Liveworld

It’s hard not to be blown away by what ChatGPT can do. Even in its current iteration (new and more powerful versions are coming soon), its ability to chat with well-written, human-like responses is pretty amazing. It’s very “wow!”

It’s easy to get carried away by what it’s able to do but there are important limitations to its abilities, for example, in terms of accuracy and quality that must not be overlooked. Nevertheless, I think it will have major implications for how we marketers do our jobs and, potentially, be as disruptive to what we do as the internet has been.

Image generated by DALL.E

One of the more obvious uses of ChatGPT is to write content. I tested it out to see how well it delivers. I work for LiveWord, a digital agency specializing in social media, so I asked it about a topic we are familiar with: creating online communities. This was its response:

Creating an online community can be a powerful way to engage customers, build brand loyalty, and drive business growth. Here are some tips for building a successful online community:

1. Define your community’s purpose: First and foremost, it’s important to determine why you want to create an online community and what you hope to accomplish. Do you want to provide a platform for customers to share feedback and ideas? Do you want to build a community of brand advocates? Clearly defining your goals will help guide your strategy and ensure that your community is aligned with your business objectives.
2. Identify your target audience: Who do you want to join your community? Understanding your target audience will help you create content and features that will appeal to them and encourage participation.
3. Choose the right platform: There are a variety of platforms available for building online communities, including social media sites, forums, and messaging apps. Select the platform that best aligns with your community’s purpose and target audience.
4. Foster a sense of belonging: One of the key elements of a successful online community is a sense of belonging. This can be achieved through shared interests, values, or goals. Encourage members to engage with each other and foster a culture of inclusivity and support.
5. Encourage participation: To keep your community active and engaged, it’s important to encourage participation. This can be done through contests, polls, and other interactive features. You can also create a sense of exclusivity by offering members-only perks or access to special content.
6. Moderation is key: It’s important to have a plan in place for moderating your community. This includes setting guidelines for acceptable behavior and promptly addressing any issues that may arise.
7. Regularly measure and analyze your community’s performance: Regularly tracking key metrics such as member engagement, retention, and conversions will help you understand what’s working and what may need to be adjusted.

Creating an online community can be a rewarding and effective way to connect with your customers and build brand loyalty. By following these tips and regularly measuring and analyzing your performance, you can build a successful online community that drives business growth.

That’s pretty good! It’s particularly impressive that it included a sense of belonging, participation, and moderation. These important elements are often not considered by digital marketers. It does miss the value of building conversation and relationships between the members which we think is a primary source of value with communities. And, if I was writing content like this myself, I would have added some color–either some personal experience or some examples of the work that LiveWorld has done in the past. But, even as-is, this gets a passing grade and is equally as good as a lot of the mundane, filler content that’s out there right now.

A big drawback of ChatGPT is that it does make mistakes and it’s difficult to check its accuracy. I asked a Director of one of our rare-disease pharma accounts to come up with a question and she suggested: Can Alpha Mannosidosis be cured? ChatGPT’s response was:

Alpha-mannosidosis is a rare genetic disorder that affects the body’s ability to break down certain sugars. Currently, there is no cure for this disorder and treatment is primarily focused on managing symptoms.Therapy include enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) with recombinant alpha-D-mannosidase and haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). There is also support and symptomatic treatment, such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy, can help improve the individual’s quality of life.

How do I know if that’s correct? I don’t. (She did, and it is.) I asked ChatGPT for its sources on this and its response was:

I apologize, but as a language model AI, I do not have access to the internet or any external database that I can use as sources for the information I provide. The information about Alpha-mannosidosis I provided is based on general knowledge and understanding of the disorder that is commonly referenced by healthcare professionals and Geneticists. I would recommend consulting with a medical professional or genetic counselor for more specific and accurate information about alpha-mannosidosis, as well as information about treatment options and the latest research on the condition. They would be able to provide more detailed information and guidance based on your individual circumstances.

So the human layer is still important to evaluate and edit the content produced and people taking ChatGPT content at face value may end up with inaccurate information. Important to note that its accuracy and depth of information will improve over time. The current version that’s been launched uses GPT-3 and is only accessing data up to the end of 2021. GPT-4, coming soon, will be a lot more powerful and, presumably, more accurate.

I can see a world, not so far away, where, at least for basic information, instead of using Google to search on, for example, online communities, and then having to decide which one of the links to open (having scrolled past the ads), it will be easier and faster for people to ask ChatGPT to write their own customized article–just like I did. No wonder that Microsoft is reported to be considering a $10 billion investment in its creator, OpenAI and is planning to incorporate CHatGPT into its search engine and other solutions.

How will ChatGPT impact content marketing? I think it will further separate generic providers from value-added providers. At the generic end of the market, it will speed up the development and reduce the cost of writing basic content (at the expense of staff or freelance writers). Without any cost or bandwidth constraints there will likely be a deluge of new content. But, in the longer term, people will learn to get that kind of content direct from ChatGPT, and not so much from web sites and other online sources. It will be faster, just as good, less biased, and more personalized to their specific needs. This will impact marketers ability to use generic content marketing to build awareness and audiences.

On the other hand, I think there will be an ongoing need for high quality content written by experts–that premium segment of the content world will still be useful so content marketers will have to up their game to stay relevant.

Martin Bishop, Vice President, Client Services. Martin oversees day-to-day activities of some of LiveWorld’s largest clients’ social media programs.