Thanks to movies such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and The
Terminator, there has been some suspicion over the use of machine learning
and artificial intelligence (AI) in society. Perhaps because of Hollywood,
these technologies have often been related to robots and machines that could
one day take over the human race. Could this be a possibility? It's unlikely,
which is why we shouldn't quake in fear whenever machine learning or AI is
mentioned.
For business owners looking to market their
companies, the use of machine learning should be actively encouraged.
Thanks to the technologies inherent in low code no code platforms, they will have the
opportunity to save their businesses from extinction. And no, this isn't
through the creation of Terminator-like machines that can crush the
competition, although that might sound like fun. Rather, it's through the way
machine learning can be used within digital marketing strategies.
What Is Machine Learning?
Image Source
Before we discuss the advantages of machine
learning in marketing, it's important to define what the term precisely means.
As we suggested, it's closely linked to
artificial intelligence. This is the form of intelligence demonstrated by
machines, such as the chess-playing computers that emerged in the late 70s.
These computers could replicate human intelligence when going against their opponents,
and they learned from their mistakes and experiences as they won and lost their
games. This learning is known as "machine learning", and business owners are
beginning to understand the benefits of this technological advancement for
themselves.
Machine learning is playing a part in many
aspects of digital marketing, such as social media marketing, affiliate marketing management, and content
creation. It can benefit both business owners and customers alike and should be
actively welcomed rather than greeted with any degree of caution.
So, if you're a business owner looking to grow
your business, consider how machine learning and the wider future of automation could help with your
marketing. Here are some examples.
1.
Personalizing Your Website
Experiences for Customers
The more relevant your website is the better,
as site visitors will stick around for longer and hopefully make a purchase.
Improvements can be made via machine learning,
as many of today's leading website builders incorporate tech that adjusts and
promotes content according to the user's search behavior. Customers will see
images, ads, and popups that are tailored to them personally, and this form of ecommerce visual merchandising will encourage
them to interact more with your business.
Netflix users will understand this type of
machine learning, as the algorithms, the streaming giant uses push specific
content to its users. Many other businesses implement this technology, such as
Starbucks that recommends drinks customers are likely to enjoy via the machine
learning in the company's mobile app. So, apply how this technology could
benefit your website and business apps when promoting bespoke product
recommendations to your customers.
2.
Providing Better Customer Service
Through AI-Driven Chatbots
Image Source
Customer-serving chatbots are a constant on
most websites these days. Customers interact with them via the live chat
functionality on sites and get the answers they need almost immediately. This
vastly improves the level of customer service and cuts down on the wait time
that exists when interacting with human representatives.
As chatbots incorporate machine learning, they
can recommend products and services to web users, depending on the questions
they have asked. They can do this in real-time during live chat or after via
Facebook Messenger and similar comm tech. These AI-driven marvels collect
customer data too, so marketers can get a better insight into the buying
mindsets of existing and potential customers. Such advances can improve
business outcomes.
3.
Imparting Greater Understanding of
Customer Behaviour
When you better understand customer behavior
on your website, the more you can do to optimize your site according to their
needs. You will have the incentive to increase page load times, change content,
and come up with new digital signage solutions to better suit
customer spending habits. Analyzing customer activity patterns on your website
can be time-consuming and laborious (and also very complicated), but life can
be made easier with machine learning.
Machine learning can be used to identify and
predict user behavior. As we suggested earlier, changes to your website can
happen automatically if the right technologies have been implemented. You can
also gather the data gathered by the AI-powered tools on your website and use
it to alter and improve your website marketing efforts.
4.
Improving Influencer Marketing
Machine learning and natural language
processing (NLP) are making a difference to the way brands approach influencer
marketing. These technologies can help brands identify the right creators,
suggest the relevant content to these brand advocates, and predict and
calculate campaign ROI.
In an age when consumers are driven by the
word-of-mouth recommendations of the people they follow online, the machine-learning
tools that offer these capabilities shouldn't be overlooked. Such tools fall
within the brackets of social listening, social monitoring, and
promotion-optimization, and are useful for both brand marketers and brand
advocates alike.
5.
Optimizing Advertising
Marketers can generate affiliate traffic through paid online
advertising. Ads can be optimized according to particular demographics and this
encourages more clicks from interested consumers. However, finding ways to
deliver the right ad content to the right people is a complicated process so
there isn't always the ROI that marketers expect.
Thankfully, machine learning can ensure ads
deliver to expectations. The technology can be found within such advertising
platforms as Facebook Ads and Google Ads. Thanks to the AI-driven algorithms
these platforms use, marketers can find the right audience for their ads and
promote them when the expected user audience is most active.
This is because machine learning can predict
user interest and availability based on their online behavior, such as their
internet searches.
As such, marketers can expect a far better
ROI, as time won't be wasted targeting the wrong kinds of people. There is a
greater chance that their ads won't be overlooked by their target demographic
either.
6.
Boosting SEO
Image Source
SEO is the lynchpin for many digital marketing
practices. If marketers get it right, they can push their websites further up
Google's search pages. If they get it wrong, the opposite can become true.
Google itself uses machine learning to
determine where websites rank on their search pages. Their technology can spot
those businesses that use suspicious link-building tactics, for example, and
penalize them by lowering their website rankings.
Thankfully, business owners can also take
advantage of machine learning to improve SEO. They can use the online tools
that use this technology to find the best keywords for their content.
Such tools can also suggest which web pages
need to be better optimized for SEO, and data can be gathered to pinpoint
opportunities for link building. As many people now use voice search, marketers
can also use available tools to choose voice search-optimized keywords.
These tools include Ahrefs, SEMrush, Automator, and Moz. These are near-essential
for marketers looking to improve their SEO metrics and their marketing
campaigns, as higher rankings mean greater leverage over their competition.
They can also avoid common SEO mistakes, such as using the wrong keywords when
tailoring their content.
7.
Creating More Successful Email
Marketing Campaigns
Social media may be at the forefront of many
marketers' minds when appealing to their demographic, but email marketing still
has a place. However, it does still need to be relevant, as emails can be
deleted or end up in spam boxes if email users reject the marketing messages
that are coming through to them.
This is why marketers are always on the
lookout for quality marketing automation software. With the right tools at
their disposal, they can improve email content, determine the right
demographics, and use previous responses to determine the right time to deliver
emails.
With relevant content that drives customer
engagement and scheduled delivery times that increase the chances of a
click-through, businesses can benefit from a greater ROI. MailChimp and
Automizy are both examples of marketing software that incorporates machine
learning, and there are many other tools of their kind on the market.
8.
Improving Content Curation
Content is king! That's a phrase all marketers
will be familiar with, as they know the better their content is, the more
engaged their prospects will be. But where exactly does machine learning come
in?
Well, we have already provided the answer in
part because machine learning can be used to improve both email content and
tailor website content for SEO purposes.
Marketers will be interested in such
AI-powered software as Phrasee, for example, a copywriting tool that uses
machine learning to create better email subject lines. Content creation tools
along the lines of Frase.io are also useful, as such software uses machine
learning to help marketers create content with the keywords needed for SEO.
These are just two examples but there are many
other tools out there, including those that use machine learning to help
marketers curate the content their demographics will be interested in.
Final Word
As machine learning within software development advances, marketers will
benefit from the increasingly more advanced tools available to improve their
marketing efforts. Such tools will save their businesses from extinction, which
is a far cry from the beliefs of doomsayers who predict machine learning will
bring about destruction.
We haven't touched upon every capability of
machine learning here, but if you're a business owner, commit to further
research to learn more about its uses within your digital marketing approach.
##
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
Sam O' Brien -
Chief Marketing Officer, Affise
Sam O'Brien is the Chief Marketing Officer for Affise - a Global SaaS Partner Marketing Solution and one of the best traffic sources for affiliate marketing. He is a growth marketing
expert with a product management and design background. Sam has a passion for
innovation, growth, and marketing technology. Here is his LinkedIn.