How has AI impacted businesses and society?
As time goes on more and more tools using artificial intelligence have popped up in the media.
AI tools have also started to be implemented in businesses all around the globe. But how has this really impacted the success of new and established businesses? And, what are the risks and benefits for businesses with AI as well as society?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used to improve businesses in multiple ways. An important aspect of a business is knowing how the business is going currently by analyzing the data collected. This has for a long time been done manually but can now be done by using AI and therefore replace the needs for roles in a company like data analysts. Analyzing data is of such importance to a company because it helps in identifying market trends before they have occurred fully, as well as can help in establishing your target group.
Establishing your target group is something every company has to do in order to achieve the best results as this is one of the most important factors when it comes to marketing. For example, when creating a Facebook ad campaign you get asked for age, gender, interests, location, and many more questions related to your target group. The more precise answers you give in this phase will determine how successful your ad campaign is as it will have a drastic impact on the ROI of the campaign.
Using AI to analyze a company’s data to find its target group and create effective marketing campaigns can also be a key factor in replacing the need for social media marketing agencies. Companies in this space are usually referred to as SMMA companies which stands for social media marketing agencies, and tend to charge somewhere between 500–5 000€ / month for their marketing services as stated by planable. This can be a rather hefty expense for newly established businesses and reducing this by using AI can therefore save companies a ton of money.
The downside with this is that the companies offering these services will have a much harder time getting clients and might even get completely wiped out in the future.
Copywriting and journalism are also something very important to most businesses. Written content can help companies by informing their customers about the products and services they offer as well as building brand loyalty. A lot of companies also use copywriters to write email marketing letters to upsell their current customers. According to a roundup of customer stats by Invesp, it’s 60–70% more likely for a company to sell products to an existing customer compared to a new customer. This shows the high ROI on working towards upselling current customers compared to just marketing towards cold ones using for example Facebook, IG, YouTube, or TikTok ads.
Chatbots and virtual assistance. AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can provide 24/7 customer support, answer frequently asked questions, and assist with purchasing decisions. This enhances the customer experience and can lead to increased sales. As stated on Glassdoor an average chat support agent makes over 40 000 USD yearly which can be saved by the company as well by implementing AI. Another key factor is a person usually works somewhere between 8–10 hours per day meaning that to offer 24/7 support you have to have 3 different chat support agents which would cost: 40 000 * 3 = 120 000 USD yearly. This is a really huge cost for most startups and medium-sized companies which is the reason most companies don’t currently offer 24/7 support as it’s too expensive, this problem can as well be fixed with AI.
Sources:
https://planable.io/blog/social-media-management-pricing/#:~:text=Social%20media%20management%20costs%20can,for%20social%20media%20management%20services. (last visited: 1 sep 2023)
https://powersync.biz/blog/customer-acquisition (last visited 1 sep 2023)
https://www.salary.com/research/salary/benchmark/copywriter-i-hourly-wages (last visited:1 sep 2023)
https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/chat-support-agent-salary-SRCH_KO0,18.htm (last visited: 1 sep 2023)
