Classical philosophers attempting to describe the way we humans think as something that belongs to a symbolic system paved the way to what we now know as modern artificial intelligence. However, AI as we often call it was coined only recently during a 1956 conference hosted by Dartmouth College.
Now, we recognize AI as the kind of intelligence machines exhibit, such as reasoning, communication, learning, perception, planning, and the ability to manipulate and move objects in issues such as email marketing. In general, AI refers to the replication of human intelligence or the ability of machines to complete tasks needing human intellect.
How is artificial intelligence useful to digital marketing?
Simply put, AI helps everyone’s life easier, including digital marketers. When digitally marketing a business or brand, tools and technology are important in automating the needed work. We all depend on tools to reduce the effort we need to exert in our business. And in marketing, there has been a gap between effort and measurable results.
In that field, AI can help a digital marketer answer more than just the basic questions concerning their product, target market, the brand message, when and how to send it. Aside from that, it also works in social media and local maps marketing.
Answering those questions can create engagement and growth, foster sales, and build a brand. And to help marketers address their queries, there is a growing trend in the industry, and that is using big data.
Data involves everything around us. Varied kinds of information can be useful in analyzing how best to market a brand. And every customer has a rich amount of data and is regularly providing new figures for marketers to gather, analyze, and act on. However, a significant amount of data doesn’t necessarily make things easier.
Processing big pieces of information can be more complicated. Information overload can drive some marketers away from research-based marketing and towards a rather intuitive approach. However, that move will not guarantee the right results. And so, that is where AI enters the field of digital marketing.
What is the face of AI in today’s digital marketing?
It’s been years now since digital marketing began reaping the benefits that AI brings. AI is paving the way to smoother and smarter user experience. Here are some areas in marketing integrated with AI that you should watch out for to help you with your future campaigns.
Natural Language Processing
NLP is a field of AI, computational linguistics, and computer science that focuses on the interaction of computers and humans. It is concerned with the ability of a machine to learn and process a language to a certain level that makes it conversational by being able to deduce meaning and formulate replies.
When a computer learns how to process conversations, sentiments, and opinions, brands can use it to understand better what consumers are thinking on a grander and more global scale instead of just analyzing select groups of people. Today, NLP startups have an average value of $4.8 million.
The Swiftkey Keyboard on many people’s phones is taking advantage of NLP technology. The team behind Swiftkey has created a keyboard that learns from the way people type so they can predict responses and automatically fix text with vocabulary that suits a user’s typing style.
Semantic Analysis
The semantic analysis comes into play when machines are learning the way humans talk. SA is responsible for how tools can identify the logic behind sentences and is, therefore, a critical part of NLP. Even if the process is still lacking regarding context, being able to understand grammar is a big move in machine learning.
Consider NLP and semantic analysis as precursors to Babelfish, a web-based multilingual app that can translate in real-time the conversations of people with different languages. That is an example of a machine with AI learning and processing user input.
For digital marketing, semantic analysis as an example of AI is available for the basic spell checks and the more sophisticated social media analysis, processing of sentiment, summarization, and extraction of facts from an extensive data.
Segmentation
Doing business nowadays involve categorizing customers and prospective clients into segments. The segments may be consumer demographics, their interests, purchase decisions, brand or product engagement, and even preferred operating system or apps to use. To have target audiences now doesn’t mean a brand is restricted to grouping its customers into just either age or gender categories, as practiced before.
A niche market is more complex than what marketers previously took it for, as consumers can have overlaps in criteria. With multiple criteria and specific categorizations, segmentation offers marketers the opportunity to customize and personalize. The segment of one, or the promotion of products and services to small groups of individuals with specific interests, is a rising trend in the field of digital marketing.
Search and Filtering
The most common thing that almost everyone does on a daily basis within the digital world is Google search. RankBrain is the AI engine of Google and is the brain behind the processing of all search queries. And by all, we mean 40,000 searches per second or 3.5 billion search queries per day, which translates to a whopping 1.2 trillion searches yearly, worldwide. That’s a lot of data for humans. But for RankBrain, answering all those queries is regular work, and that has changed the way online search is done.
The algorithm behind Google search is working on a rule-based metrics that the company’s talented programmers and engineers have set not too long ago. Following those metrics makes it easier for the people at Google to boost particular signals when needed. And with the machines learning, engineers will no longer be required to control the search algorithm completely, positively limiting them from manipulating signals and results. Hence, artificial intelligence for search and filtering of results will stay for many more years to come.
Website Design
Artificial intelligence is taking digital marketing further with self-designing websites. That’s an emerging thing now, though it’s still far from stealing web designers’ role in the industry. But having a self-designing website to help small businesses and independent clients create their digital presence is an amazing feat.
Optimization
AI is also there to help digital marketers increase the efficiency of optimizing conversion rates while at the same time shortening the process at a great margin. Tools that function with AI can allow operators test various elements of web pages with way less traffic than what we usually see with traditional AB tools. The optimization process is what we also know as machine learning, and it involves algorithms that continue to evolve to provide optimum results.
Chatbots and Messaging
Social media is changing the way people interact and communicate. Much so because most carry messaging platforms that are admittedly all the rage now for users worldwide. Facebook and Whatsapp Messengers are entertaining millions of people on a daily basis. Instagram and Twitter also have their versions of messaging platforms. And all these influence commerce in a way that makes transactions between businesses and consumers faster, easier to conduct, and more conversational.
Using the platforms allows every user to catch up with a friend, connect with family, shop online, book tickets online, and even do a web check-in for their flights. AI powered messaging platforms and chatbots are developing further to provide solutions to more specific tasks. Engaging in one can boost customer loyalty and help brands retain their clients.
Content Generation
Today, artificial intelligence can also provide digital marketers with machine-produced content and summaries for the consumption of a brand’s customers. There is a Quakebot that LA times is using to provide breaking earthquake news to their readers.
Similar to that bot, but this time for finance, is also what Forbes and the Associated Press are using to post financial reports. AP has even reported a 3,000 figure for their stories that are bot-generated. From here on now, we can only expect this trend to grow as machines configured for content generation continue to develop and learn from previous mistakes.
Business Insights
All brands running their businesses online rely on metrics to grow. To understand the statistical data about their business that programs generate, owners and marketers need to configure a dashboard that will interpret all produced information. However, putting up one isn’t at easy as it seems, and this is where AI comes in.
By providing automated semantics, marketers and their clients will gain insights into how their businesses are doing by itself and compared to their competitors. Plenty of companies are into Business Insights, and with AI-run products offering automated semantics, people can expect data with as little to no manipulation. With such information, they can come up with better and more accurate analyses of their marketing campaigns.
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