As businesses increasingly integrate Generative AI into their social media strategies in 2024, there’s immense potential for success and innovation.
A recent IBM survey in May 2023 found that 67% of Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) plan to adopt Generative AI tools in their social media strategy this year.
However, wielding this rapidly evolving technology isn’t without risks.
Understanding and learning from these mistakes is crucial for companies seeking to responsibly and effectively harness the power of generative AI in their digital marketing initiatives.
However, even the most advanced AI tools require human oversight to avoid pitfalls.
Here are the 10 mistakes to steer clear of as well as effective ways to optimize your social media strategy with Generative AI:
1. Loss of Brand Voice and Identity
Generative AI can’t replicate the human touch and specific tone of your brand. Overly generic free AI-generated content lacks the personality and humor that connect with audiences. Imagine a clothing brand known for its quirky and playful style.
If we make use of AI-generated captions like “Look fabulous in our new dress!” it might be factually accurate, but they lack the brand’s signature voice that resonates with their target audience.
- Use Artificial Intelligence for social media posts, but curate and edit heavily. Ensure all content aligns with your brand voice and messaging.
- Focus on data quality. Train AI with accurate and relevant data for your specific industry and target audience.
- Maintain human oversight. Always fact-check and edit AI-generated content before publishing.
- We should prioritize human interaction. Utilize AI for social media, but use your brand’s expertise to respond to comments, answer questions, and build relationships with your audience.
2. Content that Misses the Mark
Free Artificial Intelligence tools for social media work on the algorithms that learn from the data they’re fed. If the data is generic or lacks specific nuances, the generated content will reflect that.
A restaurant chain might use AI for its social media posts mentioning its new menu items. The Generative AI Algorithm might churn out descriptions that highlight technical aspects like ingredients but might miss capturing the emotional appeal, like the burger’s juicy texture or the new salad’s vibrant flavours.
- Before using Gen AI, clearly define your campaign goals (brand awareness, lead generation, etc.) and understand your target audience’s demographics, interests, and pain points. This focused approach helps train the AI and curate the generated content for better resonance.
- Feed your AI content creation tools with data that reflects your brand voice, industry jargon, and target audience preferences. This can include past successful social media content, competitor analysis, and audience surveys. The more relevant the data, the less likely the AI is to generate generic or inaccurate content.
- Create clear brand guidelines and a style guide outlining your brand voice, tone, and messaging. This ensures consistency and helps your team curate AI-generated content that aligns with your brand identity.
3. Posting Exactly What is Generated
AI content often lacks the human touch and emotional connection needed for social media engagement.
- Factual Errors: AI algorithms learn from the data they’re fed. If the data is flawed, the generated content might contain inaccuracies. A travel agency using AI for social media posts and blog posts might publish outdated information about local attractions, leading to frustrated customers and damaging trust.
- Unintentional Bias: AI can perpetuate biases present in its training data. A clothing retailer using AI tools for product recommendations might unintentionally favor certain clothing sizes, alienating a segment of their customer base.
- Limited Interaction: Social media works on two-way communication. Sometimes, AI struggles to replicate the human element needed for genuine engagement. A restaurant using AI-generated responses to customer reviews might miss the mark in fostering a sense of warmth and appreciation, hindering community building
4. Using AI Beyond Its Automation
Social Media Strategy works on interaction, humor, and real-time conversations. AI struggles to replicate these elements organically. A clothing retailer might use AI to write posts about their latest arrivals, but the content might lack the spark to trigger user-generated content (UGC) or encourage discussions about styling tips.
AI tools for social media excel at generating variations on existing content themes. However, relying solely on this can lead to repetitive and unoriginal content that fails to stand out in the crowded social media landscape. Your audience might get bored with predictable posts and lose interest in following you.
- Foster a collaborative environment where humans provide prompts, curate AI-generated content, and ensure messaging aligns with your brand voice and target audience.
- Utilize AI for social media and content creation, but remember, curation and editing are crucial. Refine AI-generated headlines, captions, and visuals to add a human touch that resonates with your audience.
- Emphasize the importance of human-to-human interaction. Use Artificial Intelligence to schedule posts and generate content ideas, but empower your team to respond to comments, answer questions, and build relationships with your audience.
5. Missed Opportunities for Community Building:
Building strong brand communities requires addressing audience needs and responding to comments thoughtfully. AI struggles with the nuance required for genuine interaction. Imagine a software company using AI-generated responses to customer support queries.
These automated responses might miss the mark in addressing specific user concerns, hindering customer satisfaction.
- Host interactive sessions like live Q&A or “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) events featuring your team members.
- Utilize social media features like polls, quizzes, and contests to encourage audience participation.
- Respond to comments and messages promptly, demonstrating your commitment to open communication.
6. Lacking Insight When It Comes to Legal and Compliance Issues:
It is not very common but at times AI-generated content might inadvertently violate copyright laws or offend cultural sensitivities due to limitations in its understanding. What we can do is:
- We can prioritize human oversight. Before publishing, meticulously review all AI-generated content to ensure it adheres to copyright regulations and avoids any offensive language or cultural faux pas.
- Research appropriate hashtags and cultural nuances for targeted campaigns.
7. Forgetting the Human Element
Social media platforms work on authenticity and interaction. Overreliance on AI can lead to generic content lacking the human touch and emotional connection needed to engage audiences.
- Don’t underestimate the power of human creativity! While AI generates content, humans should curate it to inject brand voice and personality.
- Integrate storytelling elements, and humor where appropriate, and leverage user-generated content to showcase real people interacting with your brand.
8. Neglecting Visual Appeal
Engaging visuals is crucial for obtaining social media success. Generic stock photos or underwhelming visuals generated by AI can fail to capture attention and limit brand impact.
- Prioritize high-quality visuals. Invest in professional photography or videography, or use high-quality, unique stock photos that align with your brand identity and target audience.
- A/B test different variations of AI-generated content, including headlines, captions, and visuals. This data-driven approach helps identify what resonates best with your audience and allows you to continuously improve your social media strategy.
9. Underestimating the Power of Storytelling
At times, AI struggles to replicate the emotional connection humor and storytelling provide.
- Infuse your content with humor and relatable stories. This allows you to connect with audiences on a deeper level, build brand loyalty, and make your content more memorable.
- Brands having robust social media teams can leverage Artificial Intelligence to identify user-generated content that resonates with the audience and weave those stories into their social media strategy. This creates a sense of community and authenticity that fosters deeper connections with the audience.
- For example, Artificial Intelligence might identify captions with a specific length or headlines that perform better, allowing teams to adjust their approach accordingly.
10. Forgetting About Paid Promotion
Organic reach on social media platforms is declining. Neglecting paid promotion limits the reach of your AI-generated content.
- Allocate a portion of your social media budget to paid promotion. This ensures your content reaches a wider audience and maximizes its impact.
- Target your paid campaigns strategically to reach the right people at the right time.
What Should We Expect From Generative AI?
While follower count has long been a social media vanity metric, the focus has rightfully shifted to engagement. The key to fostering engagement remains constant: building a strong community.
Platforms like YouTube and Instagram are utilizing Generative AI to analyze trending topics, user preferences, and popular content formats. This empowers creators with personalized content ideas and helps them tailor their content for better audience engagement.
Artificial Intelligence is assisting creators with automated editing tools that suggest optimal cuts, transitions, and even music pairings. This streamlines the content creation process and allows creators to focus on their core ideas.
Hold on, it doesn’t end here, Snapchat+ also introduced “My AI,” a customizable virtual companion within their subscription service. Similar to platforms like ChatGPT, My AI allows users to name their companion and interact with it. However, Snapchat prioritizes user safety and trust, implementing stricter guidelines to ensure a positive user experience.
However, when we get caught up in chasing trends and the latest tools, we risk losing sight of the core objective of connecting with real people. Ultimately, it’s those genuine connections that drive success, and creative minds will find innovative ways to achieve them. After all, Generative AI isn’t here to rule the world, but to make our lives easier and free us to focus on building those connections!
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