Canada leads global use of GenAI for social media content creation

GenAI offers marketers immense benefits as well as daunting risks.

Canadian social media users are about to see a lot more AI-generated content than they already do. According to Capterra’s survey of thousands of marketers across Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific, including over 100 located in Canada, Canadian social media marketers are global leaders in using generative AI (GenAI) for social media content creation. By 2026, they will use GenAI to produce, on average, almost two-thirds (65%) of their social media marketing content, up from the current 54%.*

Marketers expect GenAI to continue boosting engagement, productivity, cost savings, and yes, human creativity. But they also worry about the risk of spreading misinformation to audiences through AI-generated content. With their use of GenAI falling well above the international average, Canadian marketers are the most at risk of incurring negative consequences.

Marketers, however, can take steps to ensure they use GenAI technology responsibly, including creating a formal internal policy and implementing a human-in-the-loop strategy.

Canada leads global use of GenAI for social media content

Canadian marketers are already the top global users of GenAI for social media marketing content creation, producing an average of 54% of their companies’ social media content using GenAI. Over two in five (41%) use GenAI at least once a day, most commonly to generate images and copy and ideate campaigns.

By 2026, Canadians are expected to maintain their lead over other surveyed countries, using GenAI to produce 65% of all social content. Most (80%) also expect to increase their spending on GenAI tools.

With so much reliance on GenAI, Canadian marketers are more familiar than anyone with the technology’s inherent risks. They must act quickly to manage the many challenges and workflow disruptions GenAI can bring. 

Canadian marketers say GenAI improves productivity, social media engagement, and efficiency

Improving productivity is the primary reason Canadian companies have started using GenAI for content development. Marketers report that the tech fulfills this goal and then some, leading to easier, faster, and more efficient workflows.

Social media marketers say GenAI enhances the creative process by helping generate ideas, automating routine tasks, and personalizing content for specific audiences. In fact, enhanced creativity is the top benefit marketers cite for using GenAI.

GenAI’s social media performance is so satisfactory that marketers view it as complementary, or even superior, to human creativity. 

• Ninety percent of Canadian marketers using GenAI for social content say the tech has saved them a moderate to significant amount of time. 
• Nearly three-quarters (73%) say using GenAI-assisted content has increased their social media engagement and impressions. 
• Most claim that GenAI-assisted content performs as well as (41%) or better than (46%) content created solely by humans.

GenAI has been so useful that 45% of marketers mention that they are finding it harder to appreciate the value of human creativity since integrating the technology into their marketing strategies.

While that, on its face, seems like a pretty bad sign for human employees, it belies all the work marketers say they have to do to ensure the quality of their GenAI content. The prevalence of errors, misinformation, and even sensitive company data lurking in AI-generated content means these tools will need human supervision for the foreseeable future.

The risk of spreading AI-generated misinformation hits close to home for Canadians

Superhuman performance notwithstanding, GenAI comes with risks. As Canadian marketers well know, significant oversight is essential to ensure the quality and safety of the content it creates.

In early 2024, AirCanada suffered a high-profile GenAI marketing fiasco when its AI-powered customer chatbot misrepresented the airline’s bereavement policy to a grieving customer. [1] The company was found liable for its chatbot’s mistake, resulting in legal fees, damaged reputation, and undermined consumer trust in GenAI’s dependability as a customer service tool.

Companies of all sizes have learned that using GenAI requires a constant effort to avoid spreading misinformation and exposing data. Over three-quarters (77%) of Canadian marketers using GenAI for social media content (including those who don’t review content before publishing) report instances of quality-control issues, including factual errors, plagiarism, bias, or straight-up nonsense.

Additionally, 36% of marketers say protecting proprietary company information is a top challenge when using GenAI for marketing content creation, and 12% have found exposed company data in their GenAI output.

Then, there’s the persistent problem of bland output. For example, nearly half of marketers (49%) report that maintaining authenticity in AI-generated content is a top challenge. So is ensuring AI-generated content actually resonates with audiences (32%).

Additionally, there are policies around GenAI use and transparency to consider. Marketers face mounting pressure from governments and consumers to label their AI-created content on social media so users can be informed whether they’re viewing content made by AI or humans. However, the growing negative perception of AI-assisted content has already made for shoddy compliance with existing labeling policies: Just 44% of Canadian marketers consistently label their GenAI content on social media platforms.

While Canadians label GenAI content at a higher frequency than the global average of 30%, it means the majority of AI-created marketing content remains unlabeled, and audiences are still at risk of being influenced by AI-generated embellishment or misrepresentation in product-related content.

The vigilance required to catch a high incidence of errors means the risk of publishing damaging content is high. So, it’s no surprise that nearly all (95%) Canadian marketers worry that GenAI will spread harmful misinformation on social media.

Fortunately, almost all (99%) Canadian marketers take the responsible—and effortful—route and review AI-generated content before publishing it on social media. Most (63%) say the amount of work required to edit and review AI-generated content goes above and beyond what they expected, something that companies thinking about buying GenAI software should factor into the total cost of adoption.

GenAI presents challenges both practical (ensuring AI-generated content looks cool) and existential (ensuring it doesn’t harm companies or their audiences). Given their projected use of the technology, Canadian marketers, in particular, will need to tackle these issues head-on. The bottom line is that companies can’t yet rely on unsupervised GenAI to rescue them from the engagement doldrums or to wipe out their marketing payroll. 

How marketers can implement AI safely and effectively

It would be silly to deny the benefits of GenAI for social media marketing. GenAI saves time and money while increasing productivity, and experts generally consider it to be highly useful for content production. [2] 

But experts also caution that it’s a poor fit for companies that do not effectively manage its inherent risks. Here are some steps companies can take to ensure they use GenAI safely and responsibly.

Create a formal internal policy promoting the responsible use of GenAI

Creating a formal internal policy on the use of GenAI at your organization helps align stakeholders on use cases and best practices. It’s good to have one on hand when hiring new marketing employees or contracting with agencies or freelancers. An internal policy is a great way to establish a human-in-the-loop standard at your company to ensure the safety, legal compliance, and brand alignment of AI-generated content.

Around the world, companies that have policies in place for GenAI usage, whether informal or formal, are more likely to report that GenAI:

• Saves them time on marketing initiatives
• Improves engagement metrics
• Yields a competitive advantage

Revisit your GenAI policy as needed, such as when upgrading to more advanced tools or if your company’s use of GenAI broadens in scope.

Include a QA step in AI-assisted workflows

Don’t run the risk of publishing boring or misleading content; practice a human-in-the-loop strategy by always having a person check GenAI output for quality assurance before posting it on social media.

Companies that leverage GenAI content using a human-in-the-loop strategy are significantly more likely to report that GenAI:

• Boosts efficiency
• Reduces turnaround time of content delivery
• Increases engagement and impressions

Measure ROI using both internal and external data

Yes, you should track the performance of your AI-generated content on social media. But if you let external metrics speak for your marketing team’s overall experience using GenAI tools, you’re only getting half the story.

Measuring success internally is crucial to understanding the true cost of your GenAI tools as well as retaining talent and maintaining employee morale in today’s increasingly automated marketing landscape. Company leaders should keep in mind that GenAI is a powerful technology best used to support, not fully replace, human marketers. 

Check in with your marketing team about the following quantitative and qualitative metrics, as they relate to your GenAI tool(s):

• Frequently encountered errors or issues
• Time/effort spent editing or reviewing AI-generated content
• Ease of use
• Recurring or unexpected costs

GenAI should help your creative staff get more done, not bog them down with the busy work of tweaking mediocre bot-generated content. If your marketers feel that your GenAI tool isn’t helpful, find out why and make some changes.

Increased reliance on GenAI requires smart software investments

Companies across Canada will increase their use of GenAI for marketing in the coming years. They’ll face some hurdles as tools continue to evolve and will need to rely on internal policies, conduct data-driven performance evaluations, and remain realistic about what GenAI can handle. That said, they will also unlock cost savings, increased productivity, and other benefits.