This Is How Artificial Intelligence Is Revolutionizing Influencer Marketing
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to change the business world significantly. The International Data Corporation (IDC) notes that industries are expected to shell out as much as $110 billion by 2024 on AI. Monetary investment in AI already hits close to the $50 billion dollar mark. But what do businesses get out of this investment? Is there any positive change in how those companies interact with their consumers as a result? One of the newest ways to use AI is to help companies identify viable influencer-marketing channels. Before we see how AI changed the influencer-marketing game, we must first examine how widespread influencer marketing is today.
Sprout Social defines influencer marketing as a social-media channel that leverages a popular personality’s audience on a particular platform. In the early days of the influencer-marketing craze, businesses had very little to go on. They’d look at which users had the most followers and pitch them to promote products. As social media grew, businesses became wiser about who they partnered with. The choice of an influencer could reflect poorly on the company if the influencer found himself or herself involved in a scandal.
Businesses have now realized how powerful influencer marketing can be. With the entire world having to deal with social distancing in 2020 and part of 2021 so far, influencers are some of the most consistent marketing tools brands can utilize. Unfortunately, it’s more complex than just finding a user with the most followers anymore. Influencers primarily operate within the niches of beauty, fashion and food. Lifestyle marketing is how those influencers make an impact on their audience. They sell people the idea of a great life. Unfortunately, finding the right influencer for a brand means delving into that influencer’s posts and his or her followers’ engagement. For a human, that could take hours on any social-media platform.
Marketers have gotten used to rolling dice. Much of the early days of marketing were random. However, as advanced, we saw more targeted marketing to remove the random element. The same thought process is behind the use of AI to pinpoint marketers that fit particular brands. Artificial intelligence is an iterative technology. At the start, it will take a while to figure out what works and what doesn’t. However, with each new project it takes on, it learns from its mistakes. Like a professional in a field that can cut down his or her working time to a fraction of that of a newcomer, AI can do the same when compared to the average human being. What’s more, the AI engine can cross-reference several dozen metrics across the follower count effortlessly. Data that would fill multiple spreadsheets can be crunched down and simplified to a recommendation or a suggestion to move on.
The question of follower count is contentious. While some marketers look at it as a guide, others realize how prevalent the sale of follower accounts is. Follower numbers may be inflated, but engagement still can’t be faked to any significant degree.
