Back to the Roots: How AI Can Help You Focus on Writing Again

The content world has changed a lot

As editors, you certainly haven't missed the fact that the world of content publishing has changed dramatically in recent years.

Many of your readers have probably been getting their information less and less from newspapers and magazines for years, and more and more from Twitter and Facebook. Bloggers and influencers produce huge amounts of content every day, entering the domain of editors and journalists. Many companies also tend to invest their budgets less in press relations and more in influencers.

Another difficulty is clickbait. The so-called "bait" comes in many forms. As a rule, we encounter it as a blatantly provocative headline. Why all this? It is about the pure highest possible number of clicks and less about great content.

Another brief look back: From the editors' point of view, these technological changes began around the year 1997, triggered by the advancing technical development, especially in the area of search engine optimization by Google.

Because - long ago - but until then you had the freedom to focus almost exclusively on your core competencies of research and content creation. This focus allowed you to concentrate on high quality articles.

No publisher can afford not to address the potential of AI in content creation and distribution. Check out the exact keynote we gave at the PPA Festival on slideshare here.

The dilemma: No focus on high-quality content

Nowadays, as an editor, you have a variety of other tasks in addition to your main duties of research and writing. These are not difficult to recognize due to the advancing digitalization in the publishing industry.

For you personally, the topic of SEO(search engine optimization) has probably been playing an increasingly decisive role for years. Without, for example, the correct setting of metadata, your content has little chance of being found on the Internet.

There is also the challenge that content is now consumed on a variety of different channels. There's Facebook, Twitter, magazine apps, and blogs and websites in general.

A further complication is the many different devices from which readers access content. Content has long since been created not only for print. It has to be optimized for cell phones, tablets and desktops in parallel.

SEO specialists and internal communication

For you, these challenges can hardly be mastered alone. That's why your own publisher may have hired SEO teams or data analysts. The additional staff costs money and, as is well known, publishers have nothing to give away. So not only do they make less revenue, they also spend more.

Another point that, in my view, should not be underestimated is that internal communication between all these teams is becoming increasingly complex. This is obvious, after all, the number of teams and people involved is increasing, as is the list of technical requirements.

Because of these changes and the new tasks associated with them, publishers are finding it difficult to produce unique, high-quality content. Far too many media houses report on the same topics over and over again. And high-quality distinctions and elaborately researched articles are unfortunately becoming fewer and fewer.

The fatal consequences for the publishing industry

In terms of numbers, this means the following:

1. On the one hand, for example, only 37% of readers in Great Britain still trust the media
2. There is also a decline in the profit margin (entire publishing industry) of 2% per year
3. And: sales in the publishing industry slumped by 9.4% in Q4 2018

I think: If publishers want to continue to hold their own in the market, they finally need the courage to try out new solutions to free themselves from this dilemma.

How to escape the dilemma?

Nor is it as if there were no solutions. There is: namely, artificial intelligence (AI). The kind of AI that helps you exactly and only where you need it. The kind of AI that doesn't curtail your creativity. On the contrary, the kind of AI that has your back and relieves you of many of the unpleasant tasks that have been added on in recent years.

What exactly can AI help you with?

• AI works for you 24/7: AI evaluates complex interrelationships - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• Moreover, an AI tool can process millions of data in milliseconds
• Did you know? Automated publishing to various channels can increase content views by an average of 8x
• With time: Publishers already working with AI technologies report that their editors and journalists have up to 20% more time as a result
• On productivity: many other companies that have implemented AI have also experienced productivity increases of up to 40%

Conclusion

Our mission is to give editors like you back the freedom to produce unique and high-quality content. What's most important to me is that it's not about robo-journalism, but rather a tool that you can use to specifically free yourself from almost all unpleasant technical tasks.

Everything that is not of a creative nature can be done by AI. With the right tools, there is no longer any need for expensive SEO teams. Purple has developed powerful and easy-to-use AI-based software to support editors. Find out more about Purple's integrated content intelligence here.

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