Are you creating content? Wondering how AI can help?
In this article, we explore how AI can help creators improve their content creation process.
Why Content Creators and Marketers Should Pay Attention to AI
Many content creators and marketers are worried that artificial intelligence (AI) might replace them. However, AI is currently here to assist us rather than replace us.
AI can be a huge time-saver, helping with tasks that take up a lot of time but aren't your favorite parts of content creation, like helping you to improve your writing for your landing pages and captions for your social media posts. By handling certain tasks, AI can also save you money by reducing the need to hire additional help for things like research or writing. Additionally, AI content tools can help expand on your ideas and present them in new ways, acting as a powerful idea generator.
For example, Nicky Saunders, founder of Deeper Than the Brand and a content strategist specializing in Instagram, estimates that using AI has given her back 8–10 hours of her life every week. This extra time allows her to dive into the creative process of content creation, allowing her to think of ideas, plan for future content, and focus on the parts of her work that she truly enjoys.
She emphasizes that there's no real pride in working all the time, as it can lead to burnout. Instead, AI allows her more time for creative thinking and makes content creation fun again.
Addressing Common Concerns About AI
While the benefits of AI are clear, some content creators have reservations. One common concern is that AI might replace human creativity. However, AI is not currently capable of replacing human creativity and personal style.
Even with advanced AI image generation tools, we still need the specific tones and styles only human designers can provide. For example, a graphic designer knows that if you ask for a lion on a mountain, the sunset needs to be at a certain angle, with a particular color and texture, and the water should look a certain way. These nuanced details come from the designer's experience and artistic vision, something AI currently struggles to replicate.
The same principle applies to written content. Nicky notes that while we've all used large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, or Claude, the results can sometimes be disappointing. “And it is trash sometimes. Let's just be honest,” she says. “It doesn't sound anything like us.” Even when given the correct frameworks, AI-generated content often fails to capture the authentic voice that resonates with human audiences.
However, this doesn't mean AI tools are useless for high-quality content creation. Instead, it emphasizes that human creators still have a vital role. AI can provide a starting point, offer suggestions, and handle some of the more tedious aspects of content creation. However, the human touch—your unique perspective, experience, and style—transforms this framework into compelling content that truly connects with your audience.
At the end of the day, “It's not about AI replacing us. It's about the people who know how to use AI that will replace us,” Nicky says.
Another concern is whether algorithms will punish AI-assisted content. While it's important to be aware of platform algorithms, Nicky doesn't believe this is something to fear. She points out that social media platforms are developing their own AI integrations, and it's likely that AI-assisted content will become increasingly common and accepted.
For example, Instagram initially accepted all types of content when introducing new features (like Reels) but later became more selective. She believes a similar pattern will emerge with AI-generated content. Plus, most media companies have integrated AI into their platforms, like Meta AI for Facebook and Instagram and Grok for X.
Some creators worry about giving away their content rights by using LLMs. However, once you post content on social media platforms, you've already given up some control. AI tools are simply another way our content might be used or referenced, similar to how people have always borrowed ideas from others online.
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GET THE DETAILSStrategic Repurposing: Using AI for Content Creation
#1: How to Identify Your Best Content
Strategic repurposing is one of the most powerful ways to leverage AI in content creation. Start with your most successful content.
“When it comes to repurposing, we've already created the content. Now it's a matter of going back and seeing what is the content that actually worked,” Nicky explains. She advises against repurposing content that didn't perform well initially, such as posts with few likes or comments.
The first step is to dive into your analytics. Whether you're using YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, or any other platform, look at your content performance over 30 days, 90 days, or even a year.
Don't worry too much about repeating content; only a small percentage of your followers typically see any given post.
Once you've identified your top-performing content, select about five pieces to focus on for repurposing. From there, look at the original content format and consider how it could be transformed. Could a video be turned into a written piece? Could a short video be expanded into a longer one? Could a text post be turned into an image?
Nicky's repurposing strategy often begins on Threads, which she uses as a testing ground for new ideas. She takes advantage of Threads' audio note feature, transcribing voice recordings into text. This allows her to quickly jot down ideas without typing. If these thread posts perform well, she then expands them into Instagram Reels.
From there, the Reels turn into newsletters that turn into YouTube Lives or YouTube videos, depending on the topic. She distinguishes between topical content, which she keeps as YouTube lives, and evergreen content, which she turns into regular YouTube videos.
AI plays a crucial role in this repurposing process. Nicky uses AI content creation tools to help expand her ideas, particularly when creating listicles for Threads. She then tests this content on Threads, and if it performs well, she makes a shorter version for Reels.
For newsletter content, Nicky expands on the core idea from her successful Threads post using AI. This approach allows her to create in-depth, valuable content for her email subscribers based on ideas that have already resonated with her audience on social media.
#2: How to Use ChatGPT for Content Ideation and Expansion
ChatGPT is a powerful natural language processing tool that can assist you with content creation.
For example, one key way Nicky uses ChatGPT is through its mobile app. This allows her to have voice conversations with the AI, which is particularly useful when she's on the go or unable to type.
Treat the AI like a brainstorming partner and provide it with plenty of context, like your role, goals, and target audience. Then, ask the AI to expand on your ideas by requesting specific formats like newsletter content or using particular frameworks. For example, Nicky might say, “I have this idea for them from a content standpoint. This actually worked very well on Threads. So I want to know how I can expand it.”
Pro Tip: To get the best results, always end your prompts by asking the AI what additional information it needs to provide better output.
You can even take pictures of handwritten notes or whiteboard content and have ChatGPT read and interpret them. Once the AI has read the image, you can have further conversations based on those ideas. For instance, Nickymight jot down a listicle of “4 Steps on How to Start Using AI With Your Content” and then ask the AI to expand on each point. The AI will then provide more detailed descriptions for each step, helping to flesh out the initial concept.
ChatGPT's image analysis capabilities extend beyond text. For example, it can break down the elements of inspirational images.
One creative way Nicky uses Chat GPT is by creating different conversation threads for various purposes. For example, she has a thread called “Nicky's Ideas,” where she can quickly jot down and explore new concepts. This allows her to keep her brainstorming sessions organized and easily accessible for future reference.
Additionally, Nicky also creates custom GPTs for specific tasks. For example, she has a custom GPT designed to help her format her social media posts, particularly for platforms like X, where character count is crucial.
She's even gone a step further by creating a custom GPT that is familiar with her voice and tone. She explains, “I've transcribed my voice based on some of the videos that I have, and I put it all in a GPT.” This allows her to input ideas or content from other sources and ask the AI to rephrase it in her unique style. This ensures consistency across her content, even when using AI assistance.
If you work with visual elements or collaborate with graphic designers, you can create rough concepts for thumbnails or other visual content with ChatGPT. For example, you can describe a concept to the AI, such as:
A cartoon lion looking confused at a phone displaying Instagram.
The AI then generates an image based on this description.
Then, you can refine these generated images and expand the iterative process. For example, you could tell the AI:
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The primary purpose of these AI-generated images isn't to use them as final products but to provide a clear visual reference for graphic designers. “The biggest problem that I always see with people and creatives is that they don't know how to describe their ideas properly,” Nicky notes.
It's worth noting that ChatGPT's image editing capabilities are more advanced than many users realize. For instance, you can actually edit generated images within ChatGPT using a lasso tool. This allows for precise modifications, such as removing unwanted elements or changing specific parts of the image.
#3: How to Leverage OpusClip for Video Content Repurposing
OpusClip is an AI content creation tool that helps repurpose long-form video content into shorter, more digestible clips tailored for social media. You can upload a video from one minute to three hours long, and the tool will create vertical, square, and horizontal video clips suitable for various social media platforms.
But OpusClip's capabilities go far beyond simple video reformatting. The tool employs sophisticated AI algorithms to analyze your content and identify the most engaging segments. To achieve this, OpusClip assigns both a “viral score” and a “hook score” to different parts of your video, helping you identify the segments most likely to capture audience attention. It also provides a description of what's happening in each clip, adding another layer of insight for content creators.
OpusClip also automatically adds trending-style captions to your clips and can even generate relevant B-roll footage for talking head videos. For podcast-style content with multiple speakers, OpusClip creates different layout options.
While you might view tools like OpusClip as a way to repurpose existing content simply, Nicky sees them as a goldmine for new content ideas. “I look at it as this is now untapped content ideas that I didn't even think about because AI is picking out all the best parts,” she explains.
This approach transforms a single piece of content into a springboard for multiple new creations. For example, suppose you upload a comprehensive video about creating content with AI to OpusClip. In that case, the tool might extract segments about specific topics like ChatGPT, OpusClip itself, or the broader mindset of using AI in content creation. Each of these extracted segments represents a potential new piece of content.
She explains, “I can take that idea and expand on it. I go back to ChatGPT and say, hey, I got this video. I got this idea. I got the transcript. Here's what I said about it. Can you give me another video script? Can you give me a Thread? Can you give me something that I can use in my newsletter?”
Review this video transcript. Please give me a Thread related to the original video. Please give me a newsletter entry related to the original video. Please give me a script for short-form video related to the original video.
This approach allows Nicky to create a wide variety of content from a single source. For example, she might turn a brief mention of a tool in one video into a dedicated video about that tool—essentially repurposing her repurposed content.
Pro Tip: Don't rely solely on OpusClip's top suggestions. Review all the generated clips and use your own judgment to select the most suitable content for your audience. You might find hidden gems further down the list.
OpusClip also has built-in content scheduling features, like a social media scheduler and calendar. This allows creators to generate social media content and plan its distribution all within the same tool.
#4: How to Harness Castmagic for Multi-Platform Content Creation
Castmagic is another AI tool that helps repurpose audio and video content into various formats for different social media platforms.
One of Castmagic's standout features is its voice transcription capability. This feature allows Nicky to capture her ideas on the go. The tool transcribes the audio immediately and then automatically creates content for various platforms, including tweets, LinkedIn posts, and Instagram captions.
One key benefit of Castmagic is its ability to evaluate ideas quickly. By seeing how her ideas translate to different platforms, Nicky can quickly assess which concepts have the most potential and determine the best format for each idea.
“I'm now looking at my idea in different ways that it can live on these platforms and see which one kind of pops out to be like, okay, this is going to be a good Reel today. This will be a good title for a YouTube video,” she explains. This allows her to focus her energy on the ideas that are most likely to resonate with her audience across multiple platforms.
Pro Tip: Use Castmagic when you need to quickly document and evaluate ideas without the back-and-forth conversation offered by ChatGPT.
Castmagic is ideal for those moments of inspiration that need to be captured quickly before they're forgotten. For example, Nicky might use it while driving to record an idea and review the generated content later to decide if it's worth pursuing further.
While you could potentially use ChatGPT for similar purposes, Nicky prefers Castmagic for these quick idea captures because of its streamlined process. The AI automatically generates all these different content formats when it processes her audio input.
#5: How to Organize and Expand Your Ideas with Notion AI
Notion is a creative playground—a versatile tool for note-taking, project management, and team collaboration. Its AI features make it even more powerful for content creators.
Notion is an all-in-one tool—a central repository for all your ideas, scripts, and content plans. Nicky describes it as her “second brain,” allowing her to store and organize all the content she creates with other AI tools.
One key way Nicky uses Notion AI is to expand content. For example, she can highlight text in her notes and ask the AI to develop it into different formats, such as newsletters or listicles.
Pro Tip: Create templates in Notion for different content formats to streamline your ideation and creation process. You can transform your ideas into various content types, like “past vs present” comparisons or myth-busting posts.
Another powerful feature of Notion AI is its ability to quickly search through your notes and databases to find and compile relevant information for new content. For example, suppose you're creating a post about AI tools. In that case, you can ask Notion AI to gather information from all your previous notes on the topic, saving you significant time in research and compilation.
Practical Tips for Incorporating AI into Your Content Creation Workflow
Now that we've explored several AI tools let's look at some practical ways to integrate them into your content creation process:
- Start with your strengths: Use AI to help with tasks you find challenging or time-consuming, allowing you to focus on the aspects of content creation you enjoy most.
- Use AI for inspiration: Don't rely on AI to create finished products. Instead, use it as a starting point for your own creativity.
- Repurpose across platforms: Use tools like OpusClip and Castmagic to adapt your content for different social media platforms, maximizing your reach.
- Create an idea bank: Use Notion or a similar tool to store and organize your ideas, using AI to help expand and transform them over time.
- Experiment with different tools: Try various AI tools to find the ones that best suit your specific needs and content style.
- Maintain your unique voice: While AI can help with structure and ideas, make sure to infuse your content with your personal style and expertise.
- Stay informed: Keep up with developments in AI technology and how they might impact content creation in your field.
Nicky Saunders is a content strategist who specializes in Instagram. She's founder and CEO of Deeper Than The Brand, a consultancy that helps influencers create visual content to grow their brands. You can find her on YouTube, Instagram, and Threads.
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