Experiences of digitalization in digital marketing
Digital marketing is an interesting subject to look at from digitalization perspective. The whole field wouldn’t be here without digitalization, and its constantly changing.
I have worked in the digital marketing field for around 4 years now and add to that a couple more years of experience from university about marketing, digital marketing and digitalization among other things. In those 4 years I’ve worked with and have done social media, search engine optimization and search engine marketing, new webshop, marketing campaigns and ERP system change to name a few. In that rather short amount of time, things have changed a lot and keep continuing to change.
In the past 4 years digital marketing has changed due to new technological advances, shifting customer behavior and changes in platforms and regulations. Recent and one of the biggest changes is that artificial intelligence has became more mainstream. These AI tools can be used to streamline marketing processes and make work more efficient. Many use them for writing articles and blogs, SEO (Search engine optimization), diagnosing problems or just bouncing off ideas. Now that picture and video creating capabilities have become impressive, more and more of the content used in digital marketing have been created by AI. This has already lead to loss of jobs, but time will tell how bad it gets. Recently AI-generated answers, like Google’s AI, have changed how to optimize content for SEO and AI-generated summaries. This area is still developing rapidly.
Other big change is short-form video content and with that a shift in especially younger customers behavior. TikTok videos, Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts are fast paced short clips that are often raw and relatable. Digital marketers of course have to adapt to this change and figure out how to advertise to this new audience.
The risks of open digital society
Nowadays internet, computers, smartphones and other digital tools have become part of our everyday lives. Open digital society leads to innovation and increased accessibility. However, it introduces significant risks as well.
Loss of privacy, cybercrime, misinformation and surveillance have all became easier in the digital world. Data breaches expose personal information, phishing and scamming can lead to financial losses, false and harmful content can be near impossible to moderate.
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was put in use to mitigate some of these risks. This was a major reform to enhance individuals’ control over their personal data. It lead to greater control over personal data, clearer consent practices and added more transparency about how and why the data is used.
In digital marketing field this was a bit of a headache and still is, but a necessary one and a step in the right direction. Things like retargeting, email and newsletter lists and analytics require consent and compliance. For personal life however, I think this is a great change. I have increased control over my data, the right to get my data deleted and the right to not be tracked.
Artificial intelligence: Digital marketing
ChatGPT and other AI services have been on the rise, getting more and more popular and impressive by the day. I have tried many of these services in my work and free time and use some of them even daily. I have familiarized myself with how they work and how I can utilize them.
I asked three questions from ChatGPT about the digital marketing field:
How is digital marketing going to change in the next 4 years?
ChatGPT provided a list of key changes that could happen in the next 4 years. These changes include AI-driven personalization, cookieless future & First-Party data, voice & visual search, decentralized platforms and ethical marketing.
What is SEO and how to utilize it?
The model answered with the definition of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and then went on to list the core areas of SEO, like the traditional technical, on-page and off-page SEO. It also expanded to include content SEO and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization). Lastly it listed how to utilize SEO with keyword research, optimizing content, building backlinks and creating helpful content.
Is short form content here to stay and how will it evolve?
ChatGPT said that short form content is here to stay, because it matches with shrinking attention spans, and dominating platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts are widely popular that have algorithms that favor virality and quick consumption. After it went on to list how short form content will evolve in the future: more shoppable & interactive videos, AI-augmented creations, SEO & search integration, cross-platform distribution and educational & utility content rise.
The answers to these questions were quite well put. Nothing wrong immediately stood out to me. I know these language models can answer almost any question you ask them, however the answers might not always be exactly accurate. The most dangerous part is that the model doesn’t know that the answer isn’t accurate, but it still says it with confidence like it would be correct. This can lead to misinformation and facts getting blurry.
In general I think that artificial intelligence has the power to change the world. The potential benefits are huge and spans nearly all of society. Automation, personalization, medical and scientific breakthroughs, climate solutions… The question is how do we utilize this tool and overcome problems like ethical and social challenges that rise from its use?
What I’ve learned
This was an interesting assignment. Thinking about the changes, risks, challenges and the potential for the future in the field of digital marketing does help to understand where I stand in terms of work life and what I can do to better orientate myself for the future.
Many things from this assignment I want to know more about. I need to study GDPR more and how it will evolve in the future. I also want to know more about the changes that could happen in the field of digital marketing. AI changes so rapidly nowadays, I need to keep up with that as well.
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