Now isn’t the time for big proclamations scaring everyone about what will or won’t happen. However, now is the time to think about what could happen, what seems to be emerging, and how best to respond.
What we can see, for example, is that ‘search’ has changed. Now when you are searching on Google or asking a question, you often get its built-in AI tool generating an answer for you. Your first results are no longer always the high-ranking websites or ads, they’re answers curated from Google’s AI.
Google is responding to fast-growing AI tools like Chat GPT where users are inputting their enquiries and being met with a (somewhat) helpful machine talking back to them.
So, Google and other giants are working fast in this space, and businesses of all sizes are having to respond at dizzying speeds too.
To remain ‘findable’, your content has to be useful, relevant, and span multiple platforms. The below rules are more important than ever.
1. Be human, be helpful.
Though we might be trying to appease a bot, we need to speak human to human. We need to provide content that isn’t created just to fit in with an algorithm or as a tick box exercise. Answer questions, speak directly to your audience.
2. PR it up
Coverage across well-regarded platforms and publications will, as always, build trust and credibility. Trade publications, comments in broadsheets, appearances on podcasts – they all contribute to your online visibility and the authority of these platforms determines your perceived authority, too.
3. Meet your audience where they are
Share stories, case studies, testimonials across the platforms where your audience hangs out. Understand what will resonate with them – but don’t devalue your brand. Don’t jump on a trend because it’s picked up by thousands or millions, jump on a trend because it works for you and it’s something your audience would like to see.
It’s not a question of whether or not this content gets picked up by our bot mates. It does. So, be bright, be seen…
The future is unpredictable. It may be more bewildering every day, but for now, focusing on this bubble of marketing and your searchability; build your character, build your brand.
