5 Questions to Ask Before Using AI for Content Creation
brands are adopting AI for content creation, fast. But, is their output improving? If you’re wondering how to scale content creation with AI, there are five questions you need to ask before you start.
Opinions on the use of AI-generated content are flowing in. Some businesses are striving to automate content writing end to end, while others are exploring how AI can augment their abilities.
As we explore the capabilities of generative AI in these early days, we need to figure out how to make content better. Not just how to make it faster. The goal of content marketing is to attract the impressions, clicks, and conversions that lead to fruitful business relationships – and that involves impressing our audience.
So, what content do people want? A study from the MIT Sloan School of Management recently showed that readers preferred AI-generated content to human content when they didn’t know how it was produced. If they knew that a human was involved in the content creation process, they showed favouritism to humans, but no aversion to AI.
SEO expert, Neil Patel has done his own testing on AI content versus human content, finding that content written by humans generates more organic search traffic and keeps people on the page for longer.
Ultimately, every marketing team needs to run their own experiments to figure out what content resonates with their audience and delivers business value.
If you’re currently exploring the adoption of AI tools for content marketing, here are five questions you need to answer before you scale up your output.
- What is your value proposition?
- What do your customers want to know?
- Is your perspective helpful?
- What’s your take on your topic?
- How will you measure content performance?
What is your value proposition?
All of your content should shine a light on your value proposition. If you scale up your content marketing strategy without reflecting on why your customers choose you, then your brand story will feel disjointed and inauthentic.
So, how can you figure out what that value proposition is? Using the well-known value proposition canvas framework is a great starting point, as it helps you identify your customer’s pain points and what they can gain from using your product or service. It also puts you in their shoes and encourages you to think about their thoughts, feelings, and influences.
What do your customers want to know?
Researching what people are searching for in search engines and social media platforms is a great way to understand what you should be talking about. Not only does it give you insight into the products and services that are in demand in your industry, it also helps you understand your audience’s pain points and interests.
Keyword research tools such as SEMRUSH or Google Keyword Planner can give you a sense of what people want to learn about online. Some social media platforms, such as Pinterest are also starting to share their search data.
As Google rolls out its Search Generative Experience (SGE) and people get used to talking to chatbots, people won’t have to break down complex questions into simple ones and piece together the information themselves. As a result, search queries could continue getting longer (and far more interesting), giving you a lot of insight into what your content customers want.
You can also get plenty of content ideas just by speaking with your audience. What pain points do your customers raise? What elements of your proposals constantly win prospects people over? These are all great online conversation starters.
Is your perspective helpful?
Avoid commenting on topics that aren’t in the scope of your business for the sake of targeting highly searched keywords.
Google is constantly updating its search algorithm to prioritise helpful content. So, your landing pages and articles will struggle to rank if they don’t demonstrate expertise, experience, authority, and trustworthiness. Be clear on your strengths and then take the time to build up a library of content that showcases them. You will build trust and authority faster, making your brand far more appealing to people and search engines.
What’s your take?
Go beyond sharing information that’s already readily available online. Start sharing more of the unique experiences you’ve had working on your business instead.
These are the stories that other business owners and marketers using the same generative AI tools as you would struggle to tell. You could also collaborate with subject matter experts in your industry to create highly informed and original content, building new partner relationships as you go.
Remember that in the MIT study I mentioned earlier, readers liked written content more if they knew people were involved in making it, so use the human touch to your advantage.
How will you measure content performance?
Experimentation is an important part of marketing. New marketing trends come and go, and we constantly have to select the technologies and approaches that work best for our business. So, if you’re trying out AI for content creation for the first time, make sure you’re prepared to track its impact. Set up your hypothesis, define your goals, and measure the performance of your content along the way. The last thing you want to do is generate a huge amount of AI-generated content, only to put off audiences, search engines, and algorithms.
Clarity is key
Whether you’re trying to create the perfect set of prompts for ChatGPT or an inspiring brief for your content marketing team, you need to be clear about your brand’s value proposition and what your audience wants to know. Regardless of whether your content is produced by humans, machines, or a combination of both – it needs to have a clear intent to spark a meaningful interaction.
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