Is the start of AI taking our future jobs?

Artificial intelligence is the creation of intelligent machines that work to react like humans do, examples of this include apple’s Siri or Tesla’s self driving cars and it is undoubtably revolutionising industries.

There is a huge potential for AI to boost digital marketing, some examples of areas which we are already starting to see a impact are;

Personalising the user experience, we have seen AI shifting into this area in the form of chat bots which are enhancing the users experience trying to create a way that makes the customer feel that they’re talking to a real person. Additionally we are seeing the rise of augmented reality, where it gives the customer the ability to perceive the product before purchase.

Thanks to AI we are seeing the use of image recognition, where it is possible to identify detailed descriptions of images and use this to recognise and identify different faces and emotions. Enabling marketers to extract consumers patterns, behaviours and needs from huge data bases of images.

Does this come with implications or opportunities for markets?

From this we can see AI is creating an industry with higher productivity and increased customer experience.

If robots are taking over certain marketers tasks what does it mean for jobs?

I think AI means roles of marketers will evolve into something new not be lost. The world will still need certain human aspects and traits involved in the way we market that AI will not be able to provide anytime soon.

 

 

 

Image source: Google images

 

The earned media stratgy

Earned media is essentially the media exposure you have earned through “word of mouth”. But how exactly does a businesses create  earned media for themselves, surly it is not easier said then done.

From what I have noticed it is about creating amazing and unique content that stands out from your competitors, implementing SEO strategies, and how the brand delivers its customer experience. From that you gain earned media through press, reviews, reposts ect.

With 83% of people trusting recommendations from people they know, today brands are still missing massive opportunities through earned media. A lot of brands forget the more authentic interactions with customers, exposing their content through individuals who aren’t just paid to do so.

“if your brand has a high earned media value, this indicates that your owned and paid media efforts are successful and you were able to create awareness around your brand.”

How do brands do this?

According to Forbes its about weaving earned media into the customer experience and enhancing consumers  emotional appeal people have for a brand, and thereby influencing their behaviours and buying decisions.

Since most earned media happens digitally brands can utilise this this by tracking the advertisements and the earned media content seen by the consumers. From this they can use that to learn about the consumers such as the demographics and behaviours.

However, with a earned media  also comes with many risks, how controllable is earned media?

 

 

 

 

Picture source: google images

 

Do you agree with Forbes 2018 digital marketing trends?

Last year Forbes released their 2018 predictions based off Forbes’s 15 agency council  members.  Some of their predictions of shifts I found interesting;

Firstly, they see the collapsing of the influencer markets. According to them brands are spending huge amounts of money on influencers however not seeing the results they could get from other marketing strategies. They believe that the market will collapse as brands “zero in” in a few select individuals and move away from the many high cost middle tier influencers. I question if there has been a recent noticeable slow down in this?

Secondly the rise of voice marketing, according to google 20% of its mobile queries are voice searches with this number is expected to rise. While Google home has only recently been available in Australia, it will likely develop further adoption of voice marketing.  According to this article by 2020 half of all searches will be voice searches. I myself have never actually used the voice search options and have not seen it being used a lot in Australia.

And lastly the growth of targeted ads, Forbes predicted that ads will become singularly purposed in nature. With this, they saw a growth  of mobile ad platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and snapchat. Although we have seen a huge rise in this, it has also come with controversy due to the recent data breaches. I suppose a question for marketers and the trends in which they wish to follow are if the benefits of targeted ads outweigh any risks of mass data collections involved.

Has Forbes got it right?

 

 

 

 

Image source: Google images

What you need to know about WeChat

Having grown up as an expat from Hong Kong I have become exposed and interested in the app WeChat. WeChat can do pretty much anything from games, payment, chat, calls, order food and even make a doctors appointment.

“It touches everything from consumers communicating with their nearest and dearest, to sharing their most special moments, to buying everything from cinema tickets to taxi rides.” – Business insider .

With WeChat having over 1 billion monthly users with 1 million of them being in Australia. It has become a major platform for brands digital marketing strategy. According to this article it has become the most important social media channels for luxury brand to reach its Chinese consumers.

I couldn’t help but think how much this differs from how we digital market in Australia. The Chinese market being such a dominated market should we start adopting similar marketing strategies to reach them?

According to this statistic approximately 1.2 million Chinese tourist visit Australia every year and spend the highest amount of any visiting nationality while they stay.

How are the Australian businesses marketing to the Chinese market, since China has so many restrictions with their censorship internet policies. Is there more strategies that the businesses can adopt to successfully reach the Chinese which will lead to a significant increase in profits.

Do you think more business will adopt platforms like WeChat in their digital marketing strategy?

 

 

 

 

Image source: google images

 

 

 

 

 

The future of Facebook for marketing

I am sure we have all been seeing the large amount of discussion recently involving Facebook data and privacy. Due to these issues facebook has been forced to change its polices regarding third party data.  Now Facebook users will be asked to make choices about whether or not they want the company to use data to show them ads.

In today’s social media and marketing world I have seen the power of third party data. Marketing land article  questions whether or not the removal of third party sources is a smart move or a short term mistake which has left the industry in discussion if advertising will suffer.

Acxiom a large company that uses Facebook data to help targeted marketing has been hit the hardest loosing a third of its value after the announcement with the company’s shares falling 31%.

What does this mean for the digital marketing world?

Many advertisers are threatening to leave Facebook due to this scandal. However this article explains that as long as Facebook continues to deliver results the major advertisers are not going anywhere, brands think Facebook ads work.

What do you think the next steps for Facebook and marketing are?

 

Image source: google images

 

The rise of virtual celebrities

 

Have you ever wondered if a model on social media that you have seen may actually be digitally created?

Back in April last year saw a global hunt for a model that went by the name Shudu on Instagram, who was described as being “stunningly beautiful” and caught the attention of many instagram influencers and followers.

However it was soon realised Shudu was actually a computer generated creation by an artist.  According to this article by the BBC Shudu is the worlds first digital supermodel. Since then there has been a rise in virtual influencers used to market products via social media.

But what does this mean for digital marketing?

Despite Shudu being firstly created with the intentions of art, it has enabled brands to market there products in a whole new dimension. one example of this was Rihanna posting of picture of Shadu wearing a lipstick from her make-up line.

A quote by the CEO of TheAmplify in which I found really interesting was that “If you think about social media, Instagram isn’t you. It’s just a digital version of you – one that shows photographs, sometimes videos, and comments on specific things.”

So if this is the case then why does it matter if its virtual or real?

I suppose this kind of marketing would depend on the product and its audience. There are some products which I think need to be marketed to have that human aspect where it may be hard to replicate virtually.

What sort of problems do you think the rise of virtual people in digital marketing will create?

Picture source: http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20180402-the-fascinating-world-of-instagrams-virtual-celebrities

 

 

 

Why is Instagram becoming so fake?

I am extremely guilty of the everyday procrastination insta scroll…

However I am becoming more and more disappointed with Instagram and what it is becoming. With the constant rise of everyday people becoming influences who get paid to promote all these different products, makes me question if I really believe in what they are trying to sell.

Since the apps launch back in 2010, there has been a number of cases were it has been accused of encouraging fakery. An article by the Financial review that really caught my attention was about an Instagrammer Carolyn Strich’s fake trip to Disneyland. The influencer posted a picture to her hundreds of thousands followers of what looked like she was in Disneyland but a matter of fact she was just back in her garden in the UK with the help of photoshop.

Carolyn wrote in her blog “I wanted my fictional narrative to challenge the way I portray myself online and the effects of this portrayal,” and that she had also faked other pictures in the past.

Unfortunately this is one of many examples of social media becoming a platform that is built on making your life look a lot better then it really is. Today making the distinction of what is real and what is fake is becoming a lot harder.

I think it is our responsibility to make social media a healthier place.

What do you use Instagram for?

Photo: Carolyn Stritch/@theslowtraveler

 

 

 

 

 

How do we balance digital marketing with our interpersonal connections?

 

According to Forbes the  marketing communication technology that is rapidly advancing has  driven a separation between an individual and interpersonal relationships.

I recently undertook an internship where a lot of the marketing involved sending out email blasts to their clients to try sell the different high end products. Although this technology means a faster  and more efficient way of reaching out to clients I begin to think of how impersonal this form of communication was to their clients and how are relationships built.

A different side of this  argument is an article that looks at how digital marketing can actually teach us about interpersonal communications, more specifically how to listen, speak, understands needs and react accordingly.

What exactly do they mean by this?

The article emphasises the fact that, firstly Twitter helps us be concise communicators due twitters limit of 140 characters per post. Today all you need to do in add a few key words and hashtags and you have a message across to your audience.

Secondly, Facebook teaches the importance of discretion in our communication. This means that people have learnt that what gets said over the internet  stays there and thus we need to be careful in how the audience perceives our messages. When marketers market a business the audience is always watching the behaviour of the content and different people will interpret it in different ways.

I think it is important that marketers still emphasis the balance in maintaining personalised interpersonal relationships.

 

 

 

 

 

Is digital marketing actually benefiting the music industry?

Do you still remember the days where you would have to go to a store and buy a CD and play it in a CD player?

Not only has digital marketing changed the way we as listeners can access music, it has also benefited artist. Artist trying to get their break no longer need to be signed to a record label, but can use digital marketing as a tool to get their music out there.

This article Suggests that as the music industry being so highly competitive, without artist adapting to the changing ways of digital marketing, they will fall behind. The article elaborates to say that although talent and high quality still remains important, it’s the way in which it is marketed that will help it go from a few 1000 views to millions.

With Spotify being a major player in the market and the largest paying subscribers than any other streaming service, according to this article. It is a model based on getting companies and record labels for streaming for large sums of money.

In my opinion a more authentic approach is the Boiler Room. Today you don’t even need to be at the club to watch a live set of a DJ. The boiler room identifies itself as “music tv for the internet age”. It showcases up and coming musicians that is live streamed and uploaded for free on Facebook and Youtube. Like said in this article the boiler room focuses on authenticity means that could never turn into anything like Spotify.

“Boiler room is about giving a platform to some artists that don’t get played out, and giving them as much attention as the big names.” Says Osho Frasnkland marketing executive of the Boiler Room.

Do you think the way an artist utilises digital marketing can make or break them?

Is this having an effect on authenticity of the music?

Would you pay your friends in cryptocurrency?

How many times have you seen a product posted on social media and bought it?

did you receive a digital currency reward for trying it?

2017 saw a rise in the use of cryptocurrency world wide. This article suggests that due to the fast growing trend, marketers have come to realise the potential it can bring. This has led to big brands using cryptocurrency in marketing campaigns or using digital currency.

As I begin to break the surface of the stereotypical meaning of digital marketing I have come to the realisation that there is no clear definition of what digital marketing is, and that is it made up of continuous involvement in current trends.

So who are these companies you ask?

A company that has caught my attention goes by the name Friendz. Friendz provides services in the field of digital marketing. They have taken a different approach to how they connect with their audience whereby they target their market based on communication with peers that being your “Friendz”. By creating a Friendz coin tool that is used by brands to connect to their audience.

The Co-founder Alessandro Candoni describes it as “The idea that was born from the understanding that people were already posting advertising contents on their social network profiles. but nobody has ever thought to reward them for their activity”.

To be honest, it makes sense, according to this article todays users spend most of their time on social networks watching content created and shared by the people they know. Friendz is combining the traditional method of word of mouth in a revolutionised and digital way.

What do you think about cryptocurrency in the digital marketing world?

Will more brands will jump onto the cryptocurrency bandwagon? is this a positive trend?