AI is the future of business, and it’s already here. It has a great business impact that every entrepreneur should embrace. AI is a major focus of digital marketing right now, which means that businesses need to be on top of their game when it comes to virtual assistants.
But what exactly are virtual assistants?
They’re an AI-powered tool that can help with tasks like scheduling meetings, managing your inbox, analyzing data and more. Think of them like a digital assistant in your pocket — except this one can do so much more than schedule your events or manage your inbox.
Virtual assistants aren’t just for small businesses anymore. They can also be used by large enterprises as well. Here are eight ways you can create an AI virtual assistant for your business:
1. Use Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Natural language processing is the process of understanding natural language using computers. NLP is an important tool in the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning, which are two types of AI technologies that are used to make machines more intelligent. The most common use cases for NLP are:
- Speech recognition
- Question answering
- Text to speech (TTS)
2. Use Machine Learning (ML)
Machine learning is a subset of artificial intelligence (AI) that allows computers to get smarter over time. It’s based on statistical models that learn patterns in data and make predictions, as opposed to creating rules by hand.
3. Create Conversational Bot
A conversational bot is an AI application Which provides customer support through messaging or chatbots. These bots can answer questions or resolve issues for users in an automated fashion.
4. Use Deep Learning (DL)
Deep learning is one of the most popular techniques in artificial intelligence. The idea behind deep learning is that it is a form of machine learning that uses neural networks to mimic the way in which human brains function.
Deep learning has become so powerful that it can be used to create voice assistants that understand natural language, understand context and even learn over time.
5. Use Computer Vision (CV)
Computer Vision is a programming technique that allows you to analyze images and videos for specific attributes. This could be anything from recognizing the contents of a box to identifying a person or object in an image.
CV can be used to create virtual assistants that can recognize text, speech, and images. If you have a photo of your business logo, CV can train the AI assistant to recognize it in real time and respond accordingly.
CV is particularly useful in voice assistants because it allows them to understand what they’re saying. For example, if you ask Alexa “What’s the weather today?” she’ll respond by giving you the weather forecast.
6. Connect Your Virtual Assistant to Your Productivity App
You can use an AI virtual assistant to help automate tasks or make decisions for you when it comes to time management. You can connect your virtual assistant to your productivity apps like IFTTT, Zapier or Workflow so that when certain actions occur in those apps, your AI assistants will automatically take action for you. For example, if someone posts a new photo on Facebook, then your virtual assistant will automatically add it to a list of photos stored in DropBox. Or if someone sends an email using Gmail, then it will send them an email response with links to read more about that topic. This way, you don’t have to waste time doing these tasks manually anymore.
7. Use AI to help with marketing automation
You might be familiar with the term “marketing automation”, but not all of you know what it means. Marketing automation is a method of automating certain processes in order to improve the quality of customer engagement and retention. As such, it helps businesses achieve their goals faster by reducing the time spent on tasks such as collecting leads, following up on sales opportunities, and processing payments. This type of technology is especially useful for businesses that have limited resources and need to focus on high-level activities, rather than low-level ones.
8. Create a content hub for your audience
The best way to create an AI virtual assistant is with a content hub that includes everything from blog posts and social media posts, through to videos and images. A content hub is where all of your content lives in one place, so that you have access to all of it when needed, whether it’s for updates on special offers or just for fun (e.g., memes).
Before deciding which AI assistants to create, conduct a through market research to find out what business impact each will have.
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