If you’re old enough to remember watching The Jetsons cartoon, and I’m certainly not admitting that I am, you probably remember dreaming about having your own Rosie the robot to clean your room, wash the dishes, and take care of all those other pesky household chores your mother expected you to do.
While most of us don’t have personal robots at our beck and call, we have something pretty darn close, and that’s Artificial Intelligence (AI). Back in 1950, Alan Turing, the English computer scientist and logician, posed the question “Can machines think?” Since then, computers have done everything from write a sci-fi screenplay, defeat a Russian chess grandmaster, and yes, even win at Jeopardy.
AI Helps Marketers Deliver Better Customer Experiences
So maybe winning at chess or Jeopardy doesn’t really help you grow your business. But AI can certainly help you make sense of the mounds of data at your disposal to deliver better customer experiences.
Through AI, consumers use learning algorithms online to get answers to their questions and interact with chatbots that are becoming creepily human-like. And, as consumer demand for an omni-channel customer journey grows, AI will become a go-to marketing tool for advertisers who want to connect with and convert their audience.
Since content creation and distribution is one of the most robust marketing strategies thanks to consumers trusting branded content over paid advertising, let’s take a look at how AI will impact content marketing in the months and years ahead.
Creation
As a writer, I am loath to admit that AI may someday replace me. Heck, AI is already being used by the likes of the Associated Press and ESPN, who have been using Natural Language Processing (NLP), a type of artificial intelligence, to publish entire stories including sports recaps and stock market movement. Companies such as Narrative Science are developing B2B solutions that offer this same content creation tool to other brands such as Groupon, USAA and MasterCard.
NLP works by training a program to understand certain topics. Feed the program enough content and it will “learn” all about that topic and begin to create content on its own. This technology has already been used for a decade, and as the technology evolves, the quality of content will evolve along with it. (excuse me while I go check the help wanted section, be right back….)
Strategy
If you’re like a lot of business owners, you rely heavily on a CRM like Salesforce to track and manage leads. Well, Salesforce and other CRM solutions have already begun to implement AI upgrades into their systems. This allows for more robust detailed segmentation and better insights into those segments once you’ve established them. Insights lead to more personalized content which ultimately leads to better consumption.
AI also let’s you recommend content to those segments so you can engage your audience better. While you may not be fully aware, AI KNOWS what kind of content certain people respond to. If you find leads are getting stuck somewhere in your funnel (don’t you hate when that happens?), AI takes lead scoring to a whole new level so you know what content to deliver to move those leads along.
Real-Time Engagement
The only thing consumers want more than quality engagement with their favorite brands, is quality engagement with their favorite brands NOW. Those chatbots I mentioned up top? Those AI-powered computer programs are incredibly effective at mimicking conversations with users. Once consumers begin engaging with the program, a variety of content can be pushed that allows the brand to respond to concerns and queries in real-time.
Companies like Facebook and Uber are successfully using chatbots to engage users and offer relevant information in real time. Smaller brands can certainly leverage this technology to increase and maximize customer engagement.
The future is clearly here. While human marketers will still need to take the reins and develop and execute comprehensive content marketing strategies, AI will help to improve consumer experiences, thereby increasing engagement, conversions, and revenue.
While we’re only human, we can also help you make sense of the mounds of overwhelming data at your disposal. MediaSpace analyzes customer data to develop a marketing mix that will help you achieve your campaign goals. Give us a call today and let’s get started.
