Most Asked Questions About AI in Content Marketing

Artificial intelligence is making waves and revolutionizing entire industries and sectors nowadays, and startups and established leaders in the field are continuously bringing new AI-driven solutions to the market. Nowadays, some form of AI application can be found in every industry, whether it’s a hardware, on-site solution or a software AI tool used for everything from marketing to sales, operations and beyond.

In marketing in particular, there has been a lot of talk about artificial intelligence and its application in content creation. Now, this is not just about content like blogs, it’s also about all online and even offline content pertaining to your brand, social media, email, video content, and more. The possible applications of AI in content marketing are seemingly endless if you factor in the ever-advancing technology and the application of machine learning, but all of this does pose some serious questions and challenges as well.

That’s why today, we’ll be answering the most asked questions about AI in content marketing, giving you an insight into the state of the industry and this technology. When we’re done, you’ll be able to figure out whether or not AI is a worthwhile investment for your business.

What is artificial intelligence in content marketing?

Artificial intelligence in content marketing is the use of AI-driven tools and algorithms to make smarter decisions, boost efficiency, and capitalize on predictive analytics. But of course, that’s just the tips of the iceberg.

Because artificial intelligence is the use of models and algorithms to make machines smarter, this means that artificial intelligence and machine learning are continuously becoming smarter and more refined. AI and machine learning in marketing are still in their infancy, however, forward-looking businesses are already using AI tools for writing to boost content creation, or AI tools that predict and monitor user behavior to analyze market trends.

When applied over a broad spectrum of marketing processes, AI and machine learning can make various internal and customer-facing processes more efficient and effective. AI can also improve content marketing personalization across content types and touchpoints, delivering a more personalized experience to the user.

With that in mind, let’s go over some of the concrete benefits of AI and machine learning in marketing.

What are the benefits of AI in content marketing?

Higher and more efficient personalization

Given the fact that the vast majority of marketers and business leaders nowadays believe that personalization is one of the key elements of continuous business growth, it’s only natural to start searching for new ways to facilitate personalization at scale. Brands have access to numerous online and offline customer touchpoints and are investing more in quality content to boost their lead generation efforts.

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One of the foundational pillars here is personalization, which is easier to achieve on a one-on-one scale. But if you’re casting a wide net and need to generate a lot of leads, personalization becomes exponentially more difficult.

This is where artificial intelligence and machine learning can come in to help you reach your entire audience, and all your segments, with personalized messaging and curated content. This content is specifically chosen for them and their needs, based on their online behavioral data and all the data signals they leave behind as they are pursuing the web and interacting online. 

Building a better brand experience

It’s also important to note that AI and machine learning can help your brand building process in order to make sure your brand positioning is on point, and that the entire brand experience resonates with your target audience.

This is also a big part of personalization, as you want to make your brand experience personalized and tailored to your audience. AI and machine learning systems can help brand builders and marketers capture key data and brand performance metrics to uncover the parts of the brand that are performing as intended, and the parts they need to improve.

Typically, AI-based systems will compare the engagement metrics and behavior of users with brand KPIs to uncover the best performing content and the content that needs more branding. This can also apply to brand visuals and other elements like values and tone of voice. 

Gathering real-time analytics and insights

Speaking of gathering important data and generating insights, this is one of the foremost uses of artificial intelligence in modern businesses. AI and machine learning make big data analysis efficient and effective, allowing companies to collect and analyze vast amounts of online and offline data. This data is crucial for demand sensing and forecasting, but also for guiding your content strategy according to the real-time needs and wants of your audience. 

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Improving SEO

While there is a lot of talk out there about the applications of artificial intelligence in content creation, it’s also important to talk about the SEO side of things. SEO is an inextricable part of modern content marketing, and marketing experts are wondering whether or not AI can help optimize content for better ranking in the SERPs.

The short answer is, yes. While there are some pros and cons of using AI-generated content to boost SEO, generally if you combine this content with human oversight and proofreading you should have an easier time creating content faster. But content creation aside, artificial intelligence can help marketers quickly identify the SEO elements necessary for their content to rank higher, giving real-time performance and recommendations. 

How can content marketers use AI?

In theory, there are many ways marketers can use AI and ML, and just for content creation. It all starts with identifying your needs and the specific marketing processes where AI might be of service.

Always remember that content creation comes in many forms, so AI may be able to help with written content, video content, social media, email marketing, and much more. One of the key uses is, in fact, security. Marketers can use artificial intelligence for social media security by letting the AI algorithms analyze interactions and audience behavior to spot malicious behavior or intent.

This can be applied to all the audience touchpoints in the online world, ensuring better security when marketers are running campaigns and publishing new content on site and off site.

What are the ethical concerns of AI in content marketing?

Any new technology that’s set to revolutionize a field comes with potential ethical concerns attached to it, and AI in marketing is no different. The primary concern is the gathering and use of vast amounts of customer and audience data. 

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Individual businesses need to ensure complete compliance with the laws pertaining to data collecting and management, while professional social media marketing services and digital agencies that specifically use AI need to comply with the same laws to ensure complete legal protection for their clients. In fact, given that data is the key driver of AI innovation (powering everything from Google Maps to Amazon’s algorithms), artificial intelligence will definitely raise new questions concerning data laws in Europe and around the world in the years to come.

How to get started with AI?

One of the most obvious ways that marketers can get started with AI and machine learning is to use these technologies to collect valuable audience, market, and industry data – like we mentioned before. But of course, there are other ways to get AI involved in your content creation and dissemination processes.

Companies and individuals building portfolios can use AI to quickly build a PDF portfolio that’s personalized with curated projects and key talking points that address the specific needs of a potential client or customers. On the other hand, marketers can also start introducing AI into their email marketing strategies, creating curated email copy based on different customer segments and the position of leads in the buyer’s journey.

To make things easier, however, your first step will simply be to inquire about AI integration and development with your current software providers. Ask if AI integration is on their roadmap, and if they already have an AI system, consider giving it a try.

Will AI replace content marketers?

In a nutshell, no, AI will not replace content marketers, at least not in the foreseeable future. That said, nobody can predict exactly what the next five or ten years of natural language processing and AI innovation will bring to the marketing world.

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For now, the primary role of AI is to support humans in creating better content more efficiently and effectively, and businesses to create more efficient processes to take the brand forward as a whole. From email marketing to SEO and creating optimized yet original top-of-the-line content, AI can help marketers in many ways, but it can’t replace human creativity nor can it replace human intelligence in our field.

Does AI require oversight and how much?

While there are many simple AI-driven tools that require little to no human oversight, currently there are no content marketing or marketing tools that can work completely independently of their human masters. Depending on the complexity of the AI or machine learning tool and algorithm, marketers can expect to provide partial or complete oversight to ensure content quality and compliance. 

Still, even with continuous oversight, the leading AI tools can significantly reduce manual labor, producing content quickly and using key data points to empower entire marketing campaigns. This would allow companies to reduce manual labor and virtual assistance for AI oversight instead of investing in new teams and on-site staff in the years to come.

Over to you

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are two very important technologies that are continuously changing the way businesses operate. While AI and ML are entering the field of content marketing and are supplementing the work of content marketers around the world, they will continue to remain just that – valuable complementary tools that you can use to enhance your content marketing strategy.

Now that you have the answers to these crucial questions, go ahead and start investing in AI for content marketing in your own organization in order to retain a competitive advantage in 2023 and beyond. 

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