I had ChatGPT do my homework, and then I critiqued it.

Chat-GPT did my homework

To start todays article, I need to apologize to my professor, Mark Staton (though I doubt he'll be too mad.) I've used Chat-GPT as part of my workflow in creating every single one of my blog posts.

That's not to say that I just plugged a prompt in and tossed it here on my blog. At maximum, only one or two sentences from the original Chat-GPT response made it in, but the overall structure and idea of the blog often came from it. To be honest, I think it only saved me a few minutes on each post, as the thorough editing, fact checking, and restructuring needed to turn it into something I was satisfied putting out there probably took nearly as long as a fast writer would take.

Why?

There are a few reasons why I did this. The first was that I wanted to get experience working with Chat-GPT in a professional setting. Large language models are going to change the way we work, and I believe that learning to use them effectively will be key to increasing your productivity, quality of work, and overall ease with which it's completed.

Additionally, I am a significantly better editor than I am writer. I can turn a mess full of buzzwords and half-facts into something I believe is significantly better.

An un-edited Chat-GPT Blog Post

I'll take you through my process of transforming the output of Chat-GPT into a real post, and my thoughts as I read through it.

Here is the Chat-GPT output I got to, starting with the prompt

"Write me a LinkedIn blog post in a business casual tone about the future of digital marketing with artificial intelligence"

(continued below)

Title: Revolutionizing Digital Marketing: Unleashing the Power of Artificial Intelligence

Introduction:

In today's ever-evolving digital landscape, staying ahead of the curve is vital for businesses to effectively reach their target audience and achieve remarkable growth. As technology continues to advance at an unprecedented pace, one innovation stands out and promises to transform the way we approach marketing: Artificial Intelligence (AI). In this blog post, we will explore the future of digital marketing and how AI is set to revolutionize the industry, helping businesses thrive in a highly competitive market.

1. Personalization at Scale: One of the most significant advantages AI brings to the table is its ability to deliver personalized experiences at scale. Through AI-powered algorithms and machine learning techniques, businesses can gain invaluable insights into customer behavior, preferences, and purchasing patterns. With this knowledge, marketers can craft tailored marketing campaigns that resonate with individual customers, fostering stronger connections and driving higher conversion rates. AI empowers businesses to create hyper-targeted content, personalized recommendations, and real-time interactions, ensuring that every touchpoint with the customer is relevant and engaging.
2. Enhanced Customer Journey: With AI, businesses can transform the customer journey, delivering a seamless and exceptional experience across multiple channels. Chatbots, for example, powered by AI, can provide instant and accurate responses to customer inquiries, significantly improving customer service and satisfaction. AI can analyze vast amounts of customer data, such as browsing history, purchase behavior, and social media interactions, to create personalized recommendations and anticipate customer needs. By understanding customers on a deeper level, marketers can optimize each step of the customer journey, from discovery to purchase and beyond, ultimately driving customer loyalty and long-term business success.
3. Precision Targeting and Advertising: Traditional advertising methods often rely on a trial-and-error approach to target the right audience. However, AI-driven marketing platforms offer unparalleled precision when it comes to audience targeting. By leveraging AI algorithms, businesses can analyze massive datasets and identify patterns, allowing them to segment their audience with remarkable accuracy. This leads to highly targeted and relevant advertising campaigns, maximizing the return on investment (ROI) and minimizing wasted ad spend. AI can optimize ad placements, bidding strategies, and creative elements in real-time, ensuring that marketing efforts are focused on the most promising prospects.
4. Data-Driven Decision Making: In the age of information overload, extracting actionable insights from data can be a daunting task. This is where AI shines brightest. By harnessing the power of AI, businesses can leverage advanced analytics tools to process and analyze vast amounts of data quickly. AI algorithms can uncover hidden patterns, identify trends, and generate predictive models, empowering marketers to make data-driven decisions with confidence. Whether it's identifying new market segments, refining marketing strategies, or measuring campaign performance, AI-driven analytics provide a competitive edge by unlocking valuable insights that drive business growth.

Conclusion:

As we step into the future of digital marketing, it's evident that artificial intelligence is set to become a cornerstone of success. By harnessing the power of AI, businesses can unlock new levels of personalization, transform customer journeys, enhance targeting and advertising precision, and make data-driven decisions. Embracing AI in digital marketing strategies is no longer an option but a necessity for businesses aiming to stay relevant and thrive in today's highly competitive landscape. So, take the leap into the AI-driven era, and let your marketing efforts soar to new heights. The future is here, and it's AI-powered!

Critique

My first note as I read through this is that it is far too wordy, though for my editing style that is good, as I'll cut out large chunks. I like the basic outline of the structure, though I would heavily edit the contents of each bullet point. Personally, I would try to bring in examples of specific companies and technologies, such as programmatic advertising for the "Precision Targeting and Advertising" section.

As a whole, this output was pretty general, without much specific information, so it would take quite a bit more work to turn it into something useable, that doesn't sound like ai-generated filler content.

As I've learned this quarter, that really is the challenge with using Chat-GPT to create content. It always has a specific "stink" to it that is easy to pick up on if you are looking for it, and removing that takes quite a bit of work. I like instructing the model to use a specific tone in the prompt, as I think it helps, but that doesn't really fix the problem.

I believe it comes from a lack of tangible value provided. When someone else could just put a similar prompt into the engine and get back out all the same information, then what would my content provide?

We all have access to these tools, so using them transformatively is even more important.

Conclusion

While these models continue to improve, there will certainly always be a human element needed to edit, provide prompts, and proof the outputs in order to make sure the content provides real value.

Despite that, this is absolutely the both the future, and the present, of digital marketing. As further proof, I have already been told to use large language models at my marketing internships.