What started off as a casual experimentation of a prototype by OpenAI in November 2022, has now grown into a fully proportionate chatbot scouring copious amounts of data across the web with the ability to produce instant yet pertinent responses for users. ChatGPT, which utilises Machine Learning Natural Language Processing models, has now garnered the attention of over 100 million monthly active users within just two months since its launch. Similarweb, an analytics firm, reported a colossal 25 million unique daily visits in January alone. Users range from various backgrounds from business owners, authors, corporate employees to even students.
Named after its acronym, ChatGPT (Chat - Generative Pre-trained Transformer), uses deep machine learning methods to produce highly accurate results encompassing even the subtleties of human-produced natural language. Having farmed over 570GB worth of data obtained from books, Wikipedia, online articles and other pieces of writing on the internet, the naturalistic output and capabilities of the chatbot made ChatGPT an online pundit sensation.
The paradigm changes that come from the penetration of such a lucrative piece of technology has not only highlighted excellent potential but has also brought about a plethora of conversations surrounding the imminent ramifications of ChatGPT within various sectors such as digital marketing and other copy-required businesses.
In fact, the replies from its deep learning have been so uncannily like a real human, that it raised the risk of replacing real work within these industries given its ability to produce more “bang for one's buck”, eliminating the need for a physical human team at the fraction of the cost. For all you know, this article could be written by ChatGPT and you might not even know it (we’re kidding, it’s not!). Very quickly, countermeasures were created to prevent abuse such as plagiarism - most famously in the space of academia, where a Princeton student created a software named GPTZero to detect natural language processed (NLP) works.
As the dust settles, this combination of cognisant writing and a vast, accessible database continues to fascinate the industry with its potential. It can not only ease and augment the work of existing professionals - such as digital marketers - but also shape future workflows and engagements for better outcomes.
What does ChatGPT say when asked if it can replace digital marketers?
While it’s been established that most jobs are not at risk - that the algorithm-produced work still needs human-centric input and that digital marketing training is still essential to produce skilled professionals, it is still worth checking in to see what the programme had to say when asked if it could replace digital marketers.
This is the response:
“No, ChatGPT cannot replace digital marketers. While ChatGPT can assist in various tasks related to digital marketing such as content creation, personalisation, customer service, and data analysis, it cannot replace the strategic thinking, creativity, and expertise of a human digital marketer.” (Phew, our jobs are safe).
So how can ChatGPT be used to help with digital marketing?
Content, research, engagement, and analysis - these are essentially the four key job scopes of what a digital marketer must do. In a report by Influencer Marketing Hub, 61.4% of marketers have used AI in their marketing activities, and 54.5% are optimistic that AI will likely enhance their marketing efforts. To see how ChatGPT can augment a digital marketer’s work, let’s view it through a workflow.
Strategy Development
Digital marketers are responsible for creating and executing marketing strategies that align with business objectives and cater to the unique needs of the target audience. This involves conducting market research, analysing customer data, and identifying the target market segment to develop campaigns that help achieve marketing goals. One must also possess excellent communication and interpersonal skills to work collaboratively with various stakeholders and ensure seamless implementation of the marketing plan. By leveraging insights gleaned from market research and customer data analysis, digital marketers can create compelling campaigns that drive brand loyalty and contribute to the success of the business.
By entering the right queries in ChatGPT, marketers can quickly trawl large data pools of information to get analytics on trends or challenges. For example, with social media being a hotspot for digital marketing, one can run sentiment analysis with posts and comments to gain public perception of a brand, identify top influencers for different topics and products or even identify underlying motivations that drive consumer behavior. Through online articles and social media, hashtags and keywords, one can also receive preliminary reports on trends, competitors, and even nascent variables which one can synthesise to aid with the conceptualisation of an idea. ChatGPT can also help produce a nuanced insight into brand identity which can be used in the execution of brand reputation efforts and overall brand perception. While the data is not real-time and stops with information until 2021, it can still be a powerful source of research to help digital marketers form their strategy while assisting them in saving time and effort on menial tasks like data analysis and text reviews.
Campaign Execution
Once the marketing strategy is in place, digital marketers move into executing marketing campaigns across their various digital channels. This often includes managing social media accounts, creating, and distributing content, managing email campaigns, and running digital advertising campaigns.
This is arguably one area where ChatGPT is most utilised by digital marketers. From snippy headlines to full-on articles, ChatGPT can generate high-quality written copy in mere seconds while taking into consideration how consumers react to different types of messaging allowing marketers to further refine their campaigns. This can include tricky advertising guidelines, such as Google advertising, where character count can pose a challenge. Although the resulting content can sometimes be too academic, content and copywriters can ascertain their roles in the production of creative content to retain a ‘human-touch’.
Sustained Engagement
Engagement is a crucial component of online success, particularly on social media platforms. With the growing popularity of platforms like TikTok, consumers and businesses are increasingly turning to these outlets for communication, and providing real-time attention can significantly boost loyalty and trust. ChatGPT's advanced deep learning capabilities can help marketers sustain engagement across their digital domains by integrating social media auto-responses with their websites and deploying intelligent chatbots to resolve common queries quickly. Additionally, ChatGPT can analyse popular posts and generate similar content for blogs, e-newsletters, and other digital platforms, thereby extending their longevity and appeal.
Analytics, Reporting, and Optimisation
After campaigns are complete, digital marketers must measure the performance and report the results to the management team. This involves using analytics tools to track key performance indicators such as website traffic, conversion rates, and customer engagement metrics, which ChatGPT can also crunch to produce useful insight.
More importantly, ChatGPT can then recommend optimisation strategies based on the insights gained in these reports. By requesting the appropriate queries, digital marketers can gain anything from broad strategies to detailed suggestions. It can help with SEO and on-page optimisations of items such as title tags and meta descriptions or suggest customised methods from audience segmentation to produce better results. Digital marketers can even try persona creation, where ChatGPT helps predict the needs and behaviours of a fictional audience based on analysed customer data or trends from customer survey results.
ChatGPT's extensive database, swift processing, and advanced deep learning capabilities make it a powerful tool that can compete with other analytics tools, including those from Google. While there is enormous potential for leveraging this technology, it is essential to note that outdated datasets and potential ethical issues can limit its efficacy if misused. It's worth noting that ChatGPT cannot replace the role of a human digital marketer entirely. However, savvy professionals can tap into this revolutionary tool, which can serve as an enabler in the world of digital marketing, augmenting their efforts and delivering powerful insights that drive better results.
Start your journey with digital marketing at SMU Academy and learn about the most exciting developments and tools in today’s marketplace. We will be rolling out programmes related to ChatGPT soon, stay tuned!
