With digital marketing constantly evolving, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of updates and trends. That is why, in Sunday Rundown #115, we have gathered the most important news from the digital marketing world to keep you informed.
Meta is developing business AIs to enhance transactional engagement
I remain unconvinced that people are going to care about Meta’s AI bots that seek to simulate engagement with real humans in its apps.
It tried this back in 2016, with Messenger Bots, which nobody cared about, and then it tried it again last year, with celebrity-styled AI-powered bots, which also nobody cared about, leading to their eventual demise.
But now, it is trying out bots built by creators and influencers that can replicate interactions, so that they can spend less time replying to rubbish conversations with fans and more time creating.
The problem is, that these people only have the status that they do because of those fans, and as such, diverting them to an AI chatbot, even one that replies in the style of conversation that they choose, feels like short-changing them. And that seems like a backwards step because no matter how realistic and convincing AI chatbots get, they won’t be real. So you’re selling a fantasy, in apps that have their foundations in actual human interaction and engagement.
It seems, in Meta’s eyes at least, that authenticity is out, in favour of simulated response, but I don’t think that Meta’s users are going to see things that way.
User-generated content strategy for boosting visibility and sales
In today’s digital age, user-generated content (UGC) has become a powerful tool for businesses to connect with their audience and build brand loyalty. It is a natural extension of influencer marketing. “The value of influencers is not just the amplification [of products and services], but also the sheer content creation,” says Neal Schaffer, a fractional CMO and author of The Age of Influence.
Incorporating UGC into your social media marketing strategy offers several advantages that can significantly impact your brand’s success and help ease you off the content hamster wheel. Studies show ads with UGC often work better than ads made by the company itself.
“There’s a lot of data that says that the average consumer actually wants more user-generated content,” Neal explains. “And when they see it on the website, they are immediately attracted to it, and they’ll start digging through it, and they want more and more.”
OpenAI launches SearchGPT, an AI-powered search prototype
OpenAI has announced the launch of SearchGPT, a prototype AI-powered search engine. This move marks the company’s entry into the competitive search market, potentially challenging established players.
SearchGPT aims to directly answer user queries by combining AI language models with real-time web information. Rather than offering a list of links, SearchGPT attempts to deliver concise responses with citations to source material.
The SearchGPT prototype includes:
- A conversational interface allowing follow-up questions
- Real-time information retrieval from web sources
- In-line attributions and links to original content
Bonus links
- Boost Your Skills: 10 Beginner-Friendly Free Marketing Courses on Coursera
- TPE #103: 50 PPC tasks for this Summer (2024 edition)
- TikTok SEO: 5 Tips to Own TikTok Search Results
Thank you for taking the time to read our Sunday Rundown #115. If you have a story that you want to see in this series, reply to us below or contact us.