image source: HITC
The Early Days of Content Marketing: Superficial & Self-Serving
The year is 2011. Content farms are thriving, churning out superficial, keyword stuffed blogs to boost SERPs (search engine results pages) for their clients.
There is no depth to the content. No personality. No thought leadership. No strategy other than ranking.
It was a shitty time for content marketers. The content industry mainly existed to play the SEO game and pump useless, marketing-driven articles out into the world.
Then, Google got smarter. They updated their algorithm. Keyword stuffing was black-listed, and marketers everywhere needed a path forward.
image source: holisticseo
A Better Way Forward: Audience-First Content
It took reflection and the desire to be better. To contribute rather than just add to the noise. To figure out how to make meaningful connections with their audiences. To move beyond self-serving initiatives.
For the most part, we’ve achieved this. Content marketing today has come a long from its content farm roots.
There are so many brands out there creating audience-first content that aims to:
inspire, solve problems, and teach them something new.
image source: Slack
Two Steps Back: Content AI Like ChatGPT Will Give New Rise to Modern Content Farms
But now with the launch of content AI like ChatGPT, Copymatic, and Jasper, I fear we’re reversing our forward progress.
Look, I’m all for new tech that helps us become more efficient and effective. Tools like RankMath make life easier.
But you can’t replace the human element of content. The writer’s unique style and ability to draw from personal experience can never be matched by a machine.
Your audience will see right through it.
Just like you see right through the ChatBots who can’t effectively help you with your issue:
image source: Jasoren
AI serves a purpose—a great one at that.
But using AI to create content is a bad idea. Writing is an art form. Replacing this art for science is taking the easy way out and doing a disservice to your audience. They’ll see through it.
After all, there’s no substitute for substance.
ContentAI is the modern form of Content Farms, just with a fancy face lift.
It will eventually fail as the content marketing engine replacement, but first tech companies will waste millions of dollars jumping on the trend.
And look—I'm not saying don't use ChatGPT. All content marketers should learn how to use it, because upskilling is important. But use it to make yourself a more efficient, and effective writer—NOT to pump out AI generated content.