Old-school marketing personalization techniques used defined personas and established communication styles. Today, organizations are targeting specific groups of their audiences with segmented content. However, the most effective communication for engagement allows audience members to identify their own groups.
This new personalization strategy can be labelled personalization 4.0, as former Urban Outfitters marketing executive Dmitri Siegel puts it. Personalization is not just for products but for employees as well. With the increasing amount of information online, event marketers need to personalize the event experience, not just the customer experience.
Updating Your Personalization Strategy
The best way to spark this new personalization strategy is to let users lead the way. Content users select can be used to generate an individualized profile that includes a score or rating for given areas of interest. Usually, users have to actively identify content they find relevant, as many content marketers rely on manual processes for content creation and personalization. Yet, using AI and IoT sensors can help marketing teams recognize users and make content recommendations based on past behavior.
The cues from these sensors help AI programs construct a user profile based on attention-based metrics, offering subtle, immersive content suggestions. Moreover, AI can help identify the kinds of content interest your users most, grouping communities by interest and sending group members recommended content based on the ways they’ve engaged with content.
Smart badges can collect information about which sessions, booths, and experiences event participants visit. If there’s a correlation between those actions and the content they consumed before the conference, an AI tool can help build models for the communities to which attendees belong.
How Can AI Help?
AI-enhanced personalization techniques such as smart badges ensure that customization primarily benefits the attendees receiving those tailored touchpoints. These techniques help better understand what people want at an event in real time. As AI and machine learning continue to mature, you’ll be able to gather more granular information that will be more meaningful for users.
Launching Personalization 4.0
Events have a shelf life, but there’s significant communication leading up to and following the event. Collecting information and driving interactions with AI ensures that you’ll be able to pivot and talk to audience groups you might not have noticed before. Personalization with AI creates an immersive experience that will last long after your events.
Personalization is a data-heavy topic, but it doesn’t have to be with AI. Incorporating personal elements of recognition such as user-submitted photos into the experience is paramount to emotionally connect with your users.
The strategy of increasing personalization has been the norm for marketers for several years now, but it’s only getting started. As AI and machine learning become more powerful, you will be able to harness their potential to create an immersive experience that will last long after your events.
