We’ve got another mishmash of stories to unpack in today’s edition of circle back. We talk AI, EGC, and PM - all of your fav acronyms, apparently.

Peep the table of contents and jump right to what suits your fancy.

Helping Hand: Our fav author, ChatGPT

We’re here to help you as a professional. This segment is dedicated to enhancing your professional workflow through innovative solutions and best practices.

ChatGPT and other gen-AI tools can be a lifesavers. Everyone uses them at this point, but we know you don’t always want to advertise that to the world.
We’re sharing our top three ChatGPTisms to watch for to ensure your products match your brand voice.

If some gen-AI tool isn’t in your bookmarks, we’re lowkey jealous of your brain.

If you want to take away the robotic feel of AI-written texts, proofread your outputs for the following three key trends we see from ChatGPT.

By x, you y: ChatGPT loves writing long, academic sentences to prove a point. Articulating an idea in this format definitely has its place in writing, but ChatGPT does it a looooot. If that’s you, great - but if not, watch out. By using generated paragraphs in your written work, you’re bound to see this pattern a few times. See what we did there? 😉 Most sentences written in this format can be reformatted and condensed to deliver a point a lot more succinctly.
Not only, but also: AI text generators will often use this format to add a bit of intrigue to a sentence. An example would be something like, “Not only does our innovative software streamline operations, but it also enhances productivity when integrated with existing systems.” Your particular brand voice may tell you otherwise, but it’s often a good idea to lead with the most important part of a sentence. Readers don’t have time to waste - don’t make them do a little dance before telling them what’s important.
Big adverbs: Starting a sentence with a complicated adverb is just not it. ChatGPT loves it, though, and will spit these out more often than you might want. Consequently, increasingly, comprehensively, incidentally… maybe this makes sense when weaving narratives in academia, but we have a feeling you’re using gen-AI for work emails or blog posts, so that won’t really be necessary. Just keep an eye out.

You’re welcome in advance - watch for these and other patterns when using generated text. Regardless, you should always edit what you copy to make it sound a bit more like you and a bit less like a robot. As our favorite artist’s favorite artist often says: good luck, babe!

Data Deep Dive: What’s up with EGC?

We’re here to help you as an employee. This segment is built to inspire you with the transformative power of data in marketing growth and problem-solving, based on industry success stories.

TLDR: Employee-generated content (EGC) might be the new UGC, and your in-house marketing staff making a five-figure salary might be the new multi-millionaire influencers. EGC brings a level of authenticity to the noisy online world third parties just can’t replicate.

Influencer marketing is tough. Influencer user-generated content (UGC) brings in strong results for companies, but we are seeing a slow but steady decline in consumer trust when it comes to influencers.

Because of the explosion of “influencing” as a full-time gig, a lot of influencers these days are taking on brand deals to pay the bills. We get it, a pay cheque is a pay cheque, but it stands to reason that a lot of consumers are losing the intimate trust they’ve built up with influencers.

Reapply your lipgloss, marketing girlies. It’s time for your big break!

During this time of uncertainty around paid UGC and influencer partnerships, one content type that has really exploded is employee-generated content (EGC).

For a lot of consumers, EGC weirdly feels more authentic than UGC: influencer-driven UGC often leaves us questioning motives and genuineness, EGC cuts through the noise with a refreshing dose of realness. By putting your own team in the content creator's seat, you're removing an extra voice that’s diluting the message. Bonus – you're adding a layer of trust.

Think about the Olympics that just wrapped up in Paris. There were hundreds of influencers in attendance, but whose content were you most interested in? The athletes, who had intimate, firsthand experiences with the event. They’re not exactly “employees”, but the point still stands: removing layers between the product and the storyteller makes the story feel more real.

Do you think EGC is the new secret sauce for building relationships with consumers?

EGC is sneakily on the rise. Adding it to your toolbox may prove to be an excellent strategy for your brand.

Companies that do it well on TikTok:

Duolingo: Everyone thinks of Duolingo when they think of EGC. The in-house marketing has helped the brand skyrocket - how many language apps are you familiar with? It’s not the product that’s made them popular. It’s the sass and spark they bring to EGC.
Semrush: This marketing platform’s marketing team certainly practices what they preach. Their EGC boasts strong reciprocity, allowing them to form a two-way relationship with their customers.
Huda Beauty: This makeup line has pivoted their page to focus mostly on their CEO, Huda Kattan, to leverage her endearing personality and magical storytelling ability.

It’s time to figure out if EGC is right for you.

So why do you care? Have you explored EGC yet? When executed carefully, it’s more cost effective than external marketing, provides you with a lot of control, and may actually build more MQLs than you think.

Fun & Flirty: Okay, Austin Post 👀

We’re here to help you as a person. This segment offers a lighthearted exploration of life beyond the workplace, focusing on cultural and lifestyle topics.

It’s no secret that here at circle back, we like - okay, love - our country music. We talked about Megan Moroney’s sophomore album in our first-ever newsletter and did a deep dive into the data of country’s resurgence just last week.

It should come as no surprise, then, that we’ve had August 16th circled on our calendar for a while, waiting for Post Malone’s new country album, F 1-Trillion, to drop. It’s been on repeat for us since it came out and we don’t foresee that stopping anytime soon.

The face tats and trucker caps are a joint slay we didn’t know we needed.

We’re obsessed with Post Malone’s personal story when it comes to this album - he grew up a country music fan but found more success breaking into the cut-throat music industry through rap and hip-hop. Now that he’s established himself as an award-winning artist, he’s headed back home to his yeehaw roots and doing so in a big way. 🤠

We took a peak at ChartMasters to see who the biggest names in country are right now, and Post Malone collabed with, like, all of them on this album. He really embraced the past, present, and future of the genre with his collabs:

He went back to life before the iPhone with Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, and Dolly Parton, some of the biggest names in the game.
He decided to go big instead of going home by teaming up with modern country’s defining artists: Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, and Chris Stapleton.
He jumped on the bandwagon with the future of yeehaw, collaborating with Jelly Roll, Lainey Wilson, and HARDY, who may be amazing, but we know we’ve yet to see the best of.

Have you listened yet?

Sending you all the best as you tackle the rest of the week. May your music be loud, your iced lattes be cold, and your meeting calendar be empty.

Ciao!

Emma, Marissa, and Lyss

circle back Vol. 5: I got a guy for that 🤠

Table of Contents

Helping Hand: Our fav author, ChatGPT

Data Deep Dive: What’s up with EGC?

Fun & Flirty: Okay, Austin Post 👀

About the author

circle back Vol. 10: ✨ At the Marriott, googling A/B testing

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circle back Vol. 8: Hey, are you still watching?