Let’s start with a disclaimer. This blog was written by a human.
OK, now that we are clear about who wrote this blog post, let’s jump into why I even have to mention it!
AI software is capable of writing content indistinguishable from human content.
The release of ChatGPT by OpenAI has taken AI generated content to a new level. Not only can this tool be used to write digital content, it is also an excellent learning resource, search engine and knowledge base that responds to questions and creates a dialogue with users.
This is causing a big shakeup in digital marketing and promises exciting times ahead!
Let’s take a look at how your marketing team can benefit from AI content generation tools and the impact AI content will have on digital marketing and content marketing in general, not to mention the death of the college term paper. Actually, I’ll leave that for another blog post.
OpenAI and ChatGPT
Microsoft has made a huge investment in OpenAI openai.com. Their AI chat tool, ChatGPT, is making big news and growing fast in popularity. According to Wikipedia, over 100 million people are now using this Ai chat tool.
You can open a ChatGPT account and play around with it at this link: chat.openai.com/chat.
Be patient, because of the high volume it can occasionally slow down or lock up.
Once you open an account you can set-up a series of “chats” with the AI by asking questions and requesting content or information on just about any topic. It’s not perfect yet, but the initial results are crazy good.
There are many AI tools out there, but ChatGPT is making waves because it is free and produces amazing results. The AI can write endless content on just about any topic with great depth and clarity. It also feels like you’re talking to a real person.
It is also a threat to traditional search engines, especially the market behemoth, Google.
Microsoft has also announced they will use ChatGPT to support and improve results from the Bing search engine. It is almost certain Bing will take away some Google marketing share. More importantly, it will likely change how people use search engines.
Google Search Versus AI Chat
Do you ever wish Google would just get to the point and give you an answer?
This is exactly the purpose of ChatGPT and one of the reasons its use has exploded.
Google provides over one billion search results to scroll through on a typical search, and ChatGPT gives you a few paragraphs in a nice summary. In fact, you can select how much content you want in your chat.
No one has a contract to use Google for research or search, people can literally switch overnight to another resource. This could be the beginning of that trend. It’s ironic because Google did the very same thing to its competitors when it burst on the scene in the early 2000s.
Google’s monopoly is actually quite fragile. This is why AI chat can level the playing field and give consumers options other than Google to research online.
Here’s an example of how this can happen.
I ran an experiment testing the Google search engine against ChatGPT. I asked the AI chat tool to answer this question for my wife’s Stampin’ Up crafting business:
“How do you get more Stampin’ Up demonstrators to sign up under me?”
The results came back in five easy steps and were very direct and on point.
When I did the same search in Google, I received over 200,000 results and none on the first page answered my question.
This is an example of why people will start taking their research to smart AI tools like ChatGPT.
The open source ChatGPT tool is also a threat to Google because it can be introduced to a variety of websites and apps helping people get what they want with more relevance and in less time.
Google has introduced their own AI content tool Bard. That’s not a typo, the tool is called Bard.
You can find out more about Bard here: blog.google/technology/ai/bard-google-ai-search-updates
Here is more general information from Google on their approach to AI tools: ai.google/tools
Bard uses Google’s LaMDA technology, which has been around for a while. Announcing Bard is a huge step for Google, but they are playing defense to Microsoft and ChatGPT.
Bard is being tested and is not available yet as of this writing.
I asked ChatGPT about Google’s AI tools and here is the response:
“Yes, Google has been heavily investing in artificial intelligence (AI) and has developed various AI-powered products and technologies, such as Google Assistant, Google Photos, Google Translate, and many others.”
I also asked ChatGPT to give me an update on Google AI chat and here is what it wrote:
“Google AI chat refers to conversational AI models like Google’s own language model, OpenAI GPT-3. Currently, OpenAI provides APIs to use GPT-3 for generating text, answering questions, and other tasks, but these APIs are not publicly available for general chat purposes. If you want to use OpenAI’s APIs, you can sign up for access on the OpenAI website. Keep in mind that access is limited and subject to certain conditions and restrictions.”
Google has the option to use ChatGPT-3, which will be provided to companies over time. So time will tell how well Bard works out compared to other options, which must scare Google as they have to compete, not something they are used to doing with search. Yes, Google has a significant competitor and users will benefit!
The real power in ChatGPT and other AI chat tools to come will be through voice recognition tools. This is where Apple and Amazon become key gatekeepers.
ChatGPT and Voice Search
Imagine if Siri or Alexa gave you amazing and thoughtful responses. Siri often sends me to a Google search result! This will be improved soon with AI chat.
We will soon see Apple and Amazon pay huge licensing fees to the AI chat provider that gets it right and becomes their partner. My guess is it will most likely be Microsoft and ChatGPT because of competitive issues with Google, but we will see over time how major tech companies use AI chat in voice search.
Either way, excellent voice search with AI chat tools is a threat to the traditional search engine. People will do what is easier and faster to get their needs met.
AI and Digital Marketing
AI content generation will be a big part of digital marketing in the years to come. It will serve two major strategic digital marketing functions. The first is as a resource for users to research products and services and the second is as a tool for companies and writers to express their pillars of thought leadership.
The million-dollar question for digital marketers is this, “how do I get my brand mentioned in AI chat like it is found in Google?”
This is still new territory and we have much to learn about it. The answer, for now, appears to be having a great digital content marketing strategy and reach.
The first priority is to expand and improve digital content about your brand on your website, social, reviews and any other websites that mentions your company. AI chat will pull content themes from various resources to write a general description of your company.
You do not want an AI chat tool to not recognize your company.
AI content must be delivered to users when they inquire about your company in AI chat. This can only happen if you have a well-rounded content marketing strategy.
Go to ChatGPT and ask it what it knows about your company.
This will give you a hint of what is to come with this tool and how people use it to research products and services, or companies they wish to work for as employees.
I asked ChatGPT this question:
“Are there opportunities for companies to use content marketing to get found in ChatGPT content results?”
Here is the response from ChatGPT:
“It is unlikely that companies could directly influence the content generated by a language model like ChatGPT through content marketing. The training data for language models is based on large amounts of text data sourced from the internet, and the models are designed to generate text that is similar in style and content to the input they were trained on.
However, companies can still use content marketing as a way to increase their visibility and reach potential customers. By creating high-quality, informative content that is relevant to their target audience, companies can improve their search engine optimization (SEO) and increase their visibility in search results. Additionally, by publishing content on their own website or through other channels, companies can engage directly with their audience and build relationships with potential customers.
While content marketing may not directly influence the content generated by language models like ChatGPT, it can still be an effective tool for companies looking to increase their visibility and reach their target audience.”
AI is leaving the door open here and because AI chat content comes from the internet and various websites, thought leadership and content marketing will continue to drive digital marketing visibility from both search engines (SEO) and AI chat.
AI Chat and Content Marketing
Content marketing is not going away as there will always be a need for people to research before they buy. However, how people research will continue to change over time.
Google has been the master of the universe in this area for over 20 years, but that could change as AI chat tools make it easier for people to research, especially at the top of the sales funnel.
Content marketing pros must now prepare content to get found by AI chat tools, in addition to search engines, and find ways to use AI chat to write better quality content for users. There is still a lot to be learned about how this will work, but it is a key part of the future for digital marketers.
What makes this so fascinating is that AI chat tools can be used to create the content found by researchers using AI chat and search engines!
ChatGPT is an excellent tool for content writers at all levels. Others, like Jasper, do a great job in this area as well. Jasper, by the way, uses ChatGPT along with many other tools and more to come.
Here are a few things you can do with AI generated content:
- Use AI content as source material when researching a blog post or article.
- AI content is a great starting point for writers as they begin the writing process and need an outline or first draft.
- Make revisions to add your personal tone and voice to all AI generated content.
- Gather AI content as part of your content marketing brainstorming.
- AI generated content supports thought leadership and allows you to dig deeper into your key areas of expertise, ask AI chat about this.
- AI chat will save a writer time and can function as your personal search engine for content research.
- Use AI content tools for SEO keyword research and to better understand how marketing works in your industry. For Example, you can ask ChatGPT to write a marketing plan for your company.
- Use AI chat to develop calculators and online tools for people that visit your website.
Keep in mind, AI content may not be 100% accurate and the current version of ChatGPT cuts off in 2021. Any AI content must be checked for accuracy. Also, Google may penalize websites using too much unedited AI content along with the risk of running duplicate content.
A human must filter and edit all AI content before it goes live on the internet or you must credit the AI tool creating the content.
Make sure to give AI the credit or it is plagiarism!
That’s just common sense.
AI Chat on Websites
Access to high-performing AI chat tools on websites will be a game changer.
Imagine having a meaningful discussion on chat when visiting a website and not worrying if an agent is available or if someone is going to sell you something.
The AI chat can be programmed to stay on topic and keep responses focused on helping the user meet their goals. I can see websites using an AI chat tool to provide detailed information on their products and services, along with general information on their industry. AI chat allows for this and much more.
It will make searchable resources sections of websites basically obsolete as users create their own customized information articles based on what they need.
Content marketing will still be needed for SEO and to help AI tools understand your company, so the resources sections are not going away, but they are about to change as companies start to license AI content and software tools. Be ready to start optimizing website content for AI chat in addition to search engines.
How this will happen is still unknown, but I am calling it AICO, artificial intelligence content optimization. It will be the SEO of getting your content read and indexed by AI chat tools.
This is how Microsoft is going to get a return on their $10 billion investment in AI chat.
Monetization of AI Content and Google Ads
So if Microsoft benefits by licensing their AI chat tool to companies and by getting more people to use their search engine Bing, what happens to Google?
This is yet to be seen, however, the early results don’t bode well for Google.
One of the big complaints with Google is their paid ads. Our team at Intuitive Websites have developed strategies to get results from Google Ads. Most of our clients struggled with Google Ads without our help. They complain that ads are too expensive, customer support is terrible at Google or non-existent and Google has a monopoly on ads so they can charge whatever they want and can change prices at any time.
There are simply no significant advertising options to get found in search engines other than Google Ads.
AI chat will be a game changer by giving people more research options. ChatGPT may bring Bing back as a serious contender for search ads providing much needed competition to Google in the digital ad marketplace. This will lower ad costs and be a win-win for consumers and marketers. Google will have to work harder to profit from their ads and have real competition from Bing. That’s a good thing!
My hope is that ads won’t ever run on AI chats. AI companies should make money by licensing the tool to companies for their own use and should not force users to have content disrupted by ads.
There is more to come in the monetization of AI chat and its impact on the current world of digital marketing, but the biggest win currently is competition for Google from, of all places, Bing.
AI and Spam
Google and Bing will most likely block pure AI content on websites unless it is noted as such.
Also, Google and Bing will really bring down the hammer on companies using AI content to spam search engines or users in any way. Don’t even go there as your website could get banned from the search engines.
People don’t want to read emails developed by AI chat tools. Keep your emails loaded with value as it is hard enough to get people’s attention on email.
Make sure all your AI generated content has been “humanized” and edited properly before it is distributed on digital channels. This is the best way to avoid errors, misinformation and best meet user needs.
Conclusion
AI chat and content generation is still in its infancy. ChatGPT is only current through 2021 and really in a beta stage at this point. However, these tools will change technology, search engines and digital marketing in a big way over time.
It’s been a while since something this exciting has come along in digital marketing. Do your homework and be ready to be at the forefront of this amazing new technology.
Here is your AI chat checklist:
- Sign-up for ChatGPT and get familiar with it.
- Search for your company and brand to see how the AI views your company.
- Use ChatGPT to research and write first draft content for your blogs and website content where appropriate.
- Ask ChatGPT to help you with search keywords suggestions.
- Get ChatGPT in place for your sales and marketing teams as a research tool.
- Ask AI chat how to best market your company.
- Stay on top of developments with AI chat and watch how Google responds.
Reach out to the IW team for a free consultation and to learn more about how we use ChatGPT in our marketing work for clients.
