There are plenty of options when it comes to content creation, and I want to call out one important thing first… nothing is completely automated. Or at least, not if you want to sound like a real person, a real human, someone who deeply understands your best client and aims to serve them well, building authority around their subject expertise.
That said–there are plenty of ways to automate content, and I’m going to cover my favorite three here. My direct clients or I use each of these methods regularly, so I’m speaking from experience, not theory.
- Create Once, Repurpose At Will
- Hire a Dedicated Employee or Content VA
- Use AI for The Gruntwork, Human Touch for Finishing
Repurpose + Curate Content
This is the content creation method I recommend for most course creators and service providers.
Pre-requisites:
- content distribution system
- content database
- measurement process
The premise here is mining your past published pieces means you don’t have to constantly create new content. I like using this content automation method in tandem with new, once-a-week content so you have the ability to refresh your database, answer happening-right-now questions and news items, and generally stay in touch with your audience.
Subscribing to software like MeetEdgar will simplify this method, as it helps you maintain curated lists of content.
You’ll want to ensure you’re measuring the results of what you’re posting, so you can remove poor-performing pieces from the mix. And keeping a content database of your own content and the appropriate graphics, quotes, and videos that belong to each piece is a must since you’ll want access to those each time you repurpose them.
Repurposing, by the way, doesn’t have to just be reposting the content exactly as you did before. You can add a new hook to catch attention, pair it with a new story or analogy to help a different segment of your audience see you as their next investment–or, yes, simply repost it.
Pros of the Repurpose + Curate Method
The benefit of this method is you always have something to post–even if life gets a little hectic (see my podcast episode on Business During a Crisis for more on why this matters).
Another pro of this method is it can increase your reach and help you build authority. If you’re curating others’ content, you may see a surge in others posting your own content. It can grow your audience, for example, if you tweet about others’ articles and they retweet what you tagged them on. Ultimately, that’s a bit of a hail mary for audience growth but it can increase your exposure.
Cons to the Repurpose + Curate Method
The downside of this method is that if you’re too automated, you may look out of touch. For example: if you’re a job coach and you’re reposting an older blog article you could post about how to land a job during a pandemic when it’s no longer a pandemic. Or you could post about the best negotiation tips in a job seeker’s market when people are talking about a recession. This could make you look careless.
Another con? No matter how often I encourage people to give their own take on curated content, most will just post a link or a quote and run. And this won’t build your authority or gain you more audience reach at all, but instead will look like you’re riding another’s coattails if you do it too often.
Hire Out Your Content Creation
Pre-requisites:
- content distribution system
- measurement process
- employee
If you’re the face of your business, your face can’t really be hired out. (Or maybe it can with all these new deep fake video software options?) But, if you create just the once-a-week piece for your business, you can hire out the rest. This means you can write the blog, film the video, record the podcast, flag your VA or employee in your project management tool like ClickUp, and everything else happens without you.
Pros To Hiring Out for Content Creation
This method keeps you in your zone of genius. As I mentioned in a previous podcast episode on The Unhealthy Side of Content Creation, it shouldn’t feel hard to create content. It’s using certain marketing tactics over others, the actual mechanics of posting that feels hard for most people. Simply talking about the subject matter you cover is the easy part! And hiring out the rest keeps in that part that feels easy. You’ll be less likely to avoid it.
Using myself as an example, I only spend about an hour a week on my regular content. I don’t edit my podcast’s audio, write the show notes, create the quote graphics, or email the guests.
Cons to Hiring Out Your Content Creation
You’ll have to train people on how you want your business to run. This may be a work in progress, you may have to release some control and that can be difficult for some people, and things won’t always be exactly to your standards.
Having a good content system like The Show Up System 2.0 in your back pocket can make this transition easier!
Also, again, if you’re the face of your business and video is your main platform, it may not feel like you’re outsourcing much. You are! But it could still feel like you’re creating a lot of content.
Use AI Tools for Content Creation
Pre-requisites:
- content distribution system
- patience
- AI tools
This one feels a bit icky and I almost didn’t include it. Why? I don’t think this is, on its face, an authentic way to create content. Tools like Jarvis were all the rage a year ago but after testing it out, I didn’t see the fuss for the kind of content I desire. To be fair, if I were going to generate a new content site on, say, ways to teach your kids safe pyrotechnics or dairy-free living for the whole family–I’d probably use a tool like this to create a whole lot of content in a condensed time period.
Pros of using AI Tools for Content Creation
I bought the AppSumo deals for both CrawlIQ and Outranking as a way to create better SEO content for my site. I’ve been mostly disappointed. But this is a pro because they’re both great at helping me create outlines for blog articles and podcast episodes. Do I use them to write the whole script? Nope. But I do use them for headline creation because my brain thinks in informative writing first, persuasive second, and then search-engine friendly third. These tools can help keep me in check.
I also use them when researching topics for clients because I don’t have subject matter expertise on everything. I may know their topic, but not know how their clients are searching for that topic or which terms they use. These tools are great for quick research.
Saving time is the biggest pro for AI tools. You’ll need patience in editing their content to make it sound like you and fit your brand voice.
Cons to using AI Tools for Content Creation
The learning curve for these tools isn’t easy. Every time I log into CrawlIQ or Outranking they’ve changed something and I have to essentially relearn the tool. It’s a lot of time investment.
Plagiarism is another big one. How do you think these tools gain their “intelligence” if not searching other articles on that topic? I’ve seen headline and H2 or H3 tags that were clearly lifted from other articles.
Another con is homogenization–if you’re sourcing ideas from these tools, you’re just going to regurgitate others’ ideas and then there are 50 articles with rephrased, mirror content. If you’re using them for SEO research only, that’s less likely to happen, but still a possibility.
Content Automation Conclusion
As stated at the beginning, none of these solutions are completely automated in the way that you could step away completely. They will, however, each save time. And if you use all three in conjunction with each other, you’ll have a well-rounded content strategy that doesn’t take up too much of your monthly time and still gives you a presence online.
Are you ready to create a measurable content plan?
