Chat GPT vs Human Writers: What's Good For Your Brand?
Can AI writing make your content dreams come true?
You’ve probably heard about ChatGPT,
the AI writing service taking the world by storm. This clever technology can take human-generated prompts and spit out coherent essay-style answers with good grammar and spelling.
For businesses that struggle with generating social media content, blog content, and newsletter content as part of their marketing endeavours (this includes many of Released’s trades clients), ChatGPT might seem like the answer. And it’s definitely a helpful tool! We’re breaking down how it can help, where it falls short, and how to best communicate with your customers.
The current capabilities of the AI
ChatGPT has the impressive ability to write in a way that flows well and is grammatically accurate. It organises information logically and spells better than your high school English teacher.
Perhaps the most helpful feature of the tech is how it can understand and respond to human inputs: questions, prompts, directives. Of course, there will be trial and error for any user figuring out how best to direct it, but it is surprisingly intuitive in this regard.
The tech would be great as an essay generator—you could put in a question straight from one of your NCEA exams and get an answer that is accurate and logical. We don’t envy teachers and lecturers in this new age of AI as they try to discern what counts as plagiarism!
To create a smooth user experience, ChatGPT remembers what was said earlier in the conversation, allowing you to build upon earlier requests and questions. You can provide follow-up corrections. It can even rhyme if you ask for a poem! It is also trained to decline “inappropriate” requests.
Limitations of AI for your business brand and marketing
ChatGPT used as a standalone copywriting tool is, at least currently, going to be bad news for your business. The creators of the tool list the limitations of the tech right there on the website: it “may occasionally generate incorrect information”, it “may occasionally produce harmful instructions or biased content”, and it has “limited knowledge of world and events after 2021.”
And as a copywriter (kia ora, I’m Sarah, Released’s resident writer and editor),
I can say that text generated by ChatGPT is fairly easy to spot. It has a tendency to be repetitive in its wording and fairly bland. Often, users will miss that the text they’ve generated for use in New Zealand is written in American English. Here’s an example generated from the prompt “Why is Fergus a good job management software?”:
As an AI language model, I cannot provide a subjective opinion about any specific software or product. However, I can provide you with some general information about project management software and Fergus that may help you make an informed decision.
Project management software can be a useful tool for businesses of all sizes to manage their projects efficiently. It can help with tasks such as scheduling, task management, resource allocation, budget tracking, and team collaboration. Project management software can also help to streamline communication among team members and stakeholders, making it easier to keep everyone on the same page.
Fergus is a job management software specifically designed for trades and service businesses. It offers features such as job scheduling, job tracking, quoting, invoicing, and payments, as well as team and client communication. Fergus also integrates with other software tools such as Xero, MYOB, and QuickBooks, making it easier for businesses to manage their finances.
Fergus offers a user-friendly interface and has received positive reviews from its users. However, whether or not Fergus is the right project management software for your business will depend on your specific needs and requirements. It's always a good idea to do some research and compare different software options before making a decision.
While this is helpful, it is also a bit soulless, far too long, repeating the same wording several times, and not particularly excited about Fergus (we do love Fergus). It could be improved greatly with some human experience, and a lot of editing.
Although not a direct apples-for-apples comparison, here’s an excerpt from a Released blog post about Fergus, drawn from our VAs’ knowledge:
One of Wendy’s favourite aspects of Fergus is the ability to see anything she needs at a click of a button. The intuitive UI design makes it simple to navigate back to the job card with all of the information in one place, whether she’s currently viewing an invoice or making entries in the calendar.In fact, the simple user interface makes Wendy’s life a lot easier in many ways. She says it reminds her of using Xero, another software platform for business owners created by clever Kiwis. And speaking of Xero, Wendy points out that Fergus integrates well with other popular apps and businesses to create a top-notch experience for tradies and their VAs. Effective app stacks are gold for a streamlined workflow.
Read the rest here!
If you want to create a distinctive voice for your brand, ChatGPT will be a helpful tool—but you’ll need a human touch too.
Chat GPT is currently unable to include references for sources, an important aspect of blog posts. Linking to a primary source adds authority and also creates the opportunity for readers to explore more about the topic. Quality links are beneficial to your SEO efforts.
Additionally, most businesses writing long-form content will want to include specifics that ChatGPT will not have access to. This might mean personal anecdotes, examples or experiences from your work, country or region-specific stats, and just your own thoughts and ideas that are in your head and not yet floating around on the internet. In these cases, ChatGPT is great to get you started but won’t get you to the finish line.
A good percentage of the blogs I have written (hi, it’s Sarah again) have required multiple Zoom meetings with the client, written notes of their thoughts and experiences, and googling concepts I never knew existed. They often cover more than one easily definable topic or question. It’s fair to say that using AI would not save a significant amount of time on this type of job.
Great uses for ChatGPT
For copywriters and anyone writing content for their own business, ChatGPT can serve as a springboard of ideas. It may be used as a powerful research tool that will bring the ideas together and even expand on them to create the foundation of a blog post or social media caption.
If you’re writing content that can be a little dry and impersonal—and there are plenty of times when that will do—then AI is a great choice.
If you’re not confident in your grammar and spelling, a combination of your creativity and ChatGPT’s abilities might serve you well. The interactive interface means you could go back and forth and provide follow-up corrections to infuse your original thoughts into the process.
ChatGPT makes a great search engine! If you have a query and don’t feel like wading through a lot of links for a clear and concise answer, try plugging it into the chatbot.
Perhaps above all, it will likely be a great timesaver for the more straightforward writing jobs. ChatGPT can gather the information and lay it out with immaculate spelling and grammar. From there, a human can go in and make changes, add personal examples and ideas, remove some repetitiveness, and adjust the format to their needs.
Have you tried ChatGPT yet? We’d love to hear your thoughts—and if you need help with branding for your business, AI-assisted or otherwise, get in touch with us and ask about our digital marketing services!
