How can brands use Conversational AI to be conversational on social?

The switch from traditional to online shopping sites has brought new tech into the spotlight, helping businesses get noticed and sell more. 

However, automating tasks for better outcomes is key so that manual effort can be put into other important work requiring critical thinking abilities. That’s where conversational AI comes in. 

Take social media ads, for instance. Conversational AI  can help businesses identify user sentiment and show what the audience prefers through targeted ads. 

But that’s not all. How many businesses can respond to audience queries on time when they show interest in a product or service? Conversational AI steps in here, too. Conversational AI chatbots can instantly answer user queries, making customers feel valued. 

And this is only the tip of the iceberg. As the size of the global chatbot market is expected to reach 1.25 billion USD in 2025, the capabilities of AI seem endless!

This blog highlights how the perfect amalgamation of social media marketing abilities and conversational AI for advertising can revolutionize online buying and selling. Read on to learn more. 

Social Media and Online Advertising Today

Social media is no longer about just sharing posts and updating stories. Brands these days are using an omnichannel approach to reach out to a larger section of their audience. This helps the brand’s reach to increase and attract new potential customers. 

However, with great power comes great responsibilities. Potential buyers tend to lose interest if they do not receive timely responses to their queries. With a broader range of audiences and their unique needs, brands should also be equipped to maintain constant communication with potential customers. 

For instance, a brand can make an engaging reel and post it on Instagram to reach out to the audience and connect with them better. At the same time, it should be prepared to attend to the high volume of inquiries via DMs. 

With conversational AI, brands can automate conversations and deliver personalized responses to each message. This helps to handle responses on time and improves the chances of conversion. 

Why Use Conversational AI for Social Media Advertising

On average, internet users worldwide spend 2 hours and 27 minutes on social media, making it a great platform for businesses to display their products and services. 

Using conversational AI for advertising has several benefits:

Your Audience Enjoys a Personalized Experience

Personalization is essential to stellar customer experience and impacts a customer’s decision-making process. 

Conversational AI can adapt to individual preferences and provide tailored recommendations to suit their needs. It assesses the behavioral data of users that can be derived through their online activities and searches. 

This adds a personalized touch to business-consumer interactions and makes them more genuine and human-like. 

You Save Time, Resources, and Effort

One of the key benefits of automation is that it helps save a lot of time, money, and human effort. The time thus saved can be used for other creative and problem-solving tasks that can enhance the productivity of the business. 

The language and voice-driven intelligence technology of conversational AI enables chatbots to send human-like replies to customer queries, that too 24/7. 

This kind of automation has helped IndusInd Bank extend a seamless banking experience to customers with the help of IndusAssist, a chat and voice bot. The virtual digital assistant lets customers get important information about account balance, recharges, transaction history, loan repayments, etc., in little or no time!

Surveys and Polls Give Better Insight into User Preferences

Data is vital for effective decision-making. This data is gathered through surveys and polls. However, using AI has helped increase survey response rates through engagement, personalization, and engagement. 

Personalization means creating questions that will suit the requirements of individual respondents, eliminating the scope for irrelevant questions, and enhancing accuracy and relevance. AI can also make surveys fun through the incorporation of gamified elements. 

AI also offers instant rewards and feedback, which motivates customers to complete the surveys promptly. The data thus gathered helps get actionable insights into user preferences.

Targeted Marketing Campaigns Drive Conversions

Every customer conversation with conversational AI generates a wealth of data. With this data, businesses can understand customer behavior and preferences in-depth and make decisions faster.

The data gathered is synthesized using NER (named entity recognition) and sentiment analysis technologies. Hence, marketers gain valuable insights and curate campaigns that resonate with the needs and preferences of the target audience. 

When users find advertisement campaigns that align with their requirements, it leads to better conversions and improved ROI. 

Take the example of a prominent Swiss luxury fashion brand and how it achieved higher conversions by understanding customer preferences with an AI-powered bot. The brand’s digital shopping assistant integrates across WhatsApp, Facebook, and other in-store channels, leading 8.5% of conversations to order placements. 

Better Accessibility and Availability with 24/7 Customer Support 

Having sales or marketing staff onboard 24/7 to answer users’ query messages is not feasible. With conversational AI, your chatbot will be active even when you are not. Conversational AI chatbots are always available to respond to the messages sent by the audience. 

When customer queries are answered immediately, it makes them feel valued and builds their loyalty towards the brand. Moreover, extending stellar customer support goes a long way in creating a good reputation for the business. 

Plus, incorporating conversational multilingual AI helps transcend language barriers, creating a win-win situation for businesses and consumers. 

Some Best Practices to Keep in Mind

With the help of best practices, businesses can make the optimum use of conversational AI technologies. Here’s how:

Balance Automation and Human Touch 

Conversational AI is a complementary tool to automate tasks but is not a standalone solution. 

Although conversational AI platforms can perform repetitive tasks automatically, businesses must ensure that conversations do not lose personal touch. Responses shouldn’t feel robotic, and conversations should retain context despite subject switches midway.

For instance, allowing customers to send voice queries within a text conversation and respond in real time with automated speech recognition can enrich interactions. Efforts should be made to use a commercial voice-over for social media, not a machine-generated voice lacking a personal touch. 

Stay Connected to Customers 

The motive of social media advertising should not be just to sell a product or service but to establish a long-term relationship. 

For instance, chatbots can send customers personalized special offers or even a simple, heartfelt post-order placement acknowledgment message. If a customer has completed a purchase, businesses should ask for reviews. All these efforts make customers feel valued and help build their brand loyalty. 

Understand User Intent

Users engaging with your brand website may be at different stages of the purchase journey. If someone is visiting your website for the first time, trying to learn something, and the chatbot pops up with a sales-oriented message, it ruins the impression. 

With features like sentiment analysis, conversational AI marketing lets you deliver the right messages at the proper phase of the purchase funnel. This personalized approach that considers the user’s mood and intention enhances the experience and increases the likelihood of conversions in tune with the purchase journey.

Conclusion

Integrating social media platforms and conversational AI for advertisement offers businesses a transformative opportunity for growth and building lasting customer relationships. Personalized experiences, streamlined communications, and 24/7 accessibility promote user engagement, making way for smooth and meaningful customer journeys.

Are you ready to take the next steps toward revolutionizing your social media marketing strategies? 

Partner with Gupshup — the #1 conversational engagement platform for marketing, commerce, and support. With a conversational AI platform powered by Gupshup, you can deliver the right message to the right person, focusing on customers most likely to connect, engage, and transact. 

Talk to an expert today!