How ChatGPT is Changing the Way Small Businesses Create Content

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You’ve likely heard about the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot called ChatGPT. Many business owners are abuzz about the possibilities with this natural language learning machine and the responses it puts out when you type prompts into the chat. Although the program is still in its infancy, with a November 2022 release, it is learning as people utilize it and improving along the way. 

Small businesses often struggle to keep up with customer demand for new content, having enough new things to drive traffic and engagement and the cost of content marketing. Enter AI technology to help speed up processes and curate content for publication. 

Experts say the global AI market is around $142.3 billion in 2023 and growing rapidly. Although ChatGPT is the popular platform of the moment, new players are on the horizon, such as Google’s Bard. It’s only a matter of time until companies can pick and choose to find the model that works best for their needs. 

ChatGPT-4 is changing the ways small businesses create content in a variety of ways. There are pros and cons to each. 

1. Write Emails

If you can’t yet afford an entire marketing team and sales team, you can still respond directly to all email inquiries by having a chatbot write out responses. You can generate a response with a click. Go to Gmail and open the email. Select reply. Usethe ChatGPT Writer extension. Enter a few words about what you want to reply to and hit Generate Reply and send. You’ll speed up the time it takes to generate a response and make responding to emails almost effortless. 

2. Make Digital Images

Generative AI has the capability to generate some pretty interesting images that are highly relevant to your content. Adding a prompt such as “young girl on a bike on a sunny summer day with flowers all around” lets the computer pull from other works of art and photos and spit out an image you can use on your site–with proper citation, of course. 

However, the process doesn’t come without flaws. Recently, Getty filed a lawsuit against Stable Diffusion founders stating they used images from Getty’s library to train the software’s algorithm and did not have permission. The matter of copyright, data privacy and compensation for work is all up in the air as people begin using the bot for creating “original” content and it pulls from already existing pieces. 

3. Answer Questions

You can also use bots to answer customer questions. While most common questions are easily programmable, things that are more specific might throw ChatGPT and other players off. For one thing, the computer has no sense of humor. If you ask ChatGPT to tell you a joke, it will tell you something not humorous and then explain why it thinks the joke is funny.

However, basic questions and answers support natural language learning and machines can respond fairly intelligently. 

4. Increase Social Media Engagement

A lot of small business owners use social media to create brand awareness and improve engagement with their customers. ChatGPT is capable of coming up with campaign ideas or even creating a content calendar. You can also use it to find relevant hashtags quickly, respond to comments and write viral posts.

If you think it’s the key to firing your expensive marketing department, though, it isn’t. Unfortunately, the computer sometimes gets things wrong. You’ll always need to fact check and spot check for language errors. 

The databases for ChatGPT and other bots are also hopelessly out of date. Don’t expect any current news or trends from the system. 

5. Find Relevant Keywords

Are you tired of spending countless hours tracking down keywords for your articles? You can cut that part of your research in half by using the AI software to find and suggest relevant keywords on a topic. 

Because the system can scour the internet in mere seconds to see what is trending and popular, you’ll wind up with suggestions that work extremely well to pull traffic to your pages.  

6. Become an Authority

Establishing authority as a brand helps develop a loyal following of customers. They’ll know they can turn to your site when they have a question and rely on you to give them accurate information. 

It’s crucial to disclose any writing that you let ChatGPT generate for you. If you want your customers to trust you to be upfront, you must take steps to ensure you’re honest about how you’re using the software. Be transparent in everything you do. 

One excellent way to utilize the bot to create unique content is to ask it what else is out there on the topic. You’ll get a curated list of articles and what they are about. You can then brainstorm little talked about ideas or completely new ones. Perhaps you just need to take a fresh approach to covering the topic. 

When you’re aware of what’s already been written, it is much easier to write something that’s never been done before. 

Can ChatGPT Replace Content Writers and Editors?

In short, no. Professional writers have nothing to worry about. ChatGPT is still quite flawed. While it’s a powerful tool for brainstorming and speeding up research, it also is flawed and spits out old and sometimes completely incorrect writing. 

A computer can’t replace the human brain for creativity and finding a unique brand voice. Do you need some guidance on how to make your small business thrive? Check out Founding Moms Grow It Membership for ideas, webinars, podcasts, courses and community. 

Eleanor Hecks is the founder and managing editor of Designerly Magazine. She’s also a web design consultant with a focus on customer experience and user interface. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and dogs, Bear and Lucy. Connect with her about marketing, design and/or tea on LinkedIn!

The post How ChatGPT is Changing the Way Small Businesses Create Content appeared first on The Founding Moms.