For many businesses, the idea of AI integration comes with both pros and downsides. It’s true that these new tools promise to improve productivity like never before, but at the same time, wanton implementation without thinking through all the permutations and consequences could lead to unforeseen results.
There’s no doubt that AI can rocket-fuel some of the most essential practices of business management, such as those explained by these excellent AI data security examples. But of course, just because a tool is good for one purpose doesn’t mean it should be applied to all.
Many customers are complaining of businesses unveiling new AI utilities on the client side but without necessarily explaining how and why these new norms are useful. In some cases, AI can even make a company seem less personal, such as when blog posts are written entirely by AI. That human factor is lost, leading to a sense of perpetual lowest-common-denominator churn.
But let’s look at the positives. Are there ways AI can improve your content production without diminishing the quality of output? We believe so. Let’s consider how, and why, below:
Content Planning & Scheduling
Just because you’re not keen on generating ad-hoc content doesn’t mean you can’t use AI to develop a content plan. Continually coming up with new ideas or new ways to hit keywords on your blog (to use a singular example) can be relatively draining and may prevent you from throwing your creative weight behind projects.
You don’t need to be dictated to by the suggested plan of course, but it could help you understand all the aspects of a given topic to cover. For example, if you sell fishing rods and equipment, you may use AI to pre-plan a few safety posts about fishing in different water depths correctly. You could also use these tools to divide and categorize safety measures depending on skill level and focus, simple and clear instructions for those getting started, or more nuanced and involved information for those fishing in chaotic waters.
In addition, scheduling these posts for maximum effectiveness is not always easy to figure out. You could use AI to understand which posts should be published when and generate snippets from the articles that help summarize the points for taglines. That in itself can let you focus on the exciting and informative part – writing the content personally.
Grounding For Research
It’s quite acceptable not to know everything at all times, even if you’re a relative expert on a topic. It may be that a questionable nuance reveals itself in your understanding, and requires further research. While you should always take AI-generation responses with a huge pinch of salt, they can point you in the correct direction.
For example, perhaps there’s a legal concept only used on rare occasions and with little precedent, getting an overview of it from an AI tool and then using that to pursue your own research is a good idea. Just make certain not to accept all responses as true and verify any claims that you’re about to post – as a brand you will be responsible for the actions you recommend to your audience.
AI Formatting, Artwork & Tagging
It’s both a science and an art to design content posts, be that setting up chapters for a YouTube video, attaching artwork, or figuring out the right tags for discoverability. An AI tool can help you with this, keeping your tagging approach consistent, relevant, and simple for AI, while also taking suggestions for breaking up content in readability.
Much has been said about AI artwork and its quality, but a simple blog image header or quick diagram that works with the exact message you want to portray, and pending your own quality review, can’t hurt for publishing a simple post online. These tools may also help you edit your images, such as cropping or removing backgrounds. Just make certain you’re not stealing copyrighted content or editing it without express, written permission (and for commercial use).
Reviewing & Editing Content
One of the best reasons to use AI in your content, if you’re partial to it, is reviewing and editing your final drafts. Here you can find a spelling mistake, perhaps an odd frame in your video that hasn’t been edited correctly, or sections you may have missed.
You can even use it for a quasi-fact check, though be certain to use that as a pointer for your research of course, not just accepting what the generative tool tells you to do. This might help reach your audience more suitably. If you write a blog that helps teenagers with their studies, for instance, you could use an AI tool to help you lower the reading age for accessibility.
Translating & Subtitling Video Materials
This is perhaps the best option on this list. While some platforms have auto-translate options (YouTube is starting to roll this out), you can still use AI to help you translate your content and do so accurately. This also goes for subtitling video materials with a helpful timecode transcript, meaning those who are heard of hearing or simply cannot use their device sound can still engage with your video or audio materials.
That’s not to say these utilities will be as perfect or carry your message as seamlessly as a professional translator could, but at the same time, it’s a cost-effective means of spreading your message more readily. This can be a true benefit for websites with international reach, or perhaps brands looking to branch out just a little more.
Wrapping Up
Content production can take many forms depending on your brand and goals, but using AI assistant tools, despite their somewhat questionable reputation, can still help you improve the quality and reliability of such content. Just make sure to never give it the last word, and always let the final review be born from your own judgment.
Have you ever used AI utilities to generate content? If so, what practices and techniques do you prefer? We’d love to know!