For authentic content and to increase engagement, you write as you speak
Embrace the weird, and my 3 tips to stand out
How do you rise above the content clutter and be noticed? There are a few ways, one of which is to go heavy on advertising paid media. Another is to embrace your brand identity and be authentically you. I'll explain, and how to use AI for this.
- Write as you speak
- AI for proofreading
- How to use Grammarly Pro and other AI tools
Don’t confirm to industry standards and external expectations. Understand who you are, embrace this, and express it in your content. Dare to be different. Break rules.
Only then will you stand out. There is already so much of the same; if you want to make an impact, you must dare to be you.
Be weird, be you
Be yourself, your quirky you. Stick to your brand’s voice and rhythm in your writing, even or maybe especially if it breaks some grammar rules.
The nice side effect is that you’ll eliminate any doubt that your content is fully AI-generated. If something sucks out all the soul and create grammarly perfectly boring, it’s AI.
I have already written about ‘Find out who you are and do it on purpose’; this is connected to that. Two things:
- Self-awareness: understanding who you are, your motivations, values, and strengths. And live by them deliberately rather than conforming to industry standards and external expectations. Or generic AI-generated content.
- Intentionally: embrace the above and express this in your actions, your content, and how you interact. Guided by a clear sense of self. You dare to be different.
Balance your weird, the pitfalls of professional jargon
That said, I often notice that as soon as marketing starts creating content, especially for thought leadership content, some switch flips.
Suddenly, the tone changes and it becomes more formal and full of jargon. It is almost as if you want to make yourself look more professional and make a bigger impression by using difficult words and long sentences.
This can also come across as if your content is fully AI-generated without adding your brand voice to the prompt. By now, we all recognize this type of lazy AI content: generic, hard to read, missing personality and a point of view.
Practical tips for authentic content
These are my tips for creating engaging, authentic content. Speaking from experience, these work like a charm.
1. Write as you speak.
That switch I mentioned is real. You can reverse it by writing as you speak. Forget that you’re creating content for your .com, email marketing, or socials; start with a blank slate and empty mind.
Tip: Now, imagine you’re standing next to your friend at a function, and you want to talk about it. How would you speak? Write that down.
Putting the structure and CTA in, breaking up the paragraphs for reading on a mobile phone, and perfecting it will follow. Especially if you have AI to proofread it.
If you write as you speak, you’ll have a natural rhythm and normal language, and your personality will shine.
Another tip: Read your content out loud. Does it flow? Or do you stumble and have a hard time with it? If so, start over.
2. AI for proofreading
Use AI to proofread your content. Before you start, use Custom Instruction to personalize ChatGPT’s output and have it match your personality and tone of voice.
Then use a prompt like this ‘‘Can you proofread without rewriting or changing the bold and clear tone? Please give suggestions on the structure, subheaders, and header.’ Otherwise, you’ll get a rewrite instead of the suggestions you can pick and implement yourself.
By the way, AI is also pretty amazing for doing research and ideation. You know about your brand and products like nobody else, yet it never hurts to check out what others are saying about it.
3. How to use Grammarly Pro and other AI tools
As just mentioned, nothing sucks out the soul of your content like AI.
How do you deal with the tools that check your grammar?
I cherry-pick on flow and rhythm and not mindlessly accept all her suggestions. Personally, I love Grammarly Pro, it improves my content x10. For the 4th year in a row, I have the paid subscription as there’s a huge difference with the free version.
Tips: Use DeepL for translations; it’s better than Google Translate and gives more synonyms. Also, use AI to find proverbs and expressions.
Final thoughts on how to stay authentic
Write as you speak. Be weird, but don’t become weird. If you stick to your own personality and authenticity, your audience will notice and like you or not.
If you turn to AI to create your content, it becomes generic and boring.
- Write as you speak
- Use AI for proofreading and research
- Use Grammarly Pro wisely: cherry-pick
Be different in your brand strategy. In the content above, I focus on being different in your content, brand identity, and brand voice and how you use AI for this. Being different in your brand’s strategy and positioning, is a whole other, very interesting topic.
I highly recommend you read ‘No Bullsh*t Strategy’ by Alex M H Smith. He explains quite brilliantly what’s bullsh*t and what’s not. And he inspires you to sharpen your own and find your unique position and identity in a saturated market.
Image credits: Vogue
Stay ahead: subscribe to my newsletter
If you want to stay up to date on AI, content, and marketing based on insight and how it matters to you, subscribe to my LinkedIn newsletter. And you'll automatically receive my monthly update on the LinkedIn algorithm in your inbox.
Two-click subscribe, and one-click to unsubscribe if you don’t like it.
Easy does it.
Powered By PressPage