools aren’t proficient at capturing the uniquely human element that makes good content successful.
- Content lacking originality, personalization, and unique information is considered low-quality by Google, and therefore harmful to search engine rankings.
- Rather than using AI tools to create content from scratch, marketers should use them to simplify processes, collect data and create better content.
What exactly is AI-generated content and how is it made?
As the name indicates, AI-generated content is content written using machine learning tools, otherwise known as natural language generation (NLG). To put it simply, AI generator tools search the web for information on the topics you input. Then, they compile that information into the type of content you requested.
For example, say you want a blog about the benefits of shopping with a small business. AI generator tools review the content that’s already available on that topic. Then, they create a blog that essentially summarizes the common points made in existing blog posts on that very same topic. You can specify details like the word count and even the use of statistics to make your point.
Ultimately, AI generator tools use information and insights that are already out there to create content. That means it won’t convey your brand personality or have a unique understanding of your niche audience. In other words, they lack the human touch that generates connections and trust in your brand.
What does human content have that AI content doesn’t?
Although AI can create generic and informative content on the topics that interest your target audience, it lacks the ability to convey:
- Your brand personality or story
- Relevant connections to your target market
- Unique opinions or insight
Empathy is the foundation of the strongest marketing messages. When you show customers that you understand their challenges and goals and you know how to address them, that’s when you win them over.
To develop those messages, you need an intimate understanding of your audience. Knowing what excites them, what worries them, and how they like to interact with you allows you to build a relationship. You’re not just a business. You’re an understanding friend or a driven partner.
An AI content tool might be able to give you a blog with plenty of good reasons to support small businesses. However, what it can’t give you is a blog that demonstrates an understanding of your local community and how your company gives back in meaningful ways.
AI might know that shopping small helps support local economies, but it doesn’t know that your company participates in annual volunteer work. Ultimately, AI doesn’t know what makes your brand unique from the competition.
Is AI-generated content harmful to SEO?
In short, yes AI content can be harmful to your search engine rankings. According to Google’s own webmaster guidelines, automatically generated content is considered spam, and AI content falls within this category.
Additionally, in late 2022, Google completed its helpful content update, which favors content written by people, for people. Google released this update in an effort to improve the quality of its search engine results. As a result of the update, content written with the intention of answering questions, providing useful information, and above all, helping readers, will rank more highly in Google searches.
On the other hand, content that appears to be written for the purpose of ranking in Google search results gets penalized. When you create content with AI alone, your work will likely lack originality, personality, and critical information. The result is low-quality content that not only is unlikely to rank well in Google search, but also may have a negative impact on your search engine visibility as a whole.
Does AI have a place in content marketing?
Despite its clear drawbacks, AI has the potential to strengthen your approach to content marketing, just not in the way that you might think. Many AI tools are already available that can streamline aspects of the content creation process and improve the overall quality of your efforts.
Here are a few AI tools that can support your content marketing efforts:
- Keyword Insights AI or Narrato: creating content briefs for SEO pages and blogs.
- Grammarly: proofreading content for grammar and spelling mistakes.
- Hemingway App: improving your content’s tone or readability.
- Fullstory: gathering valuable data on your target audience.
- Chatfuel: facilitate real-time customer interactions.
Drive human connections with smart technology.
Agency 102 combines useful technology with that essential human factor to create impactful content. View our case studies to see how we combine data-driven strategies with human-centered approaches.
