AI Content Creation Tools: The What, Why, and How

Many marketers have a love-hate relationship with content creation. It taps into the creative side in all of us, allowing us to come up with great blog topics and write great copy, whether it’s an ebook, a whitepaper, or the script for an upcoming video tutorial. But it can also be time-consuming and complex, especially if you’re relying on gut instinct to get it right every time. 

While the creative side can be fun, the science side is far more complicated. On top of this, content creation is a huge process that requires a ton of time, effort, and input. 

So wouldn’t it be great if there was a way you could still enjoy the fun part of content creation without having to worry about tirelessly churning out content day after day? 

Well actually, you can, thanks to AI content generators. Using artificial intelligence alongside your usual content creation efforts can help scale your output without affecting the quality of what you’re putting out there. 

What exactly is AI content creation?

It’s the question on everyone’s lips and, while it’s tempting to conjure up an image of a room full of robots doggedly punching away at keyboards, that’s far from the truth. Essentially, AI content creation means software creates the content for you. It can write blog posts, social media copy, ebooks, landing pages, emails, product listings, and everything in between–there’s even a shift towards audio and video content too. 

The tools in question offer up a variety of different skills. Some are able to produce blog posts in bulk at the click of a button, while others are great at creating email subject lines that actually get opened. 

How does AI content creation work? 

AI content creation tools don’t just come up with content from nowhere. They need prompts–and that’s where the human element comes in. Marketers can input descriptions, ideas about the tone of voice, and any key elements they want to be included before the AI tool generates the content (which often happens in a matter of seconds).

The tools work by using natural language processing (NLP) and natural language generation (NLG) models which learn the genetic makeup of human language to create their own versions that sound like they’ve been written by a real person. 

If you’re using Jasper, you can input a prompt, such as a few keywords, a short description of your business or topic for the tool to work with, and any other important pieces of information that are relevant. The AI then uses this information along with other data it has access to (basically, billions of pieces of content from around the web) to create content closely aligned to what you want.

The more you use the tool, the more knowledge it picks up and the more accurate it becomes every single time–especially if you’re telling it what you do and don’t like about its creations. 

As well as actually writing the content for you, AI content tools can also help you identify what to write about and how you should write about it. This is particularly useful if you’re struggling to come up with content ideas or don’t know what to write next. 

Once they come up with topic ideas, the tools are able to offer up suggested outlines and relevant information so you can make sure you’re including everything possible. The tools do this through NLP strategies, where they crawl through billions of other articles on the same topic and bring to light what areas are covered and any missing gaps.

This helps you consistently create content that’s better and more comprehensive than your competitors and it ensures you’re providing all the information your audience needs, which builds trust and credibility. 

Will AI take over human content creation?

The million-dollar question. In short, the answer is no. Robots are very unlikely to replace humans in any endeavor that’s inherently creative, and content creation is very much a creative pursuit, especially if you take away the scientific, metrics-focused side of it. 

So, while AI tools might become more prevalent, they are simply an aide for scaling content creation efforts and making sure marketers and brands are publishing content that’s the highest possible quality it can be–which, let’s face it, is great news for everyone.

And, when you use an AI tool to generate content, it’s doing just that–creating content. When you’re just getting started, there’s a very high chance the content will need a human touch, whether that’s through editing or formatting. You might need to optimize the content depending on the platform you’re using. Even when the AI tool becomes well-versed in your wants and needs, you’ll probably still have to tweak the content every now and then so it sounds the way you want it to. 

What type of content does AI technology work best for? 

AI-generated content comes in all types. At the moment, artificial intelligence technology is most proficient at generating written content, like blog posts, whitepapers, ebooks, product listings, emails, subject lines, article titles, and more. 

However, there has been some movement towards video and audio creation and automation as those formats become increasingly popular for engagement. There’s a good chance we’ll see more AI tools emerging that focus solely on these types of content but, for now, the written content created by AI tools is of very high quality.

6 amazing AI content creation and content marketing tools

1. Jasper

Jasper is your all-in-one AI content creation tool. With a suite of templates that can help you create everything from email subject lines, real estate listings, product descriptions, headlines, and long-form blog posts to video scripts and personal bios, you can quickly produce high-quality content at scale with just a few prompts. Oh, and you can create custom images with Jasper's AI art generator!

2. HubSpot 

HubSpot’s content strategy tool uses AI technology and deep learning to uncover original content ideas and topics that are likely to perform well with your audience and in the SERPs. It does this by scanning millions of posts on similar topics before suggesting topic clusters that will help you rank and stand out among competitors. Before it suggests anything, it runs competitive research to make sure that the topics it suggests are worthwhile, removing any guesswork and “gut instincts” that you might have. 

3. Frase

Once you’ve come up with a content topic or keyword, it can be difficult to know where to start–for content creators, staring at a blank page is never fun. Frase works by using machine learning to create outline briefs based on similar content around the web. As well as putting together a rough outline using real-life questions searchers have asked, it suggests keywords and subheadings you can use throughout the piece of content to make sure you rank well. 

4. Grammarly

Writing is often the meat of content generation, but your content must be readable and engaging. Grammarly uses AI technology to suggest better phrasing, checks your grammar, and basically makes sure your content is engaging and accessible to the right people. 

5. Synthesia

While most content AI tools focus on text content, Synthesia is one of the first that focuses solely on creating video content at scale. It’s common knowledge that creating a video can be time-consuming, but it can pay off ten-fold since it’s one of the most engaging forms of content. Synthesia works by using AI to create an avatar-based talking-head video or voice-over to coincide with a script you’ve already written. 

You can level up your videos with music, images, and text overlays to make them even more engaging. 

6. MarketMuse

One of the hardest parts of content creation is coming up with the right ideas. Content marketing involves lots of moving parts and, to be successful, you need to create the right content at the right time. MarketMuse uses AI technology and machine learning to reveal search terms that you should be targeting as well as topic clusters and categories to focus on. 

This gives you a great SEO-focused starting point for your content creation efforts that you can use to build out a comprehensive and relevant content library. 

Using AI to inspire content creation, content strategy, and digital marketing

There are many reasons to leverage AI for marketing. For one, it can be a great companion in your content creation process. It’s the perfect way to scale your efforts and make sure you’re creating content that will resonate with your target audience and rank well in search engines.

The different tools available help you with different aspects of content creation, from coming up with ideas, to choosing keywords, and writing the content from scratch. There is still a human element–you’ll need to edit and tweak each piece–but it can dramatically scale and speed up your process, eliminating the dreaded blank page and content creation that’s driven by gut instinct.

Get started with Jasper today.