Applying AI (artificial intelligence) to the practice of content marketing could give your production a boost. However, you may be wondering how AI measures up in creative content? Can you produce compelling creative content with AI? And does it add value? Those are some big questions without simple answers. We’re going to dive into them so that enterprise content marketing teams can decide if the technology is a good fit.
Is AI Creative?
The basis of AI is that it’s a machine that can mimic human intelligence. Feelings, opinions, and emotions aren’t part of the package. We can all rest easy that AI’s not plotting to take over the world. The Hollywood image of AI is that it’s nefarious, but we should leave that idea in the realm of science fiction.
AI can write articles but not on the level of a professional writer. It can also compose songs, mimic the strokes of painters, or perform other creative tasks.
However, it would be inaccurate to say AI is creative. Its impact on the world of creativity isn’t about it becoming the creator. Rather, the best scenario is that it delivers intelligent technology to support the creative process and support human capabilities.
AI Is a Creative Collaborator
In the book, The Creativity Code, Professor Marcus du Sautoy writes, “AI is a catalyst to push human creativity.” The book explores machine and human collaboration and explains that they work better together rather than independently.
There are examples of this all around in the worlds of art, music, and content. Sony’s Flow Machine and IBM’s Watson are tools that music producers are using. One interesting example is the work of Grammy-nominated Alex Da Kid, who used AI to check the “emotional temperature” of the world by scraping news, conversations, and more. Those analytics then informed new music.
PoemPortraits is a collaboration of AI and humans, wherein an algorithm receives a single word, and then generates a short poem. AI has actually written a novel, and journalism has been applying it for some time to develop formulaic content. AI can learn through every experience, but again, its role is as a partner. You can expect the quality, tone, nuances, and everything else that’s in the human voice to be replicable.
Robots Aren’t Content Marketers
Looking at the lens of AI-assisted creative content, we can all agree that robots aren’t content marketers. The technology, however, can support the process. Using AI in content marketing is a way to simplify and streamline processes as well as support content ideation and personalization. It can also play a significant role in content analytics and deciphering trends.
Here are some opportunities for AI to be a great creative collaborator.
Need Ideas? AI Can Help
Ideation is central to content marketing. It’s imperative to keep content rolling and for it to be meaningful to your customers. While content marketers are phenomenal at this, we can all agree that a little boost never hurts. If you’re hitting a dry patch, AI tools can:
- Analyze your current content, industry trends, and competitors to deliver new ideas
- Help you understand SEO trends, especially around emerging topics
- Assess content your audience is consuming and then feed you frameworks to replicate (but, of course, improve on!)
Scaling Creativity
Creativity isn’t limited to ideation or development. You’re not only creative when you’re brainstorming ideas or writing and designing the elements. For brands that want to connect with customers and have a very distinct presence digitally, scaling creativity is essential.
What does that mean? Scaling creativity should be across all areas of content marketing, media, customer experiences, and operations. AI could be a key avenue to do this. For example, you can use AI to automate certain aspects of social media publishing and responses. Another opportunity is how teams use AI to improve content workflows so that you’re operating optimally and meeting production goals.
Intelligent Data Becomes Part of the Creative process
You have a tremendous amount of data around your content, channels, and buyers. Are you making it part of the creative process? Using the data to determine high-performing channels and topics is one step, but that data is post-publication.
Big data should be part of the process much earlier. You can use it to develop or revise your content strategy and planning. Data creates a constant feedback loop, but if you only look back instead of forward, it’s only doing half the job.
AI Can Support the Right Creative Decisions
Another application of data is how it can impact decision-making on the creative side. AI can dig into audience sentiment with natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning. If you have more insight into emotions, you’re more likely to resonate with our buyers. The idea of emotional content marketing is that you’re saying, “I get you,” and they appreciate that.
Data analysis by AI also enables better personalization. You can now more easily roadmap the customer journey so that what a customer sees is relevant and timely. Without AI in this creative process, you’ll never have a fully colored view of your buyer. The more you can personalize their experience, the more likely they are to become a loyal customer.
Is Creative Content with AI the Future?
AI is powerful technology. It supports many industries in important capacities. Its role in creativity, at this point, is to be a collaborator. Reliance on AI to be creative doesn’t fit with what it was designed to do, nor with what its current capabilities are. It has value for content marketers in the ways described above—ideation, scalability, and decision-making. If you apply it in these ways, your team could reap many benefits.
What do you think about using AI in the creative process? Is it the ideal collaborator? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below!