Without online content, digital marketing wouldn’t exist. The practice relies on skilled content creators, including writers, editors, and graphic designers. But the time and work it takes to create high-performing digital content aren’t necessarily fast and easy. Despite common perception, delivering content targeted audiences want to read involves more than ideas and creative prowess. Science and research are also behind it.
Artificial intelligence, or AI, is becoming part of the technology that fuels digital content creation. Whether it’s generating blog topics, conducting keyword research, or writing outlines, AI is reshaping how online content comes to life. In short, AI tools are taking the guesswork out of what makes good content and helping creators become more productive. Below are a few ways digital marketers can harness AI to raise the bar on their creative efforts.
Identify Search Terms and Topics
Brainstorming topics for blogs, website landing pages, and other digital content can be a challenge. At first, you might have a few ideas worth pursuing. But once you start developing content for these topics and putting it out there, the creative juices can go dry. Sure, you can look at what the competition is publishing and see what may be missing. However, even that strategy can leave you still searching for inspiration.
AI content creation tools can save the day by identifying subjects, performing cluster analysis, and keyword search terms. Some of these tools use an artificial neural network, or ANN, to generate suggestions for blog titles and subtopics. Now, you may be wondering, “What is ANN?” and can it really help me?
The simple answer is yes. ANN models work like your brain’s neural networks, but you have more control. You help determine what goes into ANN models and algorithms and what comes out.
Say you know your target audience comes to you because they want to learn more about fiber internet for businesses. You can use fiber internet as an input to see what related search terms and topics you can develop. ANN models may also show you what similar terms and subjects rank high in search engines.
Automate Simple Content Needs
Writing or creating online content day in and day out can take its toll. Even though it’s fun and inspiring, it can also drain brain power. Simple and small content, such as tweets and social media posts, may become repetitive and consume too much time.
In 2022, Insider Intelligence found that 91.5% of marketers working within U.S.-based companies with 100 or more employees used social media. That means creating social posts, engaging with customers and leads, boosting blogs, and promoting products or events. AI tools can help automate and produce most of those bite-sized posts.
AI shortens digital marketers’ to-do lists and lets them shift their focus to more complex and longer-form content. Instead of spending hours or days executing social content calendars, teams can let AI do it in less time. While digital marketers still need to proofread what AI tools generate, they don’t waste time figuring out what to say. AI-backed platforms can also ensure social posts don’t become stale or too similar to previous content.
Generate Blog Outlines
Some blog and online article writers are great with structure. They can whip up outlines that flesh out general topics and follow them to a T. But not all blog and article writers are good at structuring their work before they create it. They struggle with creating outlines that build on a topic and have even more trouble sticking to superficial frameworks.
Blog writing tools powered by AI can create outlines for writers in seconds. Content creators do need to know the topics they want to write about. But with some general input about the subject matter, AI helps writers get right to work. These tools produce complete outlines for those with trouble brainstorming ideas. AI-generated outlines also work well for writers who need to create blogs about unfamiliar topics.
That being said, AI software does let writers manipulate outlines according to tone, audience, and topic angle. You’re not stuck with the initial result a tool creates for your next blog or article. If you don’t like it or don’t think the ideas will resonate with your audience, you can start over. You might manually change or add to what a tool creates for you. But AI-generated outlines provide you with a solid springboard when you’re unsure how to proceed.
Optimize Content for Search Engines
Keywords may not be everything when it comes to search engine rankings. Yet, these words and phrases are still important for targeting your audiences. Despite search engine algorithm updates, keywords remain part of search engine optimization. They’re how your audiences find your online content, and keywords help algorithms determine whether content is relevant to search intent.
However, optimizing digital content for SEO can be tricky for novice and experienced creators. Keyword research tools may show what phrases and words people search for the most. You can also glean insights into how difficult it is to rank for specific words and phrases. But strategically incorporating keywords into online ad copy, blog posts, and websites without overdoing it takes time and practice.
That’s because you’re not necessarily thinking about specific keywords or phrases when you write a blog, landing page, or post. AI tools that optimize digital content for SEO can simplify the process, making it less painful. The software will scan different pieces and determine the best way to insert desired or targeted keywords. You won’t have to overthink it or make sure you’re using phrases and words in the right places.
AI for Digital Content
Companies and industries are adopting more technology, including AI, to increase efficiency and performance. The content creation world is no exception. As AI becomes more capable of imitating natural language and human qualities, it will continue to assist digital marketers’ pursuits. While AI won’t replace humans’ creative abilities, it will take the guesswork out of why digital content fails or succeeds.
