Over the last few years, artificial intelligence has developed at an incredible pace. This has naturally generated a degree of fear for many working particularly in creative industries, worried that the increasing sophistication of AI will make their jobs redundant. As a result, there are many who have stuck their head in the sand and avoided engaging with what AI can offer.
Forward thinking companies, though, have explored its potential and are using it proactively to improve processes and the speed of certain tasks. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in digital marketing – and even more specifically, content writing – a discipline that was running scared of AI until recently.
In brief, a good writer will always ensure that a piece of written content contains that human element, has the undertones of emotional connection, human creativity and insight, recognizing an individual tone of voice that sets one organization apart from its competitors. However, the challenge for many content writers is to generate interesting angles for often the most obscure of products. You may be writing about roofing ladders or router bits, products which will never set the world on fire, but to the companies that sell them provide an income stream that will keep many families fed and housed. As a result, it is the job of the content writer to produce copy that is fresh, interesting, engaging and incorporates all the elements required for keyword search and site engine optimization.
This is why AI is a good content writer’s savior.
Brilliant ideation opportunities
The original concern about AI for writers is that it would replace their function. What has happened instead is that the search engines have become adept at recognizing a piece that is written purely by AI and penalizes it in the rankings accordingly, rewarding those that have been human written instead.
However, AI is absolutely brilliant at generating ideas from simple prompts. In fact, it has generated an entire new stream of income for marketers who have spent time digging down into the functionality behind AI and developing a series of prompts to help refine certain creative processes.
Today, writers no need to spend time staring at a blank piece of paper. Instead, professional content creators can input a series of relevant prompts and questions to generate and refine an idea which can then be rewritten and revised with the human touch and input required to rank better in search engines.
Inserting the personal narrative
Part of this ‘humanizing’ touch is to insert more personal stories and third person testimonials and narratives to make the copy more relevant to the audience. It is important to recognize the areas in which AI is most proficient – and generally this is in data processing and pattern recognition. It will even be able to source and generate these stories itself. However, it is the human element that elevates it and take it to the next level. A good writer will produce content that resonates with the target audience on a much deeper level. Research has demonstrated on many occasions how that emotional connection is more likely to end in a sale, so maintain (and enhancing) that emotion will always be an essential element of the process.
Fast changing landscape
Even while writing this piece, we all know that the AI landscape is ever evolving, and may even have changed by the time of publishing. It is crucial for content writers to keep abreast of developments. Not only is this important to alleviate any concern about job security, but by keeping up to date with continuous advancements in AI technology, and effectively incorporating it into writing projects in a proactive and beneficial manner, will ensure that your skills will continue to be a much demand in the digital marketing industry.
