The role of AI in content creation and topic generation cannot be understated. When used effectively, it can be incredibly effective at reducing preparation time and improving the quality of the content you produce.
However, there are also several challenges that you need to be aware of when using generative AI in your content creation process.
Review the role that AI should play in your content marketing plan, as well as its limitations.
Here are some of the biggest benefits of using generative AI for topic generation.
AI tools can greatly speed up the research process for any content efforts, as they can quickly answer any queries, elaborate on talking points, and help you expand your knowledge on the subject in question. However, AI is known to produce factual errors, popularly called AI hallucinations, so a human review with fact-checking is still important.
AI tools can also help you look at topics from different perspectives and understand your audience in greater detail to develop more informative content.
In addition to creating in-depth briefs and offering fresh perspectives, AI can also help you improve your SEO efforts, such as with keyword research and content optimization. When you write quality, people-first content that is SEO optimized, you stand a better chance of ranking on the front page of Google.
However, using generative AI in your content strategy doesn’t come without issues.
One of the biggest issues with generative AI is that the results are highly formulated and structured, which often means they lack unique creative thoughts.
As generative AI tools scrape websites, they can’t come up with their own ideas, which is why the input of an expert human writer or marketer is essential for the best results.
Some large language models (LLMs) that certain AI tools use, are trained up until a specific date (which could be as far back as a year). As a result, the answers can be outdated and may lack the most up-to-date insights and information on the chosen topic.
There are also ethical considerations to consider with regard to the concept of generative AI. While it can be an excellent tool for briefing and learning — if you start to use the copy word-for-word on your site — and don’t cite other author’s work, it could result in plagiarism or copyright issues.
Google has also shown it may penalize mass-produced AI content, reducing your chances of garnering organic traffic from your marketing efforts.
With all that in mind, here are some of the best ways to use AI for content creation.
As mentioned, generative AI tools can be a fantastic option for researching and expanding your knowledge on a subject.
Let’s say, for example, that you have been tasked with writing an article on the importance of electric cars. You may have a decent amount of knowledge about traditional cars, but perhaps you are less well-versed in the world of electric cars.
In this instance, you could use WebPilot to gather several insightful studies and articles on the subject and turn them into a succinct and insightful summary.
Here’s our prompt: “Please use the below URLs and summarize them into a detailed overview of the benefits of electric cars, as well as the current limitations and the future potential of electric cars. Where possible, please directly pull any statistics or valuable insights from these resources.
URL #1: Electric Vehicle Benefits and Considerations via the U.S. Department of Energy
URL #2: Why the Electric Vehicle Revolution Can Benefit Everyone via the Natural Resources Defence Council
URL #3: What are the advantages of electric cars? via EDF Energy, a leading company for zero-carbon electricity in the UK”
Here’s the summary we got back in return:
This clear and succinct summary of the three articles saves vital time, effort, and research. From here, you could also ask follow-up questions as and when needed.
Then, when including information from the noted research sources in an article, you can add citations to credit the original authors for their work.
Generative AI tools like WebPilot can also be fantastic for competitor analysis, helping identify potential weak points or missing content in your content plan.
For example, if there was a task to come up with content ideas for an entrepreneurial e-commerce subscription platform.
You might create a prompt like: “I work for a company called [Company Name], and I have been tasked with coming up with new article concepts for our brand. Please use the information below to learn more about the brand, see what we have already been posting about, and then produce 40 article ideas that are not already on our site but are in keeping with our brands.
Here’s what the AI tool suggested:
Finally, generative AI tools can be excellent for crafting a detailed article brief. Using the example above, let’s assume we’re writing the article “Advanced LinkedIn Strategies for B2B Lead Generation”.
With a couple of quick additions to our follow-up prompt, it’s possible to create a great content outline in no time.
Additions to the prompt: “We’re going to write an article on ‘Advanced LinkedIn Strategies for B2B Lead Generation,’ please use these URLs to create a detailed content outline that will help us rank on the front page of Google. Each of these articles is ranking on the front page for this search term, so please analyze them in detail whilst creating the outline.
URL #1: Advanced LinkedIn strategies for B2B marketing via LinkedIn
URL #2: 7 Advanced LinkedIn Strategies for B2B Marketing via Neil Patel’s blog
URL #3: Lead Generation for B2B Using LinkedIn via LinkedIn”
And here’s what the AI tool suggested:
Overall, it’s clear that generative AI can play a major role in any content marketing efforts, helping speed up the process of content ideation and topic generation. However, relying on it too heavily can cause more harm than good.
Tools like the Originality.ai AI content detector can accurately identify AI-generated content so you can review potential instances of AI text and publish with confidence. You can then complement this with a full website scan to identify if any pages contain too much AI-generated content.
AI tools can be very useful with content ideation for analyzing competitor content, streamlining project research, and improving the content brief creation process.
Generative AI tends to lack the same creativity and emotional understanding that a human writer can provide with their topical expertise.
Content marketers should use AI to enable their creativity, leaning on it for assistance in productivity and efficiency. However, AI is not a replacement for original, human-written content, which provides unique perspectives that grow audiences and improve Google rankings.