Episode 64 of the Marketing Smarts Live Show features Meghan Bazaman, a senior analyst at Capterra who covers the latest trends, issues, and developments in marketing technology.
In this episode, she shared her insights on the role of AI in brand monitoring.
The AI Edge in Brand Monitoring
Brand monitoring, as Meghan Bazaman explains, is about understanding public sentiment toward your brand across various platforms, including social media, forums, and reviews.
With the advent of AI, however, that task is set to become more complex yet more insight-laden. AI's dual role in both aiding and complicating brand monitoring is a critical point of the discussion.
AI's capability to handle large volumes of information, condense it, and provide actionable insights is invaluable in today's content-saturated online environment. The technology is not just a tool; it's becoming an integral part of a brand's strategy to maintain authenticity and customer trust, especially in the volatile landscape of social media.
The Challenges and Opportunities
One of the key challenges highlighted in the episode is the rise of misinformation as a consequence of the use of generative AI. That issue, coupled with the sheer amount of content being produced, makes brand monitoring a more daunting task.
It's a mistake to view those challenges as insurmountable or as someone else's problem, Bazaman points out. The opportunity lies in harnessing AI to stay ahead of those challenges.
Marketers need to dedicate resources and strategize for brand monitoring to prepare for the upcoming wave of content. That preparation is not just about managing volume but also about ensuring the brand's message remains authentic and trustworthy.
The Takeaway for B2B Marketers
For B2B marketers, this episode of the Marketing Smarts Live Show is a clarion call to embrace AI in their brand monitoring strategies. It's about understanding the nuances of AI's role in both creating and solving challenges in brand monitoring.
The key is to be proactive, resourceful, and strategic in using AI to glean insights that can drive brand growth and maintain customer trust.
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Check out the video for more details, and the full podcast (link below the video) for the entire insightful conversation.
Don't miss future episodes: Subscribe to the Marketing Smarts Live Show on YouTube. And to catch up on all previous episodes, check out the full playlist on YouTube.
Episode Details, Guest Information, and Referenced Links
Episode No. 64
- Live date: January 29, 2024
- Episode link: youtube.com/watch?v=C0wYagFlN5s
- Original podcast episode: Revolutionizing B2B Brand Monitoring With AI-Powered Insights: Meghan Bazaman on Marketing Smarts [Podcast]
Guest's social media profiles:
- X/Twitter: @meghanbAnalyst
- LinkedIn: Meghan Bazaman
MarketingProfs resources referenced in the show:
- Marketing at the Speed of Thought: AI Use Cases for Four Content Types
- How CMOs Can Use AI to Make Career-Changing, Strategic Business Impact
"In B2B News" article referenced in the show:
"From the #mpb2b Community" links referenced in the show:
Transcript: Revolutionizing B2B Brand Monitoring With AI-Powered Insights, With Meghan Bazaman
Hello to all my Marketing Smarts Live viewers today. I'm super excited to bring you another episode of the Marketing Smarts Live show.
This week's topic is all about Revolutionizing B2B Brand Monitoring With AI-Powered Insights.
So, if you're ready to get your learn on, buckle up and let's get ready to rock and roll.
Hey, I'm your boy George B. Thomas, speaker, trainer, catalyst, and host of this here show, the Marketing Smarts Live show, as well as the Marketing Smarts podcast found on your favorite podcast app.
Our guest clips today are brought to you by none other than Meghan Bazaman.
Megan Bazaman is a senior analyst at Capterra, covering all the latest trends, issues, and developments in marketing technology.
She has more than a decade of experience conducting qualitative and quantitative research, and her work has been featured in publications such as Fast Company, Inc., Digiday, and Ad Age.
Now, remember the clips of Meghan Bazaman today are pulled from the full Marketing Smarts podcast episode, and if you want to listen to the full interview with Meghan Bazaman and myself, make sure to tune into the Marketing Smarts podcast, link to the full show will be in the description below after the live show ends.
Now, in this episode, again, I'm talking with Meghan Bazaman about Revolutionizing B2B Brand Monitoring With AI-Powered Insights.
In this first clip, I wanted to dig into AI-powered Social Media Monitoring and Brand Monitoring tips and mindsets we, as B2B marketers, should be paying attention to.
Here is what Meghan had to share.
Meghan: I definitely have a few tips for marketers and businesses, especially when you're monitoring on social media. I'd say, first and foremost, you should take stock of the social media monitoring or analysis tools that your company might already be using. See if they're being used to their full capabilities. Maybe there is someone on your team or in your department that has special expertise there.
Once you have the lay of the land, I would work with your organization's leaders to prioritize social media and brand monitoring resources, whether that's devoting budget or staff, task force, and so on. I think it's really essential to allocate resources toward brand monitoring, especially in the wake of this new AI technology.
One way you can do that is communicating the benefits with leaders, and then also making sure they're aware of the risk. I know we talked a little bit about challenges already. Our survey actually found that 36% of marketers cited that a lack of understanding of brand monitoring benefits and uses was a top barrier to implementing initiatives at their company. Although, 88% of companies that had resources going into this were saying it's very high value to their business.
Did you hear that?
Do you use the tools that you already have at your company?
Are they being used at their full capabilities?
Are you prioritizing brand monitoring resources?
Are you taking time to talk about the benefits and the risks with the C-suite?
Put the answer to that in the chat pane or let me know on Twitter using the hashtag #mpb2b and, of course, tag me using @georgebthomas.
We'll get back to Meghan Bazaman and her thoughts on Revolutionizing B2B Brand Monitoring With AI-Powered Insights, But first, I have to ask...
Are you part of the MarketingProfs community? If not, become part of the MarketingProfs community by heading over to mprofs.com/mptoday - That's mprofs.com/mptoday.
Now, it's time for one of my favorite sections...
In The B2B News - Where we talk about breaking B2B news or really important tips we find on the Google news tab related to you and your B2B business. This week, the title is...
11 AI marketing tools your team should be using in 2024 by Alexa Phillips
Artificial intelligence (AI) emerged as one of the hottest technology trends in 2023.
Not only is it fundamentally shifting how we work but AI marketing tools are also reshaping marketing now and in the future.
Companies are investing in these tools to get more out of their efforts.
This includes handling customer support inquiries, creating personalized offers and analyzing customer data.
Whether you're looking for marketing automation or to write email copy, there's an AI marketing tool that meets your AI marketing needs.
For businesses, these investments mean faster, better decisions and a competitive advantage.
Read the article to find out about the 11 best AI marketing tools you can use to speed up your marketing workflows.
To read this article, check out the link below when the live show is over.
So let's get back to Meghan Bazaman and this Marketing Smarts podcast episode.
In this next clip, I wanted to dive headfirst into the hurdles that you, as a B2B marketer, might be facing so, so I asked Megahan what Brand Monitoring hurdles we should be watching out for.
Here are her thoughts on that question!
Meghan: I think a big hurdle is with data accessibility. What you can do to work on that is looking at boosting your company's data-centric function's accessibility to improve your brand monitoring. I think companies can try to achieve that by having a data management policy. That's just essentially documentation for handling, storing, processing, or managing data across your business. When you have policies that help clearly define the responsible parties and how you're going to achieve, collect, and share data, that's one thing you can do to really help.
Another thing would be making sure that you're upskilling your marketing team on data tools and techniques. That will allow them not only to gain access to the data that they need, but to get the most out of it. Include training that is specific on social media monitoring tools or how to monitor user-generated content that references your brand. Data literacy is very important.
Did you hear that?
Are you watching out for those hurdles?
Is your data accessible at your organization?
Do you have a data management policy in place at your company?
Do you know who is responsible for what?
Are you upscaling your marketing team on data tools and techniques?
Are you training your team on the monitoring tools or are they just sitting on a digital shelf somewhere collecting dust?
I know that last one might be a little painful! But everything I share, I share to help.
We will get back to Meghan Bazaman in a few minutes but first it's time for some...
Dope B2B Learnings From The Vault of MarketingProfs Articles
That's right, it's time to dig into the treasure trove of valuable information and pull out two pieces of gold to help you be a better B2B marketer.
Article one this week is: Marketing at the Speed of Thought: AI Use Cases for Four Content Types by May Habib
Your marketing team's ability to dream up a campaign—or, more accurately, type it up—and automatically create first drafts of copy, images, video, and audio, is no longer science fiction. Thanks to generative AI, marketing teams across all sorts of industries are transforming how they do business.
Two major characteristics of AI are dramatically faster speed of execution and the substantial potential for deep personalization across four main media types: text, imagery, video, and audio.
You can look at each one by clicking on the resource link below after the live show.
Article two this week is: How CMOs Can Use AI to Make Career-Changing, Strategic Business Impact by Liza Adams
Artificial intelligence gives CMOs a unique, career-changing opportunity to increase their strategic value and impact on business. But CMOs must act now to take marketing results to the next level.
With the support of the CEO and C-suite, CMOs can use AI responsibly to drive digital change and meet growth goals.
And it's not just about business; it's about positively affecting humanity.
Want to keep learning more? If so, check the links in the description below after the live show to get access to both amazing MarketingProfs articles.
OK, back to Meghan Bazaman... Let's dive back into this conversation of Revolutionizing B2B Brand Monitoring With AI-Powered Insights
In this next clip, I wanted to ask what Brand monitoring success looks like for modern B2B marketers.
Here is what Meghan looks towards regarding successful brand monitoring in organizations.
Meghan: That's a good question. I think it ties back into some of the tips that I mentioned. Having a marketing team that is equipped to work with data and who are data literate is really key. Also, ensuring that marketers have access to the data that they need. Another thing would be having software tools that can help you. I think that would be a marker of success. As I mentioned, having a data management policy that defines the processes and responsible parties for analyzing social media data to help provide clarity would be another marker of success. Then training and data literacy programs would be another marker.
Did you hear those success markers?
Did you jot them down?
Right now, could you consider your brand monitoring initiatives a success, or do you have some work to do?
We're going to get some words of wisdom from Meghan Bazaman here in a few minutes but right now, it's time to turn the spotlight on you, the MarketingProfs community. Yep, time for...
From The #MPB2B Community
We searched far and wide in the #MPB2B universe to find amazing information and conversation to bring to the masses.
So, first, make sure you are using the hashtag, and second, make sure you have fun and add value to the community.
Then, we'll spotlight you or your crew on the show. This week, it's...
Manchi's Hustle or @Manchi4Hustle on X
It goes a little something like this…
Set clear goals.
Plan actionable steps.
Stay persistent.
Learn from failures.
Adapt.
Network.
Prioritize.
Work smart.
Embrace challenges.
Celebrate achievements.
Success is a journey, not a destination.
#mpb2b #marketingoprofs #b2bmarketing
But you need to check out the description and click that link to check out the post and read more!
Marketing Smarts viewer, I have to ask... are you going to be next to get the spotlight?
Remember, community, use the hashtag #mpb2b on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter and get the light shined on your awesomeness in the next episode or a future episode of the Marketing Smarts Live show!
Pro-tip, it won't hurt if you tag me in your post as well; I'm @georgebthomas on LinkedIn and Twitter.
OK, let's kick it back to Meghan Bazaman and some words of wisdom around this topic of Revolutionizing B2B Brand Monitoring With AI-Powered Insights.
Here is what Meghan Bazaman wanted to leave us with...
Meghan: I know it's all very exciting and uncertain, and things seem to be advancing very fast. I would say don't fear it. I think instead it's important to be vigilant and prepared. Have an understanding of how this could impact your work or your team. I think right now is the time where marketers and other professionals need to regroup and figure out how to structure themselves so you can survive this transformative AI boom. Not only survive, but thrive.
I would say those are my last words of wisdom. I'm optimistic about it. It's an exciting time.
I love that Maghan said don't be afraid but be vigilant and prepared!
And of course, a great set of wise words is to not only survive through this AI boom but to set yourself and your organization up into a place to THRIVE!
Have you enjoyed today's journey? Let us know, use that hashtag #mpb2b on whatever platform you are joining us on.
