Speed up content production with AI and automation

Good content teams don't necessarily translate into big teams.  

True, the production process is extensive. You've got to plan editorial calendars and generate solid ideas. Then assign, write, and edit drafts. There's also a hefty amount of research (and strategy) involved, not to mention designing, producing, and distributing your content across multiple platforms. 

It all takes time and significant brain power. But with the help of AI and automation, you'll find that even smaller teams can streamline their workflows and produce high-quality content at scale. 

Whether you're looking to multiply your team's content output or streamline the way you research topics, here's how you can make your content production process tick like clockwork. 

Table of contents

• Brainstorm and generate ideas

• Outline and write articles

• Create images for your content

• Summarize research and content

• Write and publish social posts

• Create video content and scripts

Brainstorm and generate ideas

Most creative teams have a running list of ideas about which topics they should cover next. 

Whether you're struck with sudden inspiration in the shower or you see an interesting topic featured on LinkedIn, it's always a good idea to think ahead. (Your editorial calendar will thank you for it.)

But what happens when you get bogged down by other tasks and don't have time to brainstorm—or expand on your existing ideas? This is where you can completely alter your ideation process for the better. 

With Zapier, you can ask AI tools like Jasper or OpenAI to generate ideas for you from scratch (based on a brief or an update), then automatically add them into a Google Doc (or project management tool) for your team to review. 

Or, if you have a topic already in mind but want AI to add context or shine a light on a different direction you can take, these Zaps will also do the work for you. 

Outline and write articles

Creating outlines (or even first drafts) for blog posts is often the most time-consuming—and mentally taxing part of writing. 

If you ever have trouble getting past the blank page stage and onto a solid starting point, you can use AI to create outlines or first drafts based on your article's topic. 

Zapier can collect your article ideas from Asana or Google Forms (or wherever else you store ideas), then prompt your AI tool to deliver a first draft. Finally, these Zaps will deliver your AI results straight to a Google Doc (or directly to your CMS) for you in one simple workflow. That way, you can move on to adding your own unique touch. 

Alternatively, you might struggle with the actual editing phase. If you want a little extra help with additional feedback, these Zaps can act as your own personal coach. 

After all, AI has access to millions of writing samples, so using it as an editor (before your human editor takes a pass) can help you improve your craft. 

Create images for your content

Every content team knows that creating visually appealing images to accompany blog or social content is a must. Not only are readers more likely to click on an article with eye-catching visuals, but they also make your content more engaging and memorable. 

If you don't have design resources, you can tap into AI to generate high-quality images by simply entering a description of what you're after. 

With these Zaps, you can send prompts to OpenAI or Leap AI automatically create images from anywhere. Then, the AI tools will generate your images, and you can use Zapier to send them to your draft doc or project management tool. 

Summarize research and content

When it comes to producing insightful content, understanding your subject matter is key. That means research. Lots of it. 

But reading articles online about your dedicated topic and scanning endless company research can eat into a big chunk of your day. Fortunately, there's a way to get the gist of an article without spending hours reading. 

With these Zaps, you can select an article right from your browser and automatically get a summary of the content from Jasper or OpenAI. 

Need to summarize company documentation or interviews for a blog post? Use these Zaps to pull a transcript from Dropbox, create a summary with your AI tool, and send it to Slack for easy reading. 

Write and publish social posts

Writing, repurposing, and sharing content across your social media platforms involves a lot of work. You have to stay up to date on trends, find the right topic for your brand, and tailor each post to the right channel. 

When done right, it can increase your marketing reach—but it can also put a strain on your social media team. 

AI tools like Writesonic can help you do everything from writing your social media content to optimizing it for each channel and writing your event promotions. Pairing it with Zapier means you can also automate publishing and distribution. 

Create video content and scripts

Producing a video—from script writing to filming and distribution—can be a daunting task. And that's without having to manage a tight deadline. 

Fortunately, AI writing assistants like Jasper are nifty script writers, able to produce solid templates and visual ideas that work. Pairing Jasper or Writer with Zapier can help streamline the entire process. 

With these Zaps, you can automatically pull briefs from a Google Doc, write a script, then share it with your team in Slack (or add it straight to a document). Or, let's say your video's been made and ready for distribution. You can use Jasper to write the video description and title, then Zapier will automatically upload the video to your streaming platform. 

Supercharge your content production with AI and automation

With the help of AI and automation, even smaller teams can streamline their content production process and generate high-quality content at scale.

From generating ideas to researching topics and distributing content, these automation ideas will boost your team's productivity and keep your content work on track.