Buzzfeed representatives shared information about how content created by artificial intelligence increases audience engagement and average site visit time, making users happier.
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- How Buzzfeed uses AI to increase engagement while reducing traffic from social networks
- Scaling capabilities
- AI content– more efficient
- AI tests show a high level of return
How Buzzfeed uses AI to increase Engagement while reducing traffic from social networks
AI develops and publishes new content formats that can increase incoming traffic flows to resources. Against the background of a significant decrease in the number of external transitions of visitors to social networks, the technical capabilities of artificial intelligence can become a good option for the further development of digital information publications.
The corresponding statement was recently made by the founder and CEO of Buzzfeed, John Peretti:
We give priority to our own resources aimed at expanding interaction with the audience, managed by new content generation tools based on artificial intelligence.
At the same time, we reduce our dependence on major technology platforms and rely on our rare combination of popularity and scalability in a fragmented media environment.
Changes on the main platforms continue to affect incoming traffic, so we are focused on our strategy to attract traffic independently.
The experiments led to a twofold increase in the share of artificial intelligence in the total mass of published content in the period from the first to the second quarter of 2023. And Buzzfeed is not going to stop there. They continue to scale their own projects with materials created entirely by AI.
The company gave its audience the opportunity to play with chatbots that arrange quizzes, guessing games and a variety of “what if?” games. Current statistics show a threefold increase in the average session. Users like to interact with chatbots and they actively use the opportunities provided.
It was thanks to artificial intelligence that image generators were launched. And some of them, such as: “What would Barbie’s dream house look like in various locations” have gone viral, receiving millions of views.
Possibilities for scaling
Jonah Peretti shared his expectations from the potential introduction of AI tools into deeper business processes:
When we look at individual parts of AI content, we see an increase in engagement, long sessions and posts with AI-inspired images that have gone viral on Buzzfeed.com and on social networks.
In addition to the fact that artificial intelligence provides longer average sessions, it also significantly increases the productivity of resources due to the rapid release of new content. Thus, the positive sides of the tool reinforce each other, further increasing the efficiency of work.
The active refusal to develop business accounts in social networks is associated with a reduction in the available opportunities for monetization of traffic. In other words, official brand communities have ceased to function as elements of the sales funnel and are used only to inform the audience.
Many people are interested in the possibilities of AI tools today, but a lot of time should still pass before their full study and development. At the current stage of development, the ability of chatbots to fully satisfy user intent is severely limited. People have yet to teach them how to generate authoritative and reliable high-quality materials.
AI content is more efficient
The president of Buzzfeed, Marcela Martin, said that during the two integrations with the Serta mattress brand, there was a sharp increase in the average session duration when using AI-based chatbots. The ratings of clickability and audience engagement also showed high growth.
Thanks to innovative tools, programmers and marketers have the opportunity to significantly improve the efficiency of their own work. Moreover, such models make it possible to scale projects qualitatively, involving the efforts of live authors and automated generators at the same time.
There is still a long way to go, adapting artificial intelligence to the generation of high-quality materials. But the tools available today already allow professionals to create significantly more content while maintaining a high level of credibility and expertise. Thus, each performer will be able to close large volumes of tasks, saving time by automating all routine processes.
AI tests show a high level of return
I recommend reading the following set of tests implemented by Buzzfeed based on artificial intelligence tools:
- Creating the prom dress of your dreams;
- Designing the perfect wedding dress;
- A city, a car and a job in Canada that will make you happy;
- Generating a suitable nickname;
- The process of making a virtual wedding cake.
For your sites, you can also create such interactivity, using at least the same ChatGPT. This will not only improve behavioral factors, but also allow you to collect additional traffic from social networks whose users adore such things.
In addition, by creating separate pages for all kinds of thematic tests, calculators and generators on your site, you can collect organic traffic. Search engines treat them pretty well. I have already checked on several clients myself.
An example of organic traffic to one of these calculators, which I have implemented on a client’s financial website (bourgeois, very high level of competition and corresponding margin):
Therefore: I recommend it!