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conversation. I'm Tara Thurber, Co-founder and Director of Talent Partnerships here at DefinedTalent. And joining me today is Deana Graffeo Weeks, Co-founder and Principal Managing Partner at Alchemy Media to discuss her Top5 Ways for Using AI to Develop Content Strategy. Hey, Deana, how are you today?
I'm very well, Tara, how are you?
I am good. I'm so excited to hear your tips and dive into this today. So let's just get started. Why don't you share just a brief snapshot of your professional background to our audience?
Sure. So I am my marketing and communications pro with over 20 years of experience. I started my career in the digital music space and evolved from there into a more general marketing primarily with technology companies.
Yeah.
I started as a publicist, and I'm marketing generalist for the past 12 years, didn't love pitching on the PR side. So really liked to dive into the writing component and the strategy component of what marketing could be. And so I took that experience, and started working with a lot of startups in the technology space and helping them craft their stories as a way of helping them refine their value propositions and meet their audiences with a more direct approach.
And now Alchemy Media, explain Alchemy Media and your position with it.
Are they sure so I formed Alchemy, back in 2016. And it really took off, I co-founded it along with my husband, but it really took off at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. It is really a an agency designed again, to help a lot of startup companies really function like with a marketing team for hire, because a lot of times they are resource strapped, they don't have a lot of both financial resources as well as human resources to be able to do the things that they want to do in a marketing
capacity. And a lot of times if they do have a marketing person, that person is suffering from what we call too many hats.
Yes.
So my focus is really to help come in and help them again, develop their value proposition in a way that makes more sense from a holistic marketing standpoint. So I will do that and help them develop their messages to reach audiences that are both customers, partners, and investors, which is something that other larger entities might not be so focused on. But making sure that that these startups really have the ability to communicate with all of these different folks effectively, and
holistically. And then Alchemy works as part of a collective. So I'm really focused on that communication messaging component. The folks that I work with can also do social media, paid media, web development, design, presentation skills, things like that. And what's nice is from the, because of the way we're set up, a company doesn't have to pay multiple agencies.
Yeah.
Big retainers every month to try to get things done. They can really come to us and kind of have all of those things handled as needed. For a lot of for a lot less, you know, a lot less money. So.
Like a one stop shop.
Exactly. And it really is it's kind of centered, again, that core messaging piece of it proliferates out through all of these channels. So they're able to do that communication a lot more effectively. Because it is more centralized and is handled more holistically.
That's fantastic. Now diving into AI I mean, AI is like the hot topic that's out there right now. Research is showing that the global AI market will reach half a trillion US dollars in 2023. And 83% of companies consider using AI in their strategy as a high priority. What does this mean for the industry?
You know, it's funny, I come from a technology background. My career has been 20 plus years. And so I've seen the.com boom and bust.
Right (laughs).
Seen technologies come and go. And there's always this fear element about anytime something new, or, if not new, certainly, like kind of coming into the zeitgeist.
Yup.
Kind of puts everybody a little bit on edge, because they're like, what's it going to mean for this? And I've never felt as singled out as I do now, with AI (laughs). Being a focus for people, because people are wondering whether or not it's going to replace creatives in the marketing space.
Yeah.
And it's a funny thing, because I use AI. 'm a regular user of, of ChatGPT and other AI tools to do my job more effectively. But from the business side of things, a lot of companies are thinking, okay, I can replace folks with these tools, in fact that the head of IBM recently had kind of come out and said, We're going to put a hiring freeze, because these are certain jobs that can be
done by AI. So you know, as a creative class, we're all sort of like looking at each other going, Okay, where is this going to go?
Right?
And what is this mean for us? Because, you know, you can go to ChatGPT. And I think there's something like over 80% of companies are using ChatGPT to generate blocks.
Yeah.
That's my job.
Right (laughs).
Right! It's part of what I do is write blogs for people. So when I hear that 83% of companies are out there saying, you know, 85% of companies out there saying we're gonna do our blogs using ChatGPT I have to be like, Well, what, what about me, you know, how, you know, what does that mean for me?
Right.
And so part of that is true, but the reality is, that it's a tool, like anything else.
Yes!
A paintbrush in my hands, it's not going to be a paintbrush in Picasso's hands, right?
Yup.
So there's a certain level of understanding of how to use these tools, that it still takes time.
Yeah.
It takes expertise, it takes understanding. And so I think in that way, we are kind of at a learning, right?
Yup.
AI tools aren't going to go anywhere, they are going to make us more productive.
Yeah.
They absolutely should be used and leverage to help us. But you know, there's this part of me, that's just like, why aren't they creating technology that's going to do the things that people don't want to do?
(laughs)
I got into this business, because I love to write. I made a livelihood out of it, because I wanted to love what I do.
Yeah, yup! (laughs)
And now like, you're telling me no. Let's fix the world's problemss. Things that people don't want to do.
Yeah.
But at the same time, I do feel safe, I think at least for the time being, we're a long way away from these tools, being able to fully replicate what companies truly need. And that's not to say that this content can't be indistinguishable. Right? You might not be able to tell the difference between an AI writing and the human writing. But what is going to matter is what that message is what that feeling is the things that AI just cannot convey.
Yeah.
And I think those are the things that moving forward, we need to be able to understand collaboratively that this is a tool that should be left to people who understand how to use the tool and expect that you are going to be able to create more valuable content by using these tools to simplify a lot of other things, and automate a lot of other things. But the message isn't the thing.
Yep. I couldn't agree more. It's that human touch. You know, AI is is a tool It's an added tool to help us be better, move faster, create. I think companies nowadays, sure it's all the big it's the bright lights out there, right? It's the, it's, oh, let we're gonna use this instead of having to hire somebody. Right? But where's the feeling behind that blog that was written? Where's the emotion? Where's that deep down feeling that you want your
viewers to get? And so I don't think a lot of people are like, Oh, it's going to replace this, it's going to replace that mean, even in the recruiting industry, people are like, Oh, AI is going to replace recruiters? No, it's not, it's an added tool for everybody. And I think if it's used properly and used correctly, it can only enhance us and innovate us to become bigger and better than who we are in any industry.
That's right. That's right. It's like 100%, almost anything that 98% something, some crazy number of marketers are already understanding that AI is a tool that is going to impact their industry. And the majority of them are understanding that they need to embrace these tools, there are people that are like, No, the more I give it, the more it learns, and the more it learns, the more at risk I am, I'm not going to teach my
replacement how to take. But again, even as it gets there, even as the technology gets more self aware, you know, whatever. Wherever we're headed, right? The reality
(laughs) is that right now, it doesn't know your perspective, it doesn't know your point of view, it doesn't really it's not able to capture the feeling. And the other elements from a business standpoint, you know, everything's feeling everything is emotional at the end of the day. People buy based on emotion. So that is still there, right. And there needs to be a level of trust and
understanding. But at the same time, this tool needs to be able to convey real and address real issues and problems with unique perspective and voice and things like that. And those are the things that I don't know that it can learn quickly, at least. Yeah.
And those are the things that are going to set you apart. Right? All of this stuff is coming from a database.
Yeah.
And there's a lot of issues with that in and of itself. So knowing that, being able to parse through and get to and create something that is truly unique to a business, is essential, and that will still require a human touch.
I love that and kind of seeping into trust. How will brands build trust when consumers know, in air quotes over here, original content is easily automated?
Right. So I think, you know, part of it is that there needs to be right now. I think it's only like 50, something percent of folks are saying that things like 59% of folks are saying that there should be full disclosure when something is created using AI. Right? I think maybe there's something about that, that makes sense. If you're taking something that is purely AI generated and using that, right? If it's being used as a tool, and at the
Word-for-word, right. end of the day, it still has the human element that has refined this, I think that is valuable, because I think the trust comes in, when you are able to understand again, that the material that AI is giving you is number one, it's old, right? Right (laughs). ChatGPT I think doesn't go any
more recent than 2021. Right? So the databases it's pulling from are not current, which means that you can't find recent resources and statistics and things like that, that are going to be able to color your story if you're doing a story on AI right now and you're using AI to
It doesn't it can't it's not doing that at generate that story. It's already allready old (laughs). least not yet. So, so first of all things are outdated.
Yeah.
Some things are factually inaccurate, right because of the way it pieces together. That's just the technology is not good enough to be able to always know that something is factually correct.
Right.
That's an issue in and of itself. Um, and then, again, things are based on, like, the database is the information that's gone in is human generated to begin with.
Right.
Which means that there are these implicit, like biases.
Yeah.
That are that are there and you need to make sure that you're reflecting information that's factual, and accurate and timely and doesn't come along with baggage, right?
Yeah.
So those are things where, if those are taken into consideration, that will help build trust, you need to be able to understand the flaws of that technology and account for that in what you're doing so that people can continue to trust you and know that this is on some level, while it may have been helpful to use AI as a tool to kind of get things started, the layer on top of it is really, again, authentically yours. That perspective and information is
authentically yours. And that's how you build trust.
And it's it's building trust and keeping the trust, right?
Right.
And then you know, from there, you can, again, going back to utilizing it as a tool, and allowing that as the marketer, but also bringing in that feeling, and that emotion behind it is what helps build that trust, too. So you do need those layers.
Yeah, that's right. I mean, your business, if you're doing things, right, your business is unique.
Yep.
Against the competition.
Right.
Against other industries, whatever the case may be, you know that your business is unique, and the people who make up your business, they're unique as well. So when you're generating content that is authentic to you, there's only one way to do that, right? You can use all of the background information, and structure and everything else and automation that AI provides.
Yeah.
But you still need to infuse your own personality and understanding of your own customer base into that otherwise what differentiates you from everybody else?
Right, you're gonna lose out.
You lose it. Exactly.
Absolutely. So next question is really going into, is it worth it? I mean, how do you determine the ROI of AI generated content?
You know, I think the thing is, if you could look at, you know, you could run a test and check what your engagement numbers are, your click through rates are and things like that, like that the content that it generates, it's pretty good. And, I've seen plenty of not great writers that have put out content.
Right.
And in a lot of ways, AI can be better, and it should be used as a tool to improve writing. And it can be right? It can both be used at the beginning and the end, to help you edit. I use other AI tools to make sure that number one, nothing I'm doing comes off as sounding like it's been plagiarized from any anywhere, especially if I'm using stats and things like that. There's a lot of that there. And I think that testing, it, is really the same ways that you test anything, right?
Yeah.
What are your engagement numbers like? What are what are your click through rates like? Are you meeting the goals that you set out to with your content strategy? You should always make sure your content strategy has some clear key KPIs.
Yep.
How are you tracking to those, right? If you're looking at using AI tools in and of themselves and again, the thing is it's a matter of how do you do things over time, right?
Right.
But what are the benchmarks that you're looking at for your mind share and things like that? Those are the same things you look at either way. And and the thing is, like I said, it's not it shouldn't be an either or it's really a both How do you use the tool together with your qualified team?
Yep.
To be able to marry something for something that is delivering more value, and more content, right? Because really, at the end of the day, it's about improving that productivity to create more meaningful content. And so I think it's the same, I don't think it changes that much based on whether or not it's a tool you have.
I love that. And then, I think, too, I mean, you need to I like the idea of testing. I think that that's interesting, too, because it's something to almost, it's an experiment for the individual or the marketer that is putting it together, but also for companies to maybe see the proof in the pudding that it has to be in and it's not, it's this or this, it's this and this in order to come together to make it better. Right?
Right. Right. That's it. That's exactly it. It should be, it should be both. A lot of companies will, and I think a lot of them are right, some folks have decided, Okay, we're gonna use AI tools to be able to do this job that we had hired a blogger, you know, to write our content for us, or we hired somebody to handle creation of our social media calendar, and now we have a tool that could do it all. And
they realized they can't. So I've known several people that have expressed that people have come back to them, you know, clients have come back to them to basically say, Okay, we've made a mistake (laughs).
We need you. We need that human touch still.
Yeah it needs that human touch still. Exactly. That's right. Yeah.
So can you share a negative aspect of AI? And how you would handle the situation or spin it into a positive?
Yeah, I mean, I think, if you look at something, like I mentioned earlier, one of the biggest things are the biases that are included in this context, just by the nature of the world around us, there are communities that are marginalized, which means that the content out there is not a fair representation of their experiences. And therefore the information that's being pulled out there is not a fair representation of those
experiences. So when you have something like that, where you're leveraging those kinds of tools, one of the things that's really beneficial to do is to make sure that the team that you have, that are using those tools can spot those issues, right?
Yeah.
So that means having a diverse team, or diverse representation on your team, that can help parse that information and make sure that if you're writing something that is to the black community, that the human person that's handling that content development, has their hands on it.
Yeah.
And you can have your diversity and inclusion efforts are reflective of this, and you can implement those strategies, with that in mind, to, again, I like authenticity, and all of those things that are innately lacking from what AI is delivering, by bringing in the right people and talking about your ability to have the right people conveying those points. So, I think that's where, where the benefit really lies.
I love it. I'm Deena talking to you about all this. It's so educational and informative for me. You know, I dabble in the ChatGPT in the AI especially in in our industry, and we're utilizing it more and more and more but, finding that - I was gonna say happy marriage, but it's that that equal share of it is so important to develop the content, develop that strategy
behind it all. Everything that you've shared is super impactful in my mind as well, because I get to, you know, it's very educational and knowledgeable. So I would love if you could share your Top5 Tips for Using AI to Develop your Content Strategy.
Yeah, I mean, I think there's a couple of ways that I look at, Number one is precision and relevancy, right? Being able to begin your process of developing a content strategy with precision and relevancy and knowing that the AI tools have a lot of information and data at their
disposal, right? To be able to hone in on those points, even if again, with a critical eye on it, you know that there are certain things you might need to update and refine, there is still a structure and an approach towards that strategy that you can start to pursue that is relevant and precise. So I think that's one. There is the
creativity, and originality. I think, again, there's a multitude of places where you can dive into areas, I love using AI tools when I've got writer's block, to help me ideate around concepts and blogs
and other things. And when I'm developing a full blown content strategy, I'm using it one, like I said, that structure is so important, but then also that ideation, right to be able to tap into specific kinds of channel marketing concepts like blogging, or social media, and thinking through some of those ideas. Using an AI tool is really, really beneficial for
that. It's also really good for for automation, and helping you with your scheduling, and determining what your cadences should be, and identifying the when and where your content strategy, elements of your content strategy will make sense. It's also really, really good for customization of
audiences. So I mentioned earlier here, one of the key things for me is that I'm talking to startups who are trying to again, build their products or services, and they're trying to chord a lot of different audiences, mostly being different customers, right? And even within the customer segment, there could be different personas that you would have there. Investors and
partners. And being able to pinpoint and think strategically about how to approach each of those personas, or even persona development is incredibly valuable from a content strategy standpoint. So I can go into my tool and say, Okay, I've got an idea about who are some target audiences for this type of client, and it will come back and it'll tell me and then I can go deeper, and say, Okay, let's build a persona for this person, and it will literally spit out. This is Blogger Bob, and he's
25. And he likes sports and it'll literally give me a persona.
Wow.
Basically, from which again, I need to know that I can go in and refine these things. But at their base level, it's kind of amazing to see what it will spit out to you when you know what how to prompt it. So I think those are key and then finally, just productivity, straight productivity.
Yeah.
You know, again, creating a content strategy can be time consuming and cumbersome and daunting, right?
Very, very.
And to be able to go in and know what the components are, and have it give me a shell that I can go in and apply my expertise to, and my understanding of the client and their needs and the business and what their needs are, and the pain points and what those pain points are, and allow the tool to specifically help me kind of Whack a Mole each one of those components that I want as reflected in that strategy, developing themes, again, just blog topics, pillars for social,
developing the paid media, who are the best target, pulling, publication, lists, things like that, that are time consuming, but really helped the productivity. Because it could spit things out quickly. And you could be like, of course.
Right?
Or wait a second, maybe not that but something like it.
Yep.
And know exactly, again, how to tailor and lean into the tool a bit and I think those are the things that I would say are the the ways that AI can help develop content strategy.
I love it. And you know, even these tips, I feel like can be applied in different industries, not just specifically for content strategy. I'm thinking in my mind different ways that I can be utilizing some of these tips that you shared within our role within the recruiting industry. Phenomenal. Thank you so much, Deana, for sharing all of your knowledge today with us.
Thank you.
Such a pleasure to have you on with us today.
Really a pleasure to be here. Thank you so much, Tara.
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