Beliefs and adoption of AI in content marketing: Insights from South African marketing agencies

Background: Notwithstanding a large body of academic literature on artificial intelligence (AI) in computer science and other technical fields dating back decades, research is needed on how AI is applied in the context of marketing. Marketers have used AI for many years, but generative AI has only recently come to the forefront. The study focussed on understanding the beliefs and adoption of AI in content marketing practices in South Africa.Objectives: By combining various perspectives in the marketing industry, a taxonomy is proposed that categorises current AI practices in content marketing.Method: An exploratory web-based survey was adopted. It was important to measure the scope and extent of beliefs, acceptance, and adoption of AI in content marketing, and to gain insights to categorise current AI practices in content marketing. Data analyses of the closed-ended and open-ended questions were conducted using JMP®, 17.2 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC 2023) and through inductive thematic analysis, respectively.Results: The findings reveal that South African marketing agencies currently adopt AI for content strategy optimisation, content creation enhancement, insight integration and personalisation, automation and process enhancement.Conclusion: While South African marketing agencies acknowledge the value of AI in improving content marketing, they believe that the human element is still necessary, and that content marketing practice cannot depend entirely on AI.Contribution: The proposed taxonomy lays the foundation for future research about AI in content marketing with a larger sample.