On March 6th, HubSpot announced two new AI-powered tools: content assistant and chatspot.ai.
As a HubSpot solutions partner, we were given the opportunity to test out the private beta of content assistant, and we jumped at the chance. In today’s post, we’re providing a sneak peek and initial impressions of this tool.
What Is Content Assistant?
To answer this question, if only feels right to let content assistant take the first swing:
HubSpot’s content assistant is an invaluable tool for any digital marketer looking to create high-quality content. With its advanced features and user-friendly interface, this tool can help you generate new ideas, optimize your content for SEO, and improve your overall writing skills.
By analyzing your previous posts and identifying the most successful ones, the tool can suggest new topics and keywords that are likely to perform well. Additionally, the content assistant provides real-time feedback on your writing, highlighting areas where you can improve your grammar, readability and tone. This can help you create content that not only engages your readers but also ranks well in search engines. Overall, if you’re looking to take your content marketing to the next level, HubSpot’s content assistant is an excellent tool to have in your arsenal.
Okay, yes, the writing is pretty basic. But keep in mind this was just the first draft it provided without much direction from me. Not bad for two seconds’ worth of work!
As far as how content assistant is actually used, in its current form, the tool works with the following apps within HubSpot:
- Marketing emails
- Website and landing pages
- Blog posts
- Knowledge base articles
- HubSpot Sales Chrome extension for Gmail
Once activated, you can use content assistant to generate or improve blog posts, website or landing pages, marketing and sales emails or knowledge base articles. Using artificial intelligence, content assistant can create ideas, blog outlines or paragraphs for a given topic. Similar to other generative AI tools, you can also use the assistant to refine and improve existing content by having it produce variations of text – rewriting, expanding, summarizing or changing to different tones.
Like most HubSpot tools, the user interface is very intuitive, and most users will likely find it easy to use – especially if you’re already familiar with generative AI tools like ChatGPT or Jasper AI.
Here’s an example of a rewrite of those two paragraphs from before, with the tone changed from the default tone to “witty”:
We’ll save my critique of the genie bit for another time, but you get the idea. Along with witty, the current tone options include friendly, professional, heartfelt and educational.
Initial Reactions
We’ve been testing content assistant for the past few days, and while it’s showing some signs of a tool in early beta, I have little doubt it’s going to have a huge impact on how businesses create content. It’s one thing to have a tool like ChatGPT in a separate window; having it right there in your email, landing page or blog app is a whole different thing.
In terms of what the tool does well, the big benefit I’ve found is the most obvious: it accelerates the content development process. But as with other AI-powered tools, it works best when used collaboratively, rather than as a substitute for human-generated content.
Stuck at the blank page? Getting ten topic ideas will likely help get you started on the draft. Feeling uninspired by your email draft? Generate a few rewrites or change the tone to help punch it up. Will it work perfectly for you every time? It will not – but if you continue to use it and provide good direction, it can be a powerful way to speed up and improve content.
Naturally, there’s room for improvement as this is the first iteration of the tool. For example, the generated content can feel repetitive after you’ve used it a few times, with certain phrases and word choices showing up more frequently than you might like. Also, the tone options are limited, and depending on your definition of witty, you may feel (as I do) that to be a, uh, genie best left in the bottle.
I can’t say content assistant is likely to make me a better writer without some major improvements, but it should make me a more efficient writer – and that’s the point. When teams can get more done with existing resources, they’re better positioned to compete and scale.
Looking Ahead
So, what’s next for content assistant? I could take a guess, but I’ll let content assistant take it from here…
It’s exciting to think about how HubSpot’s content assistant will continue to evolve and shape digital marketing strategies. With the potential for even more advanced features, such as personalized content suggestions based on user behavior and preferences, the tool will make content creation even easier and more efficient.
As more businesses of all sizes start to recognize the importance of content marketing, tools like HubSpot’s content assistant will become increasingly necessary to stay competitive. All in all, the future of content assistant looks bright, and we can’t wait to see what new features and capabilities it will bring to the table.
