Have you been using AI to write your content, especially social media posts?

I’m sure you’ve at least tried it, and why not? It’s an incredible useful tool to help you generate ideas, but you need to be careful about relying on it entirely, and using it as a replacement for human-written content.

Very careful.

Sure, it’s quick, easy, and free.. but it could be costing you a lot more than you think

One major problem is that many people are so exposed to AI content these days, they’ve become very savvy at spotting it, and it simply can’t offer much in the way of genuine human connection. However, it also turns out that the algorithms which platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Google use are very good at picking up on it, too. They’re pushing AI generated content down in value, which means it gets shown less at the top of people’s feeds, and gets penalised in terms of SEO.

According to the most recent LinkedIn algorithm report by Richard van der Blom and Authored Up:

• AI-generated posts have 30% less reach and 55% less engagement
• AI-generated visuals get 70% less clicks
• AI-generated comments receive 5x less engagement

Those are pretty serious numbers.

I had already heard this was happening, but I had no idea the problem was this bad. Feels like we might be approaching “peak AI” a lot sooner than we expected, at least in terms of posting content.

Now, I am a copywriter and franchise content specialist, so you might be reading this and wondering: “Is he just saying this because he’s worried AI will take his job?” I’m not. There will always be a need for quality, human content. What I am saying is that you should be worried about how hard AI is going to make your job, and probably already is.

So, what can you do about it?

Well, the obvious thing to do is to stop using AI to write all of your content!

Of course, one solution is to hire professional copywriters who you know can produce the kind of content that gets results, but I appreciate that’s not always in every business’ scope and budget. I am also very aware that one of the hardest things about an effective digital marketing strategy is that it never ends. You just have to keep on pumping out the content, day in, day out, and that can be a big burden on time and resources.

So, if you do need to compromise, maybe just use AI to generate extra ideas and act as a sounding board to experiment with different tones. Don’t rely on it to create anything original all by itself, and always use real people to check everything. Don’t ever use it to 100% replace genuine human-driven content, and definitely don’t use it to write longer form content such as blogs or website where you need to engage people with authentic emotional appeal.

The cost is simply too high

If you’re interested in talking about how you can effectively do away with your reliance on AI, I’m always happy to chat! Likewise, if you are changing your content strategy or have a big project coming up to promote your franchise, I’m always happy to suggest ways to move forward.

Just click the button below to schedule a call.