Anyone that follows business-related news or thought leaders has heard of terms like “big data,” “artificial intelligence,” or “workflow automation.” But how can smaller organizations capitalize on these advances in technology? Our latest podcast aims to address just that by discussing the definitions of these popular terms, showing examples of how you may already be using AI without realizing it, and areas in your operations that could benefit from workflow automation through use of existing technology.
What are AI and Big Data?
It’s important to first make sure we are working with clear definitions of these two commonly-used terms. Both “artificial intelligence” and “big data” get mentioned so frequently that their true meanings can get lost. For the sake of this blog, we’ll be working with the following definitions:
Big Data
Big data has to do with the volume of information available. Advances in technology provide us with access to more data points on consumer behavior than at any other time in human history. The abundance of data makes it impossible for humans to analyze and cross reference every piece of information. The solution to this is the use of machines to expedite the process and help identify patterns so we can make better-informed decisions (see artificial intelligence below).
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the use of machines to analyze all of the information available (big data) and recognize patterns. These data points may be visual (like text or image) or audible (like voice recognition). Machines take the data they receive and cross reference it with all available information and try to identify patterns.
A very common example of AI pattern recognition is the personal assistant, like Siri or Alexa. These machines receive data (i.e. voice commands) and process them in a fraction to recognize patterns and provide suggestions based upon the information taken in. Your voice instructions are referenced against all available information to provide the best recommendations.
How are Small Businesses Using AI?
Automatic Social Media Posting
Consider the amount of time it takes to grow a social media brand. Larger enterprises dedicate individuals or sometimes teams to helping increase brand awareness on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and other platforms. How can small businesses keep up?
While the process of creating new content and developing your brand’s voice should always include a personal touch, the actual sharing and scheduling of posts can be largely or entirely replaced with the integration of cloud-based, AI-driven technology.
Managing Your Small Business’s Brand on Social Media with Artificial Intelligence
As your brand grows on social media, so too does the need to monitor your growing digital footprint. If Twitter, for example, is not your priority but customers have reached out to you on the platform looking for customer support, your brand equity takes a hit when inquiries go unattended. The aggrieved customers–and those that see the publicly-shared posts– may see you as unresponsive to concerns.
The tools now exist to perform a scan of Twitter and other platforms that report on any inquiries made while aggregating them in a single dashboard so you can see who’s in need of your help.
Try Business Influence Today
Work we’ve done for clients on projects like this includes the setup of Business Influence, our in-house solution to social media posting and crowd monitoring. The service schedules recurring automatic posts based on events and/or content shared by your business while also analyzing what customers are saying on a given platform and providing real-time notifications to key personnel plus a summary reports.
Schedule a free 30-minute meeting with our Team to learn how this works!
Understanding Your Audience
Our latest episode also discusses the need to understand your audience better. Insight reports can tell you who’s visiting your site, how they’re finding you online, and what that interaction looks like. These reports, which are generated by using tools provided by leaders in Big Data, like Google, give you deeper context that can help guide resource allocation, design decisions, branding, and more.
Learn How Search Engine Optimization Works
Information becomes intelligence when you and your team are able to zero in on the most important statistics for your business and begin making data-driven decisions that affect change. Getting reports on what your digital audience looks like represents a good first step, but developing a strategy to start improving the metrics recorded is an essential part of growing your company further.
Watch this episode of Business Intelligence to understand how to take actions that can improve your Google Search ranking:
Run Smarter Ad Campaigns
This is a form of artificial intelligence with which many business owners may already experimented. A very common type of digital advertising campaign that leverages artificial intelligence is the Google Smart Campaign.
Campaigns like these run on Google, Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms make use of artificial intelligence to help small businesses sift through the mounds of data to find their target audience and optimize campaigns for the best return on investment. This involves everything from analyzing your page content to suggest keywords (Google) to suggesting audiences based on who’s interacted most with your social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, etc.).
Not Sure Where to Begin with Running Ad Campaigns? Schedule a 15-Minute Call with Us Today
