A Quick Guide to Generative AI for Content Marketing

Generative AI can help content marketers create content that is engaging and tailored to their specific audience. It’s such a tranformative technology that Statistica reports that 73% of marketers are already using artificial intelligence in at least one part of their marketing efforts.

This guide will go into more detail about how marketers can use AI technology today. You’ll learn how AI and content marketing work together, the available AI models, and how marketers can collaborate with AI to enhance their work.

• Understanding AI and content marketing
• Exploring generative AI tools and models
• Enhancing content creation with generative AI
• Optimizing content for SEO and customer experience
• Implementing generative AI in marketing strategies
• Human creativity and AI collaboration
• Exploring the limits and possibilities of AI in content marketing

Understanding AI and content marketing

Generative AI tools use machine learning algorithms to analyze large amounts of data and identify patterns. The algorithm used depends on the type of content.

So, can you use AI for content marketing? Yes!

AI models are trained to predict the content that marketers want to produce based on the input you give it. By learning a few simple prompts, you can work with these models naturally without a complicated workflow to produce content like text, images, and audio.

Text generation, for instance, uses transformer architecture and Natural Language Processing (NLP). The AI analyzes user input to predict an appropriate output. On the other hand, image generators use Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to create output based on the image model’s training data.

Exploring generative AI tools and models

AI can help with many aspects of marketing. However, many tools and AI models are available—each suitable for different tasks.

Let’s look at some of the features and models available and which tasks they’re tailored for.

Overview of popular AI models

Generative AI uses AI models to output information. The programmers train these models on large amounts of data to help the AI understand patterns and predict what the end user wants to see. The models’ creators then create AI productivity tools for users to access and take advantage of generative AI.

Some popular AI models in use today include:

• GPT. OpenAI has developed several versions of its GPT model. They are Large Language Models (LLMs) trained largely on online data. ChatGPT is an application that allows users to access these AI models on OpenAI’s platform or through API access.
• DALL-E. DALL-E is OpenAI’s image generation model. It’s an image model trained on a large number of images, and it outputs unique content based on the user’s text input.
• Bard. Bard is an internet-connected AI model offered by Google. It acts as a search assistant that helps users search for information and generates responses on the fly.

Use cases of AI-generated content

AI content is being quickly adopted by marketers in part because it’s user friendly and useful across several domains—from blog writing to social media content. AI content generators speed up processes by quickly generating rough drafts and mockups, and helping creators break through creative blocks and get over their fear of the blank page.

However, artificial intelligence isn’t yet able to consistenly create content that is ready for the end user. Rather, AI works best in tandem with seasoned professionals who can review their output for accuracy and quality, and make necessary updates.

A few of the many applications of generative AI for marketing include:

• Product descriptions. Use AI in eCommerce by giving product features to a generative AI text generator and have it create a unique product description for your store page.
• Image generation. Use AI to create mock ups of images for blog posts, social media, and other media formats.
• Social media posts. Create short-form content to post on your company’s social media accounts.
• Blog content. Use AI to help generate content and summarize existing information for website blogs.
• Chatbots. Utilize chatbots trained on company data to assist users on your website with their purchases.
• Email. Create personalized emails with customer information to offer more relevant content.

Enhancing content creation with generative AI

AI in marketing has many benefits for companies that want to improve their workflows. Let’s look at the benefits of leveraging AI in the content creation process.

Streamlining workflows and automating content creation

Generative AI is helpful for organizations that spend a lot of time creating content. Instead of relying on workers manually creating content from scratch, give them tools to automate and streamline tasks—allowing marketers to get more done and companies to better prioritize their resources.

For instance, take a company that needs to produce fact-based reporting. Generative AI can read content from news sources and summarize what it learns—meaning employees spend less time reading. They can then take the summarized content and use AI to write a first draft of new content.

Generative AI is also useful for content creators struggling to develop ideas. Marketers can use a chatbot to brainstorm ideas and get a head start on new content projects.

A word of caution here: AI is very good at sounding confident when it makes claims. Especially for more technical material, a knowledgeable person should fact check drafts created with AI.

Leveraging AI-generated templates

Marketers can customize AI through templates to make it easier to produce their desired output. If you prompt AI for an output without additional information, it will produce generic content not tailored to your needs. Things change when you use a template.

An AI-generated template gives you a framework to produce content. For instance, the AI writer Jasper.ai offers over 50 templates customized for its users.

Copywriters can use those templates to help them create more compelling copy. They have templates for copywriting frameworks like AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action), PAS (Pain, Agitate, Solve), Facebook ad headlines, and more. Jasper AI also offers users the ability to customize the voice of the output—which allows copywriters to maintain brand voice throughout their work.

Creating real-time, high-quality content

There are many cases where you need to be fast when creating content: A customer needs help quickly, a topic starts trending on social media, or you have urgent deadlines to meet.

AI can help you create high-quality content quickly. When you prompt AI, you get a response within seconds, which you can use as a first draft. This speeds up the content creation process and helps you respond to customers in real-time.

Just remember that AI isn’t always accurate. You need a system to vet the content AI produces and review its output to ensure accuracy.

Optimizing content for SEO and customer experience

So how can you use generative AI to optimize the customer experience and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? Let’s dig into the details.

Incorporating AI-generated content for SEO

AI can help marketers who need to optimize web content for SEO or produce new content. Generative AI can help you analyze existing content, extract information from text, and generate new content to post on your website.

For instance, take the need to learn the key terms of an article that currently ranks on Google’s first page. You can post an article in a tool like ChatGPT to analyze the text and extract the main ideas and keywords of the text.

Once you have those terms, you can then also use the tool to help you create a first draft of a blog post. Tell your AI generator what topic you want to cover, the outline you want, and the keywords you want to use to help you more generate a draft of your article sections and meta description.

Aligning AI content with customer experience

AI-generated content doesn’t align with your brand’s voice by default. If all you tell it to do is output the answer to a question, it does so in the most generic way possible. AI has been trained on enormous amounts of data to output the most average response possible, without making considerations for tone, voice, or quality.

This is an issue for brands—customers expect your content to have a certain image and tone. Generic AI content won’t fit that voice.

You can tell the AI to adapt to your brand’s voice when outputting content. To do this, you can work with tools like Jasper AI that have been designed to adapt to the user’s style. Or, you can input some of your existing content into a more generic AI tool and describe your brand’s voice. You can then use that as input directions for AI to follow to maintain your brand’s voice.

Ensuring originality and avoiding plagiarism

Originality is a big concern when using AI. Generative AI models use existing content to train and learn what to produce. In some cases, it will reproduce what it learned—leading to plagiarized content or even copyright infringement.

Double-check your AI content to ensure that your sources have been cited and your material doesn’t simply copy someone else’s work. Run your content through plagiarism detection tools, like Grammarly’s Plagiarism Checker, to compare it to other content on the web.

You’ll also want to include the human element in your content. Have someone fact check the material, and add original insights, proprietary information, and personal experience to make your content unique and authentic.

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Implementing generative AI in marketing strategies

AI is useful for more than just content generation. It’s also helpful in your overall marketing strategy. Here’s how using generative content can help your marketing campaigns.

Integrating AI-generated content in marketing campaigns

AI can be helpful at every point of the marketing campaign. You can use it on your website to greet new visitors  and in emails when you reach out to existing customers.

Follow these steps to help integrate AI into your marketing campaigns:

1. Understand your audience to ensure your AI knows which pain points to touch on.
2. Document your brand voice to help your AI generator fit your style and tone.
3. Find different customer touchpoints to incorporate AI in your campaigns (email marketing, social media posts, blog content, and ad generation).
4. Test and optimize your AI to ensure you produce relevant and authentic content.

Tailoring content for different platforms

Generative AI is useful for marketers who need to tailor content for different platforms. The audiences on different websites prefer different content formats—so you should work to meet those expectations.

For instance, LinkedIn has a more professional audience. To tailor your content for them, tell your AI generator to have a more professional tone. But if you want to adapt the same content for other social media outlets, you can tell it to be more conversational.

Repurposing content is also possible with AI. If you have video content and want a text summary, AI can generate a transcript of the text and then also summarize it to help you create a new blog post.

Addressing permissions and customer data concerns

Permissions and data privacy is a big concern when using generative AI. Many non-proprietary AI models have been trained using whatever data happened to be posted online. For some uses, AI that has been trained on other people’s work in this way creates ethical concerns. For other uses, it’s a matter of legitimacy, originality, and even ownership.

To help you avoid these issues, you can work with generative AI engineers to develop a bespoke AI program that better addresses your particular needs than an off-the-shelf solution. You can also look for generative AI models that don’t use copyrighted material in their training or testing data—such as Adobe Firefly for image generation.

Another concern with generative AI models is data protection and privacy. Many third-party AI services require you to send data to external servers to function. If you have sensitive data, you should verify the data privacy policies of the AI company and how they manage your data.

Third-party AI may also use your inputs and prompts to help train their next model. This means that any information you give them—including sensitive customer data or proprietary information—might enter the public sphere.

How your company addresses these issues depends on your industry and use cases. The Harvard Business Review is one of many reliable sources that has published guidelines for developing an AI policy.

Content creators should be aware that the U.S. Copyright Office, as well as a federal court, have ruled that works created by AI without human involvement cannot be copyrighted. For many artists and other professionals, copyrights are an important protection.

Human creativity and AI collaboration

You want to maintain authenticity when using AI and not send generic content to your audience. Using AI as a first draft and adding human creativity to optimize AI content is essential.

Balancing human creativity and AI assistance

AI can’t yet to produce high-quality content on its own. It still needs the human touch—meaning there is a direct link between human-assisted AI and successfully using AI in marketing.

Marketers can ensure the authenticity of AI content by reviewing and editing the output. Fact check everything, add opinions to text, and make touchups to images. Take it from a generic output to content representing your brand and everything it stands for.

Summarizing, editing, and optimizing AI-generated content

Optimizing AI content means looking at the first draft generated and making changes to give it a human touch. It also helps you keep the content’s voice aligned with your brand. Even if you include your brand guidelines, AI isn’t perfect.

Your content should speak to your audience. Instead of posting content that speaks generally about a subject, modify the output to include a more personal touch by using your audience’s language and tying the output to specific problems they face.

Exploring the limits and possibilities of AI in content marketing

AI can offer a lot of benefits in content marketing—from quickly generating drafts of text and images for marketing campaigns to responding to users in real-time when they have issues.

However, you should remember the limitations of AI. Non-proprietary AI draws from a lot of material (some copyrighted), doesn’t get everything right, and might use your prompts as training data for its later iterations. You must be on your guard against issues and add a human element to make your content valuable to users.

The good news is that AI should continue to get better, and many of the ethical concerns should be hammered out over time.

Hire AI content creators on Upwork

AI has made waves in content creation over the past year. Generative AI has introduced a new way to create content and automate many parts of the marketing process. These abilities allow marketers to do more and build marketing campaigns in new and innovative ways.

But AI has limitations, and you should ensure AI serves your business well and aligns with your brand’s image. If you properly edit the output, AI can be a powerful tool that makes it worth investing in and integrating into your marketing campaigns.

Are you a business that’s ready to integrate AI into your marketing efforts? Browse the AI content creators on Upwork to find an independent professional who can help.

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Upwork does not control, operate, or sponsor the other tools or services discussed in this article, which are only provided as potential options. Each reader and company should take the time to adequately analyze and determine the tools or services that would best fit their specific needs and situation.