I think most of us have come across the word Artificial Intelligence. The robots are kind of barely perceptible; just a glimmer that flashes across the forehead. You would have seen it if you’d been watching carefully …
So what is this all about? And how does AI play an important role today? Does it really have the capacity to alter the Digital Marketing climate? Let’s get started and find some of the answers.
What is Artificial Intelligence?
According to Wikipedia, the term “artificial intelligence” refers to the technology that makes use of machines and computers profusely to mimic human intelligence.
In simpler words, Artificial Intelligence is a field or an area of computer science, that simply understands the importance of intelligence and develops new intelligent machines that are capable of thinking, responding, and performing all the tasks that are fed to it, just as we humans do.
However, there are certain activities associated with Artificial Intelligence that are extremely technical. Some of them are Robotics, Speech Recognition, Image Recognition, Natural Language Processing, etc.
Due to the various in-depth algorithms, Artificial Intelligent Systems or machines are becoming more and more mature and have become more efficient in recent years.
I believe that Artificial Intelligence is simply not human intelligence, but yes, it has the thinking capabilities of a human and can also exceed over the years.
Do you feel the same as I do? Or do you have another opinion? Do let me know in the comments section.
Now let us see the relationship between Artificial Intelligence and Digital Marketing.
Artificial Intelligence and Digital Marketing
In the Digital Marketing field, Artificial intelligence is extremely indispensable especially in regards to future digital products.
If we take a look at the current scenario, AI has already been implemented in various formats today. From the movie “The Matrix” to the voice assistance of Siri and Alexa and including Tesla’s self-driving car, AI has become an inseparable part of our lives.
Also, Educational departments are making good use of Artificial Intelligence with the help of biometric attendance and so is the Police department making use of face recognition techniques of AI.
Artificial Intelligence has also been successful in making a big stride in the field of Research and Development all over the universe. So we are already the witnesses of an era where Artificial Intelligence and humans exist coherently. Don’t we?
Well, more and more enterprises are implementing AI for their businesses and definitely, AI is changing the future of digital marketing.
One of the examples that I would definitely like to share here with you is Amazon. This brand has successfully applied the AI system to its marketing strategies.
Amazon makes use of Artificial Intelligence to showcase only the relevant products to shoppers which are based on previous searches, purchases, and views. This helps to increase the likelihood that a customer makes a purchase and becomes a repeat customer along with a personalized experience.
Also read: 5 BrickBreaking Digital Marketing Strategies
Today, artificial intelligence is now a reality that offers many benefits in almost all sectors.
I have enlisted some of how Artificial Intelligence has changed Digital Marketing.
1. Analysis and recognition
Here I would like to talk about Customer Relationship Management (CRM). CRM maximizes the customer info and filters valid information and helps to establish a customer-centric approach to the businesses.
Now when CRM, AI, and big data technology combine together they increase the collection of user information from various platforms and also provide the most accurate insights to target customers. This helps the companies to determine their most appropriate marketing strategy.
Now, when all of the data is collected, you can have a better perspective of the customer’s journey and simply adapt to the AI used to boost your sales. Also, you will be able to provide the right solution and make the customer experience easier.
2. Artificial Intelligence combined with Augmented Reality
Let me first tell you what is Augmented Reality in simple terms.
Augmented Reality (AR) basically allows brands to provide distinctive and enticing digital experiences in order to engage their customers in a memorable way.
As per The Drum Reports, Augmented Reality is able to grab an individual’s attention for over 85 seconds. Not only this but it also increases the interaction rates by 20 percent and the click-through rates (CTR) by 33 percent.
Amazing isn’t it?
I firmly believe that today people will surely halt and look at Augmented Reality inspired experiences no matter what the campaign’s overall quality is. To make Augmented Reality a success, you need to develop more and more thoughtful campaigns if you want to win the heart of your customers.
Now when Artificial Intelligence meets Augmented Reality it brings an altogether new consumption event or an overwhelming experience.
Let’s take a look at an example here.
Gucci has added an Augmented Reality to its application which allows users to ‘ try on’ the sneakers. By pointing the smartphone camera down, the users are allowed to choose a digital overlay of 19 different sneakers on their own feet.
Not only this but the users can also take pictures that they can share on social media and flaunt themselves.
Gucci’s new #AR try-on app is pretty cool https://t.co/Qsq4Oybjsf pic.twitter.com/ytXqJdQk4E
— Ricardo (@RicO2O) June 28, 2019
This is the best example of Augmented Reality for retail, which gives its customers a visual representation of how exactly a product would like in real life which in turn helps to boost customer satisfaction.
By combining Artificial Intelligence with Augmented Reality simply helps to build a firm brand identity that will further help to create a sense of loyalty from the brand’s customer base perspective.
3. Artificial Intelligence Digital Advertising
Artificial Intelligence has seamlessly taken over Digital Advertising. It has used platforms like Facebook, Google, and Instagram to offer the best possible experience.
All of these platforms analyze user’s information like gender, age, interests, demographics to showcase the relevant ads thus improving the performance of digital ads.
Marketers are able to predict trends with the help of AI technology and also spot micro trends. It also helps them to make the most important strategic decisions regarding where to allocate the budgets and who to target.
4. Marketing Content
With the help of Artificial Intelligence, it has become very easy to discover the most effective content. It allows you to utilize content marketing depending on the behavior of the targeted customers which in turn brings you the best results.
Artificial Intelligence has helped marketers to get a better understanding of what kind of content works wonders for their target audience and allows them to share and create the right form of content.
For instance, 40 percent of millennials trust video content the most, which makes it the second most effective form of content marketing after blogs. Now this means that the brand targeting this audience will create relevant content with the help of insights that are gathered from Artificial Intelligence.
You can make use of AI-powered tools to create inexpensive videos that do not require any designer or technical skills. One such example of an AI-powered tool is the FlexClip video maker.
I have enlisted some of the ways in which AI is changing content marketing:
1.Generate Content Automatically
By making use of AI, marketers can generate content automatically even for simple stories like stock updates and sports reports. I am sure that you might have definitely read content that is written by an algorithm but failed to notice it.
I came across one such sports story that is written by an algorithm and it’s simply amazing.
You will barely realize that the content that you read is actually written by an algorithm and not by an individual. That’s the power of Artificial Intelligence!
Another example is hyper-personalized newsletters. It is impossible to send a personalized newsletter to each and every person out there, whether your subscription list is big or small. Artificial tools come to our rescue here and make the work simple.
AI marketing tools can now easily track subscriber email preferences, wish lists, and also the time they spend on your site’s content. They can add an amazing personal touch to your emails and draft a personalized email for you. You need not write an email to all of your customers personally now. AI tools take good care of it.
2.Deploy Chatbots in order to interact with the users
Chatbots are nothing but machine programs that are used to mimic conversation with the users. These chatbots are available 24/7 and have immense patience, unlike humans to solve numerous requests simultaneously.
The best example that I think we all would have come across is Facebook Messenger. Facebook Messenger makes use of chatbots in order to carry out conversations with the users, to answer the queries and all the concerns that are related to real-time.
Uber uses Facebook Messenger chatbots that allow users to request a ride without even opening the app. Now that’s simply amazing. Isn’t it?
3.Custom News Feed Algorithms
Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram make use of Custom news feeds which allow the users to see only the posts that they are interested in.
Literally, hundreds of variables are analyzed by these social networks and have an accurate prediction of which posts a user likes, comments, hides, or even marks it as spam.
Not only this but Algorithms also provide a relevancy score to the social media ads so that the users only visualize the ads that they might be interested in.
4.Create a Better Customer Experience
Have you ever heard of IBM’s Watson, the computer that thinks? Unlike Siri and Cortana, Watson does not make suggestions based on its learnings from requests and questions.
It has the ability to process the language commands and then respond to them in a human manner whether it is text or verbal communication. So basically Watson is nothing but Artificial Intelligence that can understand, reason, learn as well as interact.
Hilton’s hotel Connie is a robot that interacts and assists the customers by providing a better customer experience:
5. Artificial Intelligence Digital Advertising
Artificial Intelligence has seamlessly taken over Digital Advertising. It has used platforms like Facebook, Google, and Instagram to offer the best possible experience.
All of these platforms analyze user’s information like gender, age, interests, demographics to showcase the relevant ads thus improving the performance of digital ads.
Marketers are able to predict trends with the help of AI technology and also spot micro trends. It also helps them to make the most important strategic decisions regarding where to allocate the budgets and who to target.
“Do It Yourself” (DIY) platforms are becoming out-dated and are now a thing of the past—in this new age of AI, it is all about “It Does It For You” (IDIFY) Artificial Intelligence.
Conclusion
Artificial Intelligence is now being used and accessed by many businesses which makes it a valuable tool for digital marketers.
It is simply irrefutable to say that Artificial Intelligence influences the choice of the customers, and helps to give relevant recommendations and timely customer service.
By looking at the various ways or options that are available you can make the most use of AI and it will help you to grow your brand and also meet the expectations of your customers.
We all know digital marketing is a dynamic and vast field where many of the killer strategies are still dependent on the human mindset. However, an Artificial Intelligence program could be a game-changer that will help to analyze the data, create or generate advanced reports, and also help to optimize digital marketing campaigns.
Finally, I call Artificial Intelligence as helping buddies – from robots to mops who can actually go and mop your home and assist you in various tasks even in your absence! 🙂
So what do you think about AI? Do you think Artificial Intelligence will prove revolutionary in the near future or do you believe it is nothing more than a gimmick? Do share your thoughts with me in the comments section.