How artificial intelligence is transforming social media marketing: Analysing its potential and addressing concerns

Artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionised social media marketing, offering both significant advantages and potential drawbacks. This paper delves into the dual facets of AI-driven social media marketing techniques, investigating both their advantageous and detrimental impacts. It shows that by leveraging AI, businesses can achieve unprecedented levels of personalisation, engagement and efficiency in their marketing strategies, leading to enhanced customer experiences and increased brand loyalty. AI algorithms analyse vast amounts of data to identify trends and predict consumer behaviour, enabling precise targeting and optimised advertising spend. The paper utilises a qualitative research method to explore the AI-driven social media marketing techniques used by digital marketing and social media marketing professionals. The findings suggest that reliance on AI may perpetuate biases embedded in the training data, leading to ethical concerns and a loss of trust among consumers. This paper highlights the need for robust regulatory frameworks and ethical guidelines to mitigate risks while harnessing the full potential of AI in social media marketing. Ultimately, understanding both the bright and dark sides of AI-driven marketing is crucial for developing strategies that are not only effective but also ethical and sustainable.