Digital Marketing has been a rising star in recent times. Almost all companies, small or big use digital marketing to increase awareness about their products and services, and to reach out to their audience. At one time digital marketing was just an innovative way of marketing products. However, today it has become a need of every emerging business. Social media has become an extremely powerful tool to influence people and bring upon a change.
An individual spends approximately 2 hours per day on Social Media whereas teenagers spend around 9 hours a day. Billions of people have accounts on multiple social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, etc. By using digital marketing tools marketers can reach out to a large number of people within no time.
1.Artificial Intelligence(AI)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the intelligence shown by machines in contrast to humans and animals. This field is now in its booming phase and many companies are shifting towards it. AI has made the work of the companies’ lot easier and accurate than before. AI is becoming more prominent in Digital Marketing as well. Following are some ways Artificial Intelligence is used in Digital Marketing:
- For Creating Content
AI is helpful in writing reports and news based on data and information available. It is extremely cost efficient and saves a lot of time. Tools like Wordsmith, Articoolo, and Quill are used for the same purpose. The tools use unique templates and keywords to make the content look like its written by humans. Forbes uses these tools to get maximum clicks on their website.
- Content Organization
Whenever we visit a certain website, for example, Flipkart to shop something we get more suggestions about products related to it. AI helps to curate data according to the preference of the user. Every website must use this technology to make the user experience more smooth and interesting. Similarly, this technology can be used to suggest the readers, blog topics relevant to their interests, which will, in turn, increase user engagement.
- Email Marketing
AI can be used to personalize emails according to the preferences of the customers. It analyses customer behavior from the available data about the customer and then determines the perfect time to mail them and gain their attention. This increases the chance of getting more clicks and conversion from prospect to lead. Personalized offers and Newsletters can also be sent to targeted customers to keep them engaged and increase their loyalty towards the brand.
- Online Advertising
Most marketers use online advertising to reach out to a larger audience and influence them. AI has become an integral part of online marketing. Facebook and Google are already using AI technology to find people who can most probably get influenced by advertising, by studying factors like demographics, customer interests, and other aspects.
Google Adwords also uses AI technology which lets the advertiser pay the lowest cost per conversion. AI makes advertising activities much more effective and accurate by saving time, cost, human efforts, and errors.
- Chatbots
A chatbot is an artificial intelligence technology that is able to initiate a conversation with the user in human language through websites, messaging applications, mobile applications or telephone. Research shows that 80% of businesses are planning to use chatbots by 2020.
We can still see chatbots on several websites that help the customers navigate through the website and get instant guidance. It reduces the efforts of the customer to search for what they what and get direct help. Chatbots respond instantly to the customer requests and hence customers find it more convenient.
- Personalization
To stay ahead in the competition marketers must personalize their content, products, and anything they wish to sell. Personalization helps build healthy relationships with customers and increases their probability to return back in the future.
Companies like Netflix make use of personalization on a large scale. Suggestions regarding movies or series appear as soon as you open the app. It gets customized entirely based on the preferences of the user. This is one of the reasons why it is so trending today. They ensure that users spend less time searching and spend more time enjoying their content.
2.Influencer Marketing
Influencer Marketing makes use of influential leaders to endorse your brand instead of the company directly marketing its brand. The company pays the influencers for advertising their products and services. Influencers can be anyone from YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, etc.
For example, Neil Patel labeled as one of the top 10 online marketers by Forbes consistently posts content regarding SEO. Another Indian Youtuber and Video Content Producer Komal Pandey endorses makeup and fashion related brands in her videos and posts.
These influencers have a huge chunk of followers who get highly affected by such advertisements. Also, people trust the reviews of these influencers more than the direct advertisements made by the company. Influencers add a touch of personalization while marketing the product which makes it easier to gain the trust of the customers. They give a more realistic dimension to the product advertisements. Thus, companies must adopt this type of marketing in their campaigns.
Conclusion
The recent trends in marketing mostly focus on customizing and personalizing the products and services according to the needs of the customers. Companies try to make the user experience as easy and interesting as possible. Artificial Intelligence is gaining more importance day by day and more companies are shifting towards it. Marketers need to pull up their socks and get ready for the upcoming changes. It is important for companies to stay updated with the latest technologies and adopt them as soon as possible.