My work involves spending a lot of time browsing travel and tourism blogs (yes, I have permanent wanderlust!). And often I’ll come across a blog that looks enticing at first glance only to find that its content is 100% AI-produced. What a missed opportunity!
Why? Well, AI-written content is just incredibly dull to read. Surely one of the great pleasures of reading is the feeling that you are hearing the voice of a fellow-human in your head? Whether it be sassy, confident, quirky, authoritative, tentative, or warm – every writer has their own unique voice. And that’s something you just don’t get with AI.
Of course, brand voice is a concept we’re all familiar with. But my feeling is that it’s particularly important in tourism marketing.
This is because the success of any travel experience depends, to a great extent, on the connection you have with the tour professionals leading it.
If that connection is strong, you get an experience you’ll always remember.
If it’s not – well, your experience might end up being memorable for all the wrong reasons.
How can your customers make an informed decision to choose you when you’re asking them to wade through screeds of bland robotese?
AI or human-produced copy?
Now, I know what you’re thinking. I’m a copywriter who writings for a living! So of course, I’m going to be twitchy about the robots taking over.
And maybe I should be.
A 2023 survey by Nativo revealed that 53% of adults were unable to distinguish between real content and artificially generated content.
On the face of it, this statistic does sound worrying. I’m skeptical though. Okay, perhaps the people involved in the survey were unable to identify the robot-produced content. But were they asked which content they preferred? Had they been asked this question, I’m prepared to bet that they’d opt for the human-produced version.
We know that AI is improving all the time. But it will never have a human heart. It will never have access to a lifetime of experience. Neither will it possess the quirks that make you you and me me.
In short, AI alone is not (and may never be) enough to write you blog posts that will connect with and convert customers.
So, if you think you can populate your blog with AI-written content, think again.
My AI blog-writing experiment
Here’a a little AI experiment I tried recently. I looked up a fairly recent blog post I wrote for Promote Shetland. The topic was ‘creative pursuits you can do in Shetland over winter’.
Here are two opening paragraphs. One is written by me, one is fully AI generated. Can you guess which is which?
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One
Welcome to our blog post on creative things to do in Shetland over winter! As the days grow shorter and the air turns crisp, Shetland transforms into a winter wonderland filled with opportunities for artistic expression and exploration. From cozying up in a traditional crofthouse with a hot cup of tea to immersing yourself in the vibrant arts and crafts scene, there is no shortage of creative activities to enjoy during the colder months in this picturesque island archipelago. Join us as we delve into some of the most inspiring and unique ways to unleash your creativity in Shetland this winter.
Two
Chillier temperatures and shorter days are often associated with hibernation. Not so in Shetland, where winter activities are a far cry from bingeing on box sets and getting into full goblin mode. Instead, the colder months are a cosy, sociable time, where locals fill the hours of darkness with creative pursuits from crafting to creative writing.
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Which do you think is mine? And why?
Check out the clunky opening sentence in paragraph one. Note also the cliches such as ‘winter wonderland’ and ‘unleash your creativity’.
Paragraph one packs in numerous paraphrases of my prompt text, e.g.: ‘creative pursuits’ and ‘artistic expression’ and, in my opinion, the effect is a little OTT.
Is it all bad? No. I like the ‘hot cup of tea’ bit (although I’d argue that tea-drinking in itself is not a creative activity!) but overall it’s like wading through verbal blancmange.
The second paragraph, in contrast, sounds more natural. The ‘bingeing on box sets’ and ‘full goblin mode’ sound like they were written by a human (albeit a fairly lazy one). It’s less wordy too.
AI can help you – with some caveats
Having said all of this, AI can help you write great posts for your travel and tourism blog – it can save you time too! – but you need to know what you’re doing. And you will still need to engage your own brain.
Here are some key things to bear in mind.
- Stay in control of your process. AI should assist you, not drive you!
- If you do use AI to generate a paragraph or two, it will need deep editing to make sure it sounds like you. Read the content aloud. Does it sound like you? If not, rewrite.
- To be effective, AI needs good prompts. Make your prompts are detailed as possible.
- Fact check anything AI-generated. You know the destination you’re writing about – never take anything AI tells you at face value.
In my work as an editor, I’ve often been sent AI texts and instructed to ‘humanise’ them (very 1984, I know). Not a job I relish doing, as quite frankly, it takes a lot longer to humanise a robotic text than it does to write one myself from scratch. So if you choose to humanise an AI text you’ve generated, be aware it’s a time-consuming process with a lot of rewriting.
How I use AI to blog
- Idea generation: yup, even writers get blocked sometimes! AI can really help get the ideas flowing. Brainstorm on your own first, then ask AI to generate some ideas. Sometimes these ideas will be enough to get you on your way, and sometimes they will inspire further ideas. For example, I asked AI for help to generate ideas for the above-mentioned blog post – it yielded 10 ideas, a few of which I hadn’t thought of.
- Proofreading: you can feed your text into Chatgpt and get it proofread (I’d advise doing this on a section by section basis.) Still not as good as a human editor or proofreader, but better than nothing at all!
- Structuring: for these times you know what you want to write about, but aren’t sure how to structure it, AI can help. Simply type your prompt in, e.g.: ‘provide a structure for a blog post about creative things to do in Shetland over winter’.
AI can be helpful, but over-reliance on it will get you nowhere fast. Used strategically though, it can be a great time-saver.
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Well, here ends the final instalment of my blogging mini-series. I hope you’ve found it useful, and that you’re now ready to blog with confidence.
One thing that writing this mini-series has brought home to me is that there is so much to think about when it comes to blogging! If you’re still feeling bamboozled by it all, and would like a little hand-holding to get your blog underway, get in touch.
In a one-hour Copy Boost session, I’ll answer your blogging questions, help you devise your blogging strategy and send you on your way raring to go!
Check out my services page to find out more.