Creating long-form content takes time and effort. And, if you’ve been creating content for your brand for some time and haven’t seen results yet, you may be starting to get frustrated.
So, with AI copywriting tools on the rise. you may be wondering:
- Is it possible to automate content creation?
- What are the pros and cons of automating content creation?
- What are the best AI copywriting tools?
AI may look like the solution to reduce content costs and ramp up production. But, what if that wasn’t the way to grow?
In this post, we’ll share everything you need to know to start using AI in your content creation process while elevating your content quality.
Spoiler: It's going to take some work, but it'll be worth it.
Let's get started!
Is It Possible to Automate Content Creation?
For starters, is it possible to automate content creation? Technically, yes. You could automate every step of your content production cycle, including:
- Research & "ideation"
- Writing
- SEO optimization
- Cover image creation
- Publishing
- Distribution
- Reporting
Now, would the results be of high quality? No, of course not.
For example, let's suppose you automate SEO research. At Postdigitalist, once a month, we meet to brainstorm, exchange notes, and come up with content for each of our partners. Then, our SEO team does some research to "fine-tune" those concepts and shares their recommendations with the writing team. In short, our content ideation process is user-centric. And SEO is just a tool to enrich our perception of our users.
We’ve collaborated with teams who were 100% SEO-centric. The only research they did was keyword research. And that approach resulted in lower-quality content. In short, the human "touch" should not be just a touch. Creativity and “soft skills” go a long way.
With that in mind, let's imagine the results of fully delegating content ideation to an artificial neural network.
The results would be:
- Irrelevant to your business objectives
- Highly derivative
Let's remember that artificial neural networks cannot create content. Instead, artificial neural networks compile and rework existing content to a create original-looking pieces.
The Pros of AI-Generated Content
Of course, using AI to automate your content production can bring you some benefits. There’s no point in denying it.
For example, AI can help you:
- Reduce content costs while speeding up production
- Easily create plagiarism-free content
- Populate online stores with optimized descriptions, at a low cost
Let's take a closer look at these benefits.
AI content is faster and cheaper to produce than human-made content
The cheapest Hypotenuse AI plan starts at $24/month. This plan includes approximately 25k words of content and 200 AI-generated images.
There isn't a team on planet earth that will charge you a $24 fee for that volume of content. Geographic arbitrage doesn’t go so far, $24/month is an impossible price.
Besides, while it may take a content writer a week to write an article, an AI copywriter can produce a first draft in just a few minutes.
AI content usually passes plagiarism checks
Content produced by AI copywriters can bypass most plagiarism detection tools. This is a competitive advantage that all AI tools promote. The content may be derivative, but it will not contain swatches of third-party content reproduced verbatim.
Content created by bots is very useful for large-scale online stores
AI copywriters are great at writing product descriptions. In fact, this is one of the use cases where the AI outputs require almost no tweaking.
In our opinion, this is the best use case for AI copywriters. Especially because they can help you do copy A/B testing at scale.
The Cons of AI-Generated Content
While AI copywriters can streamline content production processes, they should not replace a human team.
In this section, I'll walk you through some cons of automating content creation with AI.
In short:
- AI-generated informational content is low-quality
- Google is penalizing AI-generated content
- AI-created content is derivative by default
- AI-created content is bad for link-building
- Content written by bots doesn’t foster customer loyalty
- Creating content with AI prevents you from getting to know your users
Let's dig deeper into these problems.
AI-generated informational content is low-quality
While AI-powered writing tools are great for writing product descriptions at scale, they aren't great for producing blog posts. And the fact that they’ve been promoted as alternatives to "artisanal" blogging is quite interesting.
AI copywriters haven’t been promoted as alternatives to regular blogging because they’re good at blogging. But because blogging can be so tedious that you wouldn't miss the chance to automate it.
But AI copywriting tools are unable to:
- Adjust the structure and tone of the content based on business objectives
- Do intentional and intelligent research
This results in content that’s usually “readable”, but ineffective.
Google’s latest updates are penalizing AI-generated content
Google's recent Helpful Content update has a clear purpose: to discourage the production of AI-generated content. In fact, the sites most affected by this update are those that publish AI outputs without any kind of editing or human intervention.
But why is Google doing this? The answer’s quite simple, and it has to do with Google’s core value proposition. Google depends on giving its users the best results for their search queries. And most AI-generated content does not meet this standard.
AI-generated content is derivative by default
Artificial neural networks are incapable of having original thoughts. Even the art generated by DALL-E is nothing more than a pastiche of references taken from the internet.
So your AI content isn’t t going to be fresh or original. Instead, it's going to be a collage of other existing pieces.
If the topics you are creating content about are very popular:
- The AI will create a generic reproduction of the top-ranking content
- Your AI-generated content will not be equipped to compete with industry leaders, as AI can’t think out of the box
But, if the topics you're creating content about are uncommon:
- The AI will not find enough references and will go into a loop and repeat itself
- Your AI-generated content will include absurd or irrelevant references
AI-generated content can’t help you build quality links
Link-building is key to boosting your organic traffic. But AI-generated content won’t help you build good links.
Why? Simple: AI content isn’t original or particularly valuable. So, your potential partners have no incentive to link it.
The best way to build links at scale is by creating material that serves as a source for other creators. And that’s the type of content AI copywriters can’t create.
Content written by bots doesn’t help you connect with your target audience
Your content shouldn’t only help you rank in search engines. You want your material to drive key conversations with your target audience. Especially with your ideal customer profile.
But if your content is low-quality, our most discerning and proficient potential clients will either reject you or ignore you.
High-quality content can:
- Show your potential client that you understand their challenges
- Communicate that you’re highly capable and willing to help
- Help you build loyalty with your existing clients
- Position your brand as a go-to expert
AI-generated content is simply incapable of delivering these types of results.
Delegating content creation to bots keeps you disconnected from your users
When you plan, research, and create your content, you delve into the needs, demands, and interests of your target audience. And, when it comes to distributing your material, you receive direct feedback that helps you refine your strategy for the future.
When you decide to delegate your content creation to an AI, you are keeping yourself from learning more about your customers. And that kind of insight is key in the hyper-competitive marketing landscape of 2023.
Is AI Copywriting Worth It?
In our opinion, you shouldn't fully delegate content production to AI copywriting tools.
But if you want to streamline your content production processes, you can use these tools to produce:
- First drafts
- Product descriptions
- Social posts based on your articles
Pro tip: AI tools create “new” content by aggregating existing references. So, you can use these tools to create outlines to get a glimpse of how your competitors are covering your target topic.
Quality Content, Made by Our Best Humans
At this point you may be wondering what to do with your blog. If delegating writing to an AI-powered tool is not the solution, what is the right answer?
Maybe the answer is not to try to lower your content budget but to review your strategy. The goal shouldn’t be to spend as little as possible, but to get the most out of every dollar.
Let’s analyze your content strategy together. Book a free 20-minute discovery call with our Creative Director.
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