Simple Steps To Stop You Stressing About The Role Of AI In Your Social Media Strategy

As it stands, roughly 78% of companies utilize AI within their processes to some extent, and experts predict that number will skyrocket in the coming years. Common AI uses in the business world include customer service bots, analysis tools, and AI that tackles everyday back-office processes. But, did you know that many companies have also got their eye on the benefits of implementing AI into their social media strategies?

Considering that the majority of brands spend between 1-3 hours on social media daily, the ability to simplify and speed up this all-important business process with AI holds undeniable appeal. But, many brands are also left wondering whether AI is such a great idea after all, considering these platforms are supposed to be built on social and inter-personal connections.

In truth, it’s all too easy to slip up when slipping AI into your social strategy. But there are plenty of ways that you can make this work without compromising on social media’s social benefits. Keep on reading to find out what they are.

# 1 – Know That AI Can (and Possibly Should) Stay in the Background

There are now an increasing number of ways for brands to use AI across their business socials, but you’re guaranteed to annoy consumers if you suddenly hand all of your accounts over to the land of bots.

To avoid this and still enjoy the benefits of AI, it might be worth keeping AI integrations for your back-of-house processes only. After all, a lot of what you do on social media is entirely invisible to your customers, and this is what AI stands to help you with the most.

Just a few back-house uses for AI in social media include –

• Analysis: Social media analysis is a vital tool as old as…well, social media itself. And, guess what? It’s a whole lot easier when you bring AI analysis tools like Hootsuite Insights into the mix, as these highlight everything from social ROI to audience interests and more. Tools like Crayon and Sprinklr are even on hand to analyze your competitor’s content and interactions, keeping you forever at the top of your game.
• Influencer targeting: Many brands now use AI tools like Upfluence to find the ideal social media influencers for each campaign, ensuring great matches based on audience, interest, and brand values.
• Social listening: Social listening ensures that brands can keep on top of what people are saying about their products or services online, and it’s a whole lot easier on social media with AI tools like Talkwalker, which can keep an eye out for everything from brand mentions to conversation sentiments and more.

# 2 – Don’t try to keep AI Hidden

Trust is a huge part of social media success for all businesses, meaning that if you’re using AI in any capacity, you need to come out and say it. This is true even if AI is fully tucked into the background, as it ensures that you’re always honest about how you’re using social data.

This transparency becomes even more vital if you’re using admittedly useful customer-facing AI integrations, such as automated replies to messages or comments. These undeniably have their use, but, if you aren’t upfront, customers who thought they were talking to a real person will inevitably feel cheated. And, don’t think you can simply use AI and escape notice – AI replies tend to come with some pretty telltale signs in terms of language used, and it’s easy enough to identify an AI-generated reply with a trusted AI detector.

Clear disclaimers are all you need to get around this, and you can place them in the small print on your bio, or else in the description section on any relevant grid posts. That way, customers are more likely to appreciate the help AI replies and so on can offer, rather than begrudging hidden AI processes.

# 3 – Keep Some Degree of Human Oversight

AI might be useful on social media as it is elsewhere, but it shouldn’t form the bulk of what you have to offer on these platforms. After all, these are still social arenas, and that means making sure that your accounts are fundamentally under human management.

Remember that AI should only ever serve as an additional benefit, even when it comes to things like analysis and automated replies. You still need a very real human team going over things, fact-checking, and generally ensuring the best social accounts possible.

This is especially vital given that AI hallucinations and misinformation can pose significant problems for companies. When left unchecked, even fully trained AI could slip into making unfounded claims about your products, or generally getting its facts wrong. None of which is going to make your followers very happy without a human on hand to put things right.

# 4 – Implement AI With Mutual Efficiency in Mind

It’s also worth noting that AI on social media shouldn’t be in place solely for your benefit. This is business, after all, and your company really isn’t the most important thing in the picture. Rather, you want to make sure that every single instance of AI on social media is helping to improve efficiency for everyone involved, especially your customers.

Even when using AI tools for purposes such as analysis, make sure that you’re driving those insights for practical customer gains, such as targeting your content more specifically to what customers like, or fully analyzing customer feedback you’d never get through yourself.

Equally, make sure that things like AI assistance and replies are driving customers towards, rather than away from, the solutions and ultimate connections they came to your social profile to find.

Conclusion

AI and social media can undeniably be a sticky company issue, but there are some stress-free ways to get this pairing just right. Human-led honesty and a genuine wish to improve follower experiences are all guaranteed to get customers on board. Then, you can get to work with significant enhancements across your brand’s social persona, without risking the lost custom that you might face otherwise.