Generative AI has taken the world by storm. At first, people disavowed the tech; but now, they’re adopting it in droves. I want to explore human involvement in GenAI and how organizations are using the tech to streamline content production. To what extent are marketers using GenAI? Is anyone shaping and strowing content all over their blog without checking it first? And, is there a right way to use GenAI?
Those are some of the questions that need answers, so let’s find them by taking a look at how marketers and machines are getting along today, as well as exploring some of the ‘right’ ways to use GenAI at work.
Human Involvement In GenAI Content Production: The Numbers
Thankfully, a majority of marketers (85%) report significant human involvement in their GenAI workflows. That sum is split between two distinct processes, which are:
- Human-Prompted (43%): This process relies on the human to provide context and guidance for content; things like providing outlines and ideas and having the GenAI assist with production.
- Human-Led (42%): Here, humans are creating most of the finished content, opting to use AI as a support tool to complete certain tasks, like generating variations or optimizing copy.
For both of these, humans are at the helm. But there are two more approaches that a small percentage of marketers report using where they start to give up some control:
- Human Oversight (13%): Here, marketers give more control to the AI, using it to produce their content in full while simply editing the output for accuracy and style.
- Fully Automated (3%): No explanation needed. The AI has complete control over the content and there is little or no human input or oversight.
While I think C is sometimes OK in certain contexts, things start to get a bit spooky with D since, in my opinion, I just don’t think the technology is at a point where we can wholeheartedly trust its output since it will still spout biases and write fluffy sentences that need to be corrected. Even if we could fully trust it, I’d still have some reservations about leaning on GenAI one hundred percent, mostly for the simple fact that I still want to be involved meaningfully in my daily work.
That said, it’s nice to see that a vast majority are using it like a tool and not a replacement for talent. That’s exactly where GenAI tools should fall.
Since most marketers tent in camps A and B when using AI in their work, that’s where I’ll set up a base for guidance and discussion.
So, let’s talk about tips and best practices for using GenAI for content, including the best ways to go about it and even how to begin.
What’s the ‘Right’ Way To Use GenAI in Marketing?
Subjectively speaking, ethical, responsible, human-led processes seem like the most reasonable or ‘right’ way to use GenAI. So, given the current state of the technology, I feel comfortable saying that A and B are aligned with what I might consider the ‘correct’ ways to use GenAI for content. Both processes rely on humans to initiate them, which I think is hugely important.
Having a human there to lead, course-correct, read, revise, edit, change and imbue voice is necessary to ensure the highest-quality GenAI content and reduce brand risk. Think about it: Would you blindly accept what an AI has served you without checking it for adherence to brand guidelines? That doesn’t sound like a recipe for success. However, expediting some of the common roadblocks to content production is still a huge win — especially if it means we can spend even more time focusing on being creative and producing truly captivating content.
Tips and Best Practices for Human-Led, AI-Assisted Content Creation
Human first, AI second. These tips and best practices can help inform your GenAI content strategy — whether you already have one but feel it needs some refining, or are starting anew.
Start and Finish With Human Creativity
Human beings’ innate ability to be creative has been at the center of nearly all we do for millennia. We shouldn’t be keen to give it up so easily — not even with the best algorithms this side of the Milky Way.
AI tools are powerful for scaling content, but the core creative direction should come from human intuition. Begin with brainstorming sessions or strategy discussions led by real creatives, ensuring generated content reflects your brand’s unique voice and storytelling. Then, finish with input from those same folks, critiquing what the AI has come up with and changing it as necessary to make it the strongest piece of GenAI content it can be.
Look for Repetitive, Less-Creative Tasks In Your Process To Assign AI
AI is excellent for removing the burden of tedious, repetitive tasks. So, if you’ve yet to introduce it in your workflows, start there. Leverage AI for tasks like keyword research, content optimization or drafting initial outlines so you can focus on higher-level thinking, such as crafting the core message and tone and striving for emotional engagement from your audience.
View AI Like a Collaborator
To better visualize GenAI’s ideal role in content marketing, view it like a collaborator working alongside you toward a common goal. You’d never expect an equal contributing partner for a project to carry it completely while you take some of the credit for yourself, so, the same should apply to GenAI. AI should augment your efforts, not make them redundant.
Feed It the Right Inputs
The quality of what GenAI outputs is directly tied to whatever you input. While slight variations in input won’t necessarily make or break the product, there is a difference between quality prompts and poor ones. Marketers should spend time crafting detailed prompts and providing clear instructions, which should include brand-specific language, tone preferences and target audience details to help guide the AI toward better results.
Use GenAI for Drafting, Not Publishing
While GenAI can be excellent for creating first drafts, humans should refine the output. Generating and then posting content with no QA check between is a recipe for disaster and — if I’m honest — an insult to your own creative abilities.
Don’t expect GenAI to give you something perfect every time. Instead, refine your processes enough that enable your GenAI of choice to provide a solid foundation, and then, you pick up where it left off to continue designing the content. Edit to ensure clarity, consistency and emotional resonance, so the final product feels authentic and human.
Collaborating With GenAI To Produce Quality Content
I watched The Wild Robot recently and couldn’t help but be reminded of its story while writing this blog. If you haven’t seen it or are unfamiliar, a highly-advanced robot, called Roz, is shipwrecked and winds up stranded on an island devoid of technology but teeming with wildlife.
The technology that makes Roz tick was originally designed to pretty much do anything and everything for humans. But in her new environment, Roz and the animals have to learn how to collaborate in equal and ethical measure to benefit both parties.
So, I’m going to end on that kind of a note. While we don’t have anything nearly as smart or self-sustaining as Roz from The Wild Robot in 2024, learning to collaborate with AI instead of relying on it to solve all of our problems is key to long-term success — especially in creative fields like content marketing.
If you’re like the majority of marketers who are already using GenAI in some capacity and it makes your life a little easier, you should continue to do so with care and responsibility. If you think you’re using it too much after reading this, take a step back and consider where and how you could reinsert yourself in your workflows.
Once you’ve got a good thing going, remember to (figuratively) shake hands with your robot every once in a while. You’re creative, so keep creating!
