AI use is becoming more common on social media. Should brands use it—or shun it?

Duolingo is now “AI-first,” job postings are emphasizing AI competency as a desired skill, and it seems every company is hungry for AI-powered efficiency. The AI boom is officially in every business corner, and branded social media is no exception—but should it be?

Much of social media content creation relies on creative thinking and production, and creative types haven’t been shy about criticizing AI reliance, particularly the kind that might eliminate jobs. At the same time, the allure of taking advantage of a moment like the ChatGPT-generated-action-figure trend is too strong, and all of a sudden, it seems the hottest (and quickest) thing a social media manager can do is get in on the AI buzz. It’s an impulse made even easier when companies like Adobe and OpenAI roll out creative-focused AI products.

But social media consultant and writer of the newsletter Link in Bio Rachel Karten has a theory. Rather than AI being the next big thing in brand social, it could end up encouraging an alternate route, a phenomenon that she’s dubbing “proof of reality.” In an effort to emphasize quality and craftsmanship, Karten expects some brands to use their social media feeds as a place to emphasize their human creativity, attention to detail, and the real, human-led work that went into making certain content for the brand.

“As the ways that posts are made on social media become more and more unclear…we’re going to see brands ramp up this proof of how they made the post,” Karten told Marketing Brew. “I don’t think it’s new necessarily, but I think those types of posts are going to hold more weight, especially for the consumer.”

Why AI?

Karten said she got the idea for proof of reality from watching The Studio, a satirical Apple TV+ show about a Hollywood film studio. In promoting the show, Apple put out a behind-the-scenes clip showing how an episode featuring one long continuous (and chaotic) shot was made. That’s when the proverbial light bulb went off.

“Not only does the content of the show feel [like it’s] in reaction to slop online, but so did the promotion of it,” Karten said. “We’ve seen this on social as well, with like BTS of the campaign…and sometimes the BTS even gets more engagement than the original post itself.”

Even as behind-the-scenes posts find resonance, companies both big and small are taking the opposite route. Coca-Cola faced backlash last year when its holiday ads were loudly and proudly created with AI, and the fast-fashion retailer H&M is planning to use AI-generated replicas of its models.

Karten said she has noticed AI-generated images being used on social accounts, like the athleisure brand Set Active. On TikTok, Set Active’s chief brand officer has noted that Set Active uses AI (and Midjourney, in particular) for some social image creation.

Karten surmised that small businesses in particular might find AI tempting as they try to capitalize on trends and figure out their own social media approach. But while the tech might speed things along, brands using it risk receiving negative comments and their campaigns becoming a talking point for the wrong reasons.

“That’s a piece of marketing that you need to think about now,” she said. “If you piss off some customers, they’re not just a few customers in your database that are leaving. A few customers…might create a TikTok that is bashing your brand that goes viral, and everyone is piling on.”

Give it a try?

According to freelance brand designer and Adobe Express ambassador Julie Christie-Clark, small businesses are exactly who can benefit the most from AI tools. Christie-Clark frequently uses Adobe AI products like Firefly and Express for client work, and she makes educational content on TikTok showing how AI can be implemented in creative design.

“I have lots of small businesses that can’t afford brand photography, brand photo shoots, or even buying lots of stock imagery, and they can’t quite find what they want in the libraries,” Christie-Clark said. “So it’s kind of game-changing for small-business owners to be able to have really impactful, professional graphics.”

Christie-Clark uses AI throughout the strategy, production, and final-delivery processes, finding that it can save time and improve her brainstorming abilities. She particularly leans on Adobe’s brand-safety tools, which Adobe Express’s VP and head of product Ian Wang emphasized is key to what makes tools like Firefly useful to brands.

“For us, it’s all about commercial safety and on-brand creation,” Wang told Marketing Brew. “We have custom models that our brands now are training based on their own content and data…when you do that, that’s another lever to make it look realistic, because all that’s clearly coming from this brand.”

As AI usage in brand social media ramps up, there’s still plenty of gray area. Karten has noticed some brand images looking similar to previous campaign concepts, and she wondered if AI is enabling ideation that doesn’t meaningfully diverge from prior creative work.

“When you can feed your mood board into AI and generate something original for your brand, where is that line?” she said. “It’s very tricky.”

Beyond the buzz

The rise of AI’s usage across brand social seems to signal a change in attitude toward the tools. Christie-Clark was “a wee bit skeptical” of using AI tools, but she changed her mind on the matter over the last year, which she said was because of the quality of AI products. She now believes in using AI in final products, not just in the brainstorming process, which is a method that some social media experts, like Karten, prefer.

“I’m tending to start to work AI-first, which I’m actually really surprised myself, with how long I’ve been doing things the same way,” Christie-Clark said.“I’m embracing the change to keep moving with the times.”

Whether or not AI is the next big thing in brand social, Wang said what will make AI products stand out is identifying ways to make the tech useful, not just exciting.

Being useful in creative fields doesn’t need to always mean using generative AI. According to him, incorporating AI into already existing brand work could be a step forward.

“There’s a massive bridge that needs to be crossed between exciting stuff that you love to play with, and it looks cool, to it being truly useful for your day-to-day and your livelihood,” Wang said. “That bridging layer is really what we’re focused on to make sure that it’s really useful to everyday users. I think [if] we do that, it becomes less intimidating.”