The Role of AI in Marketing (#SMTlive Recap)

SEO BLOG / By


One of the hottest trends and biggest disrupters in digital marketing today is artificial intelligence. AI technologies are quickly advancing; we’re seeing AI change the way marketers asses, solve and implement solutions to improve how we engage and learn from consumers. 

For the latest #SMTlive Twitter chat, we discussed the current state of AI, what we can expect to see in the next few years, and the positive and negative impacts these emerging technologies have on the digital marketing world. We were lucky to have Chad Pollitt, a Social Media Today influencer and leader in the field, help us lead this discussion.

For everyone’s convenience, I went back and pulled key points from the chat in a short recap below. Thanks to all who participated and shared their thoughts with everyone.

Questions asked during the chat:

  • How are marketers benefiting from AI today?

  • What barriers still exist with AI? What can humans do that AI solutions can’t?

  • What can we expect and look forward to AI technologies advance?

  • More specifically how can AI help improve the social media marketing world?

  • Are there any risks involved with using AI in your marketing strategy?

  • Is anyone here using a form of AI in your marketing strategy? If so, what do you like and what do you struggle with?

How are marketers benefiting from AI today?

Although new to the marketing world, AI has already added great value.

There are a variety of benefits, but one major plus for marketers has been the growth in capabilities of our data analytics. Currently, we are seeing more predictive analytics (the use of stats and forecasting to predict the future) from AI rather than prescriptive AI. This will change as technology advances. Right now, AI answers “What could happen?”, but going forward, we will see AI start to answer the question “What should happen?”. 

What else can AI help with:

  • Freeing up time

  • Finding the right consumers

  • Engaging with consumers  

  • Dynamic pricing and content

What barriers still exist with AI? What can humans do that AI solutions can’t?

Although powerful tools, there’s only so much that current AI technologies can do for us. What is that line? What do we want out of AI that it has yet to deliver? What functions do we serve that AI can’t? AI has its fair share of challenges.

Some wonder if AI actually provides any value at all. 

And, even some of the more trusted tools face challenges when politics gets involved. AI has taken huge strides towards perfecting data analytics, but this is a tough climate for marketers and data use. 

Other obvious barriers are those of human emotions. We have the ability to sympathize and see all the “human” factors that go into our decision making that no technology can compare. AI plays the role (and provides great value in) predicting trends and user behaviors, but once those predictions are made, it’s our role as marketers to understand what that means and put it into action. 

What can we expect and look forward to as AI technologies advance?

 The possibilities that AI can bring to digital marketing are nothing short from promising and intriguing. We already see AI taking mass data and compiling it into easy to read analytics for us to plan campaigns and engage with our audiences at the right times. But what is next for AI?

It is possible that future AI solutions will understand what we think and how we’ll act even before we do. It will bring insights that the marketing world has never seen. We will be able to grasp a greater understanding at an even greater scale. But, as one of our participants pointed out, AI will not be perfect and we will still play a vital role in the use of these data solutions.  

This is a great point, even though we have made so much progress, AI is still new and has a lot of growing to do. The age of AI has just started and there will be plenty of challenges to face going forward.

More specifically how can AI help improve the social media marketing world?

The beautiful thing about social media is engagement — the ability to engage with your users in a way that, before social media, seemed impossible. AI will only make that process better, by giving you better insights into your consumers, who your influencers are, and faster analytics so you can reach them faster and better.

Are there any risks involved with using AI in your marketing strategy?

Of course, AI brings its share of concerns, specifically with becoming too reliant on it. Losing that authentic touch, taking jobs, and costing too much for everyone to adopt. Those seem to be the major risks and fears we hear everyone talking about.

And maybe, if you believe Elon Musk, you may fear something much greater. “With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon. In all those stories where there’s the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, it’s like – yeah, he’s sure he can control the demon. Doesn’t work out.”

Regardless, AI is here to stay. It’s time to embrace these advances as marketers.

Is anyone here using a form of AI in your marketing strategy? If so, what do you like and what do you struggle with?

The answer here is yes. Many of us are already using these tools to improve day to day job functions, optimize ads, help us track performance, and more. 

Though we are only seeing data from the second-degree, with AI advancements we could see a jump to the third-degree and more.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this chat. If you are looking for more on AI, make sure to check out Chads new ebook and our ‘AI in Marketing’ articles.

We have Twitter chats on a variety of digital marketing topics twice a month. Check out our #SMTLive schedule here.

Next chat: Face Your Fears of Live Video

 



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