By: Barb Burgie and Kristen Poland
Artificial intelligence can write a social media caption, generate a graphic, and help fill your content calendar in seconds. AI is built into many of the tools we all use daily, whether we’re seeking it out or not. And its role continues to grow, with Hubspot reporting that 86.4% of marketing teams use AI in at least a few marketing areas.
With AI becoming such a regular part of marketing, we’ve been wondering where it can add the most value. How does AI-generated content actually perform? And where do human creativity and expertise still have an edge? This fall, our team decided to put some of these questions to the test. We partnered with two clients—one small business and one statewide association—to compare social media performance and website traffic during periods featuring AI-generated content and human-created content.
To be clear: these weren’t scientific experiments. Factors like topic, timing, audience behavior, and algorithm changes all influence performance, making it difficult to isolate the impact of any one variable. Our goal was simply to identify patterns, better understand where AI can add value, and see what we could learn.
The Results and What We Observed
For the association, engagement rates were higher across Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn during the human-created content period. LinkedIn stood out, with the engagement rate more than doubling. But on Instagram, the differences were less pronounced. While the engagement rate was higher during the human-created period, average views and interactions per post were nearly identical.
For the small business, results were more mixed. We saw more total interactions across Facebook and Instagram during the AI-generated content period. But during the period featuring human-created content, reach was 13% higher on Instagram.
Website performance was also mixed across both clients. For the association, the human-created content period saw more engaged website sessions, but fewer total users, page views, and visits from organic social media. The small business, on the other hand, saw 12% more website visitors from organic social during the human-created period, although overall website traffic declined.
So, what can we take away from results that aren’t as straightforward as one approach outperforming the other? It turns out, some of the most valuable insights came from the process itself: discovering where AI can make a meaningful difference, where human expertise adds the most value, and how to bring the two together more effectively.
Here are three key takeaways from our experience, along with practical ways you can apply them to your own marketing efforts.
Three Key Takeaways for Smarter Social Media Marketing
1. Look Beyond the Numbers
It’s easy to get caught up in impressions, engagement rates, clicks, and follower counts. But as we’ve seen firsthand with misleading website traffic, no single metric tells the whole story.
A post that reaches thousands of people isn’t necessarily more successful than one that reaches a smaller, highly engaged audience. And a higher engagement rate won’t necessarily translate into more website traffic, event registrations, or meaningful business results. What matters depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.
That’s where experienced marketers bring value. They can interpret performance in the context of an organization’s goals, audience, and broader communications strategy—and use those insights to guide what comes next.
The takeaway? Define what success looks like, review multiple metrics, and consider the context behind the numbers. AI can definitely aid in your research and analysis, but human judgment is essential to deciding what to do next.
2. Use AI to Create More Time for the Work That Matters
Throughout this process, our team found ways AI could support brainstorming, research, initial drafts, content repurposing, and creative exploration.
For marketing teams being asked to accomplish more with limited time and resources, these opportunities can make a meaningful difference.
But there’s an important distinction between producing content more efficiently and producing more effective content. Just because we can create more posts in less time doesn’t mean we should. As we’ve written about previously, any AI-generated content needs thoughtful human oversight to ensure that it’s accurate, relevant, and true to your brand.
The bigger opportunity is to use AI to streamline routine tasks and make more room for the work that requires your attention: developing strategy, building relationships, identifying opportunities, and engaging meaningfully with audiences.
The takeaway? Identify tasks where AI can save time, then reinvest that time in strategic and creative work.
3. Keep Human Experience at the Heart of Your Content
Think about the stories that make your organization different.
Maybe it’s a behind-the-scenes look at a project, a conversation with a new member of your organization, an emerging challenge facing your industry, or a story that demonstrates impact on the community.
These are what help bring your brand to life. And they always begin with something AI doesn’t inherently have: firsthand experience. That human perspective matters to audiences. In fact, according to Sprout Social’s research, the #1 thing social media users want brands to prioritize this year is human-generated content.
For our team, creating effective content means understanding our clients, recognizing what’s relevant to their audiences, asking questions, and identifying stories that might otherwise go untold. It’s an approach we’ve also emphasized in our recent guidance on LinkedIn strategy, where authentic perspectives and meaningful engagement are increasingly important.
AI can help develop and communicate these stories, but it takes human insight to recognize which ones matter and how they fit into a broader communications strategy.
The takeaway? Start with the people, experiences, and perspectives that make your organization unique. Then use AI to help communicate those stories more efficiently, without losing the humanity behind them.
Looking Ahead
For our team, these projects reinforced the value of approaching new technology with curiosity, an open mind, and a clear understanding of what makes marketing effective.
We believe our best approach will combine AI’s potential to improve efficiency with our own unique creativity, experience, and strategic judgment. As technology, platforms, and audience behaviors continue to evolve, we’ll keep exploring new tools and finding ways to work smarter—all while keeping human expertise at the center of our approach.
Thank you to OHIMA and Ramscaping614 for partnering with us on these projects! Their willingness to collaborate gave us the opportunity to learn and share these insights with you.
