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Understanding Campaigns

Learn about campaigns in AI Content Writer, how they work, and how to manage them effectively.

Table of Contents

What Are Campaigns?

Campaigns are the core feature of AI Content Writer. A campaign is a configured set of rules and settings that tells the plugin how to automatically generate and publish content on your WordPress website.

Think of a campaign as a “content generation recipe” that includes:

  • What type of content to create (articles, RSS-based, AI-generated)
  • Where to get content ideas from (keywords, RSS feeds, search engines)
  • How to generate the content (which AI model to use)
  • When to publish (automatic scheduling)
  • How much content to create (posts per run)

Why Use Campaigns?

Campaigns provide several advantages:

  • ✅ Automation: Set it once, let it run automatically
  • ✅ Organization: Manage multiple content strategies separately
  • ✅ Consistency: Maintain a regular publishing schedule
  • ✅ Flexibility: Different campaigns for different niches/topics
  • ✅ Control: Fine-tune each campaign’s behavior independently
  • ✅ Scalability: Run unlimited campaigns simultaneously

Campaign Types

AI Content Writer supports four distinct campaign types, each designed for different content generation scenarios.

1. Articles Campaign

Best For: Aggregating and rewriting content from web searches

How It Works:

  • Searches Bing or Bing News for your keywords
  • Extracts article titles and source URLs
  • Uses AI to rewrite and expand the content
  • Creates unique, SEO-optimized articles

Use Cases:

  • News aggregation websites
  • Niche blog content
  • Industry updates and trends
  • Curated content with commentary

Requirements:

  • Keywords to search for
  • Access to Bing (configured in settings)
  • AI API key (Gemini or ChatGPT)
  • Pexels API for images (optional)

Example Configuration:

Campaign Type: Articles
Keywords: "WordPress plugins, WordPress themes, web development"
Host: https://www.bing.com/
AI Model: Google Gemini
Posts per Run: 3

2. RSS Feed Campaign

Best For: Automatically republishing content from RSS feeds

How It Works:

  • Monitors specified RSS feed URLs
  • Extracts new articles from the feed
  • Uses AI to rewrite and optimize content
  • Publishes as fresh content on your site

Use Cases:

  • News curation sites
  • Industry roundups
  • Multi-source content aggregation
  • Automated blog updates

Requirements:

  • Valid RSS feed URL
  • AI API key (Gemini or ChatGPT)
  • Pexels API for images (optional)

Example Configuration:

Campaign Type: RSS Feed
Feed URL: https://techcrunch.com/feed/
AI Model: Google Gemini
Posts per Run: 2

3. Gemini Campaign

Best For: Creating original content using Google’s AI from keywords

How It Works:

  • Takes your keyword list
  • Sends prompts to Google Gemini API
  • Generates completely original articles
  • Formats and publishes content automatically

Use Cases:

  • Original blog posts
  • Educational content
  • How-to guides and tutorials
  • Opinion pieces and analyses

Requirements:

  • Google Gemini API key (free tier available)
  • List of keywords/topics
  • Pexels API for images (optional)

Advantages:

  • ✅ Free tier available (generous limits)
  • ✅ Fast response times
  • ✅ High-quality content generation
  • ✅ No credit card required for basic usage

Example Configuration:

Campaign Type: Gemini
Keywords: "how to optimize WordPress performance, best SEO practices"
Posts per Run: 5

4. ChatGPT Campaign

Best For: Premium AI content generation with advanced capabilities

How It Works:

  • Takes your keyword list
  • Sends prompts to OpenAI’s ChatGPT API
  • Generates high-quality, contextual articles
  • Formats and publishes automatically

Use Cases:

  • Premium blog content
  • Long-form articles
  • Technical writing
  • Creative content

Requirements:

  • OpenAI API key (paid service)
  • List of keywords/topics
  • API credits/balance
  • Pexels API for images (optional)

Advantages:

  • ✅ Advanced AI capabilities
  • ✅ Multiple GPT model options
  • ✅ Highly contextual content
  • ✅ Superior content quality

Example Configuration:

Campaign Type: ChatGPT
Keywords: "artificial intelligence trends, machine learning applications"
AI Model: GPT-4
Posts per Run: 3

Campaign Lifecycle

Understanding the campaign lifecycle helps you manage content generation effectively.

1. Creation

What Happens: You create a new campaign with specific settings

Actions:

  • Choose campaign type
  • Configure keywords or RSS feed
  • Set content filtering rules
  • Define publishing options
  • Set campaign status to Active/Paused

2. Title Generation

What Happens: The plugin fetches titles and source links

Frequency: Based on campaign schedule (hourly by default, customizable in Pro)

Process:

  • Articles: Searches Bing for keywords, extracts titles
  • RSS Feed: Reads RSS feed, extracts article titles
  • Gemini/ChatGPT: Generates title ideas from keywords

Result: Creates pending posts with titles and source URLs

3. Content Generation

What happens: AI creates full article content

Frequency: Runs 5 minutes after title generation

Process:

  • Takes pending posts with titles
  • Sends prompts to the configured AI service
  • Receives generated content
  • Applies content filters and formatting
  • Updates post with full content

Result: Posts now have complete content, ready for images

4. Thumbnail Generation

What Happens: Fetches and assigns featured images

Frequency: Runs 10 minutes after content generation

Process:

  • Extracts keywords from the post title
  • Queries the Pexels API for relevant images
  • Downloads and uploads an image to WordPress
  • Sets as featured image
  • Adds alt text for SEO

Result: Posts have featured images attached

5. Publishing

What Happens: Posts are published to your website

Frequency: Runs 15 minutes after thumbnail generation

Process:

  • Changes the post status from “pending” to “publish”.
  • Sets the publish date to the current time
  • Makes the post visible on your site
  • Triggers any WordPress post-publish hooks

Result: Content is live on your website

6. Monitoring

What Happens: Track campaign performance via logs

Continuous:

  • View activity logs
  • Check success/error rates
  • Monitor API usage
  • Review the generated content quality

Campaign Components

Each campaign consists of several configurable components:

Basic Information

  • Campaign Title: Descriptive name for internal reference
  • Campaign Type: Articles, RSS Feed, Gemini, or ChatGPT
  • Status: Active (running) or Paused (stopped)

Content Source

For Articles/Gemini/ChatGPT:

  • Keywords: Comma-separated list of topics
  • Campaign Source: Currently “Keywords” (more sources in Pro)
  • Campaign Host: URL for scraping (Articles only)

For RSS Feed:

  • RSS Feed URL: Full URL to the RSS/Atom feed

Content Filtering

  • Block Keywords: Prevent content generation for specific terms
  • Search & Replace: Replace words/phrases in content (Pro)
  • HTML Cleaner: Remove HTML elements by selector (Pro)

Content Insertion

  • Position: Before/after content or none
  • Custom Content: Text/HTML to insert at chosen position

Publishing Options

  • Post Type: Where to publish (Posts, Pages, Custom Post Types)
  • Post Status: Draft, Pending, or Publish automatically
  • Post Author: Assign author to generated posts
  • Categories: Auto-assign categories to posts
  • Tags: Auto-assign tags to posts

Campaign Settings

  • Posts per Run: How many posts to generate per execution
  • Frequency: How often to run (hourly, daily, custom with Pro)
  • API Configuration: Which AI model to use

How Campaigns Work

Automated Workflow

AI Content Writer uses WordPress’s built-in cron system to automate the entire content generation process:

┌─────────────────────┐
│  Active Campaign    │
└──────────┬──────────┘
           │
           ↓
    ┌──────────────┐
    │   WP-Cron    │ (Checks every hour)
    └──────┬───────┘
           │
           ↓
    [Title Generation] ← Campaign settings
           │
           ↓
    [Content Generation] ← AI API
           │
           ↓
    [Thumbnail Fetch] ← Pexels API
           │
           ↓
    [Auto Publish] ← Publish settings
           │
           ↓
    [Your Website] 🎉

Cron Schedule

The plugin uses staggered cron jobs to ensure smooth operation:

  1. Title Generation: Runs every hour (00:00)
  2. Content Generation: Runs 5 minutes later (00:05)
  3. Thumbnail Generation: Runs 5 minutes after that (00:10)
  4. Publishing: Runs 5 minutes after thumbnails (00:15)
  5. Log Cleanup: Runs once daily to remove old logs

Note: With the Pro version, you can customize these intervals (every 15 minutes, 30 minutes, twice daily, daily, weekly).

Campaign Priority

If multiple campaigns are active:

  • All campaigns are processed sequentially
  • Each campaign respects its “Posts per Run” limit
  • Total execution time depends on number of active campaigns
  • No specific priority system (all campaigns are equal)

Campaign Management

Creating Campaigns

Navigate to AI Content Writer → Campaigns → Add New

Follow the step-by-step guides:

Viewing Campaigns

Navigate to AI Content Writer → Campaigns

The campaigns list table shows:

  • Campaign title and type
  • Status (Active/Paused)
  • Number of posts generated
  • Last run time
  • Actions (Edit, Delete, Pause/Resume)

Editing Campaigns

  1. Go to the Campaigns page
  2. Hover over a campaign
  3. Click Edit
  4. Modify settings as needed
  5. Click Update Campaign

Note: Changes take effect immediately for the next cron run.

Pausing/Resuming Campaigns

To Pause:

  • Edit the campaign
  • Change status to “Paused”
  • The campaign will stop generating content

To Resume:

  • Edit the campaign
  • Change status to “Active”
  • The campaign will resume on the next cron run

Deleting Campaigns

Warning: Deleting a campaign does NOT delete the posts it created.

To Delete:

  1. Go to the Campaigns page
  2. Hover over a campaign
  3. Click Delete
  4. Confirm deletion

What Gets Deleted:

  • Campaign configuration
  • Campaign settings and metadata
  • Associated log entries

What Stays:

  • All published posts
  • All generated content
  • Featured images

Duplicating Campaigns

Currently, there’s no built-in duplicate feature. To create a similar campaign:

  1. Open the existing campaign
  2. Note all settings
  3. Create a new campaign
  4. Enter the same settings
  5. Modify as needed

Best Practices

Campaign Strategy

✅ Start Small: Create 1-2 campaigns initially ✅ Test First: Monitor results before scaling ✅ Use Specific Keywords: More targeted = better content ✅ Separate Niches: Create different campaigns for different topics ✅ Monitor Regularly: Check logs and generated content quality

Keyword Selection

✅ Be Specific: “WordPress SEO plugins” better than “plugins” ✅ Use Long-Tail: “how to optimize WordPress speed” works well ✅ Mix Variety: Include questions, phrases, and specific terms ✅ Avoid Generic: “technology” or “business” too broad ✅ Update Regularly: Refresh keywords to stay current

Content Quality

✅ Review AI Output: Always review generated content ✅ Use Block Keywords: Filter out unwanted topics ✅ Add Custom Content: Insert disclaimers or CTAs ✅ Edit Posts: Manually enhance AI-generated content ✅ Check Sources: Verify information accuracy

Resource Management

✅ Monitor API Usage: Track Gemini/OpenAI credit consumption ✅ Limit Posts per Run: Start with 2-3 posts per campaign ✅ Stagger Campaigns: Don’t run too many simultaneously ✅ Check Server Load: Ensure hosting can handle automation ✅ Clean Logs: Let the plugin auto-clean old logs

SEO Optimization

✅ Use Keyword-Rich Titles: AI generates SEO-friendly titles ✅ Add Categories/Tags: Organize content properly ✅ Enable Featured Images: Always use Pexels integration ✅ Review Meta Descriptions: Use SEO plugin for metadata ✅ Internal Linking: Manually add relevant internal links

Campaign Analytics

Tracking Performance

Currently, track campaign performance through:

  1. Logs Page
    • View success/error rates
    • Check execution times
    • Monitor API responses
  2. WordPress Posts
    • Check post metadata
    • Filter by campaign ID (Pro)
    • Review publish dates
  3. External Analytics
    • Google Analytics for traffic
    • Search Console for SEO performance
    • Social media shares

Key Metrics to Monitor

  • Posts Generated: Total content created
  • Success Rate: Percentage of successful generations
  • Error Rate: API failures or issues
  • Content Quality: Manual review of output
  • SEO Performance: Rankings and traffic
  • API Cost: Spending on OpenAI API (if using ChatGPT)

Troubleshooting Campaigns

Campaign Not Generating Content

Possible Causes:

  • The campaign is paused
  • WP-Cron not running
  • API key invalid or expired
  • API rate limits exceeded
  • No results found for keywords

Solutions:

  • Verify campaign status is “Active”.
  • Test WP-Cron functionality
  • Check API keys in Settings
  • Review campaign logs for errors
  • Try different keywords

Poor Content Quality

Possible Causes:

  • Keywords too generic
  • AI model is not suitable for the topic
  • The source content low quality

Solutions:

  • Use more specific keywords
  • Try a different campaign type
  • Switch AI models (Gemini vs ChatGPT)
  • Add content filtering rules
  • Manually edit generated posts

Too Many/Too Few Posts

Adjustment:

  • Edit campaign
  • Change “Posts per Run” setting
  • Adjust campaign frequency (Pro)

Next Steps: Ready to create your first campaign? Start here: How to Create a New Campaign →

Last Updated: November 28, 2025 | Plugin Version: 2.1.0

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