Will AI Make Digital Marketers' Jobs Obsolete?

We all know that AI (artificial intelligence) developments are changing the way we live and work, and some industries are miles ahead of the curve when it comes to implementing AI practices into their workflows.

But what about the world of digital marketing? 

AI is designed to make life easier, offering customized experiences that identify users' needs and meet them. All of the above also happens to come under the job description of a digital marketer. Implementing AI into digital marketing practices allows companies to understand consumer preferences like never before whilst also helping to save time and money when it comes to tasks that can often end up being the most lengthy and expensive.

In short; AI has the potential to transform the world of digital marketing. 

What parts of digital marketing will benefit from automation? 

Customer Research

AI has the ability to transform the way you understand your customer’s needs, tastes, and activities. Analyzing customer data and behavior allows brands to personalize their user experience, but sifting through reams of data is an extensive and laborious job. AI can perform data analysis on a much grander scale than a single data analyst, offering more extensive and accurate conclusions from larger and more complex data pools. 

This extensive data analysis is invaluable for companies. Understanding how their consumers behave and predicting exactly what they need is key to converting idle users into engaged consumers. 

Personalization 

At present, digital marketers and data analysts will take the insights they gain from their customer data in order to craft a bespoke user experience. Whilst it may seem like every customer has their own personalized experience, in reality, this would be impossible for your average digital marketer to achieve. Predicting the behavior of every single customer would be a task beyond human limitations and instead customers are targeted via groups and demographics.

The introduction of AI into marketing personalization allows brands to appeal directly to the individual. From personalized product recommendations to suggesting songs or videos based on previous behavior, brands are able to offer a personalized targeting campaign strategy to almost every individual customer. 

When it comes to marketing and sales tactics, not every customer will respond to every piece of marketing communication in the same way. AI will allow brands to personalize their content marketing en masse, ensuring that they are targeting individuals in the right manner, helping to save both time and money by avoiding inefficient marketing strategies. 

Email marketing 

As AI progresses, digital marketers will also be able to make use of it for more in-depth processes and key marketing activity. Email marketing has been a mainstay of digital marketing strategies for years. The platforms are cost-effective and give companies a direct line into their customer’s inboxes. AI systems allow email campaigns to be set up and fed into consumers’ inboxes with little monitoring or man-hours required. An AI-powered email marketing campaign enables digital marketers to use customer data already captured and analyzed to drip-feed emails that reflect the customer’s needs, tailored to whatever stage of the buying journey they are at. 

An AI-powered system also takes the guesswork out of deciding what writing style, images, and content particular customers are likely to react well to, as well as determining the right times and volume of emails to send based on their previous online activity. 

Chatbots

AI-powered chatbots are easier to use than ever and are uniquely positioned to transform a company's customer service offering. AI chatbots are able to service multiple customers at the same time, whilst still offering each individual customer a high-quality service. Unlike humans, AI chatbots don’t require time off or sleep, meaning they can offer 24/7 support and availability across different time zones. 

Brands are able to introduce AI chatbots across various platforms too, not just their own websites. WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter can all be optimized with an AI-powered chatbot to ensure quick, professional, and appropriate responses to customer queries.

Social media

Social media marketing is an essential strand of digital marketing strategies in 2021. It’s no longer just about posting company updates and monitoring replies. Brands are optimizing social media for video, eCommerce. and customer relationships like never before. 

Integrating AI into social media workflows can help to remove time spent on laborious tasks, giving social media experts more opportunity to be creative without being weighed down by data and busy work. 

Social AI can help to identify trending topics and common customer queries as well as offering data and analysis of social media engagement and statistics. Optimized posting schedules can ensure that posts have their intended effect and reach whilst AI-sourced data can help to hone the targeting of social media ad campaigns. 

Social listening is a tactic used by digital marketers worldwide to understand what their audience is saying about their brand.

But this is a lengthy process.

AI systems can take over this, offering invaluable insights into brand perception to help form future sales and marketing strategies. Using AI within social media offers insights and activity that will help to give brands a competitive advantage against their competition. In fact, AI in social media marketing is projected to grow from USD 0.6 billion in 2018 to USD 2.2 billion by 2023, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 28.3%.

What does AI mean for digital marketing jobs? 

With AI now offering automation for many everyday marketing tasks, marketers may well be worried at the prospect of their jobs becoming obsolete. Can a human with limited hours in the day really compete with a robot with seemingly no time constraints? 

The answer is yes: if you can learn to adapt. Whilst AI can and will take over a lot of mundane and time-consuming tasks, there will always be a requirement for real human minds and interaction, especially in traditionally creative fields like digital marketing. A robot or machine is no match for the human brain when it comes to leadership, empathy, inspiration, and creativity. 

The most important thing that digital marketers can do is embrace AI now. Get to grips with new systems and platforms and upskill yourself in these areas. AI has the potential to transform the everyday lives of digital marketers, freeing up time and energy to spend on more creative and human-centric tasks.

AI is a digital marketer’s friend, not foe.