How Virtual Reality and AI Are the Modern Day Space Race in Digital Marketing

Why VR and AI Are the Future of Marketing

Anyone who has access to the Internet has certainly encountered all of the buzz and hype surrounding virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI). Everything’s becoming digitized as we become consumed by new innovations more than ever before, leading many brands to feel overwhelmed to keep up and stand out.

What does this exactly mean for brands and marketers? The penetration of breakthrough technological advances like IoT, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality has given way for marketers to approach elements in their marketing stack in a new and innovative way. New capabilities open up the opportunity for brands to reach their target market and provide experiences like never before.

It’s important brands harness the ropes of digital innovation before they fall behind. The adoption of advanced VR and AI is still fairly new in digital marketing and seems that 2017 could be the year it reaches its peak. With so much buzz around VR and AI, it’s almost become a modern day space race in which brands are competing to be in the forefront of the digital realm. Is your brand ready for the capabilities of VR and AI? Here is a digital marketing agency’s take on a few ways in which VR and AI will amplify your marketing efforts.

A Totally New Experience

Good marketing today is centered on the consumer and their experience. Brands need to find ways to deliver meaningful, cutting-edge experiences to stay ahead of the competition. VR gives consumers a chance to experience things they wouldn’t have been able to before and allows companies to market their brand in a new and exciting way.

As the popularity and accessibility of VR and AI tools rise, it’s certainly going to make its mark across every industry. Brands are starting to see the immense value it brings, as seen by the huge success of augmented reality with Pokemon GO and VR headsets like the Oculus Rift and Google Cardboard.

People love personal experiences and being able to connect with a brand on a deeper level. AI gives brands insight into their consumers’ needs and opens up new opportunities to connect with them by creating personalized content.

AI and VR pave the way for deeper engagement and interaction between brands and their consumers. It helps brands focus on the end user by improving the experience and customer journey. This new digital paradigm establishes a whole different standard on customer experience and is essential for brands to be aware of.

Social Media

AI helps brands use data and analytics to assess performance and determine important elements such as their target audience, optimal times to publish, and the most successful type of content. They can optimize their social media campaign by automating mundane tasks. Automating social media postings frees up an immense amount of time, allowing marketing teams to focus on other things.

With platforms gearing toward VR like FaceBook’s 360 Video, virtual reality content is a compelling way to drive engagement on social media. There’s no better way to entice and attract people than offering them an experience into a VR world.

Compelling Content

Content is the cornerstone of SEO and lays the basic framework for other important metrics such as enhanced user experience. With so much content out there, brands need to find a way to cut through all of the noise to stand out by investing more time and effort in improving their content.

With more time on their hands thanks to AI tools, marketers can spend more time creating compelling content. These tools help determine what type of content gets the most interaction and engagement, the most optimal times to publish, and key target audience.

With VR, consumers are able to immerse themselves in a virtual world and experience whatever brands want to show like never before. VR allows the brand to connect to the person’s senses – something that’s hard to do through traditional desktops. VR has made its way into many industries including the retailing market with North Face’s virtual journey through nature and Topshop’s VR experience during London Fashion Week.

Content is king and enhances almost every element in the marketing strategy. Creating content that tells a story or provides a behind-the-scenes look at your brand is a powerful way to establish long-lasting relationships with your customers.

SEO

VR isn’t just for gamers. It’s a compelling way to boost SEO by creating dynamic brand storytelling content. Optimize your SEO by creating the most compelling type of content to drive search rankings!

Google is one of the leading pioneers in AI as they are always improving their algorithms to deliver better search results and a better user experience overall. With advanced AI, it is better able to evaluate and measure the quality of content. As stated before, with the foundation of good SEO (content) being optimized, brands will see their rankings and SEO results significantly improve.

Conclusion

VR and AI open up the door for brands to interact and engage with their consumers in a new and improved way all while making it easier to complete simple tasks. AI helps brands save time, one of the most valuable resources any brand can have and provides the ability to hone in on what they really need to focus on. As these tools are still in the fairly early stages, being an early adopter will prove to be an advantage.

Fully understand the capabilities of any software and tool before implementing and integrating them into your digital strategy. While it’s important to keep up on the latest trends in digital, it’s imperative to not rush into it. Technology can significantly power up your marketing efforts but only if it’s handled properly. Not sure which tools and platforms are best fit for your brand? An experienced digital marketing agency will guide you in choosing the best tools to successfully drive your efforts!