Content and licorice

With ChatGPT, it’s easier and faster than ever to produce content. But it’s the uniqueness that makes something special. 

Keep in mind that AI content is the result of a set of information and is averaged from that. In other words, AI scrapes all kinds of online sources, puts everything together, and gives you the average of that. 

Try it for yourself, prompt ‘top 10 tips’ or ‘write a blog on how to produce content.’ The AI output is the standard list with tips, to-do’s, and steps to take. And you are not the only one doing that; so do your competitors. 

I’m not arguing about the validity; it’s the lack of uniqueness and specialness that bugs me.

Why it matters

My biggest fear is that with the rise of AI, content becomes a commodity and even more average than it already is.  Don’t produce more of the same and of what’s already there. 

A little content love goes a long way; attention to detail makes everything more beautiful. Both make the difference to stand out.

How not to get stuck in the middle

There are two things you can do. Sure, there will be many more; I consider these the most important with the biggest return on effort.

1.    Keep your brand voice

Your tone of voice and visual identity is what make you, you. You can use AI to describe your brand voice and use that output to have AI rewrite the output on your initial prompt. I explain the process and what prompts to use for ChatGPT to describe your tone of voice.

Your visual identity is equally important, if not more important than the copy – the visual is the bearer of your communication. 

Sure, AI can help you to create a visual; however, this is really advanced craftsmanship. Where it’s super easy to tickle ChatGPT to produce something decent, with DALL•E or Midjourney is a bit more complicated to get something nice. And I recommend getting a subscription for this; more fooling around to learn and get better results.

Read more in ‘Think visual’; why your visual matters, and how you can use free tools to improve your visuals. 

2.    Search and dig for the content gems

Your content journey starts with ChatGPT. As mentioned, the output is the average of different sources. It’s up to you to dig for the gems and not to settle for the first or second, or even third prompt. 

You go for that something special your audience doesn’t know yet. Your content is there to teach them something new, to inspire, and to educate. Not to give them more of the same and of what they already know.

If AI teaches you something new, equal to your audience. And then, you use prompts to go down the rabbit hole on that specific element. 

Explained by example

For now, I’ll use two offline examples to make my point about why it matters to be different. 

Cookbook

Anyone can find a recipe online. Google, ask AI, and scroll on social. It's not hard to get a recipe for a decent meal. However, why I love my friend for her cooking skills, is because when she prepares it, it’s amazing. Recently she self-published her foodporn cookbook. @reichertendebruijn

It’s special. It's different. It has a bite. Just like her.

Recently she revealed her secret: a drop of red-hot chili sauce in almost everything she makes. That’s not something you can have ChatGPT find or produce for you. 

It’s the craftsmanship in her cooking that makes the difference.

Licorice

For the Dutchies amongst us, we all love licorice. The little bitesize black sweets with endless variations, from dental enamel bursting sweet to mouth-twisting salty. The flavors that are easy to buy anywhere, everywhere are the sweet ones. The commodity.

Yet if you want something different, something special, like the triple salty ones with fair and sustainable ingredients and not the artificial crap, recently  I learned that I need to go to Amsterdam.

And you know what? I’m able to travel all that distance just for a bag of sweets. Or ask my friend Cor to bring me one. 

Final words

Content is not a commodity. If you stick to ChatGPT to produce the content for you, you'll be based upon an average used by many others. As you're not the only one using AI for content. 

Easy to prevent if you dare to be different. Add your uniqueness to the AI output. A little love goes a long way, and attention makes everything more beautiful. 

If you want to know more about content, don't hesitate to drop me a DM.