How the AI Revolution is Transforming Social Media Marketing
By: Arjun Rai, Founder & CEO, HelloWoofy
August 31, 2020
You might be surprised at how many social media posts are ideated, created, and managed by artificial intelligence rather than human brains. In fact, A.I. in social media is so widespread that researchers predict the industry will be worth more than $2 billion by 2023.
So, what does the A.I. revolution look like in practice? To start, it’s the shift toward machine-assisted—but human-created—content. Social media A.I. tools can be used to identify online trends, suggest relevant emojis, evaluate the effectiveness of older posts, and schedule new ones, all without eating up a marketer’s valuable time.
Pairing social media and artificial intelligence opens up fresh opportunities for marketers, and will continue to do so as the tech landscape evolves. As A.I. grows more prevalent, you can expect—and even help to shape—a revolution in your role as a brand marketer.
If you haven’t yet leveraged A.I. in your social media marketing, you may want to investigate how it can supplement your job now and in the near future in the following ways:
- Improve copywriting. Often, it takes several social media marketers to produce and publish a post rapidly with high attention to detail. A.I. streamlines the content creation process and decreases the time you spend on each post. Machine learning, a subset of A.I., can auto-generate wording and hashtags using historical social media and user data. A.I. might one day be able to handle posts from start to finish, but the process will always require a human element. (Don’t worry. This is all about saving time and maximizing potential and output—not replacing talented marketers.)
- Promote the increasingly visual nature of social. As social media evolved, Pinterest’s static images gave way to Instagram’s combination of videos and pictures, and TikTok’s dynamic videos are the new visual social media marketing focus. Soon, you’ll likely use A.I. for augmented reality marketing, enabling consumers to interact multidimensionally with images, videos and the real world around them.
- Ramp up decision-making. The 24-hour news cycle means speed is critical for businesses‚ especially the smallest businesses competing with larger organizations’ unlimited marketing budgets. Artificially intelligent social media marketing tools can alert you to important updates and news stories so that you can quickly respond or tap into trending topics. This improves your relevancy on social media, as over 40 percent of consumers feel more connected to brands that tackle important social issues online.
- Go global. You don’t always post just for the people in your city or region; sometimes your customers live on the other side of the world. A.I. can assist your global social media marketing efforts by removing language barriers through translation and, eventually, localization tools.
Revolutionizing Social Media Marketing
Marketers can be lukewarm when it comes to machine learning, assuming automation and A.I. will ultimately lead to fewer jobs in their sector. But business as usual won’t cut it when you’re running out of time to handle daily tasks at the increasing pace of the digital world. Those who use technology to upgrade their skill sets and enhance their workflows will win.
The good news is, the A.I. revolution is not a zero-sum game. Technology improvements enable marketers to evolve. They take the burdensome guesswork out of creating engaging social media messages and improve how efficient and effective marketers can be. Investing in social media A.I. can mean automated processes and money saved on outsourcing.
By turning to A.I., you can make the social media content creation process less arduous and focus your attention on other responsibilities that require human finesse. Of course, A.I. isn’t perfect, but it gets better and more precise all the time. So let’s embrace the change and voice our opinions on how to best improve it and make it accessible for everyone (looking at you, small- and mid-sized businesses). Join the A.I. revolution!
Arjun Rai is the founder and CEO of HelloWoofy, a social media and blog management platform driven by artificial intelligence that helps small businesses (or as he likes to say, “underdog marketeers”) with smart marketing for the digital age. He currently lives in New York City with his girlfriend, two cats, and dog. Follow him on Twitter or Instagram at @arjunraime.
