Warren Knight — June 9, 2017 
ACCORDING TO RESEARCHER GARTNER, AI BOTS WILL POWER 85% OF ALL CUSTOMER SERVICE INTERACTIONS BY 2020.
AI (Artificial Intelligence) has been a hot topic in 2017, especially when looking at the future of Artificial Intelligence in Social Media.
Investment has been growing in AI, and this is expected to grow by around 300% throughout the rest of this year. A third of the world’s population is using Social Media, and AI is playing a huge part in how businesses are communicating with potential prospects online.
This is very exciting for me, as I have seen the evolution of Social Media all the way from the Myspace/Bebo days, all the way to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+ and now SnapChat.
AI is not going anywhere and in fact, it is going to become more widely used by businesses, which is why I wanted to write this article. You may be reading this wondering exactly what AI is, and why it will impact the way we use Social Media.
I am going to share with you exactly what AI is, how you can use AI to connect with prospects and examples of how AI is already being used online.
WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?
AI is defined as the “intelligence exhibited by machines”. Any type of device or machine that understands its environment and takes an action to maximise the chance of achieving success and reaching a goal is the best way to understand how AI works.
Self-driving cars, robots, and various types of machine learning including facial recognition and human speech programs are all classed as different types of Artificial Intelligence.
A UK-based tech startup called 110% use machine learning (AI) technologies combined with human intelligence to provide a type of workplace support that can’t be offered in any other way. For example, they offer a coaching/support service for people in high-intensity, stress-driven workplaces. This consists of having a human element (a personal accelerator) but everything that the client says is run through cutting-edge machine learning AI algorithms to give them feedback and insights about themselves by analysing language and the way they speak.
HOW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS BEING USED IN SOCIAL MEDIA
There needs to be a healthy balance between human intelligence and Artificial Intelligence.
What machines are good at, humans are not and vice versa, which is why using AI in Social Media will give businesses a better understanding around a prospects thought pattern.
Here are some examples of how AI has been used in Social Media.
LINKEDIN & BRIGHT
In 2014, LinkedIn acquired a job search startup called Bright.com. Bright uses machine learning algorithms to offer a better job-candidate match giving both employees a better chance of hiring the right person for a job, and the candidate a better selection of relevant job opportunities.
LinkedIn use this to score candidates for companies based on historical hiring patterns, account location, past work experience and job descriptions.
PINTEREST & KOSEI
Pinterest recently acquired a data software company called Kosei that specialises in personalised recommendation modeling. This means that Pinterest can now identify object recognition to boost pins, and product recommendations meaning that what you see will be relevant to you, and spam users/content no longer has a reach it used to.
This, paired with Pinterest’s Visual Graph will allow for image and search recognition that is tailored to the individual Pinterest user.
CHATBOTS
Automation is something I have spoken about a lot recently because it is such a powerful way to connect with prospects, in a way that allows you to manage your time more effectively. Where I mentioned above that what humans lack, machine learning excels in is a prime example for why Chatbots are the future of customer service.
We, as humans get tired. Machines do not. Chatbots help achieve a faster customer service resolution, as well as provide the right kind of support, based on patterns and behaviour.
Facebook have introduced a somewhat Chatbot like feature, however rather than going down the full route of AI, Facebook have used pre-requisites phrases to get a conversation started between a business, and a customer who is having difficulties.
FACEBOOK FACIAL RECOGNITION
Facebook are putting a large amount of focus on AI and have developed a facial recognition tool that makes it easier to tag a person in a picture inside of Facebook. Facebook are also looking at ways to increase reach for businesses based on a user checking into a hotel, restaurant or high street store and uploading a photo of this location. Facebook then use their AI algorithm to offer the user a real-time a discount, or special offer for doing this.
HOW YOU CAN USE AI INSIDE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Here are three ways you can use AI inside of Social Media for your business.
1. MATCH YOU CONTENT TO YOUR TARGET MARKET BUYING PERSONAS
Understanding your target customers buying personas is a great way to truly develop the thought process of your potential prospects. Looking at your prospects habits, their work environments and what motivates them can give you a 171% increase in marketing revenue if this is a part of your prospects buying persona.
This is a part of the personalisation you offer online, and should help you craft all of your Social Media activity, as well as blogs, videos, images and other forms of content you share online.
2. USE YOUR CRM TOOL TO UNDERSTAND YOUR PROSPECTS
I use a tool called Active Campaign as my email marketing tool. I have found that, inside of this tool, tagging prospects based on their actions has helped me target specific information to them that is based on their personal needs as a business owner. I can also qualify leads based on how many tags they have, and what tags have been used.
3. REAL-TIME ENGAGEMENT
When using Social Media as a business, you need to be engaging with them in real-time, and drawing them into your story. Make sure that your presence on Social Media is consistent across all of the platforms you use, and that you are always offering encouragement and content that they can engage with.
Whilst AI has been making some big strides in the last year, it will not entirely replace the authentic way of you, as the business owner, connecting with your customers. AI is just a tool that will allow you to do this in a more impactful, and effective away.
What do you think about Artificial Intelligence?
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