Chief Digital Officer at MBM, Emily Isle, discusses how Artificial Intelligence is redefining the very essence of content marketplaces.
Artificial Intelligence is revolutionising the content marketplace by transforming content discovery, creation, and supply. When we say ‘marketplace,’ you might think of Amazon or Trade Me, but for content it’s a place where people exchange entertainment and information. As with any marketplace, it’s all about supply and demand.
How content is being discovered and how it’s being supplied is changing as AI tools advance. These shifts in tool and audience behaviour impact content monetisation and marketing, requiring a combination of SEO, social media, and design knowledge to make content discoverable and appealing, as well as clear goals and platform expertise to target audiences effectively.
Q: How is AI changing the way we discover content?
AI is like a content DJ, playing the tunes we love based on what we’ve liked in the past. As such, it plays a significant role in content discovery through personalised recommendations. AI algorithms analyse user behaviour, preferences, and past interactions to provide tailored content suggestions. This isn’t new, but it’s getting better every day across streaming services, social media, news websites, and e-commerce sites.
A notable human behaviour shift is in search. People seek out quick, bite-sized videos to answer their questions. They’re searching on social as much on Google, and they are expecting an answer within the first mobile-screen view of results (zero clicks required).
Q: How does AI impact content supply?
AI can help you ideate, create outlines, and conduct content research at pace. It accelerates tasks like keyword research, clustering, editing, proofreading, and checking for plagiarism. AI content creation tools, such as natural language generation (NLG) systems and image/video generation algorithms, produce content at scale, expanding supply across news articles, social media posts, game development and product descriptions.
In commerce, product details feed into search and social through APIs, the impact of more reviews, description copy, and product images is amplified. Game development is more cost efficient. Social and web content are intertwined, accessed through search interfaces and recommendation engines instead of side-bar navigation.
Q: What does this mean for content monetisation and marketing?
How we create content and how we get it in front of the right audience changes.
We need to be aware of how AI algorithms find and recommend content: enter the AI vector database (fancy, huh?). This is the vast web of content NLG systems use to identify a response to a query. SEO, social media, and design need to join forces to make content discoverable and appealing. By sharing knowledge and tactics between these disciplines we create content that ticks all the discoverability boxes – from voice-over keywords to capitalising on nano trends.
Platform expertise is crucial to supplying content to a target audience. AI algorithms analyse user behaviour, preferences, and engagement patterns to inform bids for inventory, but machines need to learn and train. We’re no longer just buying ad space – we’re focusing the machine on value and objectives. Clear goals, platform instruction and well-designed assets are essential for success.
Q: Where to from here?
AI will keep getting better at recommending content, and audience behaviours will continue to adapt. At MBM, we have a test and learn approach in our DNA, and we use this method to measure outcomes. We also listen in to our specialists who are on the tools and in the trends. To win in the AI Content Marketplace we have our content arm Breakout Room and our MBM platforms teams working hand in hand, and we will continue to evolve this model bespoke for clients and market changes.
