L15: Evaluating the future of SMM and the use of AI

Question 1

What is AI?

Answer 1

Artificial intelligence is the capability of a computer system to mimic human cognitive functions such as learning and problem-solving. Through AI, a computer system uses math and logic to simulate the reasoning that people use to learn from new information and make decisions.

Question 2

What is ML?

Answer 2

Machine learning is an application of AI. It’s the process of using mathematical models of data to help a computer learn without direct instruction. This enables a computer system to continue learning and improving on its own, based on experience.

Question 3

What is Deep Learning?

Answer 3

Deep learning is a subset of machine learning, which is essentially a neural network with three or more layers. These neural networks attempt to simulate the behavior of the human brain—albeit far from matching its ability—allowing it to “learn” from large amounts of data

Question 4

AI AND STRATEGIC MARKETING DECISIONS

Multiple intelligences of AI for different tasks:

Answer 4

Marketing Action

Marketing Research

Marketing Strategy

Question 5

Three types of AI:

Mechanical AI

Thinking AI

Feeling AI

Answer 5

· Mechanical AI is designed for automating repetitive and routine tasks  good for standardization

· Thinking AI is designed for processing data to arrive at new conclusions or decisions  good for individualizing

Feeling AI is designed for two-way interactions involving humans, and/or for analyzing human feelings and emotions  good for personalizing relationships

Question 6

AI FOR MARKETING RESEARCH

Answer 6

· Mechanical AI (Data Collection): Helps companies to automate data collection about costumer, competitors, and the market for repetitive, routine, high volume of data.

· Thinking AI (Market Analysis): identify competitors in a welldefined market or outside options in a new market, derive insights for a product’s competitive advantages. E.g., predictive analytics to predict volatile market trends and customers’ heterogeneous preferences.

Feeling AI (Customer Understanding): to understand existing and potential customer needs and wants, for example, who they are, what they want, and what their current solutions are. Involves emotional data about customer sentiments, feelings, preferences, and attitudes

Question 7

AI FOR MARKETING STRATEGY

Answer 7

AI FOR MARKETING STRATEGY
· Mechanical AI (Segmentation) - Slice the market into pieces:
o various mining and grouping techniques, have the strength of identifying novel patterns from data. Very flexible in determining size of segments

· Thinking AI (Targeting) - Choose the right segments to focus on:
o choosing the right segment requires domain knowledge, judgement, and intuition. Recommendation engines and predictive modelling can recommend various potential targets for marketing managers’ final verdict..

· Feeling AI (Positioning) - Finding a competitively advantageous position for the product in customers’ minds:
is more about speaking to customers’ hearts, Feeling AI, such as feeling analytics, can help to develop compelling slogans.

Question 8

AI FOR MARKETING ACTION (COMMUNICATION)

Answer 8

· Mechanical AI (Standardization):
o Automating various repetitive, routine, and data intensive functions of promotion
§ For example, automating advertising media planning, scheduling, and buying; key- words researching, automating social media posting.

· Thinking AI (Personalization):
o Content creation and personalization. For example, AI content writers can facilitate the generation of ad or post content. Content can be personalized and optimized to different customer profiles at different locations and different times.

· Feeling AI Relationalization:
can be used to track real-time customer response to promotional messages (like, dislike, disgusted, funny, etc.) and then adjust what to deliver and what to emphasize in both media and content

Question 9

Current limitations of AI

Answer 9

1. Mechanical AI:
   Non-contextual data, Machine to machine interaction
2. Thinking AI:
   Opaque AI, AI biases
3. Feeling AI
   Technology unreadiness, Customer unreadiness

Question 10

Ethical considerations of using AI:

TRANSPARENCY VS. TRUST

Answer 10

Problem of transparency (e.g., GDPR): Unrealistic that consumer understand what data is being collected and what is happening to it

Trust becomes an important part of treating data respectfully, securely, and solely for the purpose of serving the customer better

Inclusive approach to ethics training, security protocols, and data handling should be on every organization’s radar  training for employees

Question 11

Ethical considerations of using AI:

HIGH TECH IS WATCHING YOU

Answer 11

Surveillance economy = “the unilateral claiming of private human experience as free raw material for translation into behavioral data.

These data are then computed and packaged as prediction products and sold into behavioral futures markets — business customers with a commercial interest in knowing what we will do now, soon, and later.”

Question 12

Algorithmic biases

Answer 12

1. The lack of diversity in programming communities may be reflected in how algorithms are written and deployed.
2. Algorithms may be trained with data sets that themselves reflect existing biases.

–> Data is not neutral

Question 13

The future of AI

Answer 13

1. Immediate future
   - Omni social presence
   - The rise of new forms of social influence (and influencers)
   - Privacy concerns
2. The near future
   - Combatting loneliness and isolation
   - Integrated customer care
   - Social media as a political tool
3. The far future
   - Inceased sensory richness
   - Online/offline integration and complete convergence
   - Social media by non-humans

Question 14

SOCIAL MEDIA AT PRESENT

Platforms…

Answer 14

Platforms: that provide the underlying technologies and business models making up the industry and ecosystem. Dominant business model has involved monetization of users (audiences) by offering advertising services to anyone wishing to reach those audiences with digital content and marketing communications.

Question 15

SOCIAL MEDIA AT PRESENT

Use cases…

Answer 15

2. Use cases: How various kinds of people and organizations are using these technologies and for what purposes.a. digitally communicating and socializing with known others, such as family and friends,
   b. doing the same but with unknown others but who share common interests,
   c. accessing and contributing to digital content such as news, gossip, and usergenerated product reviews.

Expand our perspective beyond the narrow communicative aspects  consider how consumers might use it.

Question 16

SOCIAL MEDIA AT PRESENT

Social media is always changing

Answer 16

constant innovation on technology side and the user/consumer side

Question 17

THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE OMNI SOCIAL PRESENCE

Answer 17

· Social media pervasive and ubiquitous—and perhaps even omnipotent—and has extended the ecosystem beyond dedicated platforms
o intersects with most aspects of consumes lives through digitally enabled social interactivity.
o augmented their platforms to provide a broader array of functionalities and services.

Virtually every part of a consumer’s decision-making process is prone to social media influence  customer journey

Social media appears to be shaping culture itself

Question 18

THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE- THE RISE OF NEW FORMS OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE (AND INFLUENCERS)

Answer 18

Influencer marketing on social media has a lot of potential to develop further as an industry.

Brands will continue to capitalize on the popularity and success not only on celebrities, but also of micro-influencers

Micro-influencers = not as well-known as celebrities, but have strong and enthusiastic followings
- More trustworthy and authentic
- Allows the brand via first person narration (compared to ads) –> warmer, more personal, more effective in engaging

Question 19

THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE – PRIVACY CONCERNS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Answer 19

Trade-off between personalization and privacy:
consumers have high personalization expectations BUT many would rather not share data and privacy

Brands and social media platforms should advocate for privacy, trust, and the removal of fake/hateful content  important for engagement .

New ways are explored for solving this trade off: e.g., fully homomorphic encryption

Question 20

THE NEAR FUTURE – COMBATTING LONELINESS AND ISOLATION

Answer 20

Loneliness and isolation are on the rise: Over the last fifty years in the U.S., loneliness and isolation rates have doubled, with Generation Z considered to be the loneliest generation

Mixed research: Some research shows that social media negatively impacts consumer well-being. Others show that social media can benefit individuals

Future discussion: Quality of use (versus quantity), screen limits, new ways to create friend suggestions between individuals

Question 21

THE NEAR FUTURE- INTEGRATED CUSTOMER CARE

Answer 21

Customers will be able to engage with firm anywhere and anytime, and solutions to customers’ problems will be more accessible, immediate, and predictive (i.e., before a customer even notices an issue or has a question pop into their mind).  “invisible CRM”

New platforms to make the connection between customer and firm effortless and personalized (e.g., via instant messaging/AI-driven
Chatbots such as contact business features in Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp)

Companies will greatly improve (anonymized) data collection and analysis

“Seamless customer service”: Companies will be able recognize early indications of problems within customer chatter, behavior, or even physiological data before customers themselves even realize they are experiencing a problem.

Question 22

THE NEAR FUTURE – SOCIAL MEDIA AS POLITICAL TOOL

Answer 22

· Social media is transitioning to take a much larger role as a political tool
· Ethical concerns about using social media for political purposes:
o people choose who to follow  echo chambers, wherein, users are exposed only to ideas by like-minded people,
o Customized newsfeeds can exacerbate this problem
o Fake news might be difficult to correct, especially if correction is not issued immediately
Challenge for policy makers and social media platforms to fight fake news without censoring free speech.

Question 23

THE FAR FUTURE - INCREASED SENSORY RICHNESS

Answer 23

· the future of social media is likely to look much more visually augmented
· Virtual reality (VR) immerses the user in other places, and this technology is also likely to increasingly permeate social media interactions.
· social media might literally feel different in the future.
o more audible
haptic feedback

Question 24

THE FAR FUTURE – ONLINE/OFFLINE INTEGRATION AND COMPLETE CONVERGENCE

Answer 24

· Integration of online and offline efforts (i.e., an omnichannel approach)  blurring the lines between offline and online will completely change the way customers and companies interact, and the way social media influences consumer behavior not only online, but offline.
Sense of a digital self: How consumers may be re-embodied through avatars they create to represent themselves online, influencing their offline selves and creating a multiplicity of selves (i.e., consumers have more choice when it comes to their self-representation).

Question 25

THE FAR FUTURE – SOCIAL-MEDIA BY NONHUMANS

Answer 25

· Social bots (computer algorithms that automatically produce content and interact with social media users) have become increasingly pervasive  up to 15% of active Twitter accounts are bots
o While some of these bots are said to be useful (e.g., acting as information aggregators), they have also been shown to disrupt political discourse and spread misinformation
o act as fake followers it can inflate the worth of influencers’ audiences
Virtual influencers seem to be garnering sizeable audiences, despite the fact they are clearly non-human