How Marketers Can Harness AI for Smarter Content Creation

Marketing teams today face dual pressures: creating more personalized, high-performing content at scale, while operating with leaner teams and higher expectations for ROI. Generative AI promises a solution, but without a clear strategy, it can lead to content chaos. 

According to one report, 57% of Internet content now originates from AI. Other estimates suggest it may hit 90% by 2026. “While AI-generated content offers efficiency and scale, its significant downsides can impact quality, SEO, and authenticity,” cautions Internet Marketing Team. 

It’s another amazing technological advancement we’re experiencing now…no different than mobile 15 years ago, an entirely new shift in how we think about something.

—Nick Gernert, CEO, WordPress VIP

Nick recently spoke with the Agile Brand podcast about using AI to create better—not just more—content, focusing on the changes happening in content generation workflows and why “putting human creativity in the middle” is so important. Read on for a summary of Nick’s discussion.

How to stand out in the AI content age

Are you surprised that 70% of AI-generated headlines are reportedly outperforming those made by humans?

No. It’s impossible for a human alone to synthesize a massive data set and apply the statistical result.

Large brands have a massive index of content accrued over time, thousands of assets, which are difficult to tap into consistently. And it just continues to grow. You can incentivize folks to create more content, but we also need to help them understand if it’s working and if their audiences are actually benefiting from it.

WordPress VIP is building AI-based analytics directly into our platform, collecting data from millions of users every day and applying that to a human-curated process. That’s exciting for us because that’s where our business is focused—using AI as a superpower.

At the beginning of the creation process, we’re saying, “Here is some of your top-performing, high-authority content you previously published. Use that to create new, high-performing content.”

This is the Holy Grail of search engine optimization. No one wants to say a year from now, “Yeah, we created 10x the content but got one-tenth the result.”

How do brands stand out when there’s so much similar AI content? 

Putting human creativity in the middle of that workflow creation process.

The best marketers and content creators add value because they understand their market, their audience, and what they represent as a brand, tailoring content more comprehensively than ever.

How do I improve that headline? What can I learn from past performance on this topic, and how can I incorporate that? What are other trends we’re seeing either in our own traffic or industry benchmarks? How can I incorporate that into categorizing, crosslinking, or cross-referencing content?

Using AI to take the busy work out of work

What are the creative benefits of using AI in content workflows?

Capacity. Our content strategies can become more ambitious. I’ve never heard a customer or organization say, “I have so many people, so few things to do, so much excess capacity.

There are many things folks want to be doing, but can’t because of capacity constraints. Like kick-starting the editorial process rather than starting from a blank canvas. Engaging with international audiences. Making things more accessible from a disability perspective. 

What would the world look like if we stopped spending a lot of time in the editorial or creation process, or wondering how we’ll consistently categorize content in our organization to make better use of it today and in the future?

AI is helping us do this a lot more…intentionally, faster, and better by not having to involve us. We’ll have more capacity to focus on creative work, unlocking human potential and creativity—not the routine and mundane, like writing article excerpts.

Being authentic and knowing your customers helps brands stand out in the AI landscape

How can brands maintain authenticity and quality while leveraging AI-generated content?

Authenticity comes back to how well an organization knows itself and its customers. The best have the richest understanding of their audience and a clear perspective on how they’ll add value, additional knowledge, and insight to a conversation.

If you’re pumping out generic AI-generated business content and hoping that through search engine relevancy you drive lead capture, you’ll be fighting in a very crowded space, getting drowned out.

The emphasis is on marketers to say, “How are we going to connect authentically and drive additional knowledge and insight on top of AI-generated content?” Rather than saying the same things everyone else is saying and getting drowned out.

As content and variations become easier to create, is there a risk of content oversaturation, a loss of value in this content ecosystem?

Like anything, we risk devaluing things. The biggest thing is to stay grounded, maintain a sense of quality, and avoid the quantity trap.

For the largest brands in the world, the question isn’t, “How do I outsource all content generation to the machines now?” but “What’s the right balance of AI support and human-curated connections?” The best work is where both come together.

Being aware that oversaturation can have diminishing returns should drive us to keep the quality level high. 

Humans still need to act as gatekeepers to ensure that storytelling is done well and to correct course if necessary, right?

Yes. Most organizations we work with still have humans in the creative workflow, giving the content a final read before it hits the public.

Again, having strong fundamentals is crucial—knowing your voice, your ideal customers, and your objectives. This rich foundation allows you to build better scaffolding that will help you in the content creation process.

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