How was 2023? Did you kind of feel like you were slowly being consumed by the social media monster? Us, too. The good new is: so was everyone else. According to Hootsuite, there are a few things that we’re all ready to change has we move through 2024 and they’re all aimed at making our lives a whole lot easier. Today we’re going to be discussing generative AI and how you can be employing it as your little social media minion.
(If you want to read all of Hootsuite’s findings, you can find them here!)
Why you should be using generative AI
AI truly has the digital space in a chokehold. Most of us probably have no idea where to start when it comes to this Goliath of a software system. However scary it may seem, it’s actually an amazing tool. Because social managers are often made up of people named: “me, myself, and I,” AI can practically function as the whole theoretical team, easing the workload of slowly drowning Zillennial idealists.
More specifically, AI can help in the world of social media through “revising text, editing images, and providing customer service.” While not everyone trusts AI-generated content, some groups of people really do. Typically, Gen Z and Millennials are more likely to interact with AI-generated content while Gen X and Baby Boomers aren’t. Additionally, you don’t have to have AI do all the work for you, but it does make for one heck of an assistant.
At the end of the day, it’s more about making your life easier and creating amazing content that helps tell your brand’s story than it is about who strung the words together or edited the images. Just don’t forget to fact check.
Check out this article if you’re interested in using more AI tools to help you with your social media marketing efforts!
When to use AI and when to keep it real
Using AI is a great way to make social media management easier, but it can’t (and shouldn’t) handle every task. Step one is getting to know your audience. Do they see the value in AI or are they wary of it? Step two is making sure that you’re delegating the right tasks to AI while keeping the rest under the delegation of an actual human being. Straight from the Hootsuite research, here’s a guide to help you in this delicate balancing act:
- Utilizing AI for “Brainstorming ideas; Organizing your thoughts; Giving content suggestions; Writing first drafts for captions; [and] Suggesting images”
- Using humans for “Creating a content strategy for social; Editing and refining captions; Ensuring images and posts are up to brand standards; [and] Interacting in the comments section”
Advice from the drowning social media managers
While we’re also still working to figure out exactly what AI’s place is going to be in our own business, ChatGPT specifically has become a great resource for helping us brainstorm new ideas. When it comes to integrating it into your social strategy and marketing efforts, there is one huge thing that we implore you to keep in mind.
The first is not to let AI define who you are. Don’t let it speak for you without full context of your organization’s mission, vision, and values. While it’s a great tool for helping you generate content for your platforms, the voice behind the words needs to be your own. The second is your creativity. For years now, creating content has been about quantity, that is: stuffing as many keywords as possible into as many posts as possible. AI has essentially erased that problem. In addition to that, users are constantly being slammed with the same repetitive noise. Take these two things together and you now a have a new focus for your efforts: making an impact. How are you going to stand out in a pond filled with the same fish?
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