Feb 29, 2024
What’s Up in The Shed: Q & A Series - Creating Digital Content in the AI World
Q & A Series - Creating Digital Content in the AI World
Welcome, digital trailblazers, to our first “What’s Up in The Shed” Q & A series, where we dive into all things digital design and content. In this session, we are looking at how creators are leveraging AI to streamline processes so they can spend time on what matters. Creative that stands out.
In this time of explosive tech evolution, the fusion of creativity and artificial intelligence defines our new digital landscape. See how Robin and Jaime from The Shed Creative craft compelling digital content in our AI-driven world.
Q: How has AI transformed the digital content landscape?
Robin Leigh Kessler: AI has become a huge part of content ideation and creation, automating tasks and empowering creators to focus on strategy and innovation. From SEO insights to article outlines to predictive design data, AI is redefining how content is produced, distributed, and consumed. Human creators are more important than ever as the gatekeepers.
Q: How can content creators use AI to enhance their strategy?
Robin Leigh Kessler: With the right, specific prompts and plug-ins, AI can audit content and suggest topics to enhance it for both search engines and target audiences. Generative AI tools help in researching trends, statistics, and data relevant to your topic. They can suggest and produce new content and graphics that make your pages and campaigns fresh and cover topical gaps.
Here are 7 ways to leverage AI for your content tasks:
Research assistance – trends, stats, and data relevant to a topic
SEO and keyword research of topics
Content gaps and opportunities
Content creation and rewrites for websites, blogs and articles
Content architecture and content for website pages
Social media calendars
Multimedia elements including graphics, images, infographics, and videos
Q: What role does human creativity play in the age of AI?
Robin Leigh Kessler: With the heavy lifting of AI tools, human creativity is even more irreplaceable. While AI streamlines research and content creation, the essence of storytelling, emotional connection, and perspectives are distinctly human. Creativity harmonized with AI can unlock possibilities that resonate with your brand and audience.
You can use AI to aggregate information and content for outlines and first drafts, and then add personal touches, like brand style and voice, subject matter expertise, real-world experiences, and a text anchor linking strategy.
You need the personalization of a human editor for:
Contextual understanding: AI might be brilliant at aggregating data and spotting patterns, but humans discern whether an update aligns with current events or societal shifts not yet reflected in the data.
Brand voice consistency: A human editor will make sure your content maintains your brand’s personality and tone of voice.
Authenticity: While AI can suggest improvements based on trends and metrics, humans should make editorial decisions about what’s most relevant and helpful for their audience, prioritizing authenticity over algorithms.
Creativity and originality: Humans bring creativity, style, and individuality to your content to stand out. Human editors should add wit, experience, regional idioms, and local colloquialisms that resonate with readers.
Ethics and Cultural Sensitivity: Use human oversight to ensure recommendations do not perpetuate biases, especially for sensitive topics that require a moral compass.
Generative AI can be an effective tool for enhancing outdated or thin content by serving up the stats and facts faster. Once we let AI do its thing; content makers should add personal, human touches and relatable insights to their makeovers. Find your sweet spot where tech speed meets human creativity, so your content hits home for people and search engines.
Q: How can businesses leverage AI to enhance content personalization?
Robin Leigh Kessler: AI-driven algorithms analyze user behavior, preferences, and trends, allowing businesses to deliver hyper-personalized content. From tailored recommendations to dynamic content adaptation, AI empowers brands to create individualized experiences, fostering stronger connections with their audience.
Jaime Nash: AI data can help designers create personalized designs as well as themed layouts based on user behavior and trends.
Q: What E-E-A-T elements should you have in your content?
Robin Leigh Kessler: Everything SEOs recommend for E-E-A-T ranking are good for your actual audience. Think about your users and what they need to be engaged and make decisions, including reviews, team and author bios, personal experiences, customer stories, and of course your contact information.
The better their experience, the more likely they are to link to you, share, or click – the stuff that helps you rank higher.
Q: What should creators prioritize in AI-powered content in light of ethical considerations?
Jaime Nash: AI is here and now, and we are seeing it grow. Content creators must prioritize transparency, accountability, and fairness in AI utilization. Striking a balance between innovation and responsibility ensures that AI serves as a tool for positive impact. If you are an agency, your clients should understand how and when AI is utilized.
In schools, educators are teaching and encouraging kids to use AI for homework and assignments. But they are grading in new ways based on student input and personalizing drafts into final papers. As it becomes immersed in every aspect of our work and lives, honesty and integrity will be key.
Content creators today are strategists and editors. How you stylize AI will impact how you rise above the crowd.
Q: What skills do content creators need to thrive and stay relevant in the AI-driven era?
Robin Leigh Kessler:
Adaptability. Content creators must embrace continuous learning, keeping pace with AI advancements. Content strategists should test AI tools and prompts and keep investigating ways to get better outputs with specific inputs for every piece of the puzzle.
Strategy. Skills such as data interpretation, collaboration with AI tools, and creative problem-solving are instrumental in thriving in the dynamic AI-driven content landscape.
Originality: Creators have to be strategists and personalization editors, ensuring that AI generated content is always on brand across channels and touchpoints, is original, and valuable to your audience. Content personalization is essential to ensuring it resonates with your brand, customers, and search engines.
Q: How can designers utilize AI tools?
Jaime Nash: Designers can leverage AI tools to enhance their creativity and efficiency. It can help with everything from automating tasks to providing creative insights, transforming how designers work smarter and faster.
A few ways designers can utilize AI tools include:
Inspiring Creativity: AI tools can suggest color schemes, layouts, and typography, as well as design templates.
Image Editing and Cropping: AI algorithms can enhance image quality, remove backgrounds, crop, refine, and create realistic images from sketches.
Predictive Design: AI can predict trends in design and user preferences, helping designers create more relevant experiences.
User Experience (UX) Design: AI can analyze user data to provide insights into user behavior, preferences, and pain points to inform on designs.
Performance Testing and Insights: AI tools can simulate how a design will perform with real users, providing feedback on usability and aesthetics. This can help designers iterate quickly to a final design.
Personalization AI can help you scale by generating personalized website layouts or email templates for different user segments based on their behavior and preferences.
3D Modeling and Animation: AI is revolutionizing 3D design by generating realistic textures and animating characters based on human movements.
Typography: AI can assist in creating custom fonts and typography by analyzing thousands of fonts and suggesting styles that fit your design aesthetic.
Accessibility: AI tools can evaluate designs for accessibility, checking color contrasts, font sizes, and navigation ease. This ensures that designs are usable by people with disabilities.
You Get What You Give
With powerful AI tools at our fingertips, we have faster ways to streamline digital content production. Remember, creative human inputs are what drive machine learned outputs. Work with a team that understands how to be original in all the noise and misinformation.
In the nexus of human creativity and artificial intelligence, the possibilities are infinite. So, stay inspired, get creative, and discover how you can stand out in the future of digital storytelling.
About The Shed Creative
The Shed Creative is a boutique design and content marketing agency based out of Pennsylvania and Northern California, energizing businesses and brands with creative strategies, visual design, and performance-driven content. We help brands get discovered, connect with audiences, grow their visibility, and stand out.
Meet The Shed Creative team and learn how we create with intelligent strategy.
For information on our design and content services or for sales requests, contact Mike Speiran, Head of Business Development, at mike@theshedcreative.com.
