How to Use AI to Power Your Content Strategy

After I modified careers from classroom instructor to content material author and editor, I little suspected the AI revolution that was about to happen. In simply two years, 74% of marketers at the moment are utilizing AI of their roles.

Whereas many questions on AI nonetheless stay unanswered, I’ve found that content material intelligence could be a game-changer for content material entrepreneurs.

Think about taking the guesswork out of your content material technique by realizing the place your audience is, what they need, the right way to attain them, and receiving real-time efficiency knowledge.

That is what a content material intelligence device can do for you. Maintain studying to find what content material intelligence is, why it’s helpful, and the way it can degree up your advertising and marketing technique.

Desk of Contents

Since many entrepreneurs use content material to attach with and educate their audiences, having an correct content material technique is a should. Related content served on the proper second in the suitable format is essential to reaching your audience.

That is the place content material intelligence is available in.

Each bit of content material is a chance to draw, interact, and delight your prospects. Content material intelligence helps you accomplish all this extra successfully.

Whereas content material intelligence instruments can do among the content material creation for you, I’ve found that what these instruments actually excel in is content material technique. They carry out duties similar to market and competitor evaluation, content material optimization, and efficiency monitoring so you may create an efficient technique primarily based on actual knowledge.

Take it from James Hacking, founding father of Socially Powerful, “These instruments don’t simply measure efficiency; they inform your technique by highlighting traits, preferences, and behaviors. The actual profit is that they allow you to create with confidence, realizing your content material is aligned with what your viewers needs, not simply what you assume they need.” I couldn’t agree extra.

As with many AI options, content material intelligence can prevent time by automating duties and dashing up the content material creation course of. The truth is, entrepreneurs report saving over three hours on every bit of content material they create with AI.

Elisa Montanari, head of natural development at Wrike, defined to me, “Content material intelligence instruments supply a extra scalable system for developing with contemporary concepts, analyzing content material gaps, and performing all types of different capabilities to avoid wasting advertising and marketing groups time.”

Source

Automation doesn’t imply relying on AI to create your content material or to interchange your human entrepreneurs, however it could completely assist with ideation, crafting outlines, enhancing movies, and distributing content material. The extra you may automate handbook duties, the extra time you give your entrepreneurs for precise content material creation.

“Any repetitive, time-consuming course of may be automated, similar to key phrase analysis and clustering, visitors and rating evaluation, content material efficiency studies, viewers segmentation, and extra,” says Sarkis Hakopdjanian, president of Optiimus.

Create a data-driven technique.

AI is a champ at gathering and analyzing knowledge. content material intelligence device will go a step additional and provide you with actionable insights to design and implement an efficient content material technique.

It may give you perception on:

• Market and trade traits.
• Key phrases and matters to concentrate on.
• Content material sorts and codecs to leverage.
• Which platforms to publish on.
• How and what your rivals are doing.
• Model sentiment and notion.
• Viewers demographics and sources.

“An enormous benefit is that it will increase the general high quality of what you create, which signifies that the insights you present in your content material are backed by knowledge,” shares Ron Evan del Rosario, digital advertising and marketing supervisor at Thrive Digital Marketing Agency.

Del Rosario notes that these can direct you on what to write down about, “together with good key phrases, matters, and codecs in order that your content material isn’t just in sync but additionally attention-grabbing for the readers.”

Enhance viewers attain and engagement.

With a data-driven technique in place, you’ll enhance your attain and engagement — the last word objective of content material advertising and marketing.

Content material intelligence can determine the matters your viewers is trying to find and which kind of content material they like. By producing extra related content material, you may enhance your attain and viewers engagement.

In his 9 years of digital advertising and marketing expertise, del Rosario has discovered that the most effective issues about content material intelligence is attending to know your viewers on a deeper degree.

“You uncover some helpful insights about their likes, dislikes, and habits — and consequently, you’ll be able to create content material that’s directed towards them. In flip, engagement will increase, and you determine deeper relationships,” shares del Rosario.

Moreover, many instruments can section your viewers primarily based on particular actions, pursuits, behaviors, or engagement ranges and supply them with related content material in a well timed vogue.

I discovered Ashot Nanayan’s, head of promoting and founder at DWI, clarification useful.

“These instruments let entrepreneurs discover content material gaps, optimize for high-converting key phrases, and predict traits — all in service of bettering each attain and engagement. They supply detailed evaluation on search quantity, competitors, and associated matters that permit for extra focused and personalised content material creation,” he says.

HubSpot research discovered that entrepreneurs say AI helps them:

• Enhance the standard of the content material they create (85%).
• Create content material extra effectively (84%).
• Make considerably extra content material (82%).
• Create extra personalised content material (77%).

Enhance your advertising and marketing ROI.

In the case of your backside line, content material intelligence is well worth the funding due it’s excessive ROI potential. In accordance with Forbes, companies that make use of data-driven advertising and marketing methods are six occasions extra prone to expertise profitability year-over-year.

“In my expertise, content material intelligence instruments result in faster content material manufacturing cycles and better ROI by serving to groups concentrate on what’s going to actually resonate with their audience and align with web optimization greatest practices,” Nanayan claims.

Not solely will you be spending your cash on the suitable content material, however that content material is certain to carry out higher, growing your general gross sales and income.

Get started with HubSpot’s free marketing content planning kit.

“By analyzing rivals’ gaps, these instruments additionally uncover hidden alternatives to maintain entrepreneurs forward,” shares David Li, proprietor of Mountain View.

Predictive Analytics

One other function entrepreneurs saved mentioning is predictive analytics. Utilizing historic knowledge out of your rivals and your personal content material — mixed with present traits — AI can predict how properly your content material will carry out.

This lets you make changes forward of time or determine what number of assets to spend money on a selected piece.

“For our crew, one function we’ve discovered extraordinarily useful is predictive efficiency metrics — giving us the chance to forecast how content material may rank earlier than it’s even printed. Utilizing this, we’ve been in a position to prioritize matters prone to generate probably the most affect, boosting engagement charges on new pages by 21.4%,” says Frank Sondors, founding father of Salesforge.

As well as, predictive development recognizing is invaluable that can assist you keep forward of the curve.

“Search for predictive analytics instruments that predict future traits past understanding present ones,” recommends Josh Neuman, an ecommerce advertising and marketing skilled and the founding father of Chummy Tees. “Our device’s predictive options prioritize high-growth merchandise in our design roadmap. Our imaginative and prescient has saved us forward of rivals and assembly buyer wants.”

Efficiency Analytics

As soon as your content material is printed, content material intelligence can observe the way it’s performing in actual time. This lets you alter your marketing campaign whereas it’s dwell, maybe boosting your advert spend, selling it on completely different platforms, or additional optimizing content material that’s lagging.

Ashot Nanayan agrees, “It’s crucial to observe the efficiency of content material. This can supply an ongoing analysis of how one’s content material is doing as soon as it’s printed and allows modifications in technique in close to real-time.”

David Li agrees that real-time detection of traits and efficiency is a game-changer, including that sentiment evaluation is “…very important for creating relatable, audience-aligned content material.” It’s a robust method AI might help you perceive how folks really feel about your model and your content material.

Optimization Capabilities

Along with the analytics I simply highlighted, a content material intelligence device ought to allow you to optimize your content material. This will take a wide range of varieties, however I feel it’s important that the device you select supplies actionable perception on your content material technique.

Olivia Thomson, senior advertising and marketing director on the Chamber of Commerce, dubs this function “Good Options.” The device ought to “help you in choosing the best matters, key phrases, and even codecs by analyzing what individuals are actively trying to find.”

Some optimization options to search for:

• Key phrase evaluation. Discover key phrases (and secondary key phrases) to focus on.
• E-E-A-T optimization. Make your writing Google-friendly by assembly its requirements for expertise, experience, authority, and trustworthiness.
• Content material gaps. Establish gaps in your and your rivals’ content material to fill these wants.
• On-page web optimization. Get recommendations on the right way to optimize your H2s, meta tags, and alt textual content to enhance your SERP place.
• Developments. Uncover market and trade traits to reap the benefits of.
• Subject suggestions. Uncover matters that your audience is on the lookout for to provide related content material.
• Format suggestions. Get options on what media kind can be best, its best size, and the suitable fashion.

“For my part, instruments with key phrase performance, which show search intent and consumer habits, are priceless; this is essential because it permits the shaping of the content material to satisfy precisely what the viewers is on the lookout for,” shares Nanayan.

Consumer-friendly Interface

Whereas this function shouldn’t be unique to content material intelligence instruments, I at all times assume it’s useful to seek out software program with a user-friendly interface to make it simpler on your crew to undertake. In spite of everything, if it prices extra work to make use of a device than the profit it supplies, your crew received’t make an effort to make use of it.

A number of specialists highlighted this side, noting that you must pay particular consideration to the way in which the device shows knowledge. You need one thing that’s simple to know and take motion on.

So make sure you demo any instruments earlier than signing the dotted line.

Integration Capabilities

Lastly, as with all new software program, verify to see if it integrates together with your present tech stack. Instruments that play good with one another make them simpler to make use of and to profit from. Take a look at whether or not the content material intelligence instruments will join together with your CMS, CRM, social media, and/or analytics instruments.

1. HubSpot Breeze

Greatest for: Creating optimized content material.

Get started with HubSpot’s AI Content Agent.

Breeze is HubSpot’s highly effective AI device that accompanies you throughout all of HubSpot’s choices.

Breeze Content Agent was created particularly to assist with content material advertising and marketing. It automates the content material creation course of through the use of Open AI’s GPT mannequin to generate weblog concepts, outlines, and paragraphs. The Content material Agent takes you thru the workflow to help (however not take over) your content material creation course of.

I examined this device to see if it might create a top level view for a weblog submit on the very best web optimization instruments available on the market. Breeze created a sturdy skeleton, saving me time on analysis. Past that, Breeze might help with extra routine copy writing. I like the way it might draft prospecting and advertising and marketing emails, and touchdown pages. With that writing out of the way in which, I might focus extra on inventive duties.

As well as, Breeze Intelligence might help enrich the data in your CRM by qualifying inbound leads who go to your website, automating lead scoring, and sending personalised electronic mail campaigns to nurture leads.

Key Options

• Content material ideation.
• Content material era.
• web optimization optimization.
• Information enrichment.
• Automated lead scoring.
• Purchaser intent identification.

What I like: Breeze AI has been woven into HubSpot’s Content Marketing Software to boost your expertise, prevent time, and supply extra data-driven insights.

2. BuzzSumo

Greatest for: Competitor evaluation.

BuzzSumo makes use of a analysis and discovery technique to realize insights concerning the content material created by your market and trade rivals that can assist you perceive what performs greatest together with your viewers.

The device analyzes a wide range of social media feeds and internet content material to present you viral traits to leverage, business-related content material you must think about overlaying, and goal key phrases to make use of while you start creating.

I signed up for Buzzsumo’s free trial to check the product out, and I examined out the content material analyzer for the subject of this submit “content material intelligence.” The evaluation for the time period confirmed me precisely what number of articles the device analyzed (1,114) and the variety of engagements the content material acquired (15,245).

I additionally noticed which domains had probably the most authority over the subject. Harvard Enterprise Evaluation topped the checklist. Beneath the chart, I might see which articles had probably the most engagement. I discovered all of this data useful when deciding if the subject was price overlaying (and clearly, it was).

Key Options

• Content material thought generator.
• Up-to-date content material analysis on matters, key phrases, and codecs.
• Aggressive benchmarking.
• Influencer matchmaker.
• Monitoring of brand name mentions & sentiment, matters, merchandise, and rivals.

Professional tip: Use this device’s advanced search features to get probably the most from their well-liked Content material Analyzer.

3. Curata

Greatest for: Curating content material to attach together with your viewers.

With a barely completely different spin on content material advertising and marketing, Curata focuses on content material curation and promotion, somewhat than creation. I watched the corporate’s twenty-minute demo to get extra data (bonus, you get to have the time again so you may watch your favourite streaming present!).

With Curata, customers can plug in a key phrase. So if I run a content material aggregator about content material administration system information, my key phrase could also be CMS. Curata then scours the net each quarter-hour to point out what probably the most related newsworthy content material is in your area.

You may then approve or exclude the content material that exhibits up. Curata’s self-learning engine NLP makes use of this knowledge to study what’s truly related to your area of interest. You may republish related articles in your website in case you’re a content material aggregator, or you may pull this data into an inner publication.

Right here’s my best situation with Curata. I need to transient a crew of content material entrepreneurs about what our rivals are as much as. I combination a publication’s price of posts, and my crew analyzes what we see, so we all know what we have to cowl to maintain up.

Key Options

• Self-learning engine to find content material.
• Uncover content material shared on social media.
• Browser plugin to curate content material on the go.
• Routinely filters content material that’s out-of-date or repetitive.

Professional tip: Strive Curata’s content material curation software program to seek out and share content material related to your audience.

4. Crayon

Greatest for: Competitor intelligence and evaluation.

Maintaining together with your rivals is plenty of work. Crayon’s software program supplies competitive intelligence that can assist you preserve observe of what these corporations are as much as. Right here’s the way it works: You may inform the platform who your rivals are. Then, you’ll see the insights Crayon’s AI thinks are most related to you.

For instance, I’d need to see what Salesforce is as much as. Crayon would alert me to any Salesforce information my crew ought to know. Even higher, I don’t must learn the entire submit. I can simply hit an “Add takeaway” button to get the abstract.

You’ll perceive what works on your rivals, from social channels to overview websites, and uncover key messaging that performs greatest that you may adapt to your content material technique.

Key Options

• Captures and studies each transfer your rivals make.
• Highlights options for actions you must take to remain aggressive.
• Creates and embeds “battle playing cards” into your CRM or gross sales instruments.
• Tracks aggressive win charges.

Professional tip: Content material intelligence may also be a useful device for competitive analysis.

5. Optimizely

Greatest for: Content material ideation and era.

Optimizely is an all-in-one platform constructed for groups that need to construct a user-friendly internet expertise. Optimizely lets you check out internet pages and see what resonates most together with your crew and viewers.

That comes with content marketing options, which embody planning, creating, and publishing content material. It can then observe efficiency and offer you the information. Its AI might help with marketing campaign ideation, content material era, viewers segmentation, job automation, and analytics.

When wanting into this device, I observed that Optimizely is ideal for constructing out an entire digital expertise. If your organization already runs digital experiments or makes use of Optimizely for the location, I might advocate utilizing this device in your workflow.

In case you’re not engaged on a wider digital expertise, Optimizely could also be too sturdy on your wants.

Key Options

• Streamlined content material planning, creation, and publishing.
• Strong efficiency analytics.
• ROI and effectivity knowledge.

What I like: Along with the opposite options, Optimizely CMP identifies the very best channels on your content material and helps you discover the very best influencers on your model.

6. Ahrefs

Greatest for: Optimizing your content material.

Source

On the lookout for assist with optimization? Ahrefs stands out as the resolution for you. Ahrefs AI can automate your key phrase analysis, content material optimization, and technical web optimization processes. It can enhance your content material by figuring out key phrases, analyzing search intent, and grading your content material. It could possibly additionally determine content material gaps and low-competition matters to extend your authority in your area of interest.

I’ve used Ahrefs when researching weblog posts like this one. I discover it useful to know what key phrases are rating and who I’ll be preventing for visitors for. In case you working with content material, an all-in-one analysis platform may be extremely useful.

Key Options

• web optimization dashboard shows metrics like well being rating, area ranking, referring domains & backlinks, and natural visitors & key phrases.
• Analysis your rivals’ web sites to find their natural & paid visitors efficiency, backlinks, area ranking, and web site construction.
• Scan your website and audit for strengths, weaknesses, and alternatives.
• Content material explorer to determine key phrases and matters.

What I like: Ahrefs’ content helper makes content material analysis and creation easy and efficient.

7. Semrush

Greatest for: Helping at each step of the content material advertising and marketing journey.

Source

Semrush holds your hand from the start to the tip of the content material creation course of. Its Market Explorer permits you to see the way you stack up in opposition to the competitors. Then, Subject Analysis helps you generate related content material concepts and key phrases to focus on.

If you need assist writing, Semrush has you lined there, too. Its web optimization Writing Assistant will information you thru the writing course of with key phrase options, size suggestions, and a sensible editor to make your writing cleaner.

Kaitlin Milliken, a senior program supervisor at HubSpot, had nice issues to say concerning the platform. “I as soon as helped an rising information publication analysis its area of interest within the enterprise journalism world. Semrush was an important device for the crew all through the venture,” she says.

Milliken notes that she used Semrush to assist determine what matters preliminary articles ought to goal. She might additionally see which topics had greenspace the place the location was extra prone to win as a brand new publication.

“I actually favored how intuitive Semrush was as a consumer. It was an easy-to-use device with a lot energy,” Milliken says.

Key Options

• Key phrase analysis.
• Competitor evaluation supplies in-depth perception.
• Web site audit that can assist you optimize your web site.
• Social media supervisor.
• Advertising instruments to plan, create, and optimize your content material.

Professional tip: After publishing, you should use Semrush tools to trace your place, rank, and SERPs.

8. MarketMuse

Greatest for: Planning and creating content material.

Source

MarketMuse supplies all of the options you want to make a profitable content material technique. It begins with competitor evaluation to determine their strengths and content material gaps, accompanied by options on what you must write to outperform them.

It even drills down into the main points, like what number of pictures, H2s, and hyperlinks you must embody.

Google is all about organizing content material in clusters, and MarketMuse might help you determine cluster matters and subtopics so you may acquire authority in your area of interest.

MarketMuse additionally presents options for optimizing your content material for on-page web optimization and E-E-A-T.

The crew at HubSpot used MarketMuse to run just a few content material experiments. After I acquired briefs from the device, I discovered them complete and useful. I did have so as to add extra crew and publication-specific directions, however I discovered Market Muse a robust jumping-off level.

Key Options

• Aggressive evaluation.
• Content material matters, key phrases, and construction.
• Good optimization.

What I like: MarketMuse presents a quick generator function. I really like this as a result of, as a content material author, I depend on briefs to know what I ought to cowl in my articles. I respect that MarketMuse helps you create robust briefs to empower your writers to provide higher content material and canopy all of the bases.

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In case you’re desirous about content material intelligence, chances are high that your content material wants work. To determine if these instruments might help, I like to recommend defining your challenges in as a lot element as doable.

In case you’re having a tricky time getting began, start with a particular downside and work backward. Hint every step you took towards this disappointing outcome. Then, write out your concepts for potential options.

“Content material intelligence instruments have many options to optimize your workflow, so it’s useful to determine the principle gaps in your course of that may be improved with new instruments. For instance, in case you usually create plenty of content material, then discovering instruments that may pace up or automate your course of will prevent time,” recommends Sarkis Hakopdjanian.

Keep in mind, content material intelligence instruments are extra about technique than creation (there are tools for that, too), so attempt to determine gaps in your course of that AI can clear up.

2. Determine which options your crew might use.

As soon as you recognize the issues you need to clear up, it’s a lot simpler to determine the options you want.

I do know it takes time for a enterprise to create a content material technique, execute it, and construct processes round content material advertising and marketing. So, I feel any AI device for content material ought to simply match into your present technique and workflow.

Numeric’s Head of Advertising, Tierney Pretzer, advises, “Whenever you’re simply beginning out with a content material intelligence device, it’s important to prioritize options that provide you with a strong understanding of your content material panorama.

When evaluating content material intelligence platforms, new customers ought to prioritize instruments that supply sturdy key phrase analysis capabilities, complete competitor evaluation, and insightful content material efficiency monitoring.”

As you slender down your content material intelligence selections, watch out to not get too excited or overwhelmed by further options you don’t want. Attempt to concentrate on a major level of worth to weigh every function.

As you prioritize, don’t simply concentrate on how your staff will use the product. I recommend additionally asking questions like:

• How can this device assist our crew meet buyer expectations?
• Can this device affect enterprise aims?
• Are there stakeholder concepts that we are able to implement with this device?

At any time when doable, take into consideration how every device can improve your content marketing.

Featured Useful resource: HubSpot’s AI Content Agent

Check out HubSpot’s AI Content Agent.

3. Learn how every platform handles knowledge.

Information privateness and governance is a growing concern among consumers, so make sure you discover a device that collects and makes use of knowledge ethically. Throughout your analysis, I like to recommend taking a cautious take a look at how every platform collects, makes use of, and shops knowledge.

As a result of the device’s effectiveness comes from knowledge, it’s essential that the way in which every platform handles knowledge is according to your small business insurance policies and buyer expectations.

It’s additionally essential to consider what varieties of knowledge you’ll have to make this useful resource efficient for your small business. What if the required knowledge preparation is an excessive amount of on your crew to finish constantly?

Most AI instruments use many various data sources to supply predictions. A break within the knowledge pipeline can skew the information your content material intelligence device makes use of to supply insights.

4. Align your platform selections with future targets.

Though chances are you’ll be targeted on only one side of your content material technique proper now, needless to say you’ll need a device that may develop with you.

One of many causes to make use of machine studying in content material is scalability. Chances are you’ll not need to automate processes or create AI content material now. However you additionally don’t understand how content material advertising and marketing may change within the subsequent three to 5 years.

In accordance with latest HubSpot analysis, 78% of marketers say that their trade has modified extra within the final three years than it did within the previous 50 years.

As engines like google and different digital channels evolve, enterprise content material wants to alter in response. This makes future targets a key a part of your decision-making course of.

For instance, many distributors who supply content material intelligence instruments additionally supply different instruments. In case you can, analysis these instruments on the similar time — it gives you a basis for future tech stack planning.

5. Take a look at the platform.

Lastly, make sure you demo or trial all of the software program you’re desirous about. You may solely study a lot a few device from an article like this and even the corporate’s personal web site. There are some things to bear in mind while you’re testing AI software program.

First, be sure that the software program meets your expectations. Verify that every one the options you anticipated are current and work correctly. In case you’re not sure the right way to use a kind of options, make sure the documentation or help crew can rapidly reply your questions.

Subsequent, use your workflow to check out the brand new content material intelligence device. Take notes as you analysis new content material matters, measure content material efficiency, or replace your content material technique. I feel this might help you discover out if there are any bugs or flaws within the device.

Whereas no device is ideal, you need to be sure that the additional worth you’re getting is greater than the additional work you’ll tackle if one thing goes fallacious.

For instance, what in case you’re not discovering helpful assets on the matters that matter to your small business? If this device can’t discover the area of interest content material concepts you want, it might not be the suitable match.

This weblog has highlighted some helpful instruments to take a look at, however there are various extra on the market that you could be prefer to discover.