The AI arms race continues, as social platforms have released generative AI-powered creative tools in recent months, allowing marketers to generate ad material and graphics more quickly.
Reddit, TikTok, Meta, and Snap have all developed social media platforms aimed at broadening the ways marketers may employ generative AI to make ads. Marketers who are reading the tea leaves to see why these platforms are introducing AI-driven creative improvements think the tools are geared at small businesses, making it easier for smaller advertisers to develop advertising on social media platforms (and spend ad dollars there).
“We call them BFF features at our agency, which is ‘beginner friendly’ or ‘budget-friendly,'” said Brandon Biancalani, head of paid marketing at Modifly, a social media agency. “If I was a beginner to paid media and I was having trouble [with] how to exactly spell out the promotion, then you can use those features to come up with ideas.”
Snap stated last month that it was developing generative AI ad capabilities, such as AI-powered lenses (or augmented reality effects) and an AI copy generator for ad headlines. TikTok debuted Symphony, their creative AI suite, this summer. At the same time, Pinterest introduced Pinterest Ad Labs, a new platform that allows select brands to test prototypes of new creative and ad tools, including generative AI capabilities. Meanwhile, Meta expanded its generative AI ad tools in May, allowing advertisers to upload reference photos and produce AI-generated variations.
Marketers see the race to provide AI-powered creative tools as a question of keeping up with the Joneses. And, at least in part, to keep AI capabilities in-house instead of relying on collaborations like OpenAI or Microsoft. According to agency executives, the other goal is to keep ad funds from small businesses. Notably, small to medium-sized companies have always been the secret sauce of platforms, providing smaller marketers with a method to reach their intended audience without spending a lot of money.
“I think that’s a selling point for small businesses to now invest in these platforms where you used to need a media buyer or an agency,” said Ashvin Melwani, CMO and co-founder of Obvi, a supplement company. “There was a barrier to entry for certain types of small businesses.” “That barrier is no longer present.” Melwani told Digiday. Obvi has experimented with AI-powered creative tools from multiple social platforms but has yet to employ them in a consumer-facing campaign.
The products are a promising start, according to Melwani, but the creative tools are not yet evolved enough to be a marketer’s go-to for crafting a consumer-facing campaign. For example, Melwani stated that while it makes sense to utilize these generative AI technologies to generate image variations or brainstorm prospective ad copy quickly, things become more complicated when it comes to brand-specific ad content.
One agency executive who spoke on the condition of anonymity told Digiday that they tested Snap’s generative headline tool, telling it to tell users to check out a free trial using emojis and FOMO (fear of missing out) in the copy, and the platform spits out options like, “Try our free trial, hurry up,” which sounds more threatening than inviting.
According to agency executives, the real test will be how quickly the social platforms’ systems can take in a brand’s ethos and design a brand-specific campaign. Marketers are concerned about the source of data that could be used to guide and customize these solutions.
“Generating text is a much easier starting point,” stated Kristin Wanek, vice president of operations and client strategy at Stealth Venture Labs, a digital marketing business. “We’re still not very trustful of it, or it’s still not solid enough, where there’s still not a need for a human eye to comb through and make sure that it’s on brand that.”
Experts believe that AI is still in its infancy when it comes to advertising and marketing. However, popularity may expand as social platforms collect more data to inform these technologies.
We’re not yet at a position where Melwani could order Meta to “go and do everything for me and let me publish it,” and be assured that it would go online.
Source- Digiday
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