By this time, we all know AI content generation is here to stay. That’s because generative AI is taking up the content marketing industry with a storm, helping businesses out better than expected.
AI content generation is not just the future; it’s the present and the heartbeat of modern content creation. Contrary to expectations, it’s also helping writers do their jobs better instead of losing them.
In fact, 73% of marketers already use gen AI tools to handle tasks!
But what does this mean for you? How will it shape how you write, create, and consume content?
How can you use AI content generation and optimization tools like SEOBoost to maximize your content outcomes?
In this guide, I’ll answer all these questions.
In This Article
- What is AI Content Generation?
- Understanding Generative AI and its Impact on Content Creation
- 4 Benefits of Using AI Content Generators
- Top AI Content Generation Tools and Platforms
- Challenges and Limitations of Using Generative AI for Content
- What is the Role of AI Content Detectors in Maintaining Quality and Ethics?
- 4 Factors Influencing AI-Generated Content
- Key Takeaway
What is AI Content Generation?
AI content generation is using artificial intelligence to help make and improve content. It covers idea generation, copywriting, editing, and analyzing engagement. The aim is to automate and improve content creation, making it faster and better.
AI content creation tools explore data loads using millisecond machine learning algorithms to spot trends and patterns. But here’s the cool part – the algorithm they use depends on the type of content you’re after.
Take text-based content generation, for example.
It’s all about transformer architecture and Natural Language Processing (NLP). The AI processes your input using its embedded code and information to produce a befitting output.
AI content generation is also leading the scene with audio and image generation, and yes, that can also help you improve your content marketing workflow.
How?
Let’s find out!
Understanding Generative AI and its Impact on Content Creation
AI content generators are the powerhouse behind AI content creation. These tools are the brains behind the operation, using complex algorithms to analyze data, understand patterns, and generate human-like content.
This technology has revolutionized content creation by streamlining processes, saving time, and increasing efficiency.
But can you use AI specifically for content marketing?
Absolutely!
These AI models are trained to anticipate the content marketers want based on your cues. So, give them a few nudges, and they’ll whip up content to help writers beat the beginner’s block, whether it’s text, images, or even audio.
The bigger question is whether AI can generate 100% new content.
AI algorithms use existing content all over the internet to quickly generate a response. There’s no way around this. You’ll always find an AI response generic, filled with things already said a million times.
So, don’t expect it to create original content.
Still, some of the best possible ways you can use AI SEO and content creation are:
- Create blog and article outlines for long-form content.
- Create cold email templates as part of your marketing strategy.
- Ask AI to come up with a reader persona for digital marketing.
- Create video scripts for video content.
- Brainstorm content ideas for social media content, captions, and videos.
In the later sections of this guide, I’ll also discuss how to keep AI content production ethical and ensure quality in content writing and optimization tools using tools like SEOBoost.
But for now, let’s talk about the benefits of using AI content creation for marketers and content creators.
4 Benefits of Using AI Content Generators
Despite the ethical and human job implications that come along with it, what are the perks of hopping on the AI content generation bandwagon?
Here are some of the key benefits that we’ve experienced:
1. Helps With Speedy and Consistent Production
With AI at your side, expanding your content across various subjects, formats, and channels becomes fairly easy. Its knack for drawing connections between keywords, topics, and angles simplifies the process of generating original content and even social media posts.
You can test several ideas by asking AI content generators to write a short test response in your content format.
Over time, once your AI tool learns your ways, it can even churn out meaningful topic overviews and briefs for all forms of content, saving you time. This can be especially helpful if you run a small business.
The clearer instructions you provide regarding consistency, tone, style, facts, messaging, keywords, and word count, the higher the quality of writing you can expect from the program.
Of course, human oversight remains crucial to catching any anomalies.
2. It’s Scalable
Content strategists and managers find repetitive tasks underwhelming and less productive, like creating briefs and outlines.
Here, a good AI content generation tool can automate and optimize content strategy and the process of creating briefs and outlines. Once trained, it can use the same format and style to fit into any topic or prompt, and all you have to do is re-check before sending it to your teams.
With some speed and accuracy, it becomes easier to prepare for a content marketing campaign at a larger scope and have your materials ready to move on to the next one.
3. Helps with Ideation
If you manage a content marketing team, you’ve encountered your writers struggling to develop ideas or starting a piece of content with little to no inspiration.
It’s no surprise that it excels at generating outlines and ideas to kickstart your creative process.
Content writers often struggle with idea generation, but AI programs can trigger those “lightbulb” moments where winning ideas emerge seemingly out of thin air. Moreover, during sub-editing and pitching, AI programs can make stylistic adjustments to spice up and improve paragraphs and passages of text.
Here’s an example of what ChatGPT can do for you when you go through writer’s block or need help with ideation.
Personally, I would recommend taking notes from the content it creates and using them to create a new outline of your own based on other relevant factors, such as the top SERPs.
4. Cost-Effective
While Generative AI shouldn’t be seen as a direct replacement for human workers, it can significantly reduce costs associated with outsourcing or expanding your team.
Viewing AI as a tangible asset worth investing in can lead to clear cost-efficiency benefits, mainly if its responsible use saves you upfront costs in recruiting and onboarding staff.
However, there’s some cost/benefits analysis here at play.
If you’re using a free AI content generator, it will cost you about the same as your original workforce.
Why?
Because free AI content generators churn out generic and repetitive content for every prompt, your team will have to do more fact-checking, train your AI for every response, and keep an eye out for errors.
Paid AI tools offer more advanced features that can adapt to your organization’s goals. It will help you reduce the noise and invest less in outsourcing teams and proofreaders just for your AI.
Remember that relying completely on AI can be more damaging than rewarding. So, weigh your options and make informed decisions.
I recommend pairing any AI tool you use with a content management tool like SEOBoost to streamline content creation. With SEOBoost, you can manage your content projects, audit articles for better rankings, build outlines, do keyword research, and figure out the perfect topic that can rank on the 1st page of SERPs. These help you cut down production time and make optimization easier and faster.
Top AI Content Generation Tools and Platforms
Here are a few top generative AI tools and platforms that you can use to create new or repurpose existing content.
Want to know about the Top AI content generation tools in 2024? Read our full article and find out which fits your criteria the best.
1. ChatGPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer)
OpenAI’s GPT models are the leading and most popular free tools for AI content generation.
ChatGPT’s ability to understand and generate instant text, easy sign-up with any email, and a friend interface make it a go-to choice for many content creators looking to streamline their writing process.
2. Copy.ai
Copy.ai is another popular and versatile AI writing assistant that covers a wide range of content types, from blog posts and ad copy to social media captions and product descriptions.
It’s designed specially as a writing assistant, with a user-friendly interface and customizable output, making it a good choice for businesses of all niches and sizes.
3. Writesonic
Writesonic markets itself as a ChatGPT alternative. When generating high-quality content in a flash, it works just as well, with a few advanced features ChatGPT doesn’t have.
Whether you need a catchy headline, a compelling product description, or an engaging email, Writesonic has you covered with its AI-driven writing prowess.
4. Jasper
Jasper is the oldest runner-up in the marketing AI content generation game. It’s still making waves with its advanced natural language processing capabilities. With Jasper, you can create content at scale and train your AI within one ecosystem that keeps track of briefs, outlines, articles, and optimization.
Since it targets enterprise use, this tool is one of the most expensive AI content generators. We suggest you only opt for this tool as a large-scale organization.
Challenges and Limitations of Using Generative AI for Content
We’ve discussed AI content generation’s benefits and use cases in content marketing. However, as one would suspect, several challenges come with using AI content.
Let’s look at the key challenges of using generative AI for marketing.
1. Maintaining Brand Tone of Voice
Sure, AI chatbots like ChatGPT are fantastic for pumping out content at lightning speed, but how about getting them to mimic your brand’s voice and tone?
That’s a whole other ball game.
It takes some serious fine-tuning and examples to teach AI the nuances of your brand’s personality and style. Even then, it’s nearly impossible for AI not to sound like AI.
You’ll have to edit and proofread AI-generated content to maintain consistent branding. It will help ensure it’s aligned with your image and doesn’t ruin your reputation by sounding impersonal.
2. Preventing Duplicate or Plagiarized Content
Again, let’s state the obvious: AI can only regurgitate what it’s been fed.
So, if it stumbles upon content floating around the web, it might spit out something eerily similar. That’s why it’s crucial to double-check AI outputs for any signs of plagiarism or duplication. AI content detectors and plagiarism detectors usually flag content accurately. This means you can not rely on copy-pasting and calling a response daily.
I use Grammarly’s Chrome extension to detect plagiarism. It automatically integrates with any document I’m writing and runs an analysis in real-time.
3. Upholding Quality Standards of Human Writers
While AI is improving at dotting its i’s and crossing its t’s, it’s still not infallible. It’s prone to many errors, especially when doing research.
One common issue is that AI chatbots, like ChatGPT, make up facts and stats to fill up content. Grammar slip-ups, factual errors, and wonky reasoning can also sneak through. Human oversight and manual reviews ensure your content hits the mark.
This is why you need to be an expert or at least have good knowledge of the topic for which you’re using AI to create content. So you can use that knowledge to verify and fact-check the content.
4. SEO and Content Optimization
So, you’ve decided to bring AI into the fold—great move!
But now comes the functional part, and this is where AI can sometimes harm your SEO efforts. From my experience, AI tools often produce duplicate or repetitive content that lacks depth, originality, or relevance, leading to low-quality pages that don’t meet user expectations. They also overuse target keywords unnaturally, leading to keyword stuffing.
So, to avoid this, I’d recommend using a content optimization tool like SEOBoost.
With SEOBoost’s content optimization feature, you get personalized recommendations on creating high-quality, original content that addresses the needs and interests of your target audience. This includes identifying the right keywords based on SERPs to give you a competitive edge.
5. Adhering to Ethics and Guidelines
AI may be a wizard at generating content, but we must use it responsibly.
That means giving credit where credit’s due and clarifying shady instructions. We’ve got to be vigilant about how we wield this powerful tool to avoid spreading misinformation or causing harm.
This is less of a problem with text-based content but more with image and voice-based content. Voiceovers that sound like celebrities and images or art that copy other artists online are still problematic use cases of generative AI. To what extent it should be used is still unclear.
So, in the next section, I will discuss the role of AI content detectors in maintaining the overall content quality.
What is the Role of AI Content Detectors in Maintaining Quality and Ethics?
Let’s address the elephant in the room: quality and ethics.
With AI content generation on the rise, there’s a concern about maintaining standards and ensuring ethical practices.
Permission and data privacy are major hang-ups in the world of generative AI. Many off-the-shelf AI models have been trained using whatever data they can find online. While that might sound convenient, it raises some serious ethical red flags.
While this may not be the case every time, you may be using someone else’s work fed into the AI that is being unfairly used by the algorithm.
You can sidestep these issues by teaming with generative AI experts to craft a custom program tailored to your needs.
Watch for AI models that steer clear of copyrighted material in their training data—like Adobe Firefly for image generation and SEOboost for SEO copywriting and optimization instead of content generation.
Data protection and privacy
Some third-party AI services require you to ship your data to external servers for processing. If you’re dealing with sensitive info, it’s crucial to vet the data privacy policies of the AI company to ensure your data stays safe and sound.
Moreover, some AI outfits might use your inputs and prompts to train their next model. This may include your original workflow or sensitive customer data.
As for copyrights, it gets murky.
The U.S. Copyright Office and a federal court have ruled that works created by AI take human involvement and can’t be copyrighted. This ruling hits home for artists and pros, as copyrights offer crucial protection.
While AI can crank out some decent content, it’s still no match for the human touch. If you’re unsure of how you can go about it, here’s what our writers suggest:
Use AI as your trusty first draft, then roll up your sleeves and inject some personality into it. Fact-check, add opinions, tweak images, and turn that generic output into content that screams your brand’s name.
Remember, optimizing AI content is all about giving it a human touch. Review, edit, and optimize that first draft until it sings your brand’s tune.
And remember, speak your audience’s language and address their specific pain points to hit the mark. After all, your content should feel like it’s speaking directly to them, not just shouting into the void like many others.
4 Factors Influencing AI-Generated Content
Now that you understand the workings of AI content generation, it’s important to get the implementation right. You also need to understand what influences AI to create the content you want from it.
Here are a few key factors that influence the quality and effectiveness of AI-generated content:
1. Data Input
The quality and relevance of the data fed into the AI model directly impact the output. So, when feeding data into your AI model, aim for a diverse and representative dataset that mirrors your target audience and content goals.
For instance, if creating content for marketers, ensure your data includes many marketing-related topics and terminology.
Here’s an example of the kind of prompt you can use to feed an AI tool like ChatGPT.
2. Training
To train your AI model effectively, provide examples of the content you want to generate. This could include past blog posts, social media updates, or product descriptions.
By exposing your AI model to a wide range of examples, you’ll help it grasp the intricacies of language and tone specific to your brand.
3. Human Oversight
Whether reviewing content for accuracy, aligning it with brand values, or injecting that human touch, human oversight is crucial for maintaining quality and consistency.
For example, designate a team member to review AI-generated content before it’s published, ensuring it hits the right notes and resonates with your audience.
4. Feedback Loop
Establishing a feedback loop where users provide input on the quality and relevance of AI-generated content is essential for refinement and adaptation.
Encourage users to share their thoughts and suggestions through surveys, comments, or direct feedback channels. This input will help you fine-tune your content and AI prompts over time, ensuring they evolve to meet the changing needs of your audience.
Key Takeaway
I hope you found this guide helpful!
Remember, despite the benefits of AI content generation, challenges such as maintaining brand voice, upholding quality standards, and adhering to ethics must be addressed.
You should pair AI content generation with an SEO optimization tool like SEOBoost to create better-ranking content. With SEOBoost, you can access SEO suggestions and content audits that can help you rank higher on search engines.
So, whether you’re a seasoned content creator or just dipping your toes into the AI content generation ocean, remember AI can help you improve and streamline your content creation process when paired with the right SEO tool.