ChatGPT

Idea Writers Still Needed. What ChatGPT Can’t Do.

~ K. Quesenberry ~ Leave a comment

We’re going in on digital. If anyone doesn’t want to learn the Internet, pack up your desk and leave.

We heard this from the president of our ad agency during a Monday morning employee meeting. This may not be scary today when  65% of all ad spending is digital. But in the late-2000s it caused worry. Why?

As a mid-career advertising copywriter, I built my expertise on traditional mass media ads. I instinctively wrote print ads, billboards, 30-second TV scripts, and 60-second radio ads. That’s what I learned in undergrad, at Portfolio Center, and what I had created for 10 years. I honed my skills and was good at them. My campaigns with art directors helped clients meet sales objectives and won creative awards.

The Internet Experiment

I still remember that feeling. For us who built our careers on mass media ads, it was like the rug was pulled out from under our feet. Did I spend all those years in school and years fine tuning my craft only to be replaced by Internet experts? Would they need us traditional ad copywriters anymore? I remember Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, known for creative traditional ads, announced they were no longer an ad agency – they’re a digital agency. Advertising Age even ran an article with a subhead, “The Advertising Age Is Over.”

Source: “Digital Set to Surpass TV in Time Spent with U.S. Media,” eMarketer.com, August 1, 2013, http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Digital-Set-Surpass-TV-Time-Spent-with-US-Media/1010096 Note: Hours and minutes spent with each medium regardless of multitasking.

What did I do that Monday morning? I looked at a picture of my wife and kids on my desk. I needed the job and income, and decided to learn Internet marketing. I did and created many successful digital and social efforts for clients including PRSA social media word-of-mouth awards and OMMA online media marketing and advertising awards. Today I’m a professor, researcher, and author of digital and social media marketing. By 2017 AdAge ran another article, “Desktop and Mobile Ad Revenue Surpasses TV For The First Time.”

ChatGPT Experiment One

That feeling came back when ChatGPT was released. I had ChatGPT write a blog post for me, “Top 10 Tips For Successful Social Media Marketing: ChatGPT Wrote That Article In Less Than A Minute Then I Spend Four Hours Writing The Rest.”  It scared me how quickly it wrote an article that may take me hours based on years of experience.

I concluded that human-written articles do offer benefits beyond A.I. We form connections and develop bonds you don’t feel from a chatbot. Having a chatbot create your content can’t replace the rewards of learning on your own and developing your voice and unique perspective. Writing and creating are learning. That anxious feeling subsided.

ChatGPT Experiment Two

Then the editor of our student magazine approached me with an idea. He wanted ChatGPT to complete a class assignment. I convinced myself I could do better writing on my blog, but what about a student report? If ChatGPT could do it why am I needed as a professor? There was that feeling of the rug being pulled out again.

Create A Situation Analysis for Spotify

For Marketing Principles, a key assignment is to write a situation analysis for a company. Students select the company with stipulations to ensure they’re accessing the kind of data that professional markers use to create their marketing strategies. Our university has databases such as Mintel and Statista so students can learn more by doing. Below is a general description:

Select a US product/service you’re interested in and conduct a situation analysis on the current marketing environment. Write an introduction, access a Mintel report (define the market, describe key trends, select one company in the market), assess the internal environment, assess the external environment, create a SWOT summary graphic, create marketing objectives (following SMART guidelines), a value proposition, and a conclusion. Use APA format with all sources cited in APA Style.

He instructed ChatGPT to write a situation analysis for a company in the streaming audio market in APA style and gave it my specific requirements. ChatGPT chose Spotify.

Introduction

For the introduction, ChatGPT wrote:

The streaming audio industry has experienced significant growth in recent years, driven by increasing demand for on-demand audio content and advancements in technology. As a result, companies like Spotify have been able to capitalize on this trend and achieve impressive growth in terms of user base and revenue.

From this intro., it sounds like ChatGPT is accessing the right data and understands the purpose of the report and assignment.

Access Mintel Market Report

While what ChatGPT said is true, I would look for more in a student report. I ask them to summarize some of the latest trends that would be important to form a marketing strategy. According to the latest Mintel report “Streaming Audio – US – 2022,” there is more a marketer would need to know. Even the first paragraph of Mintel’s report highlights trends in the market that may influence Spotify’s marketing strategy:

  • 2/3rds of customers want help choosing what to listen to via curated content.
  • Exclusive/early access to new music, podcasts, and audiobooks can differentiate.
  • 62% of adults try to support services that fairly compensate artists and creators.

Internal Environment

For the internal environment, ChatGPT did a good job pulling the company mission statement from its website and describing the basic service. It even provided what looks to be an APA citation:

Spotify was founded in 2006 in Stockholm, Sweden, and has since become a leading global streaming audio platform. The company’s mission is to “unlock the potential of human creativity by giving a million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art and billions of fans the opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by it” (Spotify, n.d.). Spotify’s primary product is its music streaming service, which is available to users on desktop and mobile devices, as well as through connected devices such as smart speakers.

ChatGPT does go on to provide some marketing performance numbers:

Spotify has over 365 million monthly active users, including 165 million premium subscribers (Statista, 2021).

The first number seems accurate, but there are more current numbers as of Q4 2022 from Statista of 489 million monthly active users (MAUs) and 205 million premium subscribers. I would expect students to find the latest data. A 124 million, 34% increase for MAUs and 40 million, 24% increase for premium subscribers is significant.

Then ChatGPT reports a revenue number:

The company has experienced significant growth in revenue, with a 16% increase in 2020 to $7.88 billion (Spotify, 2021).

The revenue number looks correct until you do some research and find the number is in euros, not US dollars. Spotify is a European company, but the assignment is to focus on the US market. To report revenue with a US dollar sign, which ChatGPT did, it should be around $8.47 billion. I also found a more recent 2022 revenue number of 11.72 billion euros or roughly $12.41 billion US dollars. The conversion difference is $59 million, the date difference is nearly $3.94 billion.

Lastly, under the internal environment, ChatGPT names Spotify’s main competitors:

However, Spotify faces challenges from competitors such as Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Pandora.

This sounds reasonable, but in Mintel’s report a graph shows Spotify’s close competitors as (1.) YouTube Music and (2.) Pandora. Because ChatGPT isn’t using real citations it’s hard to know where it got this and how old it is. Understanding current competitors is important to any strategy.

External Environment

For external environment, ChatGPT wrote:

Political, legal, and economic factors impacting Spotify’s marketing performance include issues related to copyright law and licensing agreements, as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the music industry. Demographic, social, and cultural factors impacting Spotify include changing music consumption habits and the increasing popularity of podcasts. Technological factors include the development of new platforms for streaming audio, as well as advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning that are used to make personalized recommendations.

This is a good general list of issues that may affect Spotify and the streaming audio market, but there are no details that could turn into insights actionable in a marketing strategy. COVID-19 impacted the music industry, like all industries, but how? Mintel’s report explains how and indicates its negative impact was less than expected:

  • Growth slowed, but people found ways to listen to their favorite music and podcasts.
  • The low barrier to publishing helped artists publish even from home.

An important external factor missing from ChatGPT’s list is inflation – something Spotify needs to consider for product, pricing, and promotion strategies. The Mintel Report warns that high inflation of 8-9% in the past year could lower household spending on streaming audio with a large percentage of adults worried about rising prices.

The next requirement was to summarize what was found in a SWOT graphic of internal strengths and weaknesses, plus external opportunities, and threats.

SWOT Summary Graphic

Below is what ChatGPT provided:

The SWOT analysis for Spotify is presented in the figure below.

Obviously, it didn’t draw the graphic. I am not sure what it tried to access from Imgur.com. If It did find a Spotify SWOT from Imgur it wouldn’t meet my requirements. That would be someone else’s SWOT based on their opinion and data, not a summary of what the student found in their situation analysis.

Marketing Objective

Next, ChatGPT wrote a marketing objective:

To continue its growth in revenue and premium subscribers, Spotify should set the following marketing objective: “Increase premium subscribers by 20% over the next marketing budget year, from 165 million to 198 million, through targeted marketing campaigns and promotions.”

This objective meets some SMART guidelines. It’s specific, measurable, achievable, and time-bound. But it’s not relevant since there’s more recent data. They’ve surpassed this revenue objective.

I would also coach students about using global numbers versus market-specific numbers. Typically, marketers set objectives for different markets like the US or North America vs. Europe to set unique marketing plans for each. From Statista 28% of Spotify’s premium subscribers are from North America (57.4 million), from which you could set a more accurate marketing objective.

My bigger apprehension about ChatGPT’s marketing objective is that it might not be right based on what we learned from Mintel about concern over inflation. If most people are worried about rising prices can Spotify convince 33 million more people to add a premium subscription while not losing any existing premium subscribers?

A revenue or market share objective may be better to grow all users by promoting free and premium accounts. Spotify makes advertising revenue from free accounts. You don’t want a loss to competitors. This would depend on what we find out about the main competitor(s) and what they are offering, which ChatGPT didn’t describe.

Value Proposition

For the value proposition, ChatGPT wrote:

Spotify’s value proposition is based on its ability to provide users with a comprehensive library of music and audio content, delivered through a user-friendly platform that enables easy discovery and sharing. With a focus on user engagement and social sharing, Spotify encourages loyalty and helps users discover new music and artists that fit their tastes, while also providing access to popular hits and classic tracks.

At first, this sounds like a good value prop. But it’s more a general product description that could apply to any competitor in the streaming audio market. From a student, I’d look for a more nuanced understanding of the current market, consumer trends, and competitors. The value proposition should take into consideration Spotify’s unique place in the market in comparison to what competitors are offering and what consumers are currently looking for.

Conclusion

This was ChatGPT’s conclusion:

In conclusion, Spotify is well-positioned to continue to succeed in the rapidly growing streaming audio market, despite facing challenges from competitors and changing market trends. Developing effective marketing strategies and objectives is critical for Spotify to maintain its position as a leader in the industry. By leveraging its unique value proposition and focusing on key marketing metrics, such as premium subscriber growth, Spotify can continue to drive revenue and capture market share.

This sounds like a good conclusion, but there’s no real understanding of the current streaming audio market. It makes it sound so easy! Yet, if marketers relied on past/current offerings and never made adjustments based on changing market conditions, consumer trends, and competitor actions they wouldn’t be well-positioned to continue to succeed.

References

This was ChatGPT’s references:

References

Spotify. (n.d.). About Spotify. Retrieved August 29, 2021, from https://www.spotify.com/us/about-us/

Spotify. (2021). Spotify Technology S.A. fourth quarter and fiscal year 2020 financial results. Retrieved fromhttps://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1639920/000163992021000014/spotify2020q4ex991.htm

Statista

It hasn’t provided references to the multiple Statista data with URL links. The required Mintel market report is missing. ChatGPT seems to be mimicking some aspects of APA citation but missing a lot.

My Overall Assessment?

This report looks into the past, describes Spotify as is, sets a higher premium subscriber number, and says to keep doing what you’re doing to succeed! There’s no real understanding. It feels like a collection of incomplete facts organized into categories and written to sound like a person talking. I wouldn’t base my marketing strategy on it! If a student was hired into the marketing department at Spotify and their manager asked them to submit a situation analysis, I would not want them to submit this.

From my experience so far ChatGPT answers lack human nuance, insight, and refinement. Plus, if ChatGPT can answer it alone, why would a company, client, or audience need you? That’s what we all need to figure out. ChatGPT can be a great tool to jumpstart your thinking, but what are you good at that ChatGPT can’t do?

What Am I Good At?

Back in the late 2000s, I found the answer in Teressa Iezzi’s book The Idea Writers. She reminded copywriters and art directors (creators) that we weren’t experts at traditional ads. We were really writers and designers of ideas that connect brands to consumers no matter the tool. We’re experts in human truths and crafting stories that connect with target audiences through emotion to meet marketing objectives.

I could have had ChatGPT write this entire article, but I don’t think it would have the same relevance, reach, and resonance. Can you relate to the feelings I’ve had (in my past and current career)? How’s your anxiety over ChatGPT as a writer, designer, creator, marketer, student, or professor?

Look for Ethan Dyril’s article coming out in the Swinging Bridge on March 31st.

Top 10 Tips for Successful Social Media Marketing. ChatGPT wrote this article in less than a minute, then I spent four hours writing the rest.

~ K. Quesenberry ~ 3 Comments

There has been a lot of talk about ChatGPT. What is it? To get a definition I asked ChatGPT itself, “What is ChatGPT?” Its response was:

It is not clear what you are referring to with the term “ChatGPT.” GPT stands for “Generative Pre-training Transformer,” which is a type of artificial intelligence model developed by OpenAI. It is used to generate human-like text and has been trained on a large dataset of internet text to learn the patterns and structures of language. ChatGPT is not a commonly used term, and it is unclear what it might refer to. Could you provide more context or clarify your question?

Why does this chatbot not know its own name? The term ChatGPT returns 177 million Google search results and has its own Wikipedia page. In all fairness, ChatGPT does list one of its limitations as having limited knowledge of world events after 2021. I supposed it didn’t know how popular it would become after its free public beta release in November 2022. Since it didn’t know that term, my next question was, “What are you?” Its response was:

I am an artificial intelligence trained to assist with a variety of tasks, including answering questions, providing information, and generating text. I do not have feelings or emotions, and I exist solely to assist users like you. I do not have a physical body and exist only in the digital realm. I was created by OpenAI and am here to help you with any questions or information you may need. Is there anything specific you would like to know or discuss?

I wanted to get a blog post written before the end of the year so I thought I would ask ChatGPT “Write an 800 to a 1,000-word article providing the top ten tips for social media marketing.” Below is the 553-word article.

According to Semrush, the word count for an informational blog post should be 1,000-1,500 words. Guides and how-tos should be 1,500-2,500 words. I aimed low and got something lower, but additions of my own writing got me a higher word count for SEO. I also asked, “What is a good headline for this article?” ChatGPT wrote both in less than a minute:

10 Top Tips for Successful Social Media Marketing by ChatGPT.

  1. Define your goals and target audience. Before jumping into the world of social media marketing, it’s important to have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve and who you want to reach. Are you looking to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or drive sales? Are you targeting a specific age group or geographic location? Defining your goals and target audience will help guide your content strategy and ensure that you’re using the right social media platforms to reach your desired audience.
  2. Create a content calendar. Consistency is key when it comes to social media marketing, and a content calendar can help you stay organized and on track. Plan out your posts in advance, including the content, hashtags, and any calls to action. This will help you maintain a consistent posting schedule and ensure that you’re providing value to your followers.
  3. Use visually appealing content. With so much competition on social media, it’s important to make your content stand out. Use high-quality images and videos, and consider using design tools like Canva or Adobe Spark to create visually appealing graphics and infographics.
  4. Utilize hashtags. Hashtags can help increase the visibility of your content, especially on platforms like Instagram and Twitter. Research popular hashtags in your industry and consider creating a branded hashtag for your business. Just be sure not to overuse hashtags – a few relevant ones are usually enough.
  5. Engage with your audience. Social media is all about building relationships, and that means actively engaging with your followers. Respond to comments and messages, and take the time to like and share content from other users. This helps to foster a sense of community and can lead to increased brand loyalty.
  6. Utilize paid advertising. While organic reach on social media can be limited, paid advertising can help increase the visibility of your content. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram offer a variety of targeting options, allowing you to reach a specific audience based on demographics, interests, and behaviors.
  7. Collaborate with influencers. Influencer marketing can be an effective way to reach a larger audience and build credibility for your brand. Look for influencers in your industry who have a loyal following and consider partnering with them to promote your products or services.
  8. Track and analyze your results. It’s important to track the success of your social media marketing efforts to see what’s working and what may need to be adjusted. Use tools like Google Analytics to track website traffic from social media, and use native analytics tools on each platform to track engagement and reach.
  9. Keep up with algorithm updates. Social media algorithms are constantly changing, and it’s important to stay up to date on the latest updates to ensure that your content is being seen by your audience. Be proactive in understanding how these updates may impact your content strategy and adjust accordingly.
  10. Experiment and try new things. Social media is a constantly evolving landscape, and it’s important to be willing to try new things and experiment with different strategies. Don’t be afraid to test out new content formats, platforms, or paid advertising options to see what works best for your business. The key is to be agile and adaptable and to always be looking for ways to improve your social media marketing efforts.

I would make all these general recommendations myself.

They are good tips, and it is good writing. But honestly, it’s not anything new that I haven’t been teaching in my social media marketing class since 2011. I’ve also recommended these basic tips in my Social Media Strategy book since 2015.

A big missing piece for me is attributions. Where did this information come from? I know it came from the Internet, but the standard is to cite sources with hyperlinks. I would have included links to experts with first-hand experience, supporting research, data, cases and/or examples. I asked ChatGPT why it doesn’t cite sources and it said:

“I was trained on a dataset of text gathered from the Internet, including books articles, and websites. As artificial intelligence, I do not have the ability to cite specific sources or authors for the information that I provide.”

When I asked it to rewrite the article with academic references it added three APA in-text citations in various places (Kotler et all., 2018), (Freeman, 2018), and (Hootsuite, 2020). There were no full references and no hyperlinks. It seemed to be mimicking academic citations but it wasn’t actually citing sources. Some articles from its dataset must have used references but ChatGPT didn’t pull the full reference or links.

Like, Wall Street Journal technology columnist Joanna Stern who used ChatGPT to write an AP Lit essay, the article “passes.” Yet for Stern using AI to participate in a class discussion was a “fail.” I can imagine writing an article like this, but when a client hires me to create a social media strategy, what would I do? In a face-to-face meeting, physically or virtually, they would be asking very specific questions. Would I pause to ask the chatbot each time?

A student who spent a minute writing an assignment with ChatGPT may get a passing grade, but could they participate in class discussion? Without reading the text, researching the evidence, and thinking critically they’ve missed the learning. Stern’s AP English teacher Michael Dimond said, “They’re not learning what I am asking them to do if the Internet can give them a full essay because they’re missing out on the process of writing.”

It’s the process that leads to learning.

The process leads to unique, creative, and effective strategies for clients or your own business. There are no shortcuts. A student in my class may write a general social media strategy “tips” paper with ChatGPT but what about creating and implementing a unique strategy for a specific client or their boss?

Can AI replace the knowledge gained in my undergraduate and two advanced degrees, plus 17 years of professional marketing, and 10 years of teaching experience? I suppose some of those articles it scanned were my own. I’ve also been working on developing my own voice all these years. Having a distinct personality expressed as a distinguishable voice in writing is important for people and brand communication. I asked ChatGPT “Can you write this article again in a different personality?” It said:

“As an artificial intelligence, I do not have feelings or emotions, and I do not have a personality in the same way that a human does. That being said, I can certainly rewrite the article in a different style or tone if you would like.”

So I asked it to rewrite the tips in various tones. Each came quickly. Ironically, the academic tone took the longest. For an informal tone, ChatGPT added an introduction, “Hey there! Are you looking to boost your social media game? Here are tips to help you out.” For an academic tone it began, “In today’s day and age, social media marketing has become an essential tool for businesses looking to reach and engage with their target audience.”

Finally, I asked it to have a humorous tone. It rewrote the intro as “Are you tired of being the only person on your block without a solid social media marketing strategy? Well, fear not – I’m here to help! Here are ten tips to help you achieve social media fame and fortune (or at least a decent number of likes and comments).”

At first, I was impressed and scared by these results! Then I realized that every person or brand that wants a humorous tone doesn’t want the same humorous tone. All social media professors don’t want the same academic tone and all banks don’t want the same formal tone. I worked on many different bank brands over the years. Often it was the unique strategies, ideas, and brand voice we developed that created differentiation in a category where all checking account features tend to be the same.

Can ChatGPT create those unique strategies? Next, I asked, “Can you create a social media marketing strategy for a specific business?” It said “certainly” and wrote a nine-step list very similar to the ten tips ending confidently with “By following these steps, you can create a comprehensive social media marketing strategy that will help your business achieve its goals and engage with its target audience.”

If only it were that simple.

Anyone managing social media for a business or organization knows that it is not that simple. Below is a paraphrased version of the introduction to my Social Media Strategy book:

You turn to Google for top social media tips. Lists make us feel that social media can be simple: follow these ten steps and you’ll succeed! The truth is there is no one-list-fits-all social media strategy. A successful social media strategy needs to be unique to the brand, its products, services, and customers. Otherwise, you’re chasing social media tactics that may or may not work for your organization and situation. Only when a unique strategy is developed will those tips and lists be useful by focusing on the advice that applies.

In my digital marketing course, students write their own blogs during the semester applying concepts and best practices to test and learn from real results. The assignment also helps establish their personal brands, demonstrate skills for employers, gain confidence, and prepare them to be lifelong learners. It would be easier to use ChatGPT to write the required blog posts and get a passing grade, but what did they cheat themselves out of?

What about cheating?

I asked ChatGPT, “Can students use you to cheat on their writing assignments?” It responded:

It is not appropriate to use artificial intelligence or any other external resources to cheat on assignments or exams. Cheating undermines the learning process and devalues the hard work and achievements of those who have earned their grades honestly. Instead of relying on shortcuts, it is important for students to take the time to develop their own understanding and skills.

The Educational Technology Committee at my university pointed out that Open AI’s Terms of Use states, “You may not…represent that output from the Services was human-generated when it is not.” This doesn’t discount ChatGPT and other AI assistants as learning tools.

Using it could help me refine my writing, research, and recommendations. This AI-generated article helps me understand where the real work needs to be done in social media. Elicit is an AI tool that can help speed up the literature review in my academic research. I also used the AI tool Grammarly to catch grammar mistakes in my portions of this post. ChatGPT agrees saying:

There are many ways in which students can use AI tools like me to enhance their learning and writing skills. For example, students can use me to clarify their understanding of a concept, to generate ideas for a writing assignment, or to proofread and edit their work. However, it is important that students use these resources as a supplement to their own learning and effort, rather than relying on them to complete assignments without putting in the necessary work.

ChatGPT gives good answers, but as it says, that does not replace the hard work and rewards of learning on your own. ChatGPT gave me a 533-word social media strategy blog post in 1 minute that I could have published four hours ago, but in the writing process, I learned a lot more to bring to my class next semester including having students use ChatGPT in class to write one of their blog posts and discuss the limits and benefits. Hopefully, they’ll appreciate writing as worth doing beyond the grade.

Hopefully, you’ve appreciated this mostly human-written article beyond the AI-generated tips. I’ve had many “conversations” with ChatGPT. It provided useful information, but I don’t feel a bond to it. The kind of human connection I get from colleagues I’ve met at conferences, I’ve worked with at marketing agencies, or my favorite bloggers and podcasters.

AI isn’t going away. Microsoft invested $1 billion in the company behind ChatGPT and plans on adding its features to its Bing search engine this Spring. Search Engine Land reports it could return human-like text answers to questions instead of lists of links as a challenge to Google’s search engine dominance. Another topic to discuss in my Digital Marketing course! How will you use or not use AI?