Using AI to Boost Your Content Marketing Efforts

Creating and distributing meaningful content is one of the most effective ways for your firm to attract and engage potential clients.

But consistently generating high volumes of quality content isn’t always easy, especially if your firm has a smaller marketing team.

This is where artificial intelligence (or AI) can help.

When it’s used appropriately, AI can help you to strengthen many aspects of your content marketing strategy. This might include:

• Coming up with new content ideas
• Creating and structuring your content
• Generating imagery and video content
• Editing existing content

In this guide, we’ll explain in further detail how AI could help your firm in each of these key areas. We’ll also include tried and tested AI tools, so you’ll be able to apply what you learn straight away.

Coming up with new content ideas

Thinking of new and insightful content ideas on a regular basis can be difficult.

AI tools like ChatGPT can be helpful for providing inspiration when you’re stuck. You can use ChatGPT for free, and it will offer up content ideas based on the prompts you enter.

For example, if your firm specialises in divorce law, you could use the prompts ‘What are the 5 most common sub-topics related to divorce law?’ or ‘Generate 5 keywords on the topic of divorce law’.

This can provide you with content ideas that you may not have previously thought of. But it is important to note that you shouldn’t rely on ChatGPT alone for your content research.

Whilst the tool has quickly become more advanced in its knowledge, it still doesn’t offer the same real-time search engine data as dedicated keyword research tools. So we’d suggest using ChatGPT in conjunction with a platform like Ahrefs, SEMRush or Google Ads.

You could take the ideas ChatGPT provides and enter them into a keyword research tool. This will allow you to check whether the terms are actually being searched for, so you’ll know whether or not to target them in your content.

Both Ahrefs and SEMRush offer free keyword generators. And AnswerThePublic is another free website which will provide you with a list of relevant keywords based on what people are searching for online.

Creating and structuring your content

Once you’ve decided on a topic, you can use AI to create an outline for your content. This can help to provide a starting point for blog posts, social posts, newsletters or even video scripts.

There are numerous free and paid AI writing tools available to content marketers – including ChatGPT, Jasper.ai and Copy.ai. But bear in mind that the results these tools offer up will be taken from content that already exists online. So make sure to review and amend as appropriate.

You should also ensure that your content is structured in a way that makes sense to the reader. Research has shown that 94.12% of the time, human-written content outperforms AI-content in search engines like Google. So it’s vital that you personally check the page flows naturally.

When AI writing tools are used correctly, they can be extremely useful for creating high-quality content at scale. But it’s important to remember that AI lacks the emotional intelligence and creativity of your team, so it should not replace your writing efforts altogether.

Our Digital Marketing Executive Hannah Henderson has shared her thoughts on how to get the most out of AI:

“I’ve found AI to be extremely useful when creating new content – whether it’s for our website or for our social media channels.

“There are so many ways you can use AI to enhance your content, and it’s easy to get carried away. But I would always suggest testing how the tools work first, as well as setting out how you’ll utilise them.

“This is largely because an over-reliance on AI could do more harm than good for your content marketing efforts. So whilst it’s important to embrace AI, there should be guidelines in place for your team to follow – such as ensuring a human carries out the final proofread.

“AI is becoming more advanced all the time, but it still has its limitations. To get the most out of your AI tools, try to treat them as an aid for your marketing team rather than a replacement.”

Generating imagery and video content

AI could also help you save time when creating new imagery and video content.

When using AI image generators, the level of detail you use in your prompts will determine the quality of the results you get. Try to be as descriptive as you can about the content you’d like to create – should it take on the style of a photograph, a drawing or something else altogether?

Image Creator from Microsoft Designer is a good place to start if you haven’t used an AI image generator before. This tool can suggest prompts for you, so it’s a great option if you’re not sure where to begin. It’s also currently free to use with a Microsoft consumer account.

When it comes to video content, AI can significantly reduce the level of effort and resource required. Lumen5 is an AI-powered video creation platform that allows you to create high-quality videos, even if you have limited experience in this area.

These are just two AI tools that can support with the creation of imagery and video content, but there are numerous platforms available. Which one works best for your firm will ultimately depend on your content requirements and marketing budget.

Editing existing content

After you’ve put the work into creating a new piece of content, you’ll want to make sure that there are no errors. AI can quickly check your work for any spelling or punctuation mistakes, meaning the credibility of your content won’t be negatively impacted.

You can use free AI tools like Wordtune Editor to re-phrase or summarise your text, too – making each sentence more succinct and impactful. There is also the option to change your content’s tone of voice, which can be especially useful when repurposing content across platforms.

Some AI tools can even detect plagiarism – one of the most popular being Grammarly. This will help to ensure that your website is not penalised by Google or any other search engines for featuring stolen content.

Using AI to proofread and edit your content could save your team a significant amount of time. But it’s important that you don’t rely on AI alone for this task. Instead, think of AI tools as assistants, and have one of your team members do a final read-through.

Remember that it can take some trial and error before your team is using AI to its full potential. For more help boosting your marketing efforts in the meantime, get in touch with us today.