As the world is becoming more digitised, the same tactics in business are no longer delivering increased performance year on year. Companies are required to take more drastic solutions to thrive in a digital economy. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are two of the most powerful developments that any digital marketing firm can leverage today. They have already started to redefine the future of marketing across all digital touchpoints. Does this scare you? At first, let’s define the key concepts. #1 Artificial intelligence (AI) is a definition for any computer software that mimics the role of human intelligence in decision making. #2 Machine Learning (ML) is an application of artificial intelligence (AI) that makes it possible for computers to solve problems autonomously based on prior inferences from data. #3 Deep Learning is the subset of machine learning which uses neural networks to replicate the learning functions of the human brain.
“According to Salesforce, AI will be the key to customer retention by 2020. Nearly 57% of business buyers will be dependent on the companies to get a fair idea about products before asking anything from the sales representative.”
The next question is “How can machine learning help you make better decisions in digital marketing?”
- Reduce advertising costs by taking on some of the tasks that were prior only controlled by humans.
- Get better analytics by finding hidden insights and correlations in databases of previously unmanageable sizes.
- Reach potential clients based on purchase intent by predicting their future moves based on existing behavioral data.
Brands, which use machine learning today, are in a top position to:
- Optimise their marketing channels
- Personalise their engagement with users
- Build durable, long-term relationships with those customers.
What impact can machine learning have on marketing? According to Forbes, machine learning is already revolutionising the marketing landscape, with 84% of marketing organizations beginning to implement or expand their use of AI in 2018. Here are 2 important statistics;
- 3 out of 4 companies that make use of AI and ML in their processes get an increase in sales by more than 10%.
- Among business managers, 57% see customer relations and support as the main area for growth brought about by the use of AI and ML.
The concept behind machine learning is that a computer can learn from the data it analyses by identifying patterns. Ultimately, this technology can make decisions without humans. What does ML mean for marketers? Yes, ML provides marketers with the tools they can use to turn their dreams into reality. They can now reach out to every customer through a customised / tailored approach using many tools in the process. Social Media Automation SMM tools can perform most of the activities of a human social media marketing specialist, such as managing accounts and sharing content and employs machine learning to automatically create share-worthy posts that showcase your products and/or services on social media. The stand-out tools to consider in this field include:
- Buffer – Automate postings to Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and other social media platforms. The app uses AI to optimise accessibility and more.
- Hootsuite – Social media management tool that eliminates some of the grunt work. The app uses machine learning for smart moderation of social media profiles.
- SocialPilot – The tool automates the process of scheduling content across various social media accounts.
Content Curation & Creation ML tools can decrease your curation efforts by showing you automatically the best content to curate and share to your social channels. You can easily come up with trending content ideas that will reflect well on your brand. Here are some of the best content curation and creation tools to use:
- Frase.io – uses natural language processing to help with content creation by learning the style of a writer and giving a brief summary of various articles
- Phrasee – applies AI to help you generate optimized emails to market to your list. The app uses AI in its features that produce human-sounding copy.
- Curata – Uses an intelligent learning engine to create lists of suggested content for you to curate based on your interests. The app makes use of machine learning in its source code.
- Vestorly – Uses an AI-guided engine for content curation that improves consumer engagement and increases marketing efficiency.
There are a lot of tools that can help you in different areas of your business operations. It is clear that by using machine learning and its derivatives it will help you remain competitive in an industry that moves so fast that keeping up with the latest technology is not just an advantage – it is the prime imperative for survival.