How Does AI Influence the Future of Digital Marketing?
AI has been a prominent force in the digital marketing space for a few years now, but the rise of AI tools such as Chat and AI personalisation has taken the marketing world by storm in 2023. But what does the future hold for digital marketing and AI? And how do marketers and businesses alike utilise AI effectively to their advantage, but not use it to craft their whole digital strategy?
How is AI Being Used in Digital Marketing?
Marketers are already seeing the benefits of AI, specifically when saving time and resources on tasks such as supporting content writing and keyword research.
As well as helping to make the job role more efficient, AI can also help with key trends such as personalisation. There are several ways AI can help with personalisation such as; new technology, personalising the customer journey and automating email subject lines.
What is Google’s Stance on AI?
Of course, using AI for and content means marketers must keep up to date with the latest updates on Google’s stance on AI.
As of September 2023, Google tweaked their stance on AI-generated content during the Helpful Content rollout. While they've become more open to it, it’s important that content written isn’t all done by an AI and feeds into their algorithm updates.
For example, if you mimic everyone else in your industry, you risk reduced engagement, potentially affecting your Google ranking, especially with their E-E-A-T criteria in mind (experience, enterprise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness).
Google also emphasises their existing mechanisms for assessing content's usefulness and its commitment to promoting original news reporting. So, if you're employing AI-generated content, ensure it remains captivating and distinct to stay on the right track.
What Are the Drawbacks of AI Marketers Need to Be Aware Of?
AI comes with ethical concerns concerning data privacy, transparency, and the potential for AI to manipulate consumer behaviour. Businesses need to use AI responsibly and in compliance with data protection regulations.
It’s also worth noting that current AI tools lack depth and emotion, so while they can be helpful to marketers and help do their job efficiently, they should be used alongside humans.
This can especially become difficult when creating an emotive campaign, for instance. The knowledge of AI is also limited and it struggles to support services such as user experience.
Final Thoughts
It’s clear that AI is shaping customer engagement and is a valuable tool for marketers - both boosting efficiency and helping to personalise content more to their target audience. However, it is all about finding the right balance between leveraging AI's benefits and not letting it dictate the entire digital strategy.
Staying informed about Google's evolving stance on AI-generated content is essential, as it has softened but not endorsed complete AI dominance in content creation.
Ethical concerns, including data privacy and transparency, accompany AI's potential to influence consumer behaviour, and its limitations in depth and emotion must be considered.
Overall, AI is an invaluable tool in digital marketing, but it must be used responsibly and in tandem with human expertise to realise its full potential while maintaining ethical and quality standards.