You can’t go anywhere right now on Bill Gates Internet without seeing some form of discussion about Artificial Intelligence (AI), chatbots, or ChatGPT. AI is no longer a futuristic concept. Marketers everywhere are yelling from the mountain tops about how this is the future of marketing as we know it.
And things are moving so quickly with the AI landscape that this article no doubt will be outdated sooner than we previously would think.
With all these conversations about artificial intelligence, it might be overwhelming to consider where to begin or how to utilize it as social impact communicator. Or perhaps you have legal, ethical, or integrity concerns – all valid. But if you asked me, the often overworked and understaffed marketing team has just been given a gift.
Johnny 5 Has Come a Long Way
As an ’80s baby, it’s hard for me to avoid remembering movies like Short Circuit featuring robots (Johnny 5) with advanced artificial intelligence that were capable of independent thinking and decision-making. These classic science fiction movies have now become a reality with the development of sophisticated AI technologies that are being implemented in a variety of industries.
Okay, but what the heck is AI, you might ask. Far more complicated (and interesting) than a futuristic Spielberg movie starring a young Haley Joel Osmet, AI is a type of computer programming that allows machines to learn from their environment, respond to inputted commands, and make decisions on their own.
It’s typically programmed to perform tasks that would normally require human intelligence, like problem-solving and language understanding (Hello Siri and Alexa). AI systems can operate in various environments, such as robotics, virtual assistants, self-driving cars, and even social media. Let’s just say its uses are vast.
Right now, marketers are using it for everything from customer service chatbots to automating email marketing campaigns, analyzing data collected and more.
Did you know some platforms could even help you write code?
Revolutionizing Content Creation with Language Models
With the expansion of language models, also known as natural language processing (NLP) systems, there’s potential to revolutionize the way we marketers develop content. These systems work by understanding and generating human language. Language models like ChatGPT, Jasper, and the like, produce human-like text that is difficult to distinguish from that written by a human – so you can imagine the variety of uses a marketer could get out of these is immense.
Text-to-text platforms can be used for generating all types of text content while text-to-image platforms are being used to generate original images from descriptive text. And text-to-music platforms are being used to produce music from written scores.
What geeks me out most about all of this (and it should you as well) is that these technologies have the potential to be great timesavers for professionals like us. And time, we all know, is the thing most treasured by ever-busy nonprofit communicators.
So, let’s jump into a few ways I’ve been using the various systems or have seen others do so with success.
11 Ways a Nonprofit Marcomm Professional Can Use AI Language Systems:
- Develop fresh or creative approaches and ideas.
- Create engaging content tailored specifically towards a specific target audience.
- Create and optimize social media posts.
- Write video scripts.
- Come up with subject lines.
- Research.
- Making complex content easier to understand.
- Distilling talking points.
- Developing interview prompts.
- Drafting personalized donor letters.
- Translating content into a different language for your different populations.
All that Glitters is not Gold
As with any new technology, there are things we need to be mindful of. Top of mind and discussion currently are accuracy, privacy, and bias.
- Accuracy – The content results are only as good as the data inputted into them and sometimes the data is not as recent as it could be and can skew results. Fact-checking is your friend.
- Biases – Sometimes these AI systems can reflect biases from the data that was used to create them. This is one of the many things developers are working on to fix, but something we, who are in the social services realm, have to especially be mindful of. Double check your output content any problematic language or perspectives.
- Privacy – As with any new technology, there are privacy concerns when using AI for content creation. We as marketers must take extra precautions and implement the same security measures they would use for any other online activities. It’s important to be mindful of the data being shared and collected, and to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect things like donor or service recipient privacy. Be careful what information you are sharing. There are still a lot of unknowns.
Copy & Paste is NOT Your Friend
Authenticity: I can’t stress this part enough. Copy and paste is not your friend when developing content using these systems. Make sure the content you are creating is meaningful, thoughtful, and well-reviewed in its final form. That donor letter must be tailored to the specific audience and mission of your nonprofit, rather than being a generic output from a language model.
Personality: In addition to authenticity, it’s going to become ever more significant to infuse your content with personality and tone. This will help your org stand out uniquely and connect with your audience on a deeper level. Not to mention, people are undoubtedly going to become sharper at spotting robotic soul-less sounding content.
Creativity: now that everyone is going to have access to these tools, you can bet that there’s going to be a significant jump in the quantity of content out there (As if we didn’t already have attention span issues lol). So, what is going to really make your stand out in the sea of countless others? This is where creativity comes in. Starting now, it’s more important than ever to think outside the box and come up with creative ideas for your content. Use these tools as a jumping off point and then let your imagination really take over.
Use these language processing systems as a tool to assist you in your work but not a substitute for it. AI systems can help streamline the content creation process, but that they cannot replace human creativity and expertise… at least not yet, anyway.
Pro-Tips
- Work on your prompts. The more detailed you are with the prompt commands you provide the better your outputs will be. Remember to focus on providing details and specifics that align with your audience or your nonprofit’s mission and goals.
- Play and test. Things are moving rapidly in this AI world. Now is the perfect time for nonprofit marketers to dive into the world of AI and start experimenting with different content creation strategies. By playing and testing with AI language models, you can gain a better understanding of their capabilities and limitations, and even begin to explore how these technologies can be used in other areas of your marketing efforts.
AI-driven content generation systems can be a cost-effective and time-saving solution for nonprofits looking to create fresh ideas and content. They are like having an excellent communications assistant at our disposal. And I am so certain, this is just the beginning.
I have no doubt that we are just scratching the surface of what AI can do for nonprofit marketers. By embracing this technology and using it responsibly, we can elevate our communications and outreach efforts to new heights. Let’s continue to learn, grow, and innovate with AI, and shine a light on the positive work we are doing in the world.
P.S could you spot which part of this content was proofread and rewritten by an AI system? 😉
Tell us in the comments how you’ve been using these new AI platforms in your work.
