Sort out your content before AI does
Have you seen the TV series called Years and Years? Set between 2019 and 2034, in the UK, it focuses on how changes in politics, language and tech affects everyday lives. For me, it shone a bright, harsh light on our potential future.
I love the content industry. I love writing - I have since school. I think by typing and editing. When my kids were small, I wrote stories about their teddies having adventures while they slept and the fairies that lived on the allotment. Words and language are my thing professionally and personally.
But time moves on and with AI, we can step forward and get involved, or sit back, complain and get left behind. If you need inspiration on how to handle massive changes to your job, watch this scene from Hidden Figures (one of the best films ever).
I’ve said it before: we’re the ones with the skills to really make an impact. We’re the ones that use language every day. We’re the ones that are creative. Right now, machines can only create from what already exists, and they do it badly.
It won’t always be that way, of course. This blog post won’t age well. It might be completely out of date in 6 months.
But for now, let’s focus on doing what we do best: good content.
To achieve this, you need to do critical thinking first. You know your audience, what your business needs and what good looks like. Here are some fundamental questions to make sure your content strategy is in good order:
- Proposition: what will you publish, what won’t you and why?
- Success and value criteria: each piece of content, each interaction needs to earn its place. Why are you putting your time and money into a particular piece of content, tool, product?
- Needs: what does your audience really want from you? If you are taking your proposition and the reason for your existence, your needs should be done once and done well. The only way you’ll do that is if you know what they actually are (and research will tell you that)
- Style: a good style guide is more than what to use capitals for. It will mean that you are accessible and inclusive. While tech can give you a guide cobbled together from everyone else, is it right for you?
- Workflow and governance: now it’s all changing, who really needs to see this content? Who has final say? Right now, you can’t trust what AI produces. What will this process look like for you?
AI will be looking at and remixing your content, so it had better be up to date, accurate and useful. Crap in, crap out. Time to get your house in order now.
Remember you are valued. You have incredible skills. Over the next few years, those skills will evolve and change. As they have for everyone, in every industry, through history. Let’s continue to help make digital useful, usable and safe.