# Marketers Using GenAI See Results, But Most Are Uneasy | Capterra > GenAI is designed to support creativity, but marketers are ambivalent about whether it achieves this goal. Businesses should note the opportunity cost of using GenAI. Source: https://www.capterra.com/resources/generative-ai-creativity --- Small Business Digital MarketingCreative & Design # Trading Creativity for KPIs: Marketers Using GenAI See Results, But Most Are Uneasy Written by: Molly Burke Molly BurkeAuthor Senior Specialist Analyst Experience I have been writing content for Capterra since April 2022. I cover technology trends in retail, hospitality, and custome... [See bio & all articles](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/mburke/) and edited by: Carolyn Santa Maria Carolyn Santa MariaEditor Carolyn Santa Maria is a senior editor at Capterra. Carolyn has been working in content for more than five years as an editor. With her keen eye for detail, ... [See bio & all articles](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/carolyn-santa-maria/) Published July 29, 2024 7 min read Table of Contents - [Does GenAI help or hurt human creativity? Yes.](#does-genai-help-or-hurt-human-creativity-yes) - [Here's what is driving marketers' perceptions of GenAI](#opportunity-cost-and-industry-hype-drive-marketers-perceptions-of-genai) - [Get the most out of GenAI tools for social media marketing](#how-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-genai-tools-for-social-media-marketing) ## Marketers should proceed with caution when using GenAI. Generative AI is supposed to help humans get more creative work done, faster. Why, then, are over half of marketers undecided on whether generative AI helps or hurts human creativity? According to Capterra’s GenAI for Social Content Survey of over 1,600 marketers that use GenAI to create social media content, this ambivalence reflects a host of factors, including the technology’s performance, current limitations, and undeserved hype.[\*](#methodology) Businesses should be mindful of the fact that while GenAI has the potential to help marketing employees, it can also create issues. Reasonable use of GenAI and frequent check-ins with creative staff on the efficacy of these tools can help businesses avoid costly bottlenecks and morale-damaging issues associated with this emerging technology. Key findings - 52% of marketers using GenAI are unsure about its effect on human creativity.  - 49% of marketers using GenAI say AI-generated social media content outperforms content made only by humans.  - 40% of surveyed marketers say maintaining the value of human creativity is a top challenge when integrating GenAI into their marketing strategy.  - 39% say it takes more effort than expected to revise or edit AI-generated content. ## Does GenAI help or hurt human creativity? Yes.  For the most part, marketers have great things to say about their experiences using GenAI for social media content. It’s led to boosted productivity, efficiency, and social media engagement. This tech is typically used for a variety of creative tasks, from generating images, video, and written copy to ideating campaigns and slogans. With over a quarter of surveyed marketers using GenAI on a daily basis, it’s quickly becoming a go-to tool. But the mixed feelings that many marketers have about GenAI suggests underlying challenges. To understand why marketers are torn over whether GenAI helps or hurts the creative process, we broke survey respondents into three groups based on sentiment: - **AI Advocates**: Those who exclusively believe GenAI enhances human creativity make up 41% of survey respondents.  - **AI Adversaries**: Those who exclusively believe GenAI damages human creativity make up 8%. - **AI Ambivalents**: Those who believe GenAI does both or neither make up 52%. ### AI Advocates The group of marketers who believe GenAI enhances creativity includes those whose AI-generated content performs remarkably well, either by outperforming human-generated content or boosting overall performance on social media. They are also more likely to report a variety of benefits from using GenAI, including increasing their efficiency and content output. Overall, this group is more likely than AI Adversaries to say GenAI saved them a significant amount of time. AI Advocates were significantly more likely than the other two groups to say that adoption of GenAI has led their companies to question the value of human creativity. This echoes widespread alarm from creative professionals about GenAI’s capacity to replace them in the workplace. [\[1\]](#sources) ### AI Adversaries Compared to AI Advocates, Adversaries were simultaneously less likely to see improved performance or other benefits _and_ more likely to have caught errors in their AI-generated content, including bias, nonsense, plagiarism, inaccuracies, or exposed proprietary information. They also were more likely to say it takes more time than expected to edit or revise AI-generated content before publishing. ### AI Ambivalents Meanwhile, the AI Ambivalents experienced both ends of the spectrum—they saw improvements in content performance similar to Advocates, but were even more likely than Adversaries to say it took an unexpected level of effort to revise AI-generated content. When it came to reaping the benefits of using GenAI, Ambivalents typically split the difference between the reported successes of Advocates and Adversaries. Within the Ambivalents group itself, those answering that GenAI both enhanced and damaged human creativity more often said GenAI had improved their social media performance compared to those that said it did neither. ## Opportunity cost and industry hype drive marketers’ perceptions of GenAI  The Ambivalents’ nuanced position on GenAI illustrates why businesses should carefully consider how an investment in GenAI could disrupt marketing workflows and organizational culture. Three key factors offer some clarity about what’s driving their indecision. ### GenAI is genuinely useful as a content generation engine While GenAI is not (yet) incredibly useful for forecasting, planning, or autonomously managing systems, Ambivalents have found that it’s great at spinning up copy, images, or conversational dialogue. [\[2\]](#sources) With automation, GenAI makes it easier for marketers to generate campaign ideas, create a high volume of content quickly, or polish up first drafts of content. ### GenAI is error-prone and lacks true creativity By design, GenAI can’t actually deliver on the popularized notion that it can think and create like a human. Instead of coming up with original ideas, today’s GenAI simply replicates, approximates, or merges content that already exists. A GenAI tool is essentially a robot sidekick marketers can use to brainstorm ideas, delegate tasks, and produce content at scale. Ambivalents say AI-generated content performs better than human-only content—but only _after_ it gets tweaked by creative humans. ### The GenAI hype bubble is due to burst GenAI is having its moment in the spotlight right now, with all of the billions of dollars of speculative investment and media coverage that entails. That industry buzz motivated 12% of Ambivalents to begin using GenAI in the first place and is partly motivating the majority of respondents in each sentiment group to increase their investment in GenAI software over the next 18 months, with 27% overall planning significant increases. All that hype and planned investment means that for the moment, marketers are stuck in a “can’t live with it, can’t live without it” relationship with GenAI. Early adoption of GenAI keeps both providers of the technology and B2B customers competitive in their respective markets. Even as marketers worry about being replaced by AI, they’re increasingly incentivized to upskill with AI competencies. [\[1,3\]](#sources) At the same time, GenAI users are realizing that these tools bring unforeseen or underestimated challenges. Ambivalents have foreshadowed the coming period of disillusionment, when the daily headache of correcting for  errors, mediocrity, and copyright infringement in AI output will cause interest in the technology to cool. ## How to get the most out of your GenAI tools for social media marketing While there are challenges and drawbacks to using tools such as [AI-driven brand management software](https://www.capterra.com/ai-marketing-tools-software/), [video](https://www.capterra.com/ai-video-generator-software/) and [image generators](https://www.capterra.com/ai-image-generator-software/), and writing assistants, they can provide real value when used in the right context. Here are a few tips for how to get the most out of GenAI for marketing purposes. **1\. Limit use of GenAI to what’s actually going to help your business.**  Understand where GenAI can provide the most value to your business. Experts agree that GenAI is best used to generate content, uncover patterns in data, and serve as a conversational user interface. [\[2\]](#sources) It's far less helpful for forecasting, fact-checking, or autonomous decision-making. **2\. Reorganize workflows and teams to leverage GenAI effectively.**  Productivity gains won’t magically appear as soon as you start using GenAI—you may have to make operational changes first. This can include reshuffling creative teams, providing adequate training on how to use GenAI, or reallocating editing bandwidth within AI-generated content workflows. Marketing is often the first place companies apply GenAI tools. Solidifying best practices for AI use in marketing can create a model for other teams within the organization looking to implement GenAI tools. **3\. Build an editing step into publishing workflows involving AI-generated content.**  You should always check AI-generated content for misinformation and errors before it goes out the door. It’s safe to assume that the content you post will not be exactly the same as what the tool spits out, but rather an optimized version that’s been carefully reviewed and edited by human creatives to ensure it’s accurate, high quality, and that it is aligned with your brand voice. **4\. Practice good data hygiene.**  GenAI sometimes mishandles sensitive data. In our survey alone, 15% of marketers say they have discovered exposed proprietary information in AI-generated content. AI can’t leak data it hasn’t consumed, so don’t feed it any information it doesn’t need. ## Capterra's 2026 Software Buying Trends Report ### Download our 2026 Software Buying Trends Report to see how successful software adopters avoid disappointment and how your business can, too. * * * **Survey methodology** \*Capterra’s GenAI for Social Content Survey was conducted in May 2024 among 1,680 respondents in the U.S. (n: 190), Canada (n: 108), Brazil (n: 179), Mexico (n: 199), the U.K. (n: 197), France (n: 135), Italy (n: 102), Germany (n: 90), Spain (n: 123), Australia (n: 200), and Japan (n: 157). The goal of the study was to learn more about the impacts of generative AI on social media marketing strategies. Respondents were screened for marketing, PR, sales, or customer service roles at companies of all sizes. Each respondent indicated their use of generative AI to assist with their company's social media marketing at least once each month. Sources 1. [Is Your Mindset About Generative AI Limiting Your Professional Growth?](https://hbr.org/2024/05/is-your-mindset-about-generative-ai-limiting-your-professional-growth), Harvard Business Review 2. [When Not to Use Generative AI](https://www.gartner.com/en/articles/when-not-to-use-generative-ai), Gartner 3. [Crossing the Chasm: Tech Provider Plans for Generative AI in 2024](https://www.gartner.com/document/5221563?ref=solrAll&refval=417060393&), Gartner * * * Looking for Brand Management software?Check out Capterra's list of the [best Brand Management software](https://www.capterra.com/brand-management-software/) solutions. ### Was this article helpful? * * * ## About the Authors [### Molly Burke](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/mburke/) Molly Burke is a senior analyst and writer for Capterra. She covers customer experience and marketing in the retail and restaurant industries, with a focus on how emerging technology is transforming the way everyday people shop. Her insights on generative AI, social media, and other tech trends have been featured in The New York Times, Vogue, BBC, CNBC, Forbes, and the Financial Times, among other publications. [### Carolyn Santa Maria](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/carolyn-santa-maria/) Carolyn Santa Maria is a senior editor at Capterra. Carolyn has been working in content for more than five years as an editor. With her keen eye for detail, technical experience, and cross-team collaborative expertise, she has developed new content types, briefs, and processes for a variety of different projects and teams. She has edited a large variety of content, including research reports, white papers, eBooks, email marketing campaigns, and many other types of technical papers. 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