Why using AI to create your content might be more problematic than you thought …

There have been a lot of advances in the last few years when it comes to creating content for your business, most notably the fact that the use of AI has rapidly become more mainstream. Many businesses see it as a great time saving tool. Why spend time creating content for your brand when you can just ask ChatGPT to do it for you? Surely it’s win win, right? Well no, not exactly and I’ll tell you why …

People don’t want to hear from a robot

Fact. Building a successful business is all about building know, like and trust. People want to know you, the real you, what makes you and your business tick and writing content that is authentic and reflects the real you, your values and what you stand for is an essential part of that. Journalists and PR agencies are now saying they don’t want to receive any AI generated content, which speaks volumes. It’s just not authentic and people aren’t interested in it. Do I care what a robot has to say about the latest trends and innovations in your industry? No. I want to hear it from you in your own words.

It makes you blend into the crowd

In a world where there’s a huge amount of competition for our attention, where we’re constantly bombarded with reams of content, you’ve got to come up with a way to make your business stand out. Can you do that if you’re using generic AI generated content? Absolutely not. You can’t let your personality shine through if AI is writing your content for you. You’re doing yourself a disservice. You’re just going to get lost in all the noise and go unnoticed and what a shame that would be.

Audiences are clever!

Audiences are always quick to pick up on things when they feel like they are contrived. If they can tell that your content isn’t you, that it’s AI generated, you’re going to lose trust. Fast. Social media is a great example of this. Lots of businesses are using AI to generate their social media captions – the format follows a generic pattern (full of emojis, the same call to action, blah blah) you can spot them a mile off and it’s not a good look. I’m starting to see the same thing happen when it comes to blogging too, the same generic templates are cropping up again and again and I’m already bored of it. It’s not original, it’s not you and your audience isn’t going to be fooled by it. They’re cleverer than that.

It just looks lazy

We’re all busy. I get it. At first glance, using AI to create your content with very little input on your part seems like a great time saving tool. We’re all trying to do all the things in our businesses, accounts, design, content, marketing, PR … the list is endless. If AI can help take something off your plate, why wouldn’t you jump at the chance? It’s a no brainer. That is until you take into account everything I’ve mentioned above. If your audience starts to feel as though you can’t be bothered to put the effort into creating content for your brand, that’s going to decrease their engagement levels. If your content is boring and generic, it’s also less likely to be shared and it can even lead to damage to your brand’s reputation in the long run.

When can AI be helpful?

Pretty much the only time I’d suggest using AI is if you need some help generating ideas to get started with your writing. If you’re feeling totally blocked, it can be helpful to use as a brainstorming tool. It’s not something I use in my business as I still have massive concerns about its levels of accuracy and its potential to spread misinformation (you need to thoroughly fact check anything AI writes for you as it’s scary the amount of times it’s totally wrong).

I also have concerns about where the content actually comes from (as essentially it’s all just copied from the work of others) and how can that ever be authentic? There are also ethical issues to consider too. Some of the content used in training AI could come from copyrighted material, was permission ever given to use it? That’s a total can of worms right there.

If you are determined to use AI to generate your content, I do have one piece of advice to offer … never ever leave it as it is. Make sure you rewrite and edit as much as possible to keep it true to your brand (and I would argue that if you need to do that, you may as well just write it yourself anyway!)

So, what can you do instead?

If you’re finding AI to be a timesaving tool in your business, have you thought about outsourcing your content creation to a copywriter instead? A copywriter can create truly authentic content for your business, reflecting your brand voice and values and boosting engagement levels with your audience. If you’re not looking to completely outsource your copywriting, there are also a range of other ways you can work with me, from power hours, to content coaching packages, where I will support you and your business to write your own content, just head over to the Services page to find out more or drop me an email. I’d love to hear from you!