Artificial Intelligence – A Content Marketer’s New Ally

What do you call it when machines start performing tasks mimicking the intelligence of human beings?

The Robot Invasion.

We’re just pulling your leg – or are we?

‘Robots’ might not be taking over the world anytime soon but they are taking over many business processes and proving themselves worthy.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is finding its place in the world quite rapidly due to its widespread applicability and promising results. The world of content marketing is no different.

Content marketers can make use of AI to analyze data, enhance their content strategy, optimize their content, and report end results among many other things. In this blog post, we will discuss four of its main applications in the content marketer’s life today.

But before that,

What exactly is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial intelligence allows machines to carry out tasks in a manner that only humans were previously thought to be capable of – by exhibiting logic and intelligence.

It essentially involves computer software that has been programmed to perform processes in a smart, efficient way.

Its applicability isn’t restricted to a single field – many industries are now relying on machines to take over multiple processes and complete them in an efficient and accurate manner.

So how is AI relevant to content marketing? Isn’t content creation a creative process that requires a human touch?

It is, you’re absolutely right! But there is much more to content marketing than that. Although AI can help with both.

Here are certain steps you can take as a content marketer of today – the digital age. These processes can result in a much higher ROI when facilitated by AI.

And in marketing, whether it is content marketing or any other kind, you go down the road that promises you better returns.

Without wasting any time, let’s begin!

Let an AI ‘marketing assistant’ become your second-in-command.

Content marketing is not a single-step process.

From analyzing heaps of data to determining areas of interest, creating content, publishing it, and formulating reports among many, many other things, you are on your feet all day long.

Traditionally, you’d have an assistant that kept the ball rolling and made sure everything got done.

Now, you can go for digital assistants that use artificial intelligence for specific tasks instead.

From IBM Watson Explorer Deep Analytics Edition and Statsbot, which you can use to gain important insights from tons of data, to Yosh, that helps you enhance user engagement and drive sales, AI has you covered.

With many AI tools at your disposal and newer technologies being experimented with and developed every day, you get to indulge in content marketing like never before.

Enhance interactivity with the help of chatbots.

An example of AI that most people are familiar with in content marketing is the use of chatbots. Chatbots are machines that mimic human conversation and interact with an organization’s consumers.

Have you ever interacted with a Chabot?

You must have visited a company’s website and chatted to a ‘customer service representative’ in the window that pops up. It is quite likely you have actually interacted with a machine.

In its essence, a chatbot is basically software that has been programmed in a way that it can ‘have a conversation’ with a human being. Chatbots answer your consumer’s simple, most common queries or ask them questions for a survey among many other things.

What are the best things about having a chatbot?

Well, they can process data pretty quickly, send out reminders without needing reminding (unlike human beings who will most likely forget), relieve customer service representatives of mundane tasks, and be available to cater to consumers 24/7.

Like with anything, they do have their drawbacks but if used smartly, they keep you and your customers happy.

‘Hiring’ bots to create basic content

Wait, what?

Writing is an art form – you cannot expect creativity from a machine that a human brain can introduce into the mix.

But what about content that needs to be generated from copious amounts of data?

A tool such as Automated Insights Wordsmith possesses the ability to analyze large amounts of data, derive meaningful conclusions from it, and present them in the form of text that is easy to read and comprehend.

This saves a writer from spending hours and hours on analysis and compilation that they could very well be spending on a creative, innovation-based task.

This phenomenon is NOT hypothetical – platforms such as the Associated Press is already making use of such bots to create content.

Machines are even writing short, simple news updates and articles and we don’t even notice the difference.

While they may not be ideal for blogging or producing other creative forms of content, they can definitely take news-based articles and data analysis off your plate.

Personalize your marketing content.

You need to optimize your content to make it unique and relevant. And for that, you need marketing data and analytics on your side.

While we have discussed the role of AI tools in becoming your helping hand, the functionality of personalization and relevancy deserves a special mention. Bots can help you identify the topics around which your conversations should revolve.

Try this: talk to any blogger about the issues they face. One of their prime concerns, more often than not, will be finding topics to write about. This is where artificial intelligence can turn things around for you.

Take Hubspot’s SEO and Content Strategy tool for example – it helps you identify topics that your consumers want to read about and optimize your content.

Similarly, using the tool Crayon, you can discover the content your competitors (whose content marketing game is on point) are focusing on. Ultimately, you have the same audience so if their consumers are enjoying the content, the topics will work for you too.

These were just two examples. There are many other tools that you can use to discover your audience’s needs and areas of interest. You can then cater to them through personalized and relevant content.

Find a list of the best ones in this blog post:

AI Tools for Content Strategy

Ending thoughts – To join hands with the robots or decline?

Whether you admit it or not, machines are a very important part of the future, if not THE future.

Jumping on the bandwagon early on and making use of AI tools that benefit you is an intelligent move – the kind you can now start to expect from your machines!