Content automation and creativity aren’t concepts that naturally fit together in most cases. In fact, automatically generated social media posts and generic chatbot replies are probably the furthest thing from “creative” that you could imagine.
But, don’t dismiss automation technology as being the killer of creativity. In fact, when used carefully, automation can actually drive innovation, spark creativity, and free up your time so you can come up with more original ideas.
Optimize Your Workflow and Find More Time for Creativity
A 2018 report commissioned by Adobe found that over half of the creative professionals surveyed were interested in how AI and machine learning could aid their creative processes, and these professionals saw technology as essential to performing their jobs. In particular, almost three-quarters of respondents said they spent over half their time on repetitive, uncreative tasks, which had the potential to be automated.
Business leaders also recognize that creativity is essential to business success. 82% of leaders surveyed by Forrester said they believed there was a strong connection between creativity and business results.
However, creativity does not flourish in an environment where everyone is bogged down with their day-to-day tasks. Innovation and fresh, new ideas tend to come at times when the brain is at rest and has time to wander. By using technology to automate tedious or repetitive tasks, content creators and marketers have more free time to allow their brains to be creative.
There are many ways you can use automation to save you time and streamline processes in content marketing, including:
- Streamlining communication and collaboration
- Making production processes more efficient
- Automating social media posts and other content distribution
- Automatically tagging and categorizing content
- Automatically transcribing videos and audio content
- Batch updating or editing existing content
- Optimizing CTAs and headlines in real time
- Automating lead nurturing and segmentation
Learn More About Your Audience and Personalize Your Content
Increased data collection and rapidly advancing technology now give marketers the opportunity to gain more detailed insights into their audience and target markets while personalizing content to a level that was simply not possible before.
Technology can give you the information you need to deliver more relevant content, but that content still needs to be crafted to appeal to each particular audience.
When you’re creating content that’s targeted at a smaller group, you have the power to be more creative, as you’re no longer creating generic content that’s designed to appeal to everyone.
For example, YouTube’s #MadeForYou campaign highlighted 18 of the platform’s top content creators, including videographers, musicians, comedians, and fashionistas. Rather than simply playing random ads, YouTube used user data to select a combination of clips that would resonate best with each target audience.
Idea Generation
Ever had writer’s block when it comes to content ideas? Automated tools can generate hundreds or thousands of potential article ideas at the touch of a button based on a single keyword or theme.
What’s more, many tools can assess the effectiveness of existing, similar content so you can choose the subjects that offer the best chance of resonating with your audience.
When you’ve been blogging on the same topic for several years, you’ll inevitably reach a point where you feel there’s nothing left to write about. Automated content management tools can help you to analyze and catalog your existing content, identifying gaps that need filling and looking for related angles to keep your content ideas flowing for many years to come.
Use Automation to Keep Content Quality High
A successful content marketing strategy hinges on publishing high-quality content. But, how do you make sure the quality of your content stays high when you may be dealing with several different content producers in the face of deadlines and other pressures?
Developing thorough quality guidelines is the first step, but relying on writers and others involved in the content production process to stick to these guidelines manually is a gamble. Even worse, strict guidelines can lead to stilted and formulaic content as writers trade in their creativity in exchange for consistent corporate content.
Implementing automation into your content production workflow and quality control process helps everyone to ensure they’re producing work to a high standard, while still allowing room for innovation and creative thinking.
This kind of automation is particularly effective when you’re producing a particular type of content at scale. Streamlining processes makes content production faster and more efficient; and systems for organizing and sorting digital assets mean that everyone can easily find what they need to create great content.
Continual Optimization
Sometimes marketers start out with what seems like a great idea for a content marketing campaign, but it isn’t as successful as they’d hoped. In these situations, you’d normally have to choose between starting from scratch or embarking on a lengthy and tedious testing and optimization process in an attempt to make your content more appealing.
For this reason, historically, it made sense to stick to a tried and tested formula. Thinking outside the box and going against the grain was a risk that simply didn’t make commercial sense in most cases.
AI-powered content optimization software can automatically optimize content over time in response to each user interaction. This frees up marketers to be more creative and experiment with their campaigns without the need to spend a lot of time and resources on testing and refining their content.
Harness the Power of Automation for Your Content Marketing
You can’t automate creativity. No machine will replace the unique ideas and human connection of a skilled copywriter or marketer. But you can use automation to make your life easier, free up time, and give you tools that can help you to be more creative.
By being innovative with your use of data and technology, you can use content automation as a labor-saving device that will help you to craft higher quality and closely relevant content to reach more people and convert more leads into customers.
To find out more about how DivvyHQ can help you reach your content marketing goals or to take the platform for a spin, get in touch now.