Although AI has been helping creators generate and improve their content for a while now, recently it’s garnered a lot of attention. As technologies like ChatGPT and MidjourneyAI got into public hands over the last year, more people are being exposed to the technology. Though AI doesn’t (yet) outright replace human creativity, it can certainly bolster it. If you’re not already using AI to assist your content creation, now’s the time to start. Here’s how you can use AI to improve your content strategy.
Generate More Ideas
A common struggle in content creation is continuing to come up with new ideas. Many people begin their content journey with lots of great ideas in mind, which they can’t wait to make real. But, over time, the creative well can seem to run dry, and everything you do starts to feel like a rehash. This is where AI comes in. One of the great strengths of artificial intelligence at this stage of its development is generation.
Say you’re a Youtuber who makes cooking videos for newlyweds, neither of which knows how to cook. Things were great at first, as you had plenty of recipes and video ideas, but now you’ve done them all. You can use a service like ChatGPT to bolster your content strategy by asking it for new ideas specifically targeted to your niche. Sure, some of the ideas it generates will be things you’ve done already. But some will likely fit your content so perfectly that you’ll wonder how you didn’t think of them yourself.
Structure Your Content in Outlines
Think of every movie you’ve ever liked. There’s a high likelihood that those movies have a clear beginning, middle, and end, with demarcated steps along the way. The same is true of books, videos, music, and almost any other digestible content you can think of. Good content is well structured, and content without solid structure can feel messy and uninteresting. So it’s important to make sure you focus on developing your structure for every project you do.
Artificial intelligence can help you outline your content so it hits important moments at the right time. It can also help arrange the arc of your entire content strategy. For example, if you’re an essayist, AI can help you create an outline for your essays. But it could also help you organize a book of essays. Using AI is a powerful way to take your content to the next level by considering the bigger picture.
Analyze Data Sets
Sometimes when you’re creating content you want to make sure that what you’re making is based on real data. That’s because certain arguments presented in your content may be more persuasive if they’re backed up by real information. Otherwise, you’re making baseless arguments that may or may not have any bearing on reality. And there’s already enough of that in the world as it is. Thankfully, the internet can provide the average layman access to large and sophisticated data sets.
Perhaps you want to make the argument that there’s a socio-economic disparity when it comes to housing in rural areas, for example. Well, if you have access to the data sets, you can use AI to comb that data for the information you’re looking for. That data may or may not provide the statistic that you’re looking for (as it may not be true). But, you don’t have to spend hours upon hours analyzing that data yourself. Instead, AI can analyze that data in seconds, saving you massive amounts of time to work on other things.
Optimize Your Content for Search Engines
These days, search engine optimization, or SEO, is essential when it comes to content creation. That’s because, for now, Google is the most used search engine in the world by far. Currently, many factors contribute to what websites and links appear at the top of someone’s Google search. Generally, the more “useful” a piece of content is to a potential user, the more likely it is that Google will recommend it to them. So you want to focus on creating content that is generally useful (entertainment counts) and representing it as such.
The tricky thing is that, even if you spend a ton of time learning SEO, Google will sometimes change how its search algorithm works. And while understanding the fundamentals of SEO is important, you can let AI handle the nitty-gritty details. You can ask AI to help optimize your content for search by suggesting word changes or adding certain hashtags. Many of the best content creators use SEO to rocket their work into the collective spotlight. And if you’re serious about content creation, not optimizing your content is basically kneecapping yourself.
Get Creative
Part of why AI is so exciting in the world of content creation is that creators are just starting to tap into its potential. Using AI allows the average content creator to skyrocket their productivity and creativity. AI can help you structure your content and your content strategy more coherently and effectively. It can also help you generate entirely new ideas that you might never have thought of otherwise.
