While there are plenty of dire-sounding discussions taking place these days around artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning—and their potential to disrupt the world as we know it—this isn’t technology of the future. It’s already gaining traction across multiple industries and professions, including with content creators. New technologies are promising to upend the traditional ways in which content is conceived, produced, and disseminated. Examples already exist. 20th Century Fox used IBM Watson to create a trailer for Morgan. A Copyblogger article from as far back as 2015 noted that both Forbesand the Associated Press were producing machine-generated content.
These examples are likely to both thrill and chill content marketers, depending on where they’re perched along the content creation continuum—including the need to generate an increasing volume of content and to make a living from creating that content. For now, though, there is fortunately less to fear than there is to cheer, says Natalia Markova, senior web content strategist with Jellyfish, a global digital agency.
AI tools such as predictive analytics, natural language processing, and generation algorithms, Markova says, “allow us to get smarter not only about content production, but also about making it work more effectively. We expect the most impactful changes in the ways organizations use content for their business objectives to come precisely from such collaboration between human talent and AI.”
Currently, Markova says, machine-generated content is being widely used by blogs and news aggregators. But, she notes, it only works in some very specific instances. “First of all, it requires a structured dataset and a clever, detailed template—created by a human—to automate content production. Second, the type of content this approach typically works for is limited to pieces that intend to be informative and accurate, rather than creative or empathetic.” A lot depends on the subject matter and type of content being created, she notes. “For example, machine-generated content is often used in business, financial, or sports reporting.”
Cost also impacts use. To justify an investment in this type of technology, companies have to regularly and frequently produce similar types of content, she says. AI and machine learning, at least for now, represent more of an aid for, rather than a replacement of, human inputs. Read more about AI applications, implications and potential disruption here.
(Note: This piece was originally published by EContent.)
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Strategic Communications, LLC, works with B2B clients to help them achieve their goals through effective content marketing and management with both internal and external audiences. We are adept at evaluating and analyzing communication efforts and working with clients to plan, create and publish high-quality, unique content, through both on- and offline media to achieve desired results. Our background in business journalism, marketing, PR/media relations and online communications makes us well-positioned to serve the needs of 21st-century marketers.
We serve clients who are looking for help creating content for a wide array of channels—from social media posts to full-length manuscripts, and everything in between. We focus primarily on service-related B2B topics and work with a number of independent consultants interested in building their thought leadership through online channels. For ongoing content management, our first step is to fully understand your goals, objectives and competitive landscape.
Then we’ll conduct a thorough analysis and assessment of your digital presence, compared to competitors, and recommend a communication strategy to achieve your goals. But, we also regularly take on individual projects – white papers, blog posts, contributed articles, etc. If you’re interested in learning more, let us know!
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Tags: AI, artificial intelligence, content marketing, digital disruption, Internet of Things, machine learning, Technology