By Don Sadler
Artificial intelligence, or AI as it’s more commonly referred to, has come seemingly out of nowhere the past couple of years. Put simply, AI is technology that enables computers to simulate human intelligence and problem-solving capabilities. While it has only recently become a hot topic, the term “artificial intelligence” was actually coined in 1955 by a Stanford University professor.
One particular application of AI that has probably captured the most attention is ChatGPT. This technology uses large language models (LLMs) to allow users to enter prompts online and have human-like conversations to complete tasks such as composing articles, blogs, emails and social media posts. ChatGPT was launched less than two years ago by OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research company.
Marketing More Effectively with AI
Erica Basora, MSN, RN, NPD-BC, CNOR, is a perioperative nurse and nurse educator. She’s also an author and owner of That’s Love Publishing, a publishing company that produces children’s books, coloring books, journals and cookbooks, as well as a conference speaker and podcaster. And she’s the mother of two children.
In addition, Basora is a lifetime member of the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) and a member of the Georgia Council of periOperative Registered Nurses.
“When I first heard about AI, I wanted to learn more about how I could use it to leverage my time since I wear so many different hats,” says Basora. “My publishing company and the Georgia Council both have very small marketing budgets so I wanted to see if AI could help us market more effectively.”
While helping the Georgia Council plan and organize its annual conference last year, Basora decided to see if AI could help her promote the event and boost attendance. She used ChatGPT to create social media posts on LinkedIn starting 60 days before the conference.
“I looked at it as kind of an experiment to see if AI could help us boost awareness of the conference and ultimately the number of conference attendees,” she says.
Basora started tracking the number of conference signups once she began posting AI-generated content on LinkedIn. The numbers speak for themselves:
- 70 days out from the conference: 10 registrations
- 60 days out from the conference: 19 registrations
- 49 days out from the conference: 48 registrations
- 38 days out from the conference: 68 registrations
- 23 days out from the conference: 82 registrations
- 0 days out from the conference: > 100 registrations
“There’s no question that using AI to create and schedule social media posts on LinkedIn helped us boost conference attendance,” says Basora. “This was really eye-opening for me because it was so easy and effective.”
The Art of Nursing
Basora uses the term “the Art of Nursing” to describe the use of knowledge, skills, technology and compassion to provide patients with holistic care.
“In today’s digital age, nurses and health care organizations can harness the power of AI to promote their organizations and increase member engagement while preserving the Art of Nursing,” she says.
According to Basora, the intersection of the Art of Nursing and technology/AI results in enhanced communication and marketing, advancements in patient care, remote monitoring and more personalized patient care.
“Marketing is simply any activity you engage in to promote your health care organization,” she says.
It includes the four Ps:
- Product
- Price
- Place
- Promotion
The most common marketing tools used by health care organizations typically include email, snail mail, newsletters, blogs and social media.
“So, the question becomes: Who in your organization is responsible for these marketing tasks?” says Basora. “Maybe it’s you, or maybe you have a volunteer, or maybe you need to hire a professional marketer. But can you really afford to do this?”
Basora encourages health care organizations to use AI to create a 30-day social media marketing plan to promote a meeting or conference.
“You can do this in five minutes,” she says. “Create the content using ChatGPT, find copyright-free images and videos at Pexel.com or Pixabay.com, and schedule the posts using Canva.com.”
Here are a few examples of ChatGPT prompts for creating social media posts to promote a meeting or conference:
“Write a ‘save the date’ LinkedIn post for the nurse’s organization’s annual vendor fair that will take place on (fill in the date) at (fill in the location.) Make the event sound fun and energetic and use emojis in the content.”
“Write 30 days of social media posts for my organization’s annual conference. Write each post for LinkedIn discussing education.”
“Write a 30-day marketing plan for the nurse’s organization’s annual vendor fair. The target audience is operating room nurses who want to improve their practice, learn and have a good time at this year’s conference. Make the post engaging and convince individuals to attend. Each post should be written with emojis and hashtags for LinkedIn.”
How AI is Revolutionizing Marketing
AI is revolutionizing marketing strategies by providing data-driven insights and personalized customer experiences while optimizing ad targeting. “With AI you can streamline marketing processes, personalize content to audience segments and improve customer experiences,” says Basora.
AI is best used as a starting point for creating content.
“You should always change the prompts to use your own unique voice and regularly review and fine-tune the content, as well as research the output for accuracy so there’s no misinformation,” says Basora. “In addition, always be mindful to not place confidential information in ChatGPT.”
Here’s a mnemonic – START – for employing AI in content creation:
S – Specify how you want the AI to act.
T – Train the AI with data that will improve the relevance of the answer.
A – Add text that directs the software to deliver an expected outcome.
R – Review the output for relevance and crosscheck it for accuracy.
T – Track the results and determine if you have to make adjustments.
AI Myths and Ethical Concerns
A few common myths have sprung up regarding the use of AI and ChatGPT. One of the biggest is that AI will eventually replace jobs currently being performed by humans.
“I don’t see this as job displacement at all,” says Basora. “Instead, AI is opening doors for new job duties like writing ChatGPT prompts and other creative ways to incorporate AI into content creation. Just because things are evolving doesn’t mean that employees are being displaced.”
Another myth is that AI-generated content lacks creativity. Basora counters this.
“While it’s true that the output from AI depends heavily on the input it receives, this actually highlights the importance of human creativity in guiding AI,” says Basora. “By effectively using prompts that reflect our unique voice and objectives, we can generate highly creative content that aligns closely with our goals.”
Yet another myth is that AI is too complicated and costly. “AI tools like ChatGPT are becoming more accessible and user-friendly,” says Basora. “The initial investment in learning how to use them can lead to significant time and cost savings in your marketing.”
There are also some ethical concerns about widespread use of AI and ChatGPT. Basora says it’s crucial to use AI ethically by ensuring that it augments human interaction, rather than replacing it.
“We also must be vigilant about the data sources used by AI to avoid biases that could affect the output,” she adds.
Implications of AI on Evidence-Based Practice
According to Justin Fontenot, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FAADN, AI could have major implications in the area of evidence-based practice.
“It takes an average of 15 years for new evidence to reach the bedside, while evidence-based practice uptake in clinical settings currently sits at just 50%,” says Fontenot. “This is a big concern for nurse leaders who are instrumental in advancing and sustaining evidence-based practice in clinical settings.”
Fontenot says that research-based
AI platforms such as Elicit can significantly speed the process of research translation in clinical practice.
“Using AI to develop evidence-based practice permits automation of tasks that have previously been performed manually, which can speed the translation rate into clinical settings,” he says.
“AI tools can accomplish work that takes six months to perform manually in a couple of weeks,” says Fontenot. “This is a competitive advantage that health care organizations can market to their communities by letting them know how it improves patient safety and care.”
Expanding the Reach of Perioperative
The impact of artificial intelligence on health care and in the operating room goes well beyond marketing and messaging, of course. However, Basora notes that integrating AI into perioperative marketing expands the reach of the perioperative department and contributes to the evolution of the Art of Nursing.
“Using AI allows perioperative professionals to leverage technology to increase our impact and smoothly transition into the digital age,” says Barora. “This helps ensure that we continue to engage our members and foster a culture that delivers exceptional care to our patients and the community.”
Basora offers a free online course with guidance on how to market your organization using AI. Visit publishwithconfidence.com/ericabasoramarketingwithai to learn more.
