Unlocking Efficiency and Creativity: Harnessing AI for Content Creation

Recruitment marketing is evolving at lightning pace and at Thrive, we couldn’t be more excited! We’ve long believed that effective, ROI-driven marketing is about more than just generating vanity metrics such as likes and shares on social media. We know that when done well, recruitment marketing can be a revenue-generator, providing tangible ROI in both creating new business opportunities, whether through brand and reputation or actual lead generation, as well as generating efficiencies and time savings. Whether it’s leveraging automation to nurture client contacts or harnessing AI for content creation, technology has become an enabler for marketers to move faster and slicker than ever before.

However, when considering AI for content creation, it’s important to understand the uses, the downsides and best practices for its application. It is not a replacement for marketing strategy nor the human touch. When executed without the requisite technical consideration and knowledge of digital best practices, AI can actually hinder your marketing more than it can help.

We’ll explain the best practices for harnessing AI for content creation, but first let’s make sure we’re all on the same page when we’re talking about AI in marketing.

 

What is AI Marketing?

AI marketing refers to the application of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and tools to support content creation, email marketing, creative design and digital marketing initiatives. It involves leveraging machine learning algorithms, data analytics, and automation to enhance various aspects of marketing strategies and activities.

AI marketing is continually evolving, and its adoption allows marketers to make data-driven decisions, gain insights into customer behaviour, optimise campaigns, personalise interactions, automate repetitive tasks, and enhance the overall effectiveness of their campaigns

It’s important to note that while AI can assist in content generation, human oversight is crucial. Content should be reviewed, edited, and refined by human editors to ensure it meets the highest standards of quality, relevance, and ethical considerations.

As well, the quality of what comes out of AI content platforms is only as good as what goes in. Developing best practices around prompts and processes in leveraging AI for content creation should be considered before diving into AI marketing.

 

 

Using AI for Content Creation: 6 Best Practices

• Enhance Efficiency with AI

Undoubtedly, AI has been a transformative evolution in content creation processes. From idea generation to data analysis, AI automates the mundane tasks, allowing human writers to focus on the strategic and creative aspects of content development.

 

• Optimise Personalisation and Relevance with AI

Beyond ChatGPT, AI is baked into multiple platforms and supports personalised content creation by analysing user data to deliver tailor-made content experiences. Let’s face it, we all expect personalisation today and it’s so much more than just getting your name right in an email! Technology has increased expectations, at minimum segmenting the database and messaging to align with customer pain points. More sophisticated personalisation creates opportunities to align with individual preferences and behaviours, resulting in enhanced audience engagement and conversion rates.

 

• Focus and Quality Control and Authenticity

While AI offers efficiency, maintaining content quality is paramount. Sadly, this is where most people and companies go wrong. Two things are critical here – one, maintaining the brand tone of voice and authenticity in message, insight and communication, and second, in ensuring that the content is of high quality to ensure that Google does not penalise what it recognises at AI-generated content. This is particularly important in light of Google’s core algorithm update in October that was released in direct response to the evolving role of AI.

 

• Deliver Optimised and Personalised Email Marketing

AI can elevate your email marketing strategies. Sure, it can help craft content and with the right prompts can create messaging in line with data-driven best practices, from the length of subject lines to the positioning of calls to action. But that’s only the start. AI in email marketing can help optimise send times, personalise content with dynamic fields, enhance A/B testing, maximise engagement and boost overall campaign performance.

 

• Integrate AI with Human Expertise

AI should be a tool in a marketer’s toolkit and not a replacement. Human oversight is crucial for refining language, ensuring brand alignment, and infusing creativity. But that’s just the beginning. Understanding the technical underpinnings, including SEO, email and digital best practice and data collation and analysis is a critical requirement, and unfortunately one that many businesses may not realise that their lack of technical knowledge can have a negative impact on their brand and digital performance.

 

• Test, Iterate, and Continuously Improve

AI in content creation shouldn’t be about cutting corners or getting lazy with writing. It can equally support a strategic mindset by involving testing and iteration, feedback collection and a refinement of AI-enhanced content creation process. After all, what you get out of AI content creation is only as good as the prompts that go in and the human refinement of the content that comes out. Develop a systematised approach to your prompts to get the best out of the AI algorithms and constantly refine and optimise to improve.

 

The Impact of AI for Content Creation on SEO

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is often misunderstood and therefore (wrongly) overlooked in recruitment marketing. From blogs to regularly updated job ads, however, recruitment and career sites are primed for SEO opportunity, yet the majority of businesses ignore SEO best practices in their site and content development.

The impact of AI-generated blogs on SEO can vary depending on various factors, including the quality of the content, relevance to the target audience, and adherence to SEO best practices. Here are some considerations:

 

• Content Quality

Search engines prioritise high-quality, relevant content. If AI-generated content and blogs produce are well-written, informative, and valuable to users, then it can positively impact SEO. In fact, despite October 2023’s Google Core Update, there is no indication that it is actually penalising content that has been written by AI.

However, without a content strategy, messaging framework and storyline, AI can generate low quality or irrelevant content that doesn’t meet user needs. This can negatively impact SEO and penalise a website.

 

• Uniqueness

Search engines favour unique content – or more specifically, they may penalise duplicate content. If AI-generated blogs produce content that is too similar to existing content on the web, it will not perform well in search rankings. AI-generated content is not plagiarised content, however it is paraphrased content. If multiple people are putting in similar prompts into the same AI platform, it is very likely that the generated content will have similarities. It’s therefore again a reason why the human touch – and specifically a human with knowledge of content and digital practices – is needed to ensure that what is generated is of high quality and unique.

 

• Relevance to Keywords

AI-generated content should be optimised for relevant keywords to perform well in search rankings. It’s important to conduct proper keyword research and incorporate keywords naturally into the  content. Basic knowledge and understanding of SEO, from understanding keyword volume and competition metrics, to on-page and meta content optimisation will still be key attributes to incorporate in your content development.

 

• User Engagement

Search engines take into account user engagement metrics, such as time spent on the page, bounce rate, and click-through rate. If AI-generated content is well written and engages users, it can have a positive impact on SEO. Of course, poor-quality or irrelevant content can have the inverse effect.

 

• Natural Language and Readability

AI-generated content should mimic natural language and be easy to read. Content that is difficult to understand or sounds robotic may not resonate well with users and could negatively impact SEO.

 

• Structured Data and Markup

Proper use of structured data and markup can enhance the search engine’s understanding of the content. Marking up key elements like headings, lists, and other structured data is still important for SEO and should still be observed when uploading blog, job description or web page content.

 

• Regular Updates

Search engines love updated content, making recruitment and career websites particularly ripe for SEO opportunity due to the regular job posts and updates. Use AI to help generate job descriptions, creating a variety of ads, and leverage the efficiencies to ensure that every single job makes it to your website (as marketers, we can’t urge this enough, even for executive search firms!). These frequent updates and fresh content can have a positive effect on SEO.

 

Ultimately, the key to successful SEO with AI-generated content lies in creating content that provides real value to users, aligns with search engine guidelines, and meets the expectations of both search engines and the target audience.

 

AI Marketing Tools to Include in Your Strategy

It’s evident that AI can significantly enhance various marketing initiatives by automating processes, providing valuable insights, and improving overall efficiency. Here are some marketing initiatives where AI can be particularly beneficial:

 

• Personalisation

AI can analyse customer data to create personalised marketing campaigns. By understanding customer preferences, behaviours, and client/candidate history, AI can deliver tailored content, timely touch points and personalised messaging to individual users.

 

• Email Marketing Optimisation

AI can improve email marketing by optimising send times, subject lines, and content based on user behaviour. It can also automate A/B testing to determine the most effective email variations for different audience segments.

 

• Content Creation

AI-powered tools can assist in content creation by generating blog posts, social media updates, and other written content. While human oversight is essential to ensure quality, AI can save time and provide inspiration for creative campaigns.

 

• Chatbots and Virtual Assistants

AI-driven chatbots and virtual assistants can provide instant, 24/7 customer support on websites and social media. They can answer frequently asked questions, guide users through the sales process, and enhance the overall customer experience.

 

• Predictive Analytics

AI can analyse large datasets to predict future trends, customer behaviour, and market changes. This information can inform marketing strategies, allowing businesses to proactively adjust their approaches based on predictive insights.

 

• Ad Targeting and Optimisation

AI can optimise ad targeting by analysing user behaviour and preferences. It can help determine the most relevant audiences for programmatic job board advertising and digital performance marketing and allocate advertising budgets more effectively to maximise ROI.

 

• Social Media Management

AI tools can analyse social media trends, sentiment, and engagement metrics. They can also automate social media posting schedules, identify relevant hashtags, and suggest content ideas to improve social media marketing effectiveness.

 

• Customer Segmentation

AI can assist in creating and refining customer segments based on various factors such as demographics, behaviour, and preferences. This allows marketers to tailor campaigns to specific audience segments for more effective targeting as well as reactivation and retention.

 

• SEO Optimisation

AI can analyse search engine algorithms, keywords, and user behaviour to optimise website content for search engines. This includes on-page SEO, keyword targeting, and content recommendations to improve organic search rankings.

 

• Lead Scoring and Qualification

AI can assess leads based on their behaviour, interactions, and characteristics, helping BD teams prioritise leads that are more likely to convert. This improves the efficiency of consultant teams by focusing efforts on high-potential leads and is a key consideration in marketing automation initiatives.

 

When implementing AI in marketing initiatives, it’s crucial to align these technologies with overall business goals, maintain transparency, and ensure ethical use of customer data. Additionally, human oversight remains essential to interpret results, refine strategies, and ensure a positive customer experience.