Putting the AI in mArketIng

(Posted on 10/04/25)

AI is everywhere. What was once the work of science fiction, AI has now become part of our everyday lives; from predicting our shopping habits to automating systems in the workplace. 

This is also true of the world of marketing. 

We at Zebra are seeing more and more ways in which AI is merging and blending with everyday tools that we use, such as becoming more prevalent across social media platforms. 

A study by Hubspot has found that 64% of marketing professionals said they use AI tools in some form in their jobs. 

 

Just because we can, does it mean we should?

This leads on to the general use of AI in marketing. Although there is very much a place for it, it’s important to remember that AI can and should never replace the human element which gives brands its soul.

It is very obvious when something has been entirely created using AI, whether that’s text or images. Using only AI-generated content, while it can save time in the short-term, can make people lose trust and respect for a business, causing a long-term impact. Tone of voice is so important to a business, and this has yet to be replicated by AI.

Not to mention, search engines are using AI to root out fake content generated by AI tools, causing websites to drop in search rankings and be discredited, a death sentence in today’s online world.

Here’s just some of the ways AI is infiltrating marketing:

 

Social media

Platforms including Facebook and Instagram use AI-driven algorithms to analyse user behavior, such as likes, shares and comments, to personalise people’s feeds and show them only the most relevant posts.

Businesses posting to social media are offered the best times to schedule posts, as well as which content would work best for that time (such as a post, Story or Reel on Instagram). This is with the aim of maximizing engagement. Brands can then review and analyse the success of its’ posts, and adjust social media posting strategies accordingly.

Tools such as Brandwatch, Hootsuite, and Sprout Social can also review brand mentions and sentiment, to glean public opinion of a brand online.

AI can auto-generate video captions, so that every video uploaded to YouTube can be viewed with sound-off viewing, a must in an always-on and accessible digital viewing world.

 

Content writing

Whether for press releases, social media posts, website copy or article research, there’s an AI app to help with that.

Grammarly provides free AI writing assistance, offering word or sentence suggestions, and checks grammar. It’s free to download and automatically integrates with Word, so that it is ready in use as soon as you create a new document or open an old one. (For those who used computers in the ‘90s, think of the Microsoft paperclip helper, just less annoying).

 

Ideas generation

AI tools like ChatGPT can make brainstorming a breeze.

Currently trending across the world for its ability to generate any image into the popular anime style of Studio Ghibli), ChatGPT is an all-service AI tool for generating everything - from content ideas to images and hashtags for social posts.

However, although you have fed in the information, who owns the content, you or AI? If AI, does that make the content even usable?

 

Photography

H&M has seemingly found a way around the issue of paying for expensive photoshoots around the world for its clothing, by using AI to create a digital likeness or ‘twin’ of 30 models.

Although the models will retain control over their digital ‘clone’ being used in H&M’s social media and marketing campaigns, and will be paid for its use as if it were them in a photoshoot, this raises the issue of fashion being about authenticity, and conflicts with H&M’s 'human-centric approach.'

It also potentially puts the jobs of photographers, stylists, and others involved in the logistics and delivery of a photoshoot on the line.

It also raises the question of can we really trust what we see?

 

Images

Even using stock-based image libraries, such as such as iStock and Shutterstock, nearly all have some form of AI image generator option, where you can either adapt an existing image, such as removing the background, adding in or removing elements of the image, and extending images to your desired height and width, to fit different social media image requirements.

These tools can also create a new AI-generated image based on keywords fed into the search bar.

The image accompanying this very web article was entirely AI-generated through the use of keywords using the AI Shutterstock tool (with a little manual tweaking from us to get it just right!)

 

Whether you find AI helpful or a hindrance, contact us to see how we can retain the humanity of your business, and assist you to reach the next level.