Debunking AI Myths: The Best (and Worst) Advice for Content Marketing

Generative AI prompts a variety of reactions from content material entrepreneurs. Everyone appears to have an opinion — or a couple of — on the impact of this extensively accessible and all the time evolving know-how.

However what’s the worst recommendation on the market about generative AI?

Take an all-or-nothing method

Evidently, some folks assume generative AI includes absolutes. However that’s poor decision-making (or possibly an absence of decision-making), in line with our consultants.

Ignore generative AI

Some folks suggest we keep away from utilizing generative AI, which not solely sows concern however places entrepreneurs at a drawback in a workforce and market panorama more and more counting on generative AI. I nonetheless don’t suggest utilizing generative AI to create content material you publish wholesale as is. Nevertheless, I do assume it may be a helpful assistant within the content material creation course of by serving to you to generate concepts, analyze information, summarize massive items of content material, extract key factors from bigger content material items, establish gaps in your content material, and extra. — Melanie Deziel, co-founder, CreatorKitchen.com

Don’t use it

The worst recommendation I’ve heard about gen AI is to not use it in any respect. That might be like saying I received’t use a spreadsheet. Gen AI is only a instrument. Don’t overcomplicate it. Deal with it like a member of your employees. Ask Gen AI to assist with technique and ideation and to counsel questions you ought to be asking, however you’re not. — Bernie Borges, vp, international content material advertising and marketing, iQor

Use it ASAP

The worst recommendation I’ve heard about generative AI in content material advertising and marketing is to simply get began. Sure, it’s undeniably the time to begin enjoying round with generative AI instruments and studying their capabilities earlier than you fall behind. Nevertheless, many content material advertising and marketing groups — typically beneath the route of executives who misunderstand the precise capabilities of generative AI — have rushed into utilizing AI to create complete articles and e-books from scratch.

There are lots of nice first content use cases for generative AI — ones that may assist you to obtain your content material advertising and marketing targets — and new long-form content material creation isn’t one.

Earlier than generative AI can create on-brand and helpful content material, even when it’s merely repurposing current content material, you’ll have to have a number of foundational parts in place.

At a minimal, outline your model voice, create a content material model information, doc your content material governance insurance policies… oh yeah, and construct your content material technique, too! I do know this could sound like lots to tackle, however these are integral for serving to all content material creators—human or in any other case—convey your distinctive model voice by means of content material. In any other case, you’ll produce bland content material that received’t attraction to anybody. And our communities don’t want any extra of that. — Erika Heald, founder and chief content material officer, Erika Heald Advertising and marketing Consulting

Go for it or do nothing

Fairly a number of people take an all-or-nothing method to generative AI in content material advertising and marketing — the concept being that you could both totally embrace it or keep away from it solely. Generative AI could be a useful instrument so long as it’s utilized in moderation and by no means used to substitute to your voice or your organization’s. — Beth Elderkin, content material advertising and marketing supervisor, Informa Join

Act like generative AI is the be-all-end-all at the moment

Generative AI presents potential options, however a number of the worst recommendation comes from individuals who view it as THE reply for at the moment and tomorrow.

View generative AI as the long run

Generative AI is the way forward for AI. Within the martech world, it’s prone to take a again seat to insights AI and decisioning AI (performing) as extra of an order taker than a decision-maker (BTW, it is a good factor.)          — Tony Byrne, founder, Actual Story Group

Deal with it as mature know-how

Bear in mind the phrase, “I believed I knew every thing in my 20s, however after I hit my 30s, I noticed I knew nothing.” Generative AI continues to be in its 20s.

I do a variety of worldwide advertising and marketing and I typically discover that AI can simply make errors with the interpretations of culturally wealthy content material. For instance, it might make the most of the tone of a French Canadian; nonetheless, it pulls one thing that’s French from France. All it takes is one error like this to lose the belief of your French-Canadian viewers. — Michael Bonfils, international managing director, Digital Worldwide Group

Make AI the go-to workforce member

I’ve heard some scary recommendation, however by far, the worst has been to completely lean in and let it do the entire heavy lifting for you and your workforce. AI is a workforce member, not a alternative for a complete workforce. It shouldn’t be the crutch on which you lean to jot down your content material however, as an alternative, a strong instrument to reinforce and help your artistic course of.

AI can present priceless insights, streamline analysis, and even assist with producing concepts, however the human contact is irreplaceable. Content material advertising and marketing thrives on authenticity, creativity, and emotional connection—qualities that AI, regardless of its developments, nonetheless can not totally replicate. Over-reliance on AI can result in generic, soulless content material that fails to interact your viewers or convey your model’s distinctive voice. — Ashley Baker, founder and chief advertising and marketing officer, Shoreline Advertising and marketing LLC

It’s coming to your job

Generative AI is taking your job. The extent of its results largely is determined by the corporate’s perspective. Whereas some organizations could be inclined to switch human content material creators, others proceed to understand the worth their content material groups convey and examine AI as a supplementary instrument for enhancement.

To raised comprehend the implications to your state of affairs, it’s important to gauge your administration’s stance on AI integration. — Pam Didner, vp of selling, Relentless Pursuit LLC

Use it as a content material creator

Entrepreneurs speak continuously about how generative AI instruments make content material creation simpler and faster, and with out the necessity for human writers. However a variety of that isn’t the perfect recommendation.

Create drafts with it

With a number of caveats, the worst recommendation I’ve heard is to make use of AI to jot down your first draft. That could be OK for some sorts of content material (e.g., technical documentation) or for extra mundane elements of the workflow (e.g., define, metadata, preliminary proofing, optimization). However for those who’re aiming to distinguish your content material from rivals and construct a robust, loyal relationship along with your viewers, then it’s a foul guess.

The actual worth in beginning with an unpleasant first draft isn’t simply to finish up with a primary draft however to do the considering that’s concerned — to pressure-test your premise, percolate on the probabilities, refine your perspective, ponder whether or not you’re pushing the alliteration simply. a bit. too far. Coaching the AI in your model, voice, and tone might make the robotic sound extra such as you, however writing is a muscle that will get flabby when it isn’t flexed. Use it or lose it. — Carmen Hill, principal strategist and author, Chill Content material LLC

Use it to jot down

One of many worst items of recommendation I’ve heard about utilizing AI in content material advertising and marketing is to make use of it to jot down content material. That sort of content material isn’t actually useful to organizations in any approach until they’re merely in a race to provide probably the most content material that appears like everybody else.

Producing extra content material for the sake of manufacturing extra content material isn’t getting anybody anyplace. Higher content material must be the objective. — Michelle Garrett, advisor and author, Garrett Public Relations

Immediate the posts

Simply have ChatGPT write you a weblog publish.

Don’t use these instruments as direct content material turbines with out appreciable human enhancing and oversight. These instruments are educated with current content material, and the output they create is usually word-for-word plagiarism from current paperwork.

This know-how is implausible for brainstorming concepts, discovering gaps in your content material, adjusting the writing model or studying stage, however not for copying and pasting. — Brian Piper, director of content material technique and evaluation, College of Rochester

Go for quantity

The worst recommendation about generative AI in content material advertising and marketing is that it permits you to create a whole lot of items of content material and remove your writers. It jogs my memory of the saying, “Simply because you are able to do one thing, it doesn’t imply it is best to do it.” Utilizing AI to pump out that a lot content material solely ensures your content material won’t succeed.

Whereas generative AI is getting higher at sounding much less formulaic, it nonetheless can not match the finesse that comes from utilizing human writers. AI can not exchange the emotion and strategic considering infused in prose from expert wordsmiths. — Andi Robinson, content material strategist, Hijinx Advertising and marketing

Generate to create

Worst recommendation: Let generative AI generate (i.e., content material). As extra content material is created by generative AI, the extra our content material sounds the identical. As a substitute of getting generative AI do the factor, use it for one step faraway from the factor, which is to assist brainstorm and plan your content material. That’s proper, consider it as ideation AI. — Dennis Shiao, founder, Consideration Retention

Eradicate the necessity for human intervention

I spoke to an engineer who was obsessed with tinkering with generative AI to discover a strategy to totally exchange people for writing weblog posts. They may not fathom that the perfect use of AI for weblog writers was to make them extra artistic and environment friendly. They insisted on working towards an answer that will require little to no rewriting or enhancing and didn’t perceive why we thought this was not solely unimaginable however undesirable. — Monica Norton, vp, communications and content material, Nextiva

Write away

By far, the worst recommendation I’ve heard (and proceed to listen to) is to make use of AI to jot down your copy. Advertising and marketing is all about differentiation. If everyone seems to be utilizing the identical copy, how do you stand out? As a substitute, use AI to generate concepts, summarize analysis content material, and counsel matters. — Jenn VandeZande, editor-in-chief, SAP CX + Industries

Faucet into generative AI for higher content material

Utilizing generative AI as a helper in attaining your content material creation and advertising and marketing targets is definitely an possibility. However it will not be the perfect assistant that will help you ship outcomes.

Get-started help

Worst: It’s nice for getting over the clean web page drawback.

As a substitute, It’s nice for critiquing the writing you labored actually arduous to get proper and can assist you to make it higher. — Jim Sterne, president, Goal Advertising and marketing of Santa Barbara

Don’t use ChatGPT for distinctive content material

Worst AI recommendation: You may’t use ChatGPT to jot down distinctive content material.

ChatGPT is educated on thousands and thousands of pages of net content material. So ChatGPT is intimately accustomed to the content material that has already been printed on the net. Happily, you should use ChatGPT to measure the distinctiveness of YOUR content material concepts earlier than you write or earlier than you publish. Merely ask ChatGPT to measure the novelty of your content material on a scale from one to 10 and clarify its score. This trick works for content material, briefs, matters, outlines, and extra. — Dale Bertrand, president, Hearth&Spark

Write for the algorithm

Many organizations are apprehensive that they received’t be discovered until they write for the algorithm. There are two issues with this: 1. We don’t know the algorithm generative AI is utilizing. 2. Writing for something in addition to your viewers is a waste of finances. Create content material for folks with person intent as your information — not a mysterious algorithm. — Mariah Obiedzinski Tang, assistant vp of content material advertising and marketing, Stamats

Consider AI killed website positioning

Don’t spend money on SEO. website positioning is lifeless! AI killed it. Oh, simmer.

Gartner predicts search engine quantity will drop 25% by 2026 because of AI chatbots and different digital brokers, however website positioning isn’t lifeless, particularly in terms of net content material creation and publishing. Search is evolving.

Bear in mind voice search? It was supposed to switch how folks purchased issues and acquired data. Now, it’s principally used for easy job automation and to examine tomorrow’s climate. Take into account social media, too. Fb, TikTok, Instagram — these channels didn’t exchange a model’s web site for e-commerce transactions. As a substitute, they grew to become different channels for e-commerce.

Generative AI will doubtless be yet one more advertising and marketing channel in your buyer journey. Keep in mind that search optimization means being understood. Generative AI is one other channel to your model and content material to be understood. website positioning is the mechanism for being understood on-line. The pursuit of being understood (by folks, AI, search engines like google, and so forth.) is a worthy funding. — Haley Collins, director of operations, GPO

See AI as a staffing answer

A whole lot of the talk round generative AI facilities on the human impression. But, the consultants say that’s a mistake.

Scale back your people

The worst recommendation? Lower the employees. Let generative AI write it as a result of it’s sooner and cheaper. Sure, it’s. However is it good? Proper now, the A in AI might simply stand for common.

And content that stands out is something however. It must be completely different than what’s already been accomplished. It wants to supply a recent take, a brand new approach of issues, maybe a perspective that challenges the established order.

The very best artistic concepts make you contemplate issues. Or rethink them, viewing them from one other vantage level. Greater than that, they make you are feeling one thing. And that job’s too necessary to outsource to common.

When you should, let AI assist you to analysis. Let AI examine your spelling. Let AI make sure you’re writing on the desired grade stage. However all the time bear in mind who’s in cost. — Nancy Harhut, chief artistic officer, HBT Advertising and marketing

Develop AI’s position

Worst recommendation: Scale back content material groups and considerably exchange them with a barrage of AI-infused instruments for graphics, visuals, video, textual content, downloadables, and so forth.

You continue to want certified, artistic, vision-driven people to create content material that advances the trigger. Generative AI is an extra instrument within the arsenal; it’s not a alternative. That’s the place many are getting it mistaken and spreading that nonsense like wildfire as a result of they see the price financial savings however by no means do the revenue evaluation of the worth a great content material workforce with instruments and finances does compared to an absence of 1. — Troy Sandidge, founder, Technique Hackers

Erase the folks

The worst recommendation I’ve heard is that AI goes to fully erase content material writers and advertising and marketing.

I might advise utilizing AI for the content material creation course of as a result of it may well assist you to be extra environment friendly and inventive as it may well velocity up tedious duties that you simply beforehand had been doing manually reminiscent of content material outlines, content material ideation, content material calendars, and so forth.

AI won’t exchange folks, however individuals who use AI will exchange those that don’t. — Zack Kadish, senior website positioning technique director, Conductor

Use it as a alternative

It’s nonsense when folks say that our jobs shall be taken over by AI. We, as consultants in our discipline, will turn into higher by collaborating with instruments like AI. Specialists working along with instruments equals a win-win state of affairs. — Pauline Lannoo, head of digital technique, The Fats Woman

Let it do every thing

Let’s use AI to do all of the issues!

No, significantly, now we have been testing AI (each paid and free packages) to assist us craft website positioning articles and follow-up promotional deliverables, reminiscent of touchdown pages, e-mail copy, and advert copy. (TL;DR:  The output is like rewatching Star Wars or Alien from the Seventies simply to snicker on the CGI. It’s very apparent what was created by a pc and what’s from an precise human.) It takes us rounds of prompts to get the AI to look even considerably on message and craft content material that isn’t plagiarized.

AI can’t clear up all our manufacturing ache factors for content material…but. Right this moment, it’s an awesome place to do analysis, brainstorm completely different wording for titles, begin a great first draft for non-writers, and assist redo the tone of a chunk. — Amy Higgins, director, content material technique, Cloudflare

The whole lot moderately

Generative AI definitely generated a variety of dialog from CMWorld audio system. And although a few of it might appear contradictory, a constant theme emerges: AI received’t exchange people, however each content material marketer ought to get to know the probabilities and work out how this prolific instrument might help — not hinder — their manufacturers’ content material advertising and marketing outcomes.