Carly Quellman, aka Carly Que, is a multimedia strategist and storyteller at the intersection of technology and the humanities, investigating how perspective can enhance, rather than overstimulate, the world. She can be found online and near the closest south-facing window in Los Angeles.
I was a mere 16 years old when Instagram launched. I distinctly remember my neuroses prickling, confused about what I was "supposed" to post on it. This memory popped up after a recent two-year social media hiatus -- I came back to spend six months strengthening both my posting consistency and my art direction skills.
If you, too, struggle with what to post and when, then Lately AI might be able to help. It's a social media content creation platform that uses artificial intelligence to compile and analyze your existing social media content and analytics and can suggest tweaks or generate new posts for you.
Founded by Kate Bradley Chernis in 2018, Lately AI initially focused on transforming long-form content (think podcast episodes, blogs and video scripts) into social media posts.
AI is a recent addition to the social media platform. Now, Lately AI has the capability to learn your unique voice and generates social media posts for a specific target audience. It can analyze your historical social media data from the past year and identify patterns across tone, style and audience engagement.
The platform costs $99-$179/month following a 7-day free trial option, with custom (read: more expensive) packages available for larger businesses and agencies.
While I am not a social media consultant or creator, nor a large business or agency, I am someone with existing social media content and am interested in learning how social media engagement works.
If you post on social media, you do, in fact, have a social media presence, even if not the most strategic one. This is how to navigate Lately AI to improve that:
You can also create a posting schedule through Lately AI to engage with your brand's audience. It also has the ability to post across multiple social media platforms at once to streamline processes without duplicating efforts. After you've established a cadence, Lately AI can provide insights, and allow you to rack engagement metrics to help adjust your content strategy accordingly.
You can also view the types of content your audience is engaging with the most -- this can be helpful data for future posts or to use artificial intelligence as a collaborator and/or teammate.
If you are struggling with any of these steps or are more of a visual learner, Lately AI has a library of videos available on its YouTube channel to support the process.
Streamlining, automating and using AI to free up space for creating alone makes Lately AI a strong competitor. While tools like Sprinklr and Hootsuite have their skills, Lately AI's approach to repurposing long-form content sets it apart.
This makes it an appealing tool for businesses looking to scale their social presence -- whether you work within or own a marketing agency, are a freelancer juggling multiple clients or a content creator who wants to post more often without spending hours crafting posts. Solopreneurs benefit too.
But if you're just looking to schedule a few posts -- like myself -- Lately AI might be more than you need. It's less about the size of your team, and more about your intentions. Not every platform is built for everyone -- which isn't personal, but is true. The platform's robust nature doesn't quite sync up with the everyday needs of a social media hobbyist.
Additionally, I can't argue the extra $99/month (minimum) spend that is necessary, especially if you don't fully use the platform for more than personal practice. But that's my take. You can always do your own research -- and you can also ignore this article, hop on the platform and spend a week navigating it to find you are not its target audience.
