AI For Content-Making And How to Stand Out With Your Brand In the Future

Hi! This is Bye, Social Media!, where you can learn everything you need to build a sustainable solo-business and market independent from algorithms.

This edition is about AI, the future of content, and how to stand out online in a hyper-segmented future.

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Last week, I had a really interesting conversation about the future of newsletters with a business partner. I’ll spare you the details of us geeking out about all things email and operations.

There’s one thing we talked about that’s very relevant to you: the role of AI in the future of marketing.

Let’s explore how you can address this for longevity in your business, when as a solo business owner, you can’t compete with the machines.

Two Future Paths in Marketing in the Age of AI

I see two paths in the future of marketing:

• the audience of one

• the personal connection (POV).

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The Audience of One

What my business partner as well as these academic marketing gurus call the “audience or segment of one” means catering to an individual’s taste and interests to a t through the power of technology.

Presently, you segment an audience in a newsletter semi-manually. My newsletter could have the segments: freelancers, creatives, subscribers in the US, etc., for example.

With the right data collection, analysis, and tools for distribution, you can serve more than this broader group of people. You can send a person content and information that’s tailored exactly to them and only them. This is already happening on TikTok - working decently, and Instagram - working shittily.

The further these technologies advance, the more individualized the world of content and marketing will become.

For a solo business, competing on these terms is tricky. You simply cannot cater to everyone in your audience individually. Equally, in the audience of one, the content you make will be distributed by some form of software or platform similar to what we’re used to with social media algorithms. This raises the challenges around algorithmic marketing such as control over distribution of your content and ownership of and direct access to your audience.

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The Personal Connection (POV)

The personal connection, marketing from and with a personal point of view, is a continuation of what we’re already seeing on social media with its over-emphasis on personal branding.

I’ve written before that I don’t think a personal brand is a necessity. What you and your business need, though, is a point of view or any other avenue so people can connect with what you do, put out, and sell.

With AI, you can create an infinite amount of mediocre, milquetoast marketing materials*. You don’t stand out that way. You stand out providing a good service, sharing experiences and learnings, and speaking with spiciness in a sea of vanilla.

People will seek you out for that beyond algorithmic distribution. My hypothesis is that people and audiences will value the feeling of speaking with and connecting with a person even more.

This doesn’t mean antagonizing people, as is happening a lot in the present. It means to embrace authenticity and being the person you want to be versus who you think you should or need to present to the world in whichever marketing channels you choose.

For a solo business, developing a point of view and sharing it with the world is most sustainable from two perspectives: 1) people want to work with people, so show them who you are, 2) nobody can compete on you being you or your unique perspective. People will seek you out for that.

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Bottom line: Marketing will become more technological and it will become more personal. For a solo business, it’s easier to win in the field of personality and personal connections through the marketing channels of your choice over trying to dominate the distribution game.

To learn more about how to create great content, read this in-depth blog post I wrote.

How to apply this in your business

If you’re starting out, I recommend you keep this in the back of your mind. You need to focus on the basics first, like choosing a marketing channel that fits your skills best and building experience through doing. If you’re starting out, you’re doing yourself a favor by skipping as much of the posturing as possible. What’s important for you is to get closer and closer to your authentic point of view over time. It’s easiest to do so by making things and sharing them with the world.**

If you’ve been in business for a while, it’s a good point in time to look at where you’ve been providing people with a fresh, authentic point of view. Like I said above, copying others won’t work so well, anymore. If things have been working or so-so working, how can you chip away the superfluous and get more clear, more you, and serve from a personal point of view?

Let me know what you think and how you want to use AI in your work!

Happy Marketing,

Johanna 📣

*How’s that for an alliteration? I’m pleased!

**On that note: It took me almost three years to get clear on how I wanted to speak on what. Over the years of writing newsletters, tinkering with podcasts, and failing on social media, I found which outlet suits me best and what and how I want to say it. At least, that’s what I know based on my present perspective. Publishing and posting things got me there fastest. You can’t think your way to these conclusions. Doing and experience get you there.

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