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Marketing today feels split between speed and soul. AI tools are everywhere, automation is getting smarter, and creators are trying to keep up without losing the human connection that audiences actually care about.
In this episode of Beyond the Feed, Jelena B. joins the conversation to break down how automation can make marketing easier — but only if creators stay intentional, personal, and rooted in real communication.
Automation Should Support Creativity, Not Replace It
During our conversation, Jelena talked about using automation daily while still keeping full control of every creative decision. Content ideas, designs, captions, edits, and posting strategies all come from human insight. Automation only exists to take care of repetitive, draining tasks.
Scheduling, reminders, posting across platforms, and email triggers can all be automated. But the creative spark, storytelling, and emotional intuition have to come from a human. When creators forget this, the content begins to feel robotic, and the audiences notice instantly.
Where Automation Starts to Feel “Too Automated”
A major issue Jelena highlighted is the industry-wide habit of relying on automation a little too much. When everything begins to follow the same pattern, the creator’s unique energy disappears. That usually shows up when content becomes:
- Template-driven
- Identical in tone
- Overly optimized
- Copy-pasted with minor edits
At that point, the audience stops feeling a connection. Automation isn’t the problem; losing intention is.
Efficiency Should Never Kill Your Personality
There’s a point where “being efficient” crosses into “sounding lifeless.” Jelena emphasized how authenticity comes from understanding where the audience stands in their journey, and tailoring content with that awareness. If posting daily forces a creator into repetitive output, slowing down is healthier and far more effective.
Quality will always outperform quantity, especially in an era where generic AI content floods every feed.
Tools That Help Without Diluting the Human Touch
Jelena discussed the tools that genuinely help creators stay efficient without replacing creativity. These include:
- Semrush Social Poster, which is used to plan and publish content across multiple platforms
- HubSpot Marketing Hub, which is helpful for understanding visitor behavior and managing workflows
- Adobe Marketo Engage, which predicts customer behavior and surfaces useful insights.
These tools take care of the mechanical work so creators can stay focused on storytelling, design, and audience connection.
How Automated Journeys Can Still Feel Human
Automation doesn’t have to kill personality. Jelena shared how customer journeys can stay warm and personal even when software is doing part of the work. The secret lies in thoughtful touches layered on top of automated systems.
For example:
- Personalized welcome emails
- Tailored follow-ups based on real actions
- Messages that reference specific milestones
- Handwritten notes for long-term clients.
Automation handles timing. Human intention handles meaning.
How Jelena Plans to Use Automation for the New Podcast
While preparing to launch the new podcast, Jelena aims to use automation only where it improves workflow. Scheduling tools and reminders will be automated, but all creative decisions, writing, editing, design, and messaging, stay fully human.
For now, Jelena is even preparing personalized messages for early listeners. If the audience grows, more systems may be automated, but never at the expense of connection.
Maintaining Brand Voice When AI Is Everywhere
A creator’s voice is a signature, the reason audiences return. Jelena maintains a consistent brand identity by adhering to recognizable visuals, familiar tones, and design elements that her audience has come to associate with her work.
That includes style, pacing, certain colors (yes, the signature pink), and the overall energy viewers expect. Consistency becomes a form of comfort, a kind of “content nostalgia.”
Emotional Intelligence Is Becoming More Valuable Than Automation
Automation can handle structure, but emotional intelligence is still the core of impactful marketing. Jelena explained that nuanced comments, humor, tone shifts, sensitive replies, and community-building moments all require human understanding.
AI can mimic empathy, but it cannot experience emotion, and audiences feel the difference immediately.
Campaigns That Blend Automation and Humanity Perfectly
Jelena highlighted a few campaigns that get the balance right. One standout is Spotify Wrapped, which uses automated data but delivers it in a deeply personal and nostalgic way. Canva’s social campaigns and LinkedIn Learning recommendations also strike that balance by pairing automated insights with human-centered curation.
These campaigns scale through automation but succeed because of the emotional layer behind them.
Can AI Replace Marketers?
Based on our discussion, the answer is no. AI can analyze patterns, structure ideas, and automate workflows. But it cannot create lived experiences, cultural understanding, or emotional nuance. Automation can accelerate creativity, but it cannot originate meaning.
Human perspective is still the foundation of real connection.
Why a Podcast Makes Sense in the Age of AI
Jelena shared that one of the biggest motivations for starting the podcast was a craving for real conversation. Platforms can sometimes feel like AI talking to AI.
Sitting with creators, asking questions organically, and engaging without scripts reminded Jelena how much genuine connection has been missing from the digital world.
This podcast is an attempt to bring that back.
Standing Out When Every Other Person Is Now a “Creator”
With AI making content production easier than ever, the only real differentiator is personality. Jelena stays original by observing what resonates with her audience, drawing inspiration from creators she admires, and adapting ideas to fit her unique style.
AI doesn’t define the ideas, real interests, lived experiences, and genuine curiosity do.
The Future of Automation in Marketing
Jelena sees a future where automation removes the repetitive weight of marketing and allows creators to step deeper into creativity. When used wisely, these tools can help creators experiment more, design more, and imagine more.
The danger only emerges when automation replaces identity. Used correctly, it amplifies identity instead.
Final Takeaway
Jelena wrapped the conversation with something every creator needs to hear:
Use automation. Use AI. But use them as tools, not replacements.
- Let them save time, not steal identity.
- Let them support creativity, not flatten it.
- Let them increase output, not erase the human behind the screen.
The audience follows the creator, not the tool.