From acquiring new followers to improving the overall user experience, AI (artificial intelligence) is quickly weaving itself into the fabric of social media. With the tech’s growing importance, we thought it would be good to examine its relationship with social media platforms. Read on, and discover how the relationship between AI and social media is evolving and what the future holds.
Social media and AI 👍
Social media is an ever-evolving mechanism that requires plenty of effort to keep up with its latest trends. Savvy businesses need to be ahead of the curve while maintaining those all-important relationships with their audience.
Achieving the perfect equilibrium of building on customer connections and ensuring your tactics are on point is no easy feat. But technology is making things that little bit easier. AI is becoming more prominent in the world of social media, and it’s helping travel brands unlock their potential.
What is artificial intelligence? 🤖
Whenever AI is mentioned, most people think of all-encompassing robots and Blade Runner-style dystopias. While blockbuster movies add an element of fantasy to artificial intelligence, the reality isn’t quite as Box Office. That doesn’t mean its capabilities aren’t exciting, however.
AI is essentially the science of making machines intelligent. While that might not yet equate to fully automated, human-like robots, it does allude to making processes easier. From image recognition to social media usage and just about everything in between, machine learning is redefining our experiences.
Machine learning is a subset of AI and is the most recognised form of the tech’s use in everyday life. However, machine learning is mostly coded by humans and makes recommendations based on the instructions fed to it. On the other hand, AI tools improve on their own and use a mixture of historical performance, and new data feeds to provide their own conclusions.
The big social networks ✨
The importance of AI to social media shouldn’t be underestimated, with the big players all investing in the tech. Facebook has been heavily focused on AI since 2013 after it hired Yann LeCun as Chief AI Scientist.
Twitter implements AI in many forms, with one of the primary drivers being the tech’s ability to determine which tweet recommendations it suggests on a user’s timeline. YouTube invested heavily in AI algorithms to perfect its feed for which video people see next. Instagram uses AI to customise content on its “search” tab, allowing users to choose from relevant content based on images they have previously liked.
With social media companies fully entrenched in AI, it also makes sense for businesses using the platforms to go all-in. Especially as the data available can help source new followers and generate leads, increasing brand awareness and revenue in the process.
Content creation 🖊️
Without engaging content, it’s virtually impossible to build a following across social media. Travel brands need to be savvy in promoting to audiences, and the quality of content is king for striking a chord with audiences.
AI-assisted content creation is a type of tool that studies the content brands post and how audiences react to what they see. It then takes a data-driven approach to suggest the type of content you should create and prioritise for your followers.
Think of it as creativity from humans and data points provided by robots. AI-assisted content creation is frequently used by many travel brands, who all rely on AI to help define their approach and outreach methods.
Is this thing on? 🎤
The internet has brought the world closer together, and travel brands can take advantage by globalising themselves in the process. One of the caveats to this new world of access is time zones: it’s hard to target audiences in real-time if you’re based in the US but want to reach Australia.
AI makes having an around-the-clock presence easier, thanks to its ability to manage social media pages 24/7. Chatbots account for 85% of customer service on social media, which allows you to keep up appearances and respond to customer message queries – no matter the time of day. That’s ideal if you’ve got a customer in Japan looking to book flights with an American airline.
As the tech improves, chatbots will become more refined at answering questions – with people unable to distinguish between whether they are talking to a robot or a human. Many brands already use chatbots to provide well-rounded customer service, and the trend will only continue.
Better audience targeting 👨💻
There are more than three-billion users across social media platforms, almost half of the planet’s population. One of the biggest issues travel brands face isn’t that of quantity. Instead, it’s quality. Getting the right leads is imperative to a successful social media campaign.
Today, the advancement of AI means you can leverage the tech to reach the ideal audience personas needed to build your following. Audience activities are stored online, and AI can sift through the data to provide valuable insights like social media usage, buying patterns, and general online behaviour.
When used correctly, you can turn this information into improved brand offerings that help build the online communities you are trying to foster. Practically every active company on social media uses audience targeting, and AI is helping simplify the process with smart data that provides easier access to more suitable targets.
Improved ROI 💷
With AI, automated bidding becomes much less of a risk and can improve the overall return on investment (ROI). Automated bidding, powered by AI, on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter can adjust bids accordingly so that it achieves the best results.
You have a clearer overview of what is and isn’t working, meaning you can make more confident decisions when bidding for ads. There is no need to hire additional human resources, as AI is capable of doing several jobs around bidding.
Social media and AI: now and tomorrow
With an increase in AI tools, travel brands have never had so many options to employ the use of artificial intelligence in marketing strategies. That doesn’t mean human connection will be consigned to the past. But the future landscape consists of AI providing better data to humans, who can then turn that information into creative and engaging content, increasing follower counts and selling your holidays and other travel-related products in the process.
