‘Machine learning’ is one of those buzzwords. You know it’s good for your marketing, but you might not know why or how exactly it works. However, it’s quite an easy concept to grasp, especially when you realise it’s a part of pretty much everyone’s daily life.
Here, we introduce you to machine learning, delving into its definition as well as its applications – from virtual personal assistants to paid media…
What is machine learning?
The term ‘machine learning’ is often confused with artificial intelligence (AI). Whilst they do complement each other, they’re different.
AI involves smart machines working and responding as if a human would. Machine learning (ML) is a subset of this – you input data into a machine, and it learns what to do by itself. It then improves from experience, meaning it doesn’t need to be programmed to complete a process.
Everyday applications
Unsurprisingly, given that it has such powerful capabilities, Machine Learning usage is increasing. Let’s explore a few examples of its applications in everyday life:
Virtual personal assistants
Got Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant? These all use machine learning. Asking them questions like ‘What’s on my to-do list?’ requires them to find information. They gather this, and refine it based on your earlier involvement with them. Through this data, they’re able to provide personalised results.
GPS navigation
If you drive using a GPS, then you’ll know that it can predict traffic levels. Along your journey, it keeps a record of your current locations and velocities – these are saved to a central server for traffic management. This then estimates congestion areas by utilising the day-to-day experiences as a foundation.
Marketing
There are so many ways that ML can be applied in marketing. A common one is chatbots. These work together with AI to learn from prior conversations with others so that the overall customer experience can be improved. The result is that they’re able to understand more complicated requests and produce tailored responses.
Paid media applications
Another machine learning marketing application that you’ll have no doubt experienced is paid media. Here’s a brief overview of how the two interact:
Insights
Paid media campaigns give lots of useful data. It used to be the case that marketers would have to analyse this themselves to gain an in-depth understanding of their ad performance. However, ML allows for better and more easily digestible insights through detailed, yet concise, reports. This saves a tremendous amount of time and effort.
Outcomes
Machine learning takes into account the most favourable outcome to a campaign based on a wealth of data, such as your historical ad performance and that of similar advertisers. It will give you recommendations given your goals, budget, time and the outcomes of multivariate testing. With this information, you’ll be able to adjust specific aspects of your campaigns, which should then lead to enhanced results.
Predictions
When paid media draws on machine learning, it can produce more accurate predictions. With the data stored and customer behaviour insights kept up to date, you can understand your audience better. This is especially as ML can make correlations that you’d otherwise have to spend a significant amount of time and money to discover yourself.
Paid media machine learning in action
One great use of Machine learning is Google’s ‘Smart Bidding’. It applies ML to get the best conversions or conversion value. The algorithms allow you to see how different bid amounts will affect this. It even has the capability to optimise using information from all of your campaigns, meaning that new ones that don’t yet have any data could still see a boost in performance.
Support from Clickoo
From Google’s smart bidding to Facebook’s targeted advertising, there are plenty of ways you can incorporate machine learning into your own paid media campaigns.
It’s fantastic technology – leading to more accurate predictions, in-depth insights, and ultimately better outcomes. However, it does require extensive paid media knowledge. If this isn’t something you necessarily have the time or energy to keep up with, Clickoo can help.
We’ve built up a wealth of knowledge over the years by leading our clients to paid media success in various countries. Plus, we’re pioneers in the localised approach.
By ensuring that your entire strategy is localised, you’ll have the greatest conversations possible with your audience. And this will only result in the best performance for your campaigns – no matter the country you’re targeting.
Partner with Clickoo, and experience growth that crosses all sorts of boundaries. Get in touch with our team today.
