I have had the opportunity to study the use of AI as a content creator at Get SET Academy. This blog details how my knowledge has deepened into its benefits and drawbacks in a content creation role.
My journey of exploring and utilising AI began at my first post-university position in 2022. One lunchtime, my colleague mentioned an AI programme that was going to ‘do everything for you.’ Based on her description, I believed it was still in its infancy and would not be polished for a number of years. How wrong I was! Little did I realise it would soon become a familiar tool, with my awareness growing of how and when to utilise it.
I left this customer service role to pursue a career in digital marketing, where I was soon introduced to ChatGPT and other AI platforms. Get SET Academy’s digital skills bootcamp programme taught me various elements of the digital marketing sector, such as social media marketing, email marketing, pay-per-click, and more. However, my favourite week was the one focused on Artificial Intelligence.
It is true that AI allows you to elevate your creativity and efficiency through crafting instant responses to your requirements. We began with exploring ChatGPT’s potential in terms of copy, through generating blogs and social media captions for our fictional businesses. My favourite task involved using both ChatGPT and Lumen 5, an AI video creation programme. ChatGPT created the structure and script, and Lumen 5 formed the video slides. Within an hour, my promotional video had clear branding, aesthetically pleasing colours, and pleasant music. The potential of AI was exciting. What else could it make for me?
My first examples of AI-generated copy were hyperbolic, which was welcome for a fictional organisation, as there was nothing to over-promise and no real audience to connect with. However, when I started working as a content creator at Get SET Academy, this was soon revealed as an issue for me. I could use ChatGPT to plan campaigns, produce creative ideas,and manage my tasks. In my spare time, I even used the programme to solve logistical problems and write fictional stories, from writing only a couple of sentences in the prompt bar. However, I encountered a problem in my role: its hyperbolic language and lack of humanity.
Its language tends to exaggerate, infusing my captions with a sense of grandeur. I began to recognise other businesses’ use of ChatGPT in social media captions: the same verbs, the same adjectives, the same emojis and hashtags. With compliance regulations to follow and an audience to communicate with, I was spending more time editing these captions as I would have if I had written them myself. I decided to stop using it for captions altogether, valuing the human touch to connect with potential customers. After all, social media platforms are inherently ‘social’ , and ChatGPT was falling short of forming a community that a business needs. I settled on using ChatGPT to generate title ideas and made sure to specify ‘less hyperbole’ in my prompts.
When it came to blog writing, I would use ChatGPT to craft outlines or an example blog to follow. If I had used it to write this blog, it would have generated it in a matter of seconds. Although its language is smooth and grammatically sound, its content would not have summarised my personal experience as I could. For large bodies of text, ChatGPT certainly has the upper hand in speed and efficiency. Yet this does not equal good marketing.
To produce effective content, the prompt needs to be thorough. In Get SET Academy’s digital skills bootcamp, we learned how to craft an effective prompt. The prompt involves specifying your job role, your desired audience, tone, and various other elements to produce the outcome you require. Of course, for a short caption, you would spend the same time, if not less, writing it yourself. One could argue that if you could craft the elaborate prompt, you could write the long body of copy. I disagree – what ChatGPT does not suffer from is self-doubt and creative block. The human mind can be strongly influenced by stress and anxiety which hinder our abilities to focus and thus can extend the time tasks take. For marketers juggling multiple objectives, maintaining focus on writing compelling content under tight deadlines requires a strong will. It is done, of course, by many marketers and copywriters. Yet if writing is not your strong suit, or you are facing other priorities under a tight deadline, you could give your time to crafting the detailed prompt and proof-reading. This way you can optimise your time and maintain agency over the marketing content.
It is essential that AI is moderated and controlled by the human mind. It cannot ‘do everything for you’ and instead needs effort and guidance like any other member of the team. Specifying in the prompt is key to ensure you can steer ChatGPT’s content in the right direction. Proofreading is another necessary element: you must ensure its content meets your requirements. Know that ChatGPT can and will make mistakes. It is far from the polished, perfect mind we may associate with the term ‘AI' , but it can extend your own creative abilities and knowledge.
Now, I primarily use ChatGPT for answering questions and generating ideas. It produces these ideas quickly and efficiently, prompting my mind to generate its own, drawing from my marketing and workplace experience. I believe it is important we do not do ourselves a disservice by believing AI can replace us, and that we can collaborate providing the human marketer is in control. View its content as ‘suggestions’ you can either use or disregard. The AI content you decide to utilise will be your strongest as it is backed by both AI and you.
In marketing, one must continually develop alongside evolving technology, and I am personally very excited to learn more about this dynamic landscape. If you would like to learn more about Get SET Academy’s digital skills bootcamp, or are curious about any of our apprenticeship programmes, feel free to get in touch.
Contact: recruitment@getsetacademy.co.uk
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