Category: Content writing

Audience engagement

Avoiding bland B2B content: Use AI tools wisely

llustration by Muhammad Afandi on Unsplash

AI tools like Grammarly can be useful for a final polish of writing, but use them with a healthy dose of caution.  

These tools are clever, not just spotting typos but also things like repeated words or wrong words. They also take a stab at grammar.

But some tools try to be a bit too clever.

Grammarly, for example, makes suggestions for writing improvements. It works by giving the most likely or common words or phrases. In essence, it’s delivering the median version of any writing.

The danger of blindly following all the AI suggestions is that your writing ends up bland and lifeless. 

Grammarly can also tend towards brevity, which might make writing sound too clipped or robotic. 

Everyone has access to the same AI tools, which make it easy to churn out copy. 

But to help it stand out, writing needs to be above average, have points of difference and sound human. 

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Audience engagement, Content ideas

How to make boring B2B content more engaging

Small black pug-like dog laying on a cushion with a bored expression

A business or individual announces something only they really care about, a few colleague hit ‘like’ and maybe a couple of loyal followers, but that’s it.

Is this sort of content worth the effort? It can be if you add value and/or a human element to give it broader appeal and something tangible for your audience to connect with.

Here are some ideas for how to flip a boring business announcement, turn it into something more interesting and boost engagement.

Announcement: We have a new website, logo or branding

Let’s be honest, the fact that you’ve got a new website or branding is of little interest unless you work in marketing or are going to remove all the vowels from your name like Abrdn did.

It won’t materially impact anyone’s scroll.

But you could add value by lifting the lid on how you got to the finished site/branding.

Are there versions that were dismissed? What were the highs and lows? It’s an opportunity to inject some all-important personality into your story.

Think about how you could make it useful to your audience. That could be lessons learned from the process or something you’ve learned about your business as a consequence.

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General

Guide to sharing an opinion in B2B content

An old typewriter with a piece of paper in it on which is written opinion.

Sharing an opinion in a LinkedIn post or in a web article can understandably be nerve-wracking, but in the sea of vanilla B2B content, it’s important.

Not only does it set you apart, but it helps your audience to get to know what you stand for – and get to know you. It can also help position you as a thought leader within your industry.

Here is a guide to how to share an opinion through your B2B content without being deliberately or unnecessarily provocative, and steps you can take to feel comfortable and confident putting your thoughts out into the world.

(NB: All property-related examples are made up for illustration only.)

Getting started with sharing an opinion

Start small. You don’t have to dive straight into big industry-wide topics; focus on smaller areas of influence. It might be a particular process or way of working. Or something that happens in the workplace.

And if even that seems daunting, try sharing your views in comments (in a non-troll-like way, obviously).

What is your friendly take on the topic shared in a LinkedIn post? Can you add to the discussion based on something you’ve experienced or seen in a short comment?

Got more to say? Maybe you are ready to share it in your own post.

Choosing the right tone for opinion-led content

How you express your opinion is critical. Think of it more as sharing a perspective than handing down a decree. Language choice is important.

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Audience engagement

Audience engagement lessons from lemons

A picture of a lemon on a yellow background.

Attracting audience engagement with your B2B content is getting harder, but we can learn a lesson from the man who set up a famous London music venue – and his use of lemons.

Let me explain. In the Summer, I saw a play based on the life of Simon Parkes, who, back in the 80s, turned an old, decrepit cinema into a well-known gig venue, the Brixton Academy.

It’s a fascinating true story, involving struggles to get bands to play, gangs and bomb threats.

But what was striking about Simon Parkes, aside from his determination and resilience, was that he didn’t follow the crowd.

When London’s established music venues were putting on themed club nights, he focused on a different type of music.

To get people through the door of the Academy, he sent out invites wrapped around lemons.

What he did stood out.

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Content ideas

How a self-employed content writer is using AI

Photo by Andrea De Santis on Unsplash

A struggle to find practical applications for using AI in my work, coupled with fear, led to a lot of scepticism about the technology. I love writing and don’t ever want it to replace that, but reading about how others in a similar position were using it for other things inspired me to experiment.

So here I’m sharing some of the ways I use AI as a freelance content writer and trainer, in case it’s helpful to others in a similar position.

Help with sorting through interview transcripts: Otter.ai

I’ve been using Otter to transcribe interviews for 6/7 years, but it now has an in-built AI chat function.

It means I can ask questions like ‘what did Jane Smith say about knitting with blue wool?’. It will summarise all the mentions with the time stamps so I can verify and pull out relevant quotes and particular phrasing.

If a bit of time has passed between doing the interview and sitting down to write, I might ask it to give me a summary of the key points as a refresher so I can sketch out my structure.

Technical topic research: Perplexity.ai

Perplexity is great for helping with research on technical topics. It comes up with legitimate business sources and the relevant links, so it’s easy to check the information.  

I was updating a 7-year-old report on a construction-related topic for a client and wanted to find out what the Labour Government’s stance was.

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