How to use AI for social media

Managing a social media strategy is a constant balancing act between creativity and operational demands. But what if someone could handle most of the day-to-day manual tasks?

AI can be that “someone” stepping in to handle the routine tasks that consume your time, leading to greater efficiency and innovation. The idea is to let AI be your assistant, so you and your team can focus on melding creativity and strategy.

Brands and leadership teams recognize the importance of integrating AI into their workflows, but it’s not as simple as flipping a switch. According to the 2023 State of Social Media report, 39% of business leaders cite insufficient training and development as a significant hurdle in implementing AI effectively.

This article will guide you on how to use AI for social media and overcome these challenges to leverage AI in your marketing strategy. We’ll explore practical ways to integrate AI, from content creation and audience engagement to influencer marketing and customer support.

Embracing AI in social media strategies

The 2023 State of Social Media report shows that nine in 10 leaders expect their companies to increase investment in AI and ML for marketing over the next three years. And more than 80% of marketers feel AI has already positively impacted their work.

AI’s role in social media marketing goes beyond content creation and scheduling. It enables social media managers to automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, such as social media monitoring, social listening, responding to customer interactions, data analysis and even managing influencer campaigns.

By automating these activities, you get valuable time back to concentrate on strategic initiatives that drive your brand’s growth.

But with the use of AI also comes a common misconception that AI makes customer experiences more robotic. In reality, AI improves your ability to create a more customer-centric, personalized brand experience.

For example, Sprout Social enables teams to improve customer engagement by detecting sentiment, prioritizing high-importance messages, and providing quick, automated responses. These capabilities help your brand remain responsive and relevant in real-time, even outside business hours.

Remember—AI still needs human supervision to ensure that interactions stay true to your brand’s voice and values.

How to use AI for social media content creation and publishing

Social media is fueled by content, which makes content creation one of the most time-consuming tasks for any social media manager. But it’s far from the only responsibility. You must also optimize content for various platforms because a post for LinkedIn might not work as well on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Learning how to use AI for social media becomes crucial in this context. AI tools enable you to generate multiple variations of the same post, which saves time and effort. AI can also be a source of inspiration (or a good sparing partner) by providing fresh ideas for content, captions and more.

While AI-generated content may require some tweaking, it speeds up content creation significantly, making it an invaluable resource in a social media manager’s toolkit.

Let’s take a closer look at how AI can simplify and optimize your daily tasks in social media content creation and publishing.

Personalized content

People prefer posts that speak directly to their needs and interests, especially when they’re wading through a sea of social content. Personalizing content can take time and effort, especially when managing large amounts of data and diverse audience segments.

One way AI can assist is by producing customized content that appeals to specific audiences, enabling you to craft posts at scale that engage your desired audiences across various channels. Sprout Social’s Suggestions by AI Assist does this by providing tailored suggestions for post text based on your chosen topic or theme.

Use Sprout Social’s Suggestions by AI Assist to craft posts at scale that engage your desired audiences across various channels.

You can choose from multiple tone options—informative, humorous or persuasive—so the content aligns with the moment and your audience’s preferences.

Optimizing images for search

On ever-crowded social media platforms, achieving visibility requires more than just compelling content—it demands a strategic approach to accessibility and search optimization.

Sprout Social’s Generate by AI Assist streamlines this process by automatically generating accurate and descriptive alt text for your images. This not only makes your content accessible to visually impaired users, enhancing inclusivity but also boosts your visibility.

Sprout Social’s Generate by AI Assist streamlines this process by automatically generating accurate and descriptive alt text for your images.

Search engines like Google rely on alt text to interpret image content, which can improve your ranking in image search results. Moreover, social media platforms use alt text to enhance post discoverability within their search functions.

AI Assist also takes it a step further by generating relevant hashtags, enabling brands to reach their target audience more effectively when users search through hashtags.

Automated scheduling

Timing is everything in social media. Use AI to determine the best times to publish content.

Sprout’s Optimal Send Times takes the guesswork out of scheduling by determining the optimal times to publish content based on when your audience is most active.

Sprout’s Optimal Send Times takes the guesswork out of scheduling by determining the optimal times to publish content based on when your audience is most active. This helps maximize your brand’s visibility and impact, even when you’re not online but your audience is.

How to use AI for social customer care

Social media platforms have prospective and existing customers. To cater to them both, you must stay informed and help them whenever needed.

However, handling every incoming message manually is next to impossible. This is one of the primary examples of how to use AI for social media. AI can help manage high volumes of customer inquiries efficiently and keep consistent, timely responses, all while reducing the burden on your customer care team. This enables you to maintain a high standard of customer service while conserving your resources.

Tailor your responses

According to the State of Social Media report, 42% of business leaders believe that quick responses are essential for online business success. AI can automate routine responses and flag messages requiring human attention so that no query goes unanswered.

Sprout’s Enhance by AI Assist refines responses by suggesting different tones and styles, helping customer service teams maintain a consistent brand voice while responding swiftly. This also aids in crafting more detailed responses, so every customer feels valued and heard.

Sprout’s Enhance by AI Assist refines responses by suggesting different tones and styles, helping customer service teams maintain a consistent brand voice while responding swiftly.

Prioritize customer care based on message sentiment

The sheer volume of incoming messages makes it crucial to identify those requiring immediate attention. Sentiment analysis classifies messages as positive, negative, neutral or unclassified, allowing AI models to help teams prioritize responses based on urgency and importance.

Sprout’s AI-powered Sentiment Analysis quickly finds and addresses negative comments or complaints. This helps to reduce problems before they get worse, so your brand’s reputation remains unscathed.

Sprout’s AI-powered Sentiment Analysis quickly finds and addresses negative comments or complaints.

Classify and respond to messages in real-time

Things move quickly on social.  AI can help you understand and respond to the message’s intent in real-time.

Sprout’s Message Intent and Recommended Response capabilities help your team understand the message type in the Smart Inbox and suggest timely, relevant responses. This lets your team focus on the most important interactions, improving the customer experience.

AI for social listening and insights

AI enables you to process and analyze vast amounts of data quickly. As a result, you can identify shifting consumer trends, understand audience sentiment and get actionable brand insights that can refine your strategies as fast as possible.

AI for social listening can help you:

Dig through data faster

One of the biggest challenges in social listening is the sheer volume of data generated across various platforms. AI can process this data much faster than any human team, identifying relevant conversations, key topics and emerging trends that might otherwise be missed.

Summarize trends and findings

Once data is collected, the next step is to make sense of it. AI can help summarize trends and critical findings, providing a clear and concise overview that can be easily acted upon. This enables brands to quickly understand the bigger picture without getting bogged down in the details.

Understand audience emotions

Understanding the emotions behind what people say online is paramount for crafting the right responses and strategies. AI can analyze sentiment at scale, categorizing content as positive, negative, neutral or unclassified, giving brands a clearer picture of their audience’s emotions.

Here’s how Sprout’s AI capabilities improve your social listening strategy for better insights.

• Analyze by AI Assist: Quickly generates insights from Social Listening topics, helping brands stay on top of trends and audience concerns.
• Summarize by AI Assist: Provides concise summaries of large data sets, making it easier to understand vital findings and take action.
• Queries by AI Assist: Generates effective keyword suggestions for more accurate and relevant sentiment analysis.
• Spike Alerts in Listening: Alerts teams to sudden changes in topic volume, impressions, engagement‌ or sentiment, enabling proactive responses.
• Smart Categories: Automatically classifies and groups entities within Listening Topics, making it easier to interpret complex data.
• Explicit Content Filters: Removes explicit or inappropriate content from Listening Topics, maintaining the focus on relevant and constructive conversations.

AI for employee advocacy

Employees are some of the most potent advocates for any brand. When employees share their experiences, it can quickly shape the narrative on social media. Their feedback reflects on your brand’s image and can significantly influence public perception.

This is why many companies are engaging their employees as brand advocates. One of the main strategies is giving employees the right tools and resources. This will make it easier for them to create content and share authentic brand stories.

AI tools, like Sprout’s Message Ideas by AI Assist, help quickly generate post ideas, making it easier for employees to participate in advocacy programs. It provides tailored content suggestions aligned with your brand’s voice so that employees can share posts that are authentic to them and your brand.

Sprout’s Message Ideas by AI Assist help you quickly generate post ideas, making it easier for employees to participate in advocacy programs.

Integrated with Sprout’s Employee Advocacy platform, AI Assist helps your team expand your brand’s reach by enabling your colleagues to build and leverage their social presence with ease.

How to use AI for influencer marketing

Effective influencer campaigns hinge on a deep understanding of the conversations and trends that resonate with your target audience. Social listening helps you identify these key discussions and the right influencers to amplify your brand’s message. Leveraging AI, especially when considering how to use AI for social media, can speed up this process.

Sprout’s Social Listening solution helps you automate and manage these tasks efficiently. Our solution analyzes billions of data points in seconds, providing real-time, actionable insights on the topics that matter to you.

Queries by AI Assist enhances your ability to extract critical audience insights from social feedback and chatter, enabling you to stay focused on what’s important. You can also create Theme suggestions within your queries and apply them to Listening Topics for deeper analysis and understanding.

Monitoring your brand’s health with Sprout’s Social Listening can help unearth new trends or emerging conversations, including spotting potential brand influencers. Keeping a pulse on these conversations helps you effectively identify and collaborate with key influencers your audience listens to. By understanding how people discuss your brand and offerings,  you’ll be able to pinpoint conversation drivers and leverage them in your content and influencer campaigns to expand your reach and influence.

Create your AI social media blueprint with Sprout

Managing social media is more than just a one-person job; it requires a dedicated team. When your team has an AI assistant that’s available 24/7, you’ll be an unstoppable force. This AI-driven support tackles the manual routines so your team can focus on what truly matters—strategic planning, creative innovation and meaningful engagement with your audience.

As you learn how to use AI for social media, think about how Sprout’s capabilities will enable you to create social media posts, listen to your customers, respond to them in real time and gain valuable insights that drive better decision-making. This comprehensive support system is built to help your team, and your brand, grow and thrive.

See for yourself by signing up for a free trial.