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Aimee
10/Jul/2017
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Content Marketing

Content Marketers Increasingly Reliant on AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been creeping into everyday life for some time. Many businesses around the world already use AI in various operations, including analysing consumer voices in call centres and streamlining backroom administrative tasks. Now, however, deep learning and AI is being used within marketing efforts to boost efficiency and ensure strategies are as optimised for success.

Current data on AI’s use for content marketing strategies gives a diverse picture. On the one hand, 57.1per cent of marketers in the U.S. said it was unlikely they would use AI in their content marketing plans this year. However, this leaves a wide proportion of people open to using such modern technology as part of their strategy. For example, of the 1,019 global marketers questioned by BrightEdge and Survey Monkey, 31.4 per cent said that AI would be used to flesh out content marketing plans during 2017. An additional 8.7per cent revealed they are quite likely to use AI, while 2.8 per cent said they are already using AI as part of their content efforts.

The numbers seemed to suggest that AI is becoming increasingly popular with businesses. In recent research, for instance, eight in every ten U.S. senior marketers said they fully believe consumers are ready for AI and, as a result, are more confident in its use.

In another survey, NewBase questioned 1,019 marketers around the world on the various technologies they expected to become a priority over the coming year. The April 2017 poll revealed that 30 per cent would be leading with AI. The figure is a significant increase on the previous twelve months when only 13 per cent of marketers responded in this way. Additionally, 24 per cent also said they expect Augmented Reality (AR) to become a priority, compared to just 18 per cent in 2016.

In addition to these trends, there are signs that some business and content marketers are planning to move away from other areas of technology. For example, marketers questioned on their opinions of future technology seem to be turning away from the Internet of Things (IoT). While 51 per cent of people had said it was a priority in 2016; this had fallen to just 35 per cent this year. The same is true of wearable technology, social media software and commerce. These are all sectors that have fallen on the priority list as marketers concentrate on newer areas such as AI and AR.

In many circumstances, the trend indicates that marketers and businesses are focusing on newly emerging technologies – possibly to get ahead of the curve and beat the competition. For example, NewBase said that some modern tech, such as drones, robotics and voice assistants, are believed to be hot new areas of interest for the coming year. These were not even included in 2016’s survey, but have been mentioned by marketers throughout this year.

Overall, the data suggests that AI is to continue taking a larger role in content marketing and, indeed, business as a whole. Therefore, those developing new strategies would be wise to include this technology in their plans.

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Aimee
18/May/2017
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News

Content marketing and the role of AI

One of the most common phrases heard in modern digital business is ‘content marketing’, and with good reason, because the time when content had wide, organic reach of its own accord is long gone.

Now, strategists must skilfully navigate the marketplace to ensure content reaches as many people as possible. And, with the progress made in artificial intelligence (AI), it’s likely this next-generation technology will soon be widely integrated with advertising strategies.

Though some may fear AI, the concept of using machines to simplify life is nothing new. In fact, there’s evidence that shows that having artificial entities carry out work had been thought of as long ago as the early 14th century.

However, when it comes to harnessing AI to carry out content marketing, there’s still a lot of debate.

Auto-generated content

AI can be utilised to create content that strategists can use in marketing campaigns. In fact, technology research company Gartner suggests almost 20 per cent of all content generated by businesses will be created by machines by 2018. Creating optimised content with AI can speed up processing time and save a lot of money.

Harnessing the power of social media

When it comes to social media, AI is already creating a buzz. Both Instagram and Facebook have bet big on AI, utilising it to change algorithms to optimise user experience. Image and voice recognition and sentiment analysis can further enhance this.

Doing this enables brands to drill down to specific members of their audience, giving them the potential to boost leads, conversions and sales.

Change campaigns in real time

One of the huge benefits of AI is that campaigns can be followed, analysed and changed in real time. Using AI tools, huge chunks of data, such as user behavioural patterns, can be analysed on the go.

However, while there are many benefits to AI in content marketing, there are also several disadvantages, the main ones being lack of creativity, inability to provide content with perspective and the authenticity dilemma.

AI is limited in its creativity. While content can be curated, AI tools are not yet at a level where they can discern good from bad. Similarly, content requires a degree of emotional depth to resonate with an audience, but adding perspective is near impossible with AI at present.

Finally, content marketing strategies work best when brands provide their audience with value and authenticity. Human interaction naturally builds trust, as its far more genuine than interacting with AI.

It’s unlikely AI will replace the humans behind content creation any time soon. There remains a need for perception and an emotional tone, something current AI tools are not able to provide.

However, by optimising the positive aspects of AI, such as target audience analysis, brands can take important insights from campaigns while they’re running. This enables them to maximise the potential of content in terms of positive impact quickly and efficiently.

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