Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been creeping into everyday life for some time. Many businesses around the world already use AI in various operations, including analysing consumer voices in call centres and streamlining backroom administrative tasks. Now, however, deep learning and AI is being used within marketing efforts to boost efficiency and ensure strategies are as optimised for success.

Current data on AI’s use for content marketing strategies gives a diverse picture. On the one hand, 57.1per cent of marketers in the U.S. said it was unlikely they would use AI in their content marketing plans this year. However, this leaves a wide proportion of people open to using such modern technology as part of their strategy. For example, of the 1,019 global marketers questioned by BrightEdge and Survey Monkey, 31.4 per cent said that AI would be used to flesh out content marketing plans during 2017. An additional 8.7per cent revealed they are quite likely to use AI, while 2.8 per cent said they are already using AI as part of their content efforts.

The numbers seemed to suggest that AI is becoming increasingly popular with businesses. In recent research, for instance, eight in every ten U.S. senior marketers said they fully believe consumers are ready for AI and, as a result, are more confident in its use.

In another survey, NewBase questioned 1,019 marketers around the world on the various technologies they expected to become a priority over the coming year. The April 2017 poll revealed that 30 per cent would be leading with AI. The figure is a significant increase on the previous twelve months when only 13 per cent of marketers responded in this way. Additionally, 24 per cent also said they expect Augmented Reality (AR) to become a priority, compared to just 18 per cent in 2016.

In addition to these trends, there are signs that some business and content marketers are planning to move away from other areas of technology. For example, marketers questioned on their opinions of future technology seem to be turning away from the Internet of Things (IoT). While 51 per cent of people had said it was a priority in 2016; this had fallen to just 35 per cent this year. The same is true of wearable technology, social media software and commerce. These are all sectors that have fallen on the priority list as marketers concentrate on newer areas such as AI and AR.

In many circumstances, the trend indicates that marketers and businesses are focusing on newly emerging technologies – possibly to get ahead of the curve and beat the competition. For example, NewBase said that some modern tech, such as drones, robotics and voice assistants, are believed to be hot new areas of interest for the coming year. These were not even included in 2016’s survey, but have been mentioned by marketers throughout this year.

Overall, the data suggests that AI is to continue taking a larger role in content marketing and, indeed, business as a whole. Therefore, those developing new strategies would be wise to include this technology in their plans.