AI has been the topic of non-stop chatter and debate. It has transformed the business landscape and is an exciting yet overwhelming new technology. Organizations - business or non-profit - that combine AI with resilience and agility will typically be ahead of the game and create opportunities to enhance capacity. It's not about upgrading your technology, but doing so wisely and upgrading the humanity in photography by keeping real stories real.
AI is a tool to help an organization achieve its goals more efficiently. It's handy for composing comms, processing information, ideation, and automating mundane tasks. AI can't connect with a target audience, determine what an organization should work toward, or fix faulty internal systems - the human experience and insight add to the mix to bring AI to life. A tactic may be to grow donations by deepening donor relationships, telling impact stories, and designing ways for donors to engage. Knowing the difference between the tool and the tactic is important.
There's a point where organizations should pause and wonder, "What are we spending too much time on?" Drafting boring emails constantly? Posting similar social? Summarizing meeting notes? Building reports? All of these are things that could be automated with AI, and while AI can assist with all of these tasks, it needs guidance to work efficiently.
Once AI has brainstormed, drafted, or summarized ideas, it must be evaluated. Is it factually correct and useful? Or is something missing? Does it sound like the brand voice? Does the messaging feel genuine? Does your messaging to a customer or stakeholder feel automated? (Which it never should!) Often, AI-generated content that sounds like it was generated by AI is off-putting and makes the organization seem disingenuous. AI should make the process easier, not take your organization's personality and voice away.
An organization's digital platform is more than just their website. It also includes their social media handles, email comms, online presence, digital marketing, and organizations are now appearing in AI search engines. These digital platforms can impact the experience the audience has on all of these channels, and if they haven't been updated they can be inconsistent and lack flow.
AI can assist with auditing websites, refining content across all platforms, detecting discrepancies in messaging, and locating gaps in brand and audience engagement. The ultimate goal is for the organization to feel the same across all platforms and convey a clear mission so the audience can quickly understand why the work is important and what their ask is.
Businesses unsure of their online presence should do a digital platform audit, looking at the website and social media channels. They may also call on audience participation through surveys to learn about the relatability of messaging and brand presence and spot gaps or inconsistencies.
Lastly, organizations don't need to be AI pros all at once and don't need to adopt every new AI tool that is created. If they know what they have to do and have one or two AI solutions in place to help solve those problems, that will make the whole AI automation process a lot more helpful and not feel so scary,
Need help auditing your digital portfolio? Let's chat ! I help organizations strategically align their brand and digital communications and incorporate AI into their workflow. You don't need to change everything! I help businesses work smarter, more efficiently, and maintain the human voice within the brand so that it remains relatable to its audience. We will start by auditing what is working and what isn't, and build from there to find actionable ways to improve upon what already exists!
