AI-powered writing tools like ChatGPT, Bard, and others are becoming increasingly popular among bloggers and content creators, and for good reason. AI technology can help you generate high-quality content quickly and efficiently, and it provides valuable insights into audience preferences and behavior.
But is it the right choice for you?
You’ll likely have to use AI to keep up with your competition. This doesn’t mean that AI will replace you or write posts for you. Consider it a tool, like auto correct or spell check. AI tools partnered with a human brain and sensibility can lead to highly productive work.
Advantages of Using AI for Blog Writing
Using AI to write blog posts saves research time, time you can reallocate to content development. Many AI tools can analyze reader engagement and behavior and provide insights into their preferred topics and types of content. Such insight can guide creation of content that is likely to resonate with readers, increase engagement, and drive traffic to your blog.
AI tools can give you a different take on your words and even help overcome writer’s block. When I’m not happy with a paragraph I’ve written, I give an AI tool a crack at it. I don’t always love what AI generates, but the alternative wording often points me toward sentences and paragraphs that do make me happy.
Disadvantages of Using AI for Blog Writing
Keep in mind that AI-generated content can be dismayingly generic. It can lack the human touch and fail to connect with at least some human readers. And AI-generated content might not always align with your brand's voice and messaging.
These tools are not always up to date, and they can generate inaccurate information. ChatGPT, for example, states that it has limited knowledge after 2021, may produce inaccurate information, and could produce harmful or biased instructions. If you have AI write something, you must check it for accuracy.
I’ve seen ChatGPT contradict itself within blog posts more than once as I have tested the results it generates on various topics. You know how you fact-check information you find on the internet? Well, fact-check AI tools the same way.
During one experiment, ChatGPT stopped writing mid-sentence. Naturally, I asked it why.
What does this tell me? That my input into the AI needs to be specific; if it’s not, the AI might not able to deliver what I want. That’s another reason to check everything an AI tool writes.
Some Tips for Using AI with Blogs and Digital Marketing
- It's All About Balance! To use AI to your advantage, you must work with it rather than let it do your work. AI generates generic and untrustworthy content; you need to enhance that content and fix its mistakes.
- Generating Content Ideas: AI can help generate ideas and spark your thought process. Imagine being in a brainstorming meeting but with an AI tool. Depending on how you phrase your questions, the AI can give you lists of ideas or even start writing your blog post.
- Getting Your Content Started: Writing is hard, especially that first sentence and paragraph. Using an AI tool to launch the writing process can help determine the direction of your post. This can save you numerous trips to the office (or home office!) coffee pot.
- Tweaking Your Content: AI can take what you’ve created and attempt to enhance it or prompt your own ideas for enhancement related to SEO, ad copy, and even follow-up content.
- It Won’t Do Your SEO: AIs can’t do SEO for you; you need to do the keyword research and in turn feed that information to the AI. You’ll still need to read the AI’s output. And you’ll need to rewrite a lot of it.
- Be Specific: Give the AI the information it needs in order to get what you want from it. If, for example, you fail to feed the AI the SEO keywords you want it to use, it’s unlikely to use those keywords in its response.
- We’re All Still Learning: AI technology is new and moving fast. As more and more people test AI, we’ll learn more about where it’s going and how we’ll use it. We’ll know a lot more and we'll know it soon, but it’s always going to evolve
Weigh the pros and cons of AI carefully. It may or may not be the right fit for your brand, at least at this stage of development. If you’re in a highly creative industry, you might need to limit your use cases for it. If you're looking for a more personal touch and human voice, it's probably best to stick with writing your own content or heavily edit what AI generates.
AI-powered writing tools are exactly that: Tools. Marketers must wield them to their advantage.
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