What is Artificial Intelligence and what is AI used for?

In a world where digitalization advances by leaps and bounds, artificial intelligenceIt broke our mold and brought about a true technological revolution. The way we work and relate is changing and we cannot be left behind.

As Darwin said: “It is not the strongest or most intelligent species that survives, but the one that best adapts to change.”

For this reason it is important to understand what AI is and how it works, but above all how we can benefit from it in the field of digital marketing.

What is artificial intelligence or AI?

THE artificial intelligence or AI It is a discipline in the field of programming in which computer systems simulate human intelligence and are capable of processing information, performing machine learning tasks, and reasoning on their own.

Its tasks include natural language processing (NLP), pattern recognition, analysis and decision making.

Artificial intelligence is the simulation of human intelligence processes through complex algorithms by machines and computer systems.

We could say that AI is based on these pillars:

• NLP or natural language processing: which is like giving guidance to the “machine” so that it understands “human language”. Here is the magic and why Alexa or Siri are so efficient. It is also true that people also need to learn the language of AI and know how to give it appropriate instructions or suggestions to optimize its performance.
• Machine learning or machine learning: the ability to obtain information and models, process them and learn from them.
• The reasoning: to reach approximate or definitive conclusions.
• computer vision: because machines have the ability to “see and understand” visual content. This is the basis of technologies such as facial recognition or translating text from an image, as in Google Lens.
• Robotics: machines that move on the physical plane and carry out specific tasks autonomously or guided by humans.
• Planning and automation: Machines learn to make decisions and generate a sequence of actions, such as calculating the optimal route for a journey.
• Neural networks: They are mathematical models that simulate human behavior and reasoning in a very specialized area for which it was trained.
• Expert systems: They are programs that address a topic and offer solutions about it: health, finances…

What types of Artificial Intelligence exist?

The primary goal of “AI” is to optimize the activities of humans, as I mentioned before. Taking this into account, we could distinguish two main types of Artificial Intelligence:

Weak AI

In this case we are talking about systems designed specifically for a particular task.

One of the most globally recognized cases of narrow or weak AI is that of Siri, the personal assistant developed by Apple to facilitate the use of iPhones.

ChatGPT, Google Bard, Dall-E 2, Midjourney, StableDiffusion… can also more or less fall into this classification.

Although they are advanced and amazing applications, and their responses are consistent, they still do not have the analytical and understanding ability that strong (or more advanced) AI has.

Strong AI

It is a type of technology that can analyze and understand situations or requests, to learn to find complex solutions to unknown tasks that are presented.

Although not long ago it was said that the future of business models would be linked to developments based on Artificial Intelligence, today we can already say that it is the present.

Companies such as Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook have become the prime movers and advocates of a digital transformation that includes technologies of this type.

And the results you can expect from this technology are truly impressive.

How can we apply artificial intelligence to digital marketing?

The possibilities that this technology offers in the field of Digital Marketing are to speed up, facilitate and simplify the tools that allow you to get to know the target audience and offer them exactly what they are looking for, need or are interested in.

There are many uses that can be made of artificial intelligence.

Your choice will depend on your business objectives and each company’s ability to choose or develop the type of AI that best meets the needs of its customers.

Taking into account that you already know what exactly Artificial Intelligence is, its types and part of what awaits us from here on out, on this occasion I will tell you about some practical applications of AI in the Digital Marketing sector.

In fact, there are already many platforms that have incorporated this technology into their applications. This is the case, among others, of Canva or Metricool.

Let’s see how far it can go:

1. Intelligent inbound

Artificial intelligence is a great ally of “Inbound Marketing”. It can provide you:

• Definition of your buyer persona.
• Market and competition analysis…
• Generating ideas for your blog
• Creating an editorial calendar or content strategy
• Keyword search
• SEO writing
• Content recycling
• Copies for social networks, product sheets or newsletters
• Email marketing funnels and sequences
• And more…

In reality, you set the limit.

2. Improve user experience with personalized content

Have you seen how companies like Amazon recommend products of interest to you, based on your purchasing behaviors or those of people with a similar profile to yours?

This certainly generated a positive user experience, surprised you and probably even impressed you spend a little more than expected occasionally.

Netflix does something similar when it recommends series or movies to you, based on your previous choices. In this case the monetization is not as clear as in the previous one, but let’s also see how Artificial intelligence is applied to the world of content to improve customer experience and multiply profits.

And you, who are an entrepreneur or a small business with a blog, may be wondering what you can do with everything we tell you, right?

In this sense you could, for example, Show your blog visitors only the content they might be interested inon the basis of previously demonstrated interests.

Or, if you have an eCommerce business, you can do something similar to what Amazon is doing. Do you have the courage?

3. Digital advertising

One of the branches of online marketing that has been most affected by the arrival of artificial intelligence is advertising.

Google and Facebook They have long used artificial intelligence to predict which audiences might engage most productively with companies’ advertisements.

The essence of the process carried out by these technologies is the same as what we talked about earlier.

User behavior, their interests, tastes and habits, etc. are studied.

All this, to predict new behaviors and therefore benefit both advertisers (who receive better quality traffic) and users (who receive advertising that is less intrusive and more linked to their interests).

4. Chatbots

We have heard a lot about this new technology based on Artificial Intelligence recently.

These are, as you probably already know, robots capable of simulating a conversation with a person and, for this reason, they are increasingly present in messaging applications, such as on company Facebook pages.

These tools have the ability to resolve doubtsanswer open-ended questions and learn based on behaviors, to evolve in the ability to resolve different situations.

One of the biggest advantages of these automated programs is that they are available for Serve customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and maintain consumer data.

This saves a lot of resources in terms of hiring staff.

Furthermore, they have the human characteristics of warmth and empathy needed to provide good experiences, but not people’s weaknesses, such as losing patience.

5. Predictive analytics

Another of the favorite uses of Artificial Intelligence in the world of Digital Marketing is the use of «Machine learning» to predict behaviors, such as the probability of converting a Lead into a customer.

This way, you can also access crucial information like the ideal price to convert for each prospect at any given time.

It is based on the qualification of Leads according to criteria previously defined by the Marketing and Sales team give each segment a different treatment and perform custom actions that make processes more efficient.

6. The role of marketers regarding artificial intelligence

Don’t think now that this technology has come to replace marketing departments. At all!

Its function, on the contrary, is to enhance and bring to another level the results generated by the creative and innovative ideas proposed by marketers in the Brand’s marketing plan.

It is important, when deciding to take the step towards this transformation, that all teams commit to following this trend this isn’t just about implementation of a new technology.

Conclusion

Until now, artificial intelligence seemed accessible only to certain sectors and privileged companies.

However, applications such as ChatGPT, Google Bard, Bing Chat and a multitude of intelligent applications and programs… have democratized the practical use of artificial intelligence and opened new doors to the professional world, in general, and marketing, in particular .

In this sense, artificial intelligence has entered marketing to stay, and we can no longer conceive of the sector without this technology.

Why? Because it helps you sell more, segment better, optimize your advertising strategies and campaigns, design email marketing funnels, create content, analyze data, work on positioning and so on.

And AI has not only revolutionized technology, but also how companies approach and connect with their customers.

Artificial intelligence is already part of our daily lives and will be a more efficient and productive “assistant”. This technology does not come to replace us, but rather to offer us a vast range of opportunities that we cannot miss.

What other practical applications of Artificial Intelligence would you include in the Digital Marketing sector?

Tell me your opinion about it and we can add more value to the community of this blog.