Navigating AI in Social Media
If someone had told me five years ago that I would be able to ask a program to write all my social media posts, not only would I not believe them, I would also have been worried about the future of being creative.
Well, now we’re here. The age of AI. And it’s a little better and a little worse than I expected.
I believe that AI is a fabulous tool within my social media toolbox.
I unashamedly use it on at least a quarter of all the social media captions I write. I use it when I’m feeling a little creatively stumped, unsure of where to take a caption, or if I’ve just been staring at my computer screen for 30 minutes and no spark of creativity has happened. Let’s be honest, we’ve all been there.
The reason I believe it’s a tool as opposed to a replacement in creativity is that I can tell when someone posts something that’s entirely written by AI. There are some obvious markers in an AI caption. Whether it’s the flowery language, emoji’s thrown liberally all over the post or a complete lack of brand voice. It’s obvious. And while you may think that the post Chat GPT just spit out for your brand is great… a lot of your customers can easily tell it was written by AI.
Let’s give an example:
Say I add into ChatGPT: “Write a social media caption about a skydiving center where people can skydive for the first time. Mention the beauty of the sky, the feeling of freedom, living in the moment, and that they need to book their skydive today.”
What does ChatGPT deliver?
"Ready to take the leap? 🌤️✈️ Dive into the breathtaking beauty of the sky and experience the ultimate thrill of freedom with your first skydive! ☁️ Embrace the adrenaline rush, live in the moment, and make memories that last a lifetime. Don't wait any longer, book your skydive today and let the adventure begin! 🪂 #SkydiveFirstTimer #LiveInTheMoment #TakeTheLeap"
So what’s the problem with what AI delivered? Well, for a start, as I didn’t give it all the information in my brain regarding what makes this drop zone stand out… it’s not clear what the brand's personality is, or really why any of it matters to the account followers. It feels like someone threw the kitchen sink at a social media post and as a customer I’ll walk away being confused if this post is relevant to me.
Also, side note, if we see ‘thrilling, take the leap, breathtaking, or adrenaline’ in any more skydiving posts just know that we’ll assume AI wrote it in on principle.
So what good can be taken from what AI wrote:
Tough week at work? Missed a deadline? Feeling overwhelmed? We have the answer!👇
Experience the ultimate feeling of freedom with your first skydive. Make memories that last a lifetime. Book your skydive today and live in the moment this weekend. 🪂
#LiveInTheMoment #Skydive #SkydiveCincinnati
Clearly some of this post was taken from what AI wrote. But instead of just spewing out exactly what it delivered to us instead we took it as a creative stepping stone. What’s the opposite of feeling free, of living in the moment? Work, deadlines, anxiety, etc. Give a problem, then a solution.
This is where I feel like AI is fabulous. I'll be stumped on a post, whack something into ChatGPT, and while most of it misses the mark, there will be one absolute gem that I can use as a stepping stone to get where I need to go.
Use AI wisely my friends. We’ll be watching. 😉