Writing for AI vs. Writing With AI

With the evolution of natural language processing (NLP) in search engines and AI-powered content, content creators must regularly consider the impacts of AI when writing content. AI writers have also emerged as useful tools in the writing industry, even though they are regularly threatened in clickbait articles and colloquial thought as something that can replace human writers.

With the release of ChatGPT and the broader acceptance of AI software for writers like MarketMuse and Jasper, content marketing is continuing to develop its boundaries around what is writing for AI and writing versus AI. By offloading some of the workload, AI can help writers think more deeply about their content and ensure they’re creating high-quality work.

But despite the potential of AI, there are still some aspects to writing that only a human can do. We all know that feeling when we read something written by an AI that is off or disconnected from our thoughts. That’s because AI cannot understand nuance, emotion, or context like a human can. AI is only as good as its programming, and humans are much more complex than that.

There is no real way to escape from AI as a content marketer, but how should it be used, and in what ways can (and should) it be used? This article dives into the two main categories of AI in content marketing – writing for AI and writing with AI.

What is Artificial Intelligence? 

According to IBM, “At its simplest form, artificial intelligence is a field, which combines computer science and robust datasets, to enable problem-solving.” The field of AI has been around since roughly the 1960s, with the forming of modern computer architects by John Von Neumann and Alan Turing, even though the term artificial intelligence did not emerge until a 1956 logic workshop at MIT. Here, John McCarthy of MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Marvin Minsky (Carnegie-Mellon University), alongside others, defined AI as “the construction of computer programs that engage in tasks that are currently more satisfactorily performed by human beings because they require high-level mental processes such as: perceptual learning, memory organization and critical reasoning.”

AI is the machine simulation of human intelligence. Ideal AI is one that can think or act intelligently, similarly to a human, but also improve upon human thinking. AI systems are being created to allow machines to learn from the data and to analyze massive amounts of data, with the ability to recognize patterns, adapt, and make decisions with minimal human input. Some of the core goals of AI include reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning, natural language processing, and perception.

AI has made a lot of progress in recent years and is being applied in more areas. Some of the most promising applications of AI include:

• Siri – virtual assistant that can understand speech and respond to questions
• Image recognition – software that can identify objects, scenes, or people in pictures
• Machine translation – AI system that can translate between languages
• Robotics – machines that can perform physical tasks autonomously
• Expert systems – AI that specializes in a specific domain, like medical diagnosis

There has been and will probably always be some amount of controversy around AI, considering the breadth of science fiction novels that position it as a threat to humankind. 

AI in Content Marketing

The topic of AI in content marketing has emerged due to the rise of technologies available and the evolution of the field of artificial intelligence and its impact on online search.  With AI, marketers can leverage machines to generate content and achieve greater scale, personalization, and relevance. However, there are also risks and limitations to consider with AI for content generation.

The rise of demand in content marketing has also called into question what it means for a human to actually write a piece of content. With so many tools online, we are already seeing how mass-produced and significantly commercialized content writing produces poor quality. By implementing AI, businesses can actually keep up with content marketing and marketing demand while still releasing high-quality content.

It’s clear to many in the industry and beyond that AI cannot replace the unique capabilities of a human’s creativity and creativity. Human-generated content will always have the potential to be more compelling and captivating than that created by an algorithm.

And this is what the argument for AI in content marketing is all about. AI assistive technologies should be used to support writers during the content creation process, reducing the ever-increasing content creation and management workload and acting as a main economic driver for content marketing success with both SMBs and enterprise businesses.

That’s why we recommend AI and smart software to assist in content marketing. As you’ll see, this goes far beyond just writing a blog. In reality, the benefits of AI in content marketing come down to business management, data management, strategy, administrative offloading, and topic creation.

Is It Wrong to Use AI For Writing?

In short, no. AI is a powerful technology that can be used to improve the quality of content and make it more accessible to the masses. However, it should not replace human creativity or ingenuity in content creation. As with any other technology, it should be used to help humans create better work faster.

No, it’s not wrong to use AI for writing. Many businesses are already using AI to help with content creation. AI can save time and money in the long run, as well as create more accurate content than human writers. 

No, it’s not wrong to use AI for writing. In fact, many businesses are already using AI to help with content creation. AI can save time and money in the long run, as well as create more accurate content than human writers. 

However, there are certain things that an AI cannot replicate, such as emotion, connection, and nuance. Humans have a knack for understanding the subtle nuances of language and creating content with an emotional connection to readers.

Humans have a knack for understanding the subtle nuances of language and creating content with an emotional connection to readers.

Humans can more easily pick up on trends and topics likely to resonate with their audience. AI can’t replicate this kind of understanding and connection, as it relies on data sets that are limited in scope and experience. 

What is Writing For AI?

Writing for AI is the process of creating content with keywords and phrases that are optimized specifically for search engine algorithms. This type of writing relies on understanding what words and phrases will trigger higher rankings in search engines, such as Google or Bing, to lead people to your website.

When you write for AI, you are writing to trigger the search engine crawlers to properly categorize your content and rank it hopefully high. However, all of this depends on a number of factors. While not technically AI, writing for search engine ranking is one of the primary strategies of content marketers.

Gone are the days of writing for a computer or keyword stuffing; instead, content marketers must consistently stay up to date with the Google algorithm to stay competitive on SERPs. 

In order to write for search engines, content writers must now consider search engine optimization, Google’s E-E-A-T ranking quality factors, and other readability factors like its new helpful content update. Again, this is not technically AI that we’re writing for.

NLP and Google’s BERT models are getting very close. If we were to consider that Google and other search engines like Bing were using AI to categorize and rank content, then we might find that content writing will become more natural and less likely to sound like its written for a robot.

True AI models are learning models that can analyze previous information and make further deductions based on more context. 

In order to write for search engines, content writers must now consider search engine optimization, Google’s E-E-A-T ranking quality factors, and other readability factors like its new helpful content update.

Therefore, when your page is crawled and ranked, it must be written with SEO, indexing requirements, high-quality content factors, and more, suggesting that the broad range of qualifications to rank well is becoming more and more human.

How to Write for the Search Engines: The Million Dollar Question

As we mentioned, one of the many roles in digital marketing is SEO. Digital marketers use compelling and informative content to help drive traffic to a website through SEO.  

As Google never actually releases its ranking factor requirements, content marketers are left with a big puzzle about how to best write for search engines. Do we write for machines or do we make the content more relatable to humans?

Luckily, content readers and indexing tools are getting better at reading content within context, and trends for 2023 suggest a serious shift to experiential content rather than a technically-heavy approach. Therefore, while it is important to consider some of the technical requirements of search engine and AI writing, it is more important to consider human needs. Your content should be helpful, and visitors should leave feeling satisfied with the answer.

So how do you do both? Well, the good news is that if you want to stay relevant to your industry, then you have to use industry-related keywords. Keywords that focus on your audience and industry make the content clearer and more descriptive. You can also avoid keyword stuffing by writing longer content, as this provides more room to explain the meaning of the keywords and the context, creating higher-quality content.

SEO takes time to materialize, but by hiring a good content marketing agency, you can be guaranteed to get your messages out in front of the right audiences. Some easy strategies to use are backlinking and keyword research. Google prefers that your site has relevant backlinks, so this is an excellent place to start. 

What is Writing With AI?

Writing with AI is about automating the process of creating content, from writing to editing. This means that machines are taking over the task of finding content topics, researching them, and then producing articles or other forms of content. But they aren’t done alone, and they will always have very important human input at every stage.

With these AI tools, writers can produce content more quickly, accurately and cost-effectively. AI tools can help writers create content that is better optimized for SEO, has higher engagement rates, and is more likely to be shared by readers. 

AI Content Creation or AI Writing

AI writing refers to the actual creation of content using AI. In only the last few years, AI writing tools have become way more powerful and have emerged as actually useful tools in content creation.

We have ChatGPT, which now can output responses to questions based on answers crawled in 2021. And other tools, like Jasper, can generate an entire email, blog, or social copy for you. Is it wrong to use an AI writer to write your content? At okwrite, we don’t actually condone this without heavy supervision. These tools are useful in certain strategies, for dummy blogs, or for coming up with more ideas. However, there has never been a case where we have produced anything completely, 100% from an AI tool, and not edited down until it’s something completely different. We absolutely love the use of AI in our operations, as it allows us to provide a better service to our clients without compromising our content.

AI Image Generation

In addition to this, AI can now create realistic and creative images for you based on prompts. See below the AI-generated images of a cat.

AI Content Planning and SEO Strategy

AI can help in more than just writing; these tools can help plan content, find strategic topical gaps, recommend related topics, keywords, key phrases, and much more. 

MarketMuse is a great example of this; it identifies gaps in content and automates keyword research. AI tools can also work to improve the quality of existing content. For example, Hemingway Editor uses AI algorithms to help identify passive voice, unnecessary wordiness, and other elements that weaken writing. 

AI Writing Assistant

AI-driven content creation is the future of digital marketing. It makes it easier to generate high-quality text on a large scale. AI writers can help contribute ideas, structure, and tone.

Content marketers are typically under a lot of pressure to create engaging content. However, they can now rely on AI writing assistants to help quickly produce posts that will keep their audience engaged and coming back for more.

What is the Cost Argument for AI in Content Marketing? 

While there is an initial cost to implement AI writing tools, they can save time and resources in the long run. AI tools can help marketers create more content in less time so they can focus on other important marketing tasks. The cost of AI writing tools may be worth the investment if they allow marketers to be more efficient and effective.

Consider the estimated cost savings (based on average hours among staff when planning for a client with at least 4 blogs a month) that a content marketing agency can leverage:

For the average content creator with roughly 4-6 clients that have a moderate demand (anywhere from 4-10 blogs a month), then you can start to see how a cost savings of $400 for strategy per client can quickly add up. For a bill of 5 clients, content marketing agencies can save up to $2,000 and hours of topic planning.

10 Ways Content Marketers are Using AI in Content Creation and SEO

AI has a wide range of applications in the content creation process, from content curation to writing assistance to analytics. With AI-driven insights, you can quickly identify trends and opportunities for growth, allowing your content to stay ahead of the competition.

Ultimately, using AI for content marketing is about streamlining processes and improving efficiency. With the right tools, you’ll be able to save time and effort in order to focus on crafting relevant and engaging content. Not only that, but you’ll also be able to produce more accurate results, as AI can analyze large datasets in a matter of minutes. This makes it easier to identify trends and opportunities for growth, so your content will always stay ahead of the competition.

If you’re a content marketer, know that it’s ok to implement AI tools into your operations. Here are our 7 tips for using AI in content creation and SEO:

1. Use AI for Content Strategy

AI-based content generation tools can be used in content marketing strategy to help you plan out key content, map your competitors, and develop thought-provoking content ideas. This is essentially the service we provide, known as AI-powered content strategy. By leveraging the insights from these sources, you can create content that resonates with your audience and drives better engagement. How can you plan your content strategy using AI tools? 

• Audience research: AI technology can help to analyze data to identify important characteristics of target audiences such as demographics, preferences, and online behavior. This information can then be used to develop better content strategy.
• Content optimization: AI can assist in optimizing content to improve its visibility and increase engagement. With tools like Natural Language Processing (NLP), AI can analyze the language of a piece of content and suggest tweaks to optimize it for search engines.
• Content personalization: AI can be used to personalize content for individual users. By analyzing user behavior, AI can create a customized content experience that is more likely to engage and convert.
• Content automation: AI can handle simple, repetitive content creation tasks at scale, freeing up writers and marketers to focus on more strategic work. AI tools can generate basic blog posts, product descriptions, and more based on prompts and guidelines.

2. Strategize for the Brand First, AI Second

When using AI to create content, it’s important to remember that you need to be creating for your brand and audience first. While AI can help you produce content quickly and efficiently, the most important factor is how well it reflects your message and branding.

AI cannot understand your brand in the same way as a human. On top of that, make sure that what you are producing is readable, understandable, and relevant to your target audience.

3. Take Advantage of AI for Topic Research

AI can help you identify popular topics and suggest new content ideas. It can also look at a website’s past performance to determine which topics drove the most traffic and may be more likely to lead to fruitful results. This allows you to create content that is tailored to readers’ interests.

AI topic research is a good starting point. AI may be able to suggest relevant topics, but it might not be able to identify the full nuance of the topic, like if it’s been discussed before (in the right ways) or if it’s on brand.

You should strive to ensure that what you are creating is always in-line with the business strategy, consistent with the voice of your business, and capable of connecting with readers in a meaningful way. 

4. Try Out an AI Writing Assistant

AI assistants have been around for a while and are becoming increasingly popular in digital marketing. They can save time on other business-related aspects, such as email writing, research, and project management. They also provide a quality level that approaches that of professional copywriters and content creators.

AI writing assistants take the burden away from writers and help them create content faster by doing things like generating headlines, suggesting alternative words, and checking for grammar errors. 

5. Optimize Your Content Using AI Tools

It’s helpful to run an AI optimization tool over your content either during its production or as part of an audit. While writing, AI and machine learning software can recommend related, high-value keywords to improve SEO capabilities and topical reach. 

By using AI tools to identify long-tail keywords and optimize your content, you can ensure that your content is seen by more people.  

If you have existing content and want to improve it, then you can consider AI in a content audit or optimization strategy. AI-powered content creation tools can analyze existing content to identify trends and create new pieces that are engaging and relevant.

6. Edit for Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence plays a big role in writing quality content. Writers should be able to connect and empathize with their readers. AI will never replace professional creative and digital content writers because it can’t replace human emotional intelligence.  Writing with emotional intelligence is one of the things that separates good and bad writers, so without emotional intelligence, an AI writer won’t be able to produce something worthwhile.

To achieve this, use tools to help you identify any gaps in understanding. These tools can check for accuracy and consistency of tone and provide feedback on how your content is being received. This will help you craft more engaging content that speaks directly to the emotion of your readers.

7. Proofread for Accuracy

Text-generating AI can be used to create original content such as blog posts, product descriptions, and email copy. But, accuracy is key when it comes to content writing.

AI does not fact-check, either, which can cause issues for content writers producing content for marketing, informative, or other purposes. Especially since authority is essential to success, if your website’s content is incorrect or inaccurate, you will appear untrustworthy.

Double check for grammar, spelling, or factual errors that may have slipped through the cracks. Additionally, make sure that the information is up-to-date and pertinent to the topic being addressed. By ensuring accuracy, you can provide your readers with a more enjoyable experience.

8. Automate Content Tasks & Publishing Schedule

The most effective way to use AI in content creation is to leverage it as a tool for efficiency, especially when it comes to content management. Automation can be used to streamline research, automate invoice or proposal creation/sending, and more. It can also be used for managing CRM databases or project management. Newer updates allow it to be used for more complex tasks such as natural language processing (analytics) and text generation. Natural language processing (NLP) allows computers to understand the context of content and generate data-driven insights. 

AI technology can also help you develop an automated content publishing schedule that ensures your content reaches a wide audience and encourages engagement. This way, you don’t have to manually update these platforms.

9. Trust AI to Automate Simpler Tasks

Though AI may not be able to handle more complex tasks, such as crafting high-quality copy that reflects your brand’s identity, it can certainly help with simpler tasks. For example, automating basic formatting and grammar checks can save time and effort in the long run. Additionally, AI can make recommendations based on past content performance and overall customer sentiment. This information can inform decisions about which topics are worth exploring, how to optimize your content for SEO, and so much more.

AI is best used to automate simpler tasks such as optimizing and personalizing content, checking grammar and formatting, or researching topics. However, these automated processes should never be a substitute for human expertise and creativity. Instead, AI can be used to augment your existing content production capabilities. Ultimately, you should trust AI to handle the minor details while you focus data to give you an idea of what works and what doesn’t, so you can create more effective content. 

10. Monitor SEO

AI technology can help you track and monitor the performance of your content and SEO efforts on an ongoing basis. This data can help you make informed decisions on how to optimize your SEO strategy for better organic reach and increased visibility. 

11. Always Use a Human Editor

The best way to ensure that your content is of the highest quality and free from errors is to use a human editor. Grammar and spelling can easily slip through the cracks, even when writing with the help of AI tools, so it’s important to have someone review it before it is released. Additionally, an editor can inject more emotion into copy which can help to create content that resonates with readers and is more likely to engage them. Furthermore, they can also provide insight into what your target audience might be interested in reading and how to best structure the content for maximum impact. 

Writing For AI and With AI for Your Business

Ultimately, AI offers businesses a unique opportunity to create high-quality content quickly and efficiently. If you’ve read this blog carefully, you’ll notice that this is not that AI is writing for you but it is better supporting your content creation, helping your content reach its target audience with less effort. As AI continues to evolve, so too will its potential for content creation. The future of AI-generated content is bright, and businesses should take advantage of the many opportunities available today. 

By utilizing AI for content creation, businesses can quickly identify important topics and craft compelling stories to engage their target audiences. AI-driven content generation technology can also reduce the time spent on tasks like research, editing, and formatting. Additionally, AI can be leveraged to help with things like topic analysis, sentiment analysis, and influencer identification. Finally, by leveraging AI for content marketing efforts, businesses can gain valuable insights into their audience’

With AI-generated content, businesses can also reduce time spent on tasks like keyword research and optimization, improving their organic search rankings and overall visibility on the web. AI can also automate the process of optimizing content for voice search and other mediums, making sure your business is always one step ahead of the competition. 

By harnessing AI’s power, businesses can create engaging content that resonates with their target audience in an unprecedented way.