If you’re anything like me, your mind never stops. On some days, it’s the classic monkey mind, restlessly reshuffling thoughts and ideas. On better days, though, it’s the Tetris mind, where just a few deft turns pop puzzle pieces perfectly into place.
As a writer, these puzzle pops regularly arrive with a single repeated realization: This should be a blog!
Long wait at the doctor’s office despite having a scheduled appointment? Blog post about managing expectations (and Quota Management!). Need to get up and move it move it after all those holiday goodies? Post about our movement movement SoGoGetUp!
Finally, all of these meta layers later, I’m taking this new year opportunity to reflect on exactly this phenomenon — in a blog that should definitely be a blog, and is. 😉
The art and science of content creation
In the world of, well, words, let’s consider two tracks. Some writers see themselves as authors, artists who carefully select the right words, craft creative narratives, and sculpt engaging plot twists and developments. Many others, however, see writers as content creators, architects who scientifically formulate the perfect balance of keywords with sufficiently compelling word counts and appeals to inspire the highlighted call to action.
Neither one of these is the ‘right’ approach, and they aren’t mutually exclusive. Blog posts, articles, and webpages around the wide world are stuffed with creative content that delivers results. The challenge, of course, is balance.
Balance in all things
As we kick off a new year and dive deeper into the era of artificial intelligence, the need for balance is clearly in focus. Search Engine Optimization has long driven marketing plans, with content creation chasing changing algorithms to achieve coveted top-of-page search result listings.
Done well, carefully crafted content designed to meet SEO goals delivers on both fronts: Solid material that ranks highly, reaches more eyeballs, and compels the desired actions. Done poorly, SEO-driven writing feels mechanical and overstuffed.
Enter artificial intelligence. What happens when you feed SEO requirements to an AI chatbot? In the best of all cases, machines talking to machines deliver efficiency. In the worst, they build sterile building blocks of content that fail to resonate with real humans.
Both SEO and AI are evolving rapidly, and it’s certainly not my goal to disparage either. (We love the cool benefits AI brings to our platform, too!) While poor usage and unsophisticated implementation can lead to poor results, poor quality writing by humans doesn’t help, either! Instead, we need the best of both worlds.
What’s next?
As we move into the new year, I’ll be seeking writing inspiration from across the spectrum. Yes, I’ll receive requests and suggestions for content that will connect with a wide range of prospects and customers, but I’ll also be on the lookout for human-centered stories to tell in human-focused styles.
While Customer Experience and Employee Experience are important focus areas for us, Human Experience is one of our favorite X’s. Beyond our roles as consumers and employees, we all want to be treated as humans, and content that speaks to our individual and shared human experiences will always be important.
What do you think? It’s been several months since I tackled this topic in “ChatGPT Ate My Homework” and plenty has changed since then. Are you planning to utilize AI in your writing this year? If so, how? Interested in weighing in on the debate? Got an amazing human-centered story to share? Drop us a note!
Here’s to a new year of balancing art and science, creativity and methodology, readers and writers, and prioritizing the human experience! May all of your Tetris pieces pop into place and may all of your monkeys be mindful. 😉
