AI Overload: How to Use It Without Losing Your Brand Voice
Everyone’s being told to use AI. We’ve written articles on this very blog about how it’s a tool that small business owners should be leveraging to make their lives easier, including using it to create content. The trouble is, AI-generated content often reads like…AI-generated content. It can sound cool and detached in a way that might be off-putting for readers. To the point that there are now a number of different tools launched with the goal of “humanizing” AI text. There is also some evidence that using too much AI-generated content can come across to Google as spam and lead to a hit in your rankings.
So how can small businesses get the benefits of AI without losing their distinct brand voice?
How to Write Great AI Prompts
Let’s start at the beginning because there are ways you can change up how you’re prompting an AI text generator that will lead to better content. AI language models don’t have human instinct; they rely on statistical probability to build sentences, so the more information and guidance you can give, the better.
- Give it a point of view. Telling it to write an article on green energy might get you several hundred words of readable text. But telling it, instead, to write about green energy from the perspective of an expert HVAC technician or the CEO of a wind turbine company gives the AI a more drilled down angle to approach the article from.
- Be specific about what you’re wanting. Let’s take the example from the previous point where you’re generating an article about “green energy.” But green energy is a big, open-ended topic that will likely result in very high-level, generic content. Instead, identify what specifically you want to address and spell that out. For example, “You are an experienced HVAC technician. Describe how recent developments in green energy production are affecting the costs of heating and air conditioning for home owners.”
- Have it revise if you need to. If you input your prompt and get the response and it’s not quite there, treat it as a first draft and keep the conversation with the AI tool going. Ask it to rewrite or revise based on your feedback, like “make it more personable” or “include more specific examples.”
How to Edit Your AI Content
The truth is, generating a piece of content via AI does not remove the hands-on human component. It’s perfect for making a starting point, but before you post it or promote it anywhere, it will need a closer look. AI is handy, but far from perfect, so let’s take a look at what you should be prioritizing as you read through.
- Formal, formulaic sentences – AI generator tools often skew toward a more formal style with longer, complex sentences and structure. Quick, quippy lines or sentence fragments are not really AI’s style, which can make it sound a little robotic.
- Inaccurate facts – AI will very confidently tell you specific facts, but you should always double-check what it spits out. It is, after all, a machine learning model predominantly built on statistics and probability moreso than complicated context. Never post until you know you’re not putting out misinformation.
- Weird expressions – Have you ever used the text predictor on your smartphone to message someone, only for it to recommend some really wild options for the next word in your sentence? While AI tools are more sophisticated than text predictors, they’re still capable of putting together expressions and idioms that do not actually exist in the English language.
Additionally, you can and should take some time to work your own flavor and personality into the text to really bring it to life for your customers. Consider doing things like:
- Adding personal details and anecdotes – Even better if this is a customer-related situation that relates to your business services. But the main point is to personalize wherever you can within the content.
- Adding humor, emotion, and/or empathy – AI tools generally can’t replicate these aspects of human-created content. As you’re reading through the content, look for opportunities to add real wit and feeling.
- Check for brand tone and voice – One of the easiest ways to do this is to compare the piece to the best examples you have of your brand voice. Read them side-by-side and ask yourself: do these sound like they’re coming from the same brand? If not, then you need to go back through the AI content and change things up.
Know AI’s Limits So You Can Benefit from Its Strengths
Ultimately, AI is a tool, and a tool is only as good as the person who is using it. It can be really helpful, especially for small business owners, but it can’t fully replace the human touch. Leverage it effectively, as a starting point and a foundation that can save you time, money, and resources, but don’t skip the final step where you sit down and review everything to ensure your voice isn’t getting lost in the mix. Even the handiest digital tool isn’t worth losing sight of your company’s unique brand.
