Here’s why you shouldn’t rely on AI to write your blog posts
I know, I know. There’s a lot of content out there at the moment about AI touting about how great it is, and some of the pitfalls, too. But I’m here to talk about why you, as professionals, should be cautious of using AI for content creation.
As therapists, health and wellness professionals, we want to build a business and brand based on credibility, authenticity and authority. We can’t do this if we churn out generic text created by a bot.
As a content writer and content coach I do not have any concerns about AI putting me out of business. Because my clients are professionals, many of whom work in specialised fields. I am not a good fit for people who want to churn out generic content. I want to work with people who want to build a unique brand and grow their business through content that connects.
AI will not connect with YOUR audience
I’ve played around with it a couple of times to see what content it came up with for some perinatal articles I’d planned. To be completely honest, I was unimpressed. Relieved, too. Because it supports what I have been advocating for some time now and that is we have to bring our personality to what we write. If we want to connect with our audience and make them feel something, we have to inject feeling into our writing, too. AI can’t do that because it’s a bot and doesn’t have feelings.
Writing involves finding creative ways to use words to connect with readers. AI is not capable of creativity because this is a purely human trait.
So do yourself a favour, and draw on your personal and professional experience when you write. Don’t rely on a robot to be the face of your business.
AI content is generic (not specialised)
I’m all about putting a unique spin on an article. If you simply want a “what is depression?” factsheet on your website, then yes, sure, AI will create something perfectly usable. But who wants to read another “what is depression” article, anyway? It’s just listing symptoms and it isn’t making a connection with an audience.
You want to add a unique angle to a topic, something that interests and connects with your audience. When I tried to input a topic from my specialised field the information that came back was scarily inaccurate. This is because AI cannot replicate your unique and specialised knowledge, training, skills and experience that you get from working with people.
AI content hurts your SEO
One of the greatest advantages of creating longform content like a blog post, is its SEO viability and potential for increased website traffic and organic growth.
However, I’ve heard on the grapevine that AI content is being screened by Google and other search engines and may be flagged as poor quality or plagiarised content. Which means your article goes right to the bottom of the rankings. In August 2022, Google publicised their desire to push unique, valuable and helpful content.
Unreliable sources hurts your credibility
When AI creates a blog post, it sources its information from other websites. This means we can’t be certain its sources are credible. And as health professionals we’re driven by science-based methods, right? We want to ensure we’re writing about topics that are backed up by research. We can’t assume the information gathered by AI is accurate. This responsibility falls on us to confirm it.
Not to mention the legalities of using ChatGPT for our professional uses, more on that here.
Even ChatGPT agrees…
I couldn’t very well write a blog post about AI without asking a bot for their opinion, right?
I asked ChatGPT: Why shouldn’t you rely on AI to write your blog posts?
This is what it had to say:
“As an AI language model, it may seem counterintuitive to write a blog post on why you shouldn’t rely on AI to write your blog posts. After all, I was designed to make language tasks easier and more efficient. However, there are some things that AI just can’t do as well as humans, and producing quality content is one of them.”
Thank you, chat GPT, I’m glad you agree with me.
It went on to give a list of points as to why you shouldn’t rely on AI to write your blog posts but it was all too boring to include here. Which brings me to another point. AI does not write in a conversational tone which is necessary for blog and article engagement. This is where your unique voice, personality and experience comes in. Sure you can go back and forth and ask the bot to rewrite it in a conversational voice. But it won’t be your voice. And it’s your voice that grows your business.
What can AI be used for?
I admit, it’s not all doom and gloom. After all, AI has been around for a while in different capacities. While people are going wild about how it will save so much time on their content creation this is only partially true.
It can save you time. If you use it as a tool, rather than an outsourced task that you no longer have to do, then AI can certainly work for you.
Here are some ways you can use AI to save you time:
First drafts- Use it as a jumping off point to flesh out what you want to say. Sometimes getting started is the hardest part of writing.
Generate content ideas
Create an outline for your blog post
Ask AI to repurpose your blog post into an instagram post
Give you an opening to your blog post
Help you learn about the structure of a blog post (opening statement/ hook- not that i’ve seen AI create a good hook)
Remember, anything AI creates will need to be heavily reworked and edited by you to create something that is authentic, credible and unique to your voice.
Create content that is uniquely YOU
So there you have it. Don’t rely on AI to write your blog posts if you want to build a brand and connect with your audience. Use it as a tool to help you generate content ideas.
If you need help getting started with your blog or creating brand authority for your business, book in a 15 minute discovery call to see if you’d be a good fit for my month-to-month content coaching support. Just fill in this briefing form.