Automation is good for consistency and productivity, but if you’re not careful, it can also be a crutch that prevents you from improving your writing.
In this post, we’ll show you how to set up a system that can help you write better content and make the entire content creation process easier and more efficient.
You may have turned to content automation because you’re struggling to keep up with the new content demand.
Or maybe you’ve been assigned to write a blog post every day, or you need to create a new landing page on your website every week.
Whatever the case, you must wonder.
Whatever the case, there’s no doubt that content automation can help you get the job done.
But what if we told you there’s a way to automate your content creation process without sacrificing quality?
That’s right, it is possible to create high-quality content using automation tools, and in this post, we plan to show you how.
We’ll start by discussing the benefits of content automation, after which we’ll walk you through a step-by-step guide on how to set up your own content creation automation system.
What’s Content Automation?
Content automation is the process of using software to automate the creation, publication, and distribution of content.
The idea is to use automation tools to streamline and speed up the process of creating content, so you can free up your time to focus on other things, like strategic planning or promoting your content.
Instead of manually creating each piece of content, you can use tools to help you with various stages of the process, from ideation and writing to publishing and promotion.
Content automation can be used for a range of content types, including blog posts, social media updates, email newsletters, eBooks, etc.
Why Automate Your Content Creation Process?
Reasons abound.
But here are ten primary benefits of automating your content creation process:
- Save Time
- Improve Consistency
- Increase Productivity
- Optimize Your Workflow
- Get More Done in Less Time
- Focus on What Matters Most
- Free Up Your Time for Other Tasks
- Automate the Boring Parts of the Process
- Improve the Quality of Your Output
- Get More Out of Your Team
Automated Content Creation is Now a Reality
Artificial intelligence, under the guise of NLG, is poised to change the content marketing landscape as we know it.
It’s already helping brands like Forbes and The Economist generate reports and articles at scale.
And while the technology is still in its early days, several content automation tools already exist and can help you with various stages of the content creation process.
AI can analyse data, predict outcomes, and recommend topics and headlines. It can also help you write better by providing feedback on your grammar, style, and tone.
What’s more? AI-powered content creation tools are getting more intelligent and sophisticated daily. And now, they’re advanced enough to generate high-quality content on their own.
In other words, automated content creation is now a reality.
If you have tried using Google Docs lately, you might have noticed that it now offers suggestions for topics, headlines, and even questions to answer in your document.
This feature is powered by Google’s machine learning algorithm, which analyses your document as you type and looks for patterns.
Based on what it learns, the algorithm makes recommendations that can help you improve the quality of your content.
To be clear, Google Docs isn’t a content automation tool. But it shows how AI is being used to automate content creation.
In the near future, we expect to see more AI writer and SEO assistant tools that automate the entire content creation process, from ideation to writing to publishing.
Recent Examples of AI-Generated Content
Recently, AI has received so much attention for its ability to generate realistic-sounding text.
One of the most well-known examples is Open Ai’s GPT-3, which can generate human-like text on various topics.
In the past year, we’ve also seen several news outlets experiment with using AI to generate articles.
And not just them, big brands like Forbes and The Economist are using AI to generate reports and articles at scale.
Here are some real-world use cases to help you better understand how AI, particularly automated content creation, is used today.
1. Conversational Chatbots
Today, many brands are using AI chatbots to automate customer support.
Chatbots are powered by natural language processing (NLP) and can understand and respond to customer queries in real time.
They can answer quick FAQs, recommend products, and even handle complex customer service inquiries.
With some of the day-to-day pressure off your customer support team, they can now focus on more critical tasks.
Multilingual chatbots can even help you expand your customer base by offering support to users in their native language.
2. Wikipedia’s Content Bot
Wikipedia is one of the largest online encyclopedias in the world, with over 6.5 million articles in English alone.
It’s also one of the most popular sites on the internet, receiving over 18 billion page visits per month.
But Wikipedia wouldn’t be possible without its army of volunteer editors, who contribute their time and knowledge to create and maintain the site.
Wikipedia utilizes bots to crawl content for stubs, which are short articles that need to be expanded.
These stubs are then assigned to human editors who can add more content and elevate the translation through humor, wordplay, context, and other impactful subtleties.
This process wouldn’t be possible without bots, and it’s a great example of how AI can be used to automate the content creation process.
3. An Entire Blog of Bots
Here’s a cheekily named website whose content is 100% written by a bot.
That’s right, every single post on the site has been generated by a computer.
The website is called thismarketingblogdoesnotexist.
All the posts are short but well-written and provide an overview of the topic.
Interestingly, the bot that writes the posts is open-source, meaning anyone can use it to generate their own articles.
While we won’t advice anyone to write an entire blog of AI-generated posts, it’s still an excellent example of what’s possible with automated content creation.
4. The Associated Press (AP) News Uses Bots for Quick Updates
The Associated Press is one of the largest news organizations in the world.
And they’re using AI to automate the content creation process.
In particular, they’re using bots to generate quick updates on breaking news stories.
They’re tapping into AI for quicker turnaround times, which is essential in the fast-paced news world.
Think of high-level tweets or summaries of a developing story.
That allows human reporters to focus on more in-depth coverage without sacrificing speed.
5. Generating Realistic Faces With AI
This isn’t strictly related to content creation, but it’s a fascinating example of what AI can do.
There’s a website called ThisPersonDoesNotExist, which generates realistic faces of people that don’t exist.
The site uses a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN), an AI algorithm that can generate new data similar to existing data.
In this case, the GAN generates realistic faces by learning from a dataset of real faces.
While this example may not have any immediate applications to content creation, it’s an incredible demonstration of the power of AI.
How Brands Are Leveraging Automated Content Creation
Automated content creation isn’t about saving time and money. It’s about automating the content creation process so that you can focus on more critical tasks.
And that’s why brands are leveraging AI to create better content faster.
1. Coca-Cola Uses AI for Marketing
Coca-Cola is one of the biggest brands in the world, and they’re using AI to create better content.
In particular, they’re using AI to generate real-time insights that they can use to adjust their marketing strategy on the fly.
They’re also using AI to create better-targeted ads and to improve their social media engagement.
2. IBM Uses Watson for Customer Service
IBM is using AI to automate the content creation process for customer service.
They’re using a tool called Watson Assistant, an AI chatbot.
The chatbot can handle customer queries and generate responses automatically.
That frees up customer service representatives’ time so they can handle more complex issues.
3. H&M Uses AI for Fashion Design
H&M is using AI to design new clothing items.
They’re using a Fashion DNA tool, an AI system that can generate new fashion designs.
The system considers the latest trends, so the designs are always up-to-date.
4. Lowe’s Uses AI for Home Improvement
Lowe’s is using AI to help customers with their home improvement projects.
They have a tool called Lowe’s Holoroom, an AI-powered virtual reality system.
The Holoroom can take a customer’s home measurements and generate a 3D model of the space.
From there, customers can experiment with different home improvement products to see how they would look in their own homes.
Content Automation Uses, Examples, and Workflows
Now that we’ve looked at the definition of content automation and why you should care, it’s time to look at some specific use cases and examples.
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Content Research and Management
Every piece of content starts with an idea, and one of the most time-consuming aspects of content creation is researching and developing those ideas.
Use a content curation platform such as Scoop to find relevant content to share with your audience quickly.
And if you’re looking for ideas for new blog posts, services like Google Alerts can deliver the latest news and trends in your industry right to your inbox.
You can also use content management tools like CoSchedule to organize and keep track of your ideas, editorial calendar, and published content.
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Content Creation
Once you have your ideas in place, it’s time to start creating content.
There are many AI writing tools available that can help you write better content faster.
One such tool is Quill, which uses natural language generation (NLG) to help you generate reports, articles, and more from data.
If you prefer to write your own content, tools like Wordable can help speed up the process by allowing you to convert your Google Docs into blog posts with just a few clicks.
You can also use a content assembly platform like Kapost to streamline your content creation process by managing tasks, deadlines, and approvals all in one place.
You also want to use a content creation service such as Iwriter, Hirewriters, or Upwork to outsource your content creation to a team of professional writers.
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Content Publishing and Promotion
After you’ve created your content, it’s time to publish and promote it.
Use a tool like IFTTT or Axiom.ai to automate tasks like sharing your new blog post on social media or sending an email to your list whenever you publish a new video.
And if you want your content to reach as many people as possible, use a tool like Taboola or Outbrain to promote it on some of the world’s most extensive content discovery and advertising networks.
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Content Editing and Optimization
Your content creation process doesn’t end when you hit the final full stop.
You also need to edit and optimize your content for maximum impact.
Use a tool like Grammarly or Hemingway Editor to help you proofread and edit your content for grammar, spelling, and readability.
And if you want to ensure that your content is optimized for search engines, use a tool like Yoast SEO RankMath, or Surfer SEO to help you with your on-page SEO.
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Content Publication and Distribution
After you’ve created, edited, and optimized your content, it’s time to publish it and get it in front of your audience.
There are a number of ways to do this, but one of the simplest is to use a content distribution platform like Medium or WordPress.
Both platforms allow you to publish your content quickly and reach a large audience.
Use a content scheduling tool such as CoSchedule or Hootsuite to automate the process of publishing and sharing your content on social media.
You also want to use an email marketing tool such as MailChimp or AWeber to send your content to your subscribers.
And if you want to reach an even larger audience, consider using a paid content promotion service like Outbrain or Taboola.
Axiom.ai is another excellent tool that allows you to automatically share your content on social media or send an email to your list whenever you publish something new.
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Content Analytics and Reporting
Finally, you want to track your content’s performance and analyze your results.
Use a tool like Google Analytics or KISSmetrics to track pageviews, time on site, and social shares.
And if you want to see how your content is performing on specific channels, use a tool like BuzzSumo or Hootsuite Insights.
Both platforms allow you to track your content’s social shares, likes, and comments.
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Automate Content Curation
While AI can never fully replace human creativity, it can automate content curation.
Content curation is the process of finding, sorting, and sharing relevant content.
It’s time-consuming but essential for any brand that wants to maintain a strong online presence.
Content curation can be automated with AI so that you can focus on other tasks.
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Use an AI-Powered Tool to Find Relevant Content
Several AI-powered tools can help you find relevant content.
One example is Google Alerts, a free tool that sends you notifications whenever someone publishes new content on the web.
Examples of tools specifically designed for content curation include DrumUp, Curata, and Scoop It.
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Use an AI-Powered Tool to Sort Content
Once you’ve found relevant content, you need to sort it out so you can share the best stuff with your audience.
That is where AI can really help.
There are a number of AI-powered content curation tools that can help you sort content, such as Taboola, Outbrain, and ContentGems.
10 Best AI-driven Content Creation Tools for 2022
1. Lately + Hootsuite Insights
Lately is an AI content creation tool that integrates with Hootsuite Insights.
The tool is specifically designed for social media marketers.
It can help you find relevant content and generate reports showing which of your posts perform the best.
When integrated with Hootsuite, the tool will train itself by analysing your social media account data to see which posts are the most successful. It will analyse words, keyword phrases, and other factors.
Worth mentioning is that the tool can take long-form content, like blog posts, and break them down into multiple short-form content pieces suitable for Twitter or Facebook.
2. Heyday
Heyday is an AI content creation tool that helps you generate text for blogs and social media. The tool uses AI to analyse your past content and try to understand your style and voice.
Since it interacts with human beings in real-time, Heyday uses an AI system that’s almost human-like.
As AI-powered content writing tools that allow writers to focus on high-value tasks, Heyday allows your customer service agents to use their skills for high-value interactions only — not repetitive tasks.
Conversational AI is the key to automating content curation, and Heyday is the most accurate representation of this technology in the market today.
Conversational AI goes beyond answering simple tracking queries like, “What’s my package’s tracking number?”
Using NLG and NLP, they can also understand natural language queries like, “Where is my package?” or “What’s the status of my refund?”
3. Headline
Headlime is a must-have tool for eCommerce businesses looking to improve their content marketing.
The tool is designed to help you generate product descriptions and high-converting copy for your sales pages and email campaigns.
First, the tool will ask you to provide a few product details. Then, it will use AI to generate optimized product descriptions for search engines and conversion.
The best part about Headline is that it gets better over time. The more you use it, the more it will understand your products, and its descriptions will be more accurate.
4. Grammarly
Grammarly is a free AI-powered writing assistant that can help you improve your grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
The tool will analyse your writing in real-time and suggest how to improve it.
It’s also available as a browser extension, which allows you to use it anywhere you write online.
Grammarly uses analytics to help you understand your writing habits, and it will give you tailored recommendations for how to hone your writing skills.
It will even check your content for plagiarism, so you can be sure that your work is original.
5. Quillbot
Quillbot is an AI-powered writing tool that helps you rephrase and summarise your content.
It’s an excellent tool for generating excerpts of your content for social media or for creating different iterations of an article for A/B testing.
Quillbot will also help you improve your writing by suggesting different sentence phrases.
The tool offers a few basic features for free, and you can unlock more features with a premium subscription.
6. Jasper (formerly Jarvis)
Jasper is an AI content creation tool that helps you generate text for social media, blogs, and email marketing.
The tool uses natural language processing (NLP) to understand your writing style, so it can generate text that sounds like you.
Jasper also offers a wide range of features, including the ability to schedule posts, A/B test different versions of your content, and track your results.
Jasper isn’t free. But they have a 5-day trial period, so you can try out the tool before you commit to a subscription.
7. HelloWoofy
HelloWoofy uses AI to suggest auto-complete options for text, hashtags, emojis, and more.
The tool is designed to help you generate content for social media, but it can also be used for email marketing and blogging.
Moreover, it automatically suggests “pull quotes” and checks your content for compliance.
HelloWoofy is an excellent tool for content creators who want to save time on content creation.
What’s more? HelloWoofy will also help you with translation. So, if you want to create content for a global audience, this tool is a must-have.
8. Copysmith
Copysmith is an AI content generation tool that can help you create product descriptions, ads, and social media posts.
The tools use SEO-trained AI and content templates to generate product pages and marketing copy optimized for conversion.
You can use Copysmith to generate product descriptions, meta tags, social media captions, and more.
What’s more? Copysmith offers a free trial, so you can try out the tool before you commit to a subscription.
9. Hootsuite
Whether using AI or not, you need a scheduling tool to auto-publish your content.
Hootsuite is one of the market’s most popular social media scheduling tools.
The tool allows you to schedule and publishes content to all major social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Hootsuite also offers a wide range of features, including content curation, team collaboration, and social media analytics.
Hootsuite offers a free plan for small businesses, and you can upgrade to a premium plan if you need more features.
10. IFTTT
IFTTT is a powerful automation tool that can be used for content creation.
The tool allows you to create “recipes” that automate tasks based on triggers.
For example, you can create a recipe that automatically posts your blog content to social media or saves new photos from Instagram to Dropbox.
IFTTT is an excellent tool for content creators who want to save time on tasks that can be automated.
