5 Steps to Creating Engaging Content in a Sea of AI ‘Meh’

“In today’s fast-paced world, integrating a data-driven approach can help you maximize efficiency and elevate performance.”

Did that pain you to read as much as it pained me to write? 🫠

That bland word salad of a sentence is the kind of writing that generative artificial intelligence produces – and that many brands like to use in their content.

AI is everywhere these days. Slowly but surely, it seems to have crept into almost every part of our lives, and unfortunately, content writing is no exception.

ChatGPT, OpenAI, Gemini – these are just a few of the AI tools you’ve probably heard of, all claiming to be the ticket to making your life a little bit easier. You’ve probably already implemented them into your daily worklife. 

In many, many cases, AI tools really can streamline and automate our work. By taking some of the humdrum admin tasks – like summarizing research and spell-checking – off your plate, tools like these can free up your time and brain space for more critical items on your to-do list. 

Sounds great, right? So great that you might start looking for every other possible task AI could handle for you. You might even start to think you don’t need a human to write your content anymore. After all, the AI stuff is as good as the real thing, right? Not quite.

While you may save time initially using AI to write your content, it lacks the authenticity and emotional depth of a human writer. Not only will your content be a bit lackluster, but you’ll be indistinguishable from all the other businesses out there taking the same approach.

Nobody wants to be lost in a sea of forgettable computer-generated content. You’ve worked hard to build your business – you want it to be recognizable, memorable, and truly unique. And that’s what’s missing from AI-generated content: you, and the hard work you’ve poured into crafting your brand. 

Now, if you struggle with getting something, anything, onto the page – yes AI is great for overcoming that initial writer’s block. But for the love of everything/anything you consider holy – edit. Make your content unique. 

Now, are you ready to make your brand stand out and get more eyes on your content? I’m here to show you how. Let’s get down to business!

1. Read the room (Who are you talking to?)

“When you speak to everyone, you speak to no one.” – Wise words from Meredith Hill.

Creating engaging content starts with knowing your target audience. Who are you talking to? The better you know your readers, the stronger the foundation you’ll lay for all your communications with them.

Remember that not everyone will be your target audience. And that’s okay! As an agency owner or web developer, you might serve clients across a wide range of industries or niches – but you’re not trying to attract every lead out there. Only the ones that best fit your business goals and values.

Casting your net too widely and trying to cater to everyone will just leave you with a bunch of generic, meh content. 

By intentionally crafting each email, blog, newsletter, or social media post for the specific group you want to speak to, you’ll create content that your audience truly cares about and wants to engage with.

2. What’s your vibe?

Now that you know your audience and what makes them tick, it’s time to turn that question back on your brand. 

What makes you you? What sets you apart from other brands?

With more brands cranking out the same old AI content, it’s more important than ever to find what makes your business unique, amp it up, and stick to it. 

Do you love to put a pun or two in your writing? Are you great at inspiring others? Or do you pride yourself on pushing boundaries and challenging norms? No matter what your vibe is, hone in on it. This is what your brand voice and personality are based on.

AI tools can only synthesize – they parrot back what they’ve learned from the content they were given to learn on. It can’t deliver the individual voice you bring to your brand – and it’s that unique voice that’s going to reach the target audience you’re aiming for. 

Once you’ve established your brand’s voice, tone, and aesthetic, keep it consistent. It should be clear wherever your audience finds you – in your logo, the tone of your writing, the brand colors and fonts in your website design, and everything in between. 

With a well-defined, consistent brand voice, your audience will come to know what to expect from you, building trust and credibility. People are more likely to work with a brand that they recognize and trust – and they’re more likely to trust a human than AI.

3. More human, less robot

You can probably tell the difference between a factory-made mass-produced sweater and a hand-knitted, one-off piece, right? Or real wood floor vs laminate? The real deal is full of quirks and natural texture. The synthetic stuff might be quicker to make and cheaper to buy – but it’s just not the same. You can feel it. 

The same thing is true when it comes to your brand. Creating engaging content still means letting your authentic, human side show. But what exactly does this mean? 

Empathy, emotional depth, and lived human experiences. These are the key elements at play in the most engaging content. People buy from people they know, like, and trust.

The stories, experiences, and opinions we share in our content illustrate how much we care, why we do what we do, and how well we understand our readers’ needs. We can create a connection with our readers and evoke an emotional response – something that a computer will (hopefully) never be able to replicate.

Your readers will appreciate knowing that there’s a real person behind the screen, someone they can trust and relate to. It may take time and effort, but creating that human connection is the key to lasting customer loyalty.

4. Let your creative juices flow

Do you know what else AI is terrible at? Creative thinking. 

Because AI tools can’t ‘think’ at all. They can’t create something truly new – they can only make an educated guess at the appropriate response to the prompts we give them. Those guesses are derivative at best, cobbled together from the information it’s been fed.

And the results? …not-so-great. (If you’ve seen some of the AI-generated “art” floating around out there, you’ll know what I mean – hello humans with 7 fingers. 😬)

You, on the other hand…

You can think outside the box and bring originality to your content in a way that AI can’t – weird and wonderful ideas that could only come from a human brain.

Think of some of the most creative advertising campaigns you’ve seen recently, (Michael Cera for Cerave, anyone?)—they didn’t come from a machine. 

Humor, subtlety, and creativity are uniquely human qualities that no robot can recreate. 

5. Get your facts straight

Okay – you’ve set your sights on your ideal client base, fine-tuned your unique brand personality, and established a human-to-human connection with your target audience with some seriously engaging content. You’re saying all the right things to all the right people. 

But do you have the facts and stats to back it all up? 

If AI is writing your content for you…it’s hard to be sure. 

AI tools aren’t reliable fact-checkers. They often provide outdated information – or worse, they ‘hallucinate’, pulling facts and figures from thin air and presenting them as facts. 

If you’re not careful, you can end up accidentally misleading your audience. And if your readers spot one thing that’s wrong, they may question the rest of your content, losing trust in your credibility as a brand. Once that loyalty is lost, it’s hard to claw back.

Need a little content inspo? We’re here to help!

Creating engaging content can feel tricky sometimes, and it can be tempting to lean on the machines to do it for you. But, these tools just can’t replicate your personal experiences, nuanced opinions, and unique brand personality. 

When you stick to your unique brand voice and put authenticity at the heart of everything you make, you’ll naturally attract an audience that connects with your content.

Want a little support from thousands of other agency owners and freelancers who get what you’re going through? Look no further than The Admin Bar Facebook group!

Learn from other people’s experiences in the content-making game and get practical, objective advice from those who have been in the same boat. 

We can’t wait for you to join the conversation!