Maisie Lloyd
Maisie is the Digital Content Manager at Intelligency, handling all things creative for the agency. Her experience centres around the production of digital content, pertaining to graphic design, writing copy, and video and audio content.
What is slop?
Slop, or AI slop, is a term coined for low-quality and value, often repetitive or very generic content produced at scale with the assistance of AI.
It’s becoming increasingly common for short-form video content like reels and shorts to feature marketing slop.
Is Slop hurting marketing?
Slop definitely has an impact on the quality and output of some marketers. AI should be utilised to enhance and improve upon what already exists, rather than diluting or replacing quality marketing content. Some of the main harms slop has for marketing are:
- Reducing engagement rates, audiences won’t engage in low-quality disengaging content
- Oversaturating the content market, because its low quality makes it easier to produce, thus the churn is greater and can dominate algorithms
- Runs the risk of diluting branding, slop tends to fall in the generic, overdone category, risking the brand’s unique tone of voice being watered down.
- Audiences can become fatigued, and slop in particular can be churned out, risking boring the audience and creating a disconnect
But slop isn’t just risking negative audience response and platform performance; it can result in marketers overly relying on automation, which won’t help them stand out. This lack of human touch takes away the depth and meaning often created in content; AI is not able to capture the same emotion or soul that a human can.
Actionable Fixes for using AI to enhance quality
The key to fixing slop is to use AI with responsibility and consideration. AI is an invaluable tool, especially when looking to polish and perfect something you’ve already created.
Editorial standards
One of the key ways this can be corrected is by setting an editorial standard. Acting as a framework for creators to work within. Think of it as a quality check before it’s released, ask yourself:
- Is this on brand?
- Does this make sense?
- Is this content relevant?
- Is the AI component noticeable? Is that the intention?
Enforcing your brand voice
Branding is a crucial aspect of content marketing, so portraying your brand authentically is especially important. Referring to brand guidelines for tone, style and messaging ensures that AI isn’t filling in the blanks with generic, non-tailored types of content.
Use AI in assistance, not as the final version
AI can be mistakenly used to recreate what was a perfectly great human-designed piece of content, when really the AI should be part of the ideation and development process. AI should not replace the thinking or creativity of a person or brand; doing so is disingenuous.
A simple workflow you could follow is to use AI to brainstorm, research and help influence structure. Your role is to then use your opinion, voice, and editorial capabilities to flesh out and produce content. AI should help to accelerate thinking, not replace it.
