United States

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Guide

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Media monitoring helps organizations stay informed about what’s being said across online news, print, broadcast, podcasts, and other media channels. Whether you're tracking brand mentions, measuring PR performance, monitoring competitors, or identifying emerging trends, our expert guides, best practices, and industry insights will help you build a smarter media monitoring strategy and make more informed communications decisions.

Discover expert media monitoring guides, best practices, and industry insights to track brand mentions, monitor competitors, and stay ahead of the news.

Media Monitoring: Guides, Best Practices & Industry Insights

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.

Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?

The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

How do customers interact with my newly launched product?

How do I increase the productivity of my employees?

How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?

We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.

So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.

But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!

But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.

We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

From media coverage and social conversations to audience insights and campaign performance, communications teams have access to more data than ever before. But collecting information is only the beginning. The real challenge is knowing what it means, what matters most, and how to respond with confidence.

Data-driven communications turns scattered signals into actionable insights. By using data to understand audiences, identify trends, measure impact, and guide decisions, communications teams can create more relevant strategies and demonstrate their value across the organization.

Learn how data-driven communications helps teams understand audiences, measure impact, identify trends, and turn media, social, and AI signals into action.

Data-Driven Communications: Insights & Strategies | Meltwater

Kim Cattrall takes the lead in a campaign celebrating the intelligence behind confident brand decisions.

Intelligence is always in style: Kim Cattrall stars in Meltwater’s new campaign

AI adoption is no longer the challenge—trusted context is. Most organizations have AI tools, but many still rely on disconnected, stale, or unverified data, limiting the quality and trustworthiness of AI-generated outputs. Meltwater MCP brings trusted, real-time intelligence into AI assistants.

Your Best Context is Already in the Room

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIn to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

From Coca-Cola's "Open Happiness" and Dove's "Real Beauty", to non-profit organisations like Stop the Money Pipeline, successful marketing campaigns have a way of sticking with us long after an impression or purchase. 

The reason is that effective campaigns make companies personable, relatable, and memorable. And the best ones do even more than achieve quantitative results and increase sales — they have the power to change consumer perceptions, drive change, and impact societies. 

However, the question is: how do you create a successful marketing campaign, one that is innovative enough to leave a lasting impression and attract so many of your customers, and remarkable enough to drive sales long after the ad has aired? 

While there is no one-size-fits-all method, there are a couple of criteria that the most successful marketing campaigns have in common. Here, we break it down.

Converting Customers Through Your Marketing Campaign 

What Marketing Campaign Metrics Should You Monitor?

What Makes a Marketing Campaign Successful?

Marketing campaigns promote products or services through different types of media, like television, radio, print, and digital platforms. They don't just rely on advertising and can also include live demonstrations, social media, and other methods to reach their target audience. 

Marketing campaigns are crafted with different goals in mind, such as building brand awareness and a brand image, introducing a new product to the market, increasing sales of a product or service, or reducing the impact of negative news. 

How you define the campaign's goal will usually determine the strategy you need to execute the campaign effectively, and what media channels you'll need to get the campaign in front of your audience's eyes. 

Correct planning correctly will ensure you know how to measure campaign success and guide your marketing team to do more of what's working, and get back on track when it's not. 

Ask yourself these questions to plan effectively for your next marketing campaign:

If you’re having trouble defining your campaign's purpose, start broad. Take a look at the marketing goals below and see which ones make sense for your own brand. Which one is most aligned with your own? This is hardly a definitive list, but it gives you an idea of some general business goals that a successful marketing campaign could help you achieve.

Now, take your broad goal and turn it into a SMART goal: one that is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. An example of a broad goal is "My goal is to gather customer feedback or content on our brand."

To make that goal SMART, would sound something like: "The goal of my marketing campaign is to gather user-generated content from 100 customers from a branded hashtag on Instagram featuring our new product line by the 30th of June." 

Depending on the goals you've set out to achieve, your marketing campaign might be measured by the number of leads generated, the amount of sales revenue in a given month, or new followers you gain on a particular social media platform, for example. 

Decide what milestones and metrics you want to track is important for gaining and keeping momentum, as they will be key indicators on the effectiveness of your campaign strategy and tactics.

Reading tip: Learn how marketing teams connect campaigns to revenue.

The first step to answering this question is figuring out what stage of the buyer’s journey your marketing campaign is targeting. Are you trying to bring in new customers, or are you attempting to gather feedback from existing customers? Are you marketing your brand to those who recognize it, or those who are currently unfamiliar?

Your marketing message and campaign strategy will vary depending on whether your campaign audience is in the awareness, consideration, or decision stage of the marketing funnel. 

It’s important to note that a marketing campaign can include content for people in various stages of their journey. For example, while your campaign might target current customers, it might also bring brand awareness to new consumers.

This is where you start considering when and where your intended audience will see your marketing campaign. As a marketer, you should already have a pretty good understanding of which channels you use for promotion and which of these channels work best. 

But, if finding your ideal marketing channel is new to you, try using the PESO model as a guide, where the distribution channels are divided into Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned. Start by selecting two or three primary marketing channels for your campaign. 

For example, you might want to promote your UGC Instagram campaign on Instagram, through an email newsletter, and on your website. You could also plan to use part of your budget to boost social media posts to encourage more views.  

Putting a start and end-date on your campaign will give you a better sense of what's needed to execute a successful promotion strategy.

It is a good idea to create a campaign calendar, marking the start and end date. This will also help you plan the preparation of all necessary assets for launch of the campaign.

If you need some inspiration, take a look at our guide on how to create a social media calendar; it has insights and tips on how you can plan out your content successfully.

Converting Customers Through Your Marketing Campaign

Successful marketing campaigns are usually a connected series of operations designed to have a particular end result, or conversion. 

Your marketing campaign needs a call to action (CTA) that you want your audience to engage with. CTAs are a direct ask of your audience that usually prompts visitors, leads, or consumers to take action, and you need to have this in your campaign if you want to see success. 

CTAs give your audience a clear directive. And if they're tailored to your brand, you'll have a greater chance of cutting through the noise and inspiring a conversion. 

Continuing the example of using UGC, your CTA would outline the direct ask ("Share a photo of yourself using our product") and include the benefit for the user if they chose to engage ("be entered to win a voucher"). 

Another way that you can drive conversions with a marketing campaign is through landing pages. These dedicated pages help your audience to learn more about what your campaign is all about, and generally help set your campaign apart from all the other content on your website.

Campaign landing pages typically include the benefits for your audience in taking part in your campaign, so highlight these and repeat your CTA so that your audience knows exactly what to do. Include a variety of marketing assets, like images or videos, to increase the conversion rate.

What Marketing Campaign Metrics Should You Monitor?

The more specific marketing metrics you monitor and report on depend on what type of campaign you are running and the distribution channels you've chosen, but in general you should try to keep track of: traffic generated, CTR, impressions, and ROI. And, of course, one of the most important KPIs is the campaigns impact on revenue, so be sure you have a way of measuring this in place. 

Here are some other metrics that you can monitor for a holistic view: 

Social engagement (likes, shares, comments)

Not all of these metrics will be applicable to your campaign but it is worth monitoring the quantitative values to better assess the success of your campaign. 

So, how will you know that your marketing campaign was a success? That will depend on whether or not your campaign was able to meet its initial SMART goal. If it did, you have success! This is one of the reasons why you set a campaign goal to begin with — so that you can ensure that the strategy you put in place helps you attain your goal. 

Whether you wanted to increase your Instagram followers, grow your email subscriber base, or inspire 1,000 downloads of your ebook, when you meet these personal marketing goals that you set for your campaign, that is what makes it successful. 

Take a look through these examples of successful marketing campaigns to get ideas and see what success in marketing looks like!

Budweiser - Whassup Bud Commercial (Quarantine version) 2020

When Budweiser brought back its infamous ‘Whassup’ catchphrase earlier in 2020, it was a remix of the original, only this time, it was the ‘Quarantine Version’ to coincide with what the world was experiencing. dated tech).

The marketing campaign was shared on social media platforms, with the hashtag "#Togetheratadistance" and the "#SavePubLife initiative" to help pubs that were forced to close due to social distancing regulations.

Burger King features moldy Whopper in new ad

In 2020, Burger King announced that they had removed artificial preservatives, colors, and flavors from their famous Whopper burger. To promote this, Burger King released their moldy Whopper marketing campaign. Shared in both photo and video formats, Burger King documented how much mould grew on one of their Whoppers over a 34-day period.

This marketing campaign, despite coming across as a rather unconventional method of marketing fast food, was a great example of how brands can capture the attention of their audience, as well as increase conversations around their brand. 

Facebook: Groups - Ready to Rock? - 2020 Super Bowl Commercial

For the first time, Facebook aired a commercial during the 2020 Super Bowl. The 60-second advert, called "Ready to Rock" promoted Facebook Groups and featured celebrity appearances such as actor Sylvester Stallone and comedian Chris Rock, as well as highlighting several “rock” themed Facebook Groups. 

Not only did the advert receive positive responses for its play on words and including real members of the featured Facebook Groups, but it's a great example of ad targeting and using new platforms to help your brand reach a wider audience.

While marketing campaigns may involve a lot of information, strategizing, ideas, and monitoring, hopefully, this has given you a deeper look into how you can find success in running your own marketing campaigns. 

The Basics of a Successful Marketing Campaign

So you’re probably utilising Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and or Instagram in your marketing strategy – but have you ever thought about using WhatsApp marketing to get your message across? 

With around 2 billion users worldwide, the app offers marketers the opportunity to engage their customers in one-on-one conversations. For this reason  – and the growing adoption of conversational marketing through messaging apps  – businesses are using the platform to reach customers and strengthen the connection they have with their online communities.

And as we just mentioned, there has been a shift toward messaging apps and dark social that has forced marketers to consider utilizing messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber, WeChat, LINE, Telegram, etc. in their social media marketing strategies. 

But despite the growing adoption of these messaging apps by consumers, many brands are hesitant to utilise dark social platforms like Whatsapp & Facebook Messenger. And we get it, marketing via dark social platforms is a relatively new concept and the analytics just aren't there yet compared to some traditional social media platforms, which you need to have to prove that all-important social ROI target your boss set.

Dark social is therefore relatively unchartered territory, but that also has its advantages. Since few marketers have begun leveraging these messaging apps, your WhatsApp marketing campaigns do not have to compete for attention in the same way your organic Facebook posts are on the Facebook Newsfeed. 

Plus, dark social can be highly beneficial for brand visibility. Think about the number of times you read an article and sent it to a friend directly through a messaging app rather than share the post publicly on your Facebook profile. It happens a lot, right? Therefore, the chances that your content is already being shared on dark social are relatively high. 

In fact, 84% of social sharing happens via dark social platforms, according to RadiumOne. 

With organic reach on traditional social media platforms being so low, it’s time to start thinking differently and trying new methods of reaching your audience. Businesses in South East Asia have been marketing through WeChat, a similar messaging platform, for years, and we'll explore examples of how brands around the world are using WhatsApp marketing in their social media strategies below.  

Ways to Make WhatsApp Marketing Work for You

Successful WhatsApp Marketing Campaigns & Other Apps

This is a tricky question because the app is primarily used to send text messages to either an individual or a group of individuals. But, the company was acquired by Facebook, Inc. in 2014 for $19 billion, and recently Facebook has begun integrating all of its social media apps, including messaging apps like Messenger and WhatsApp. 

And while you cannot run ads on WhatsApp, you can run click-to-message ads on Facebook and Instagram that open a conversation in WhatsApps after someone clicks on the ad's CTA. Innovations and integrations like these have allowed messaging apps to take on a whole new meaning. 

Facebook has also recently connected the message inbox on Messenger with Instagram’s for all users, further integrating their suite of products and blurring the lines between social media apps and messaging apps.

Messaging apps popular in Asia, like the Chinese market-focused messaging app WeChat, started as a personal messaging service for people to communicate. However, over time, WeChat evolved into a super app that can be used for blogging, shopping, money transfers, and even concierge services. It's possible that other personal messaging apps will implement similar features in the future. But for right now, WhatsApp can still be considered a social media app without any of those fancy features because of the existing integrations with Facebook and the growing number of brands using it as a customer service channel. 

1. Free to Use: The best part about using personal messaging apps for marketing? Most of them are free to download and use. Because of the ease of access and low barrier of entry, brands can begin to roll out campaigns almost immediately upon activation. 

2. Fantastic Open Rates: Sure, you may leave a few emails unread, but how many of your text messages go unread? WhatsApp users open more than 90% of messages they receive, which is likely a much higher percentage than the open rate on your email newsletter. Image having that type of open rate on your next marketing campaign! By including a Call To Action (CTA) function in that campaign, you could significantly boost leads and revenue streams.

3. Personally Engage With Customers: Text messages are inherently more personal than emails, and being able to personally address and respond to customers goes a long way when it comes to building an engaged community. WhatsApp marketing campaigns can be curated for and targeted toward a specific audience.

4. Leverage Multiple Media Formats: Personal messaging apps allow you to send various types of multimedia collateral. Marketing teams can share images of posters, brochures, videos, and links to websites that customers can use to get information on new products and services.

Note: Sharing videos with customers can be data-heavy and it might deter them from watching them. But, apps like WhatsApp allow users to watch videos directly within the app. The company has created a built-in pop-up YouTube viewer, making it easier for people to view your marketing video. 

 Even though there are limitations associated with running a campaign in personal messaging apps such as lack of tangible measurements, algorithms and scope of distribution, customers gravitate towards messengers because they are personal in nature and ultra-responsive. Marketing specific services by messaging apps such as WhatsApp for Business are really helpful for businesses to implement these messaging architectures to suit their needs. For more on this, you can also read our other article here.

A summary of why you should use personal messaging apps like WhatsApp as a marketing tool

Private messaging allows you to create a personal relationship with your customers

It is free for people to use, and a lot of people are already using these apps

There's a greater chance that your messages will be read 

It's easy to share videos, images, or links around your marketing campaigns

The massive number of people using these personal messaging apps is a big draw for marketers, but there are not as many social media management platforms that fully support content scheduling and publishing or community management yet. So, if you are looking for marketing software that will help support your WhatsApp marketing strategy, we compiled a list of software providers that do offer these services. 

From messaging automation, cross-channel communication, mass texting, and campaign analytics, here are several tooling options that can support your WhatsApp marketing strategy. You could also choose to manage your WhatsApp campaigns by downloading the WhatsApp Business app if you do not want to use the services of one of the company's partners that is connected to the platform via the WhatsApp Business API.

A marketing automation software that also incorporates many other functions such as lead scoring, social marketing, landing pages/web forms, and hosting content platform.

Using a single API, its software connects the brand with customers across the messaging functions of SMS, WhatsApp, and chat.

This software is able to import contacts from WhatsApp and offers an anti-blocking feature to ensure your messages get across to the desired audience. 

This is a full-stack marketing automation software is dedicated to delivering messaging campaigns and enabling customer support via messaging. The software also has tracks several metrics that you can use to evaluate the success of a WhatsApp campaign.

This software is cloud-based and manages cross-channel communication. The platform allows brands to deploy mobile push notifications, in-app messaging, and send emails.

Successful WhatsApp Marketing Campaign Examples

The wide-scale use of the ubiquitous QR code is another innovative way of encouraging customers to access information on your brand. Brands can add QR codes on their products or store windows that users can scan to begin a conversation with the brand. Most messaging apps have code scanners built into them and this makes it simpler for people to read about a new campaign or interact with the brand. WhatsApp recently promoted this function to initiate chats between customers and brands. As an added bonus, you can also share marketing collateral (videos, links, etc.) directly with individuals that scan the QR code.

Absolut created an awesome PR campaign to celebrate and announce the launch of the new Limited Edition Absolut Unique collection in Argentina. The company organised a very exclusive party and created a fictional bouncer that users had to interact with to access the party that Absolut was hosting. This unique marketing campaign was an instant hit and scored the brand 3-days of uninterrupted conversations with its customers. 

Absolut Unique Access - English

Another example comes from the condiment brand Hellmann's who set up a campaign using Whatsapp by asking consumers to send a picture of their fridge, in return a chef would send them a recipe. Over 13,000 people signed up for the campaign and spent an average of 65 minutes interacting with the brand. Hellmann's also received strong insight into what was in people's fridges!

WhatsCook. The first live recipe service via WhatsApp.

With the countless options available on messaging apps, brands and companies can reach out to their audience much faster with a more personalized touch. Messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are great for your next campaign and brands should not miss out on using them as a marketing tool.

WhatsApp and Messenger Apps as a Marketing Tool

It’s said that Covid-19 sparked 2 years of transformation in 2 months. While that figure is hard to quantify, there’s no doubt that the pandemic bumped the priority of transformation initiatives up on the c-suite’s agenda. 

For the mass majority of companies, keeping up with the pace of transformation is a struggle and with roughly 60-80% of transformation projects failing, many need all the help they can get. That’s why we caught up with Prakash Senghani, Co-Founder of Saifety.ai (a start-up concentrating on construction technology and the use of Artificial Intelligence to improve safety and productivity) and Head of Digital Delivery at JLL. 

Prakash is an expert in innovation, change management and digital construction who holds expectational knowledge in rolling out internal processes and developing innovative solutions that bring efficiencies along the digital journeys. 

Q&A with Prakash Senghani: Your AI & Transformation Questions Answered

Q1. What does digital transformation mean to you? 

Digital transformation for me is a change management process, more specifically its success lies in changing the mindsets of people. Any digital tool, regardless of how innovative it is, is useless unless people use it. As well as impacting people, the outcomes of digital transformations should focus on bringing efficiencies to business practices as well as nurturing new business lines.

Q2. It’s often said that transformation is a journey and not the destination. When and why should a company look to start transforming?

With technology, companies should constantly be transforming; I know this may sound cliched, but things change and develop at such a pace that standing still means that you fall behind. Some organisations wait until their competition starts a transformation programme, others when regulations force them to, both indicators tell you that you are too late. 

Transformations should be embarked upon as part of strategic initiatives to improve areas of an organisation such as delivering safer working conditions, reducing risk, or increasing margins for example.

Q3. What technologies do you see as most impactful in enabling digital leaders to accomplish their goals? 

I think that the promise of artificial intelligence (AI) will have a huge impact on the way tasks are performed across many industries. AI is not without its challenges, but it has the potential to super charge other innovations and solve many human challenges both great and small. In the near term, other technologies I see making a difference is the continued proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G. As bandwidth and reliability increase we will see more and more devices connected and collecting data, adding to our understanding of the world and helping to make it better in many ways.

Q4. What organisational changes are required for developing a “digital-ready” culture? 

Attitudes towards change and acceptance of continually improving it are key to having a digital-ready culture. It is essential that the most senior leadership not only buy into the digital initiatives, but also live them.

Q5. What are the barriers that usually block the path to transformation? 

Being irrationally attached to existing systems and processes along with fear of change and cost are the main barriers. That’s not to say any of these should be ignored, they are barriers for a reason and should be understood and overcome, not pushed aside or steamrolled.

Q6. There has been a lot of buzz around the ethics of AI, what’s your take on this? 

Attention around AI ethics is getting fully warranted and needed. We have to have the debate around the role and therefore the responsibility AI has in society as it becomes increasingly pervasive. Its use in self-driving cars is a commonly cited one; who is liable for the accident the car has after a decision made by the AI powered computers controlling it? Is it the owner of the car, the manufacturer of the car, the coder of the algorithm or a combination of them? 

The other side of it is the ethics of training AI models with intrinsically biased information. There are well documented cases of AI enabled applications becoming racist, sexist and homophobic because of the data they’ve been trained from or the imbalance of the available data. 

I don’t have the answers, but collectively and openly discussing these things is the only way to find a workable if not perfect solution. 

Q7. Who do you think is responsible for the outcomes of AI going wrong?

I think it is difficult to generalise as the applications and uses of AI are so varied. But in most cases, I think that the training data has the biggest impact on the outcomes and so should bear most of the responsibility.

Q8. ML and AI both need vast amounts of data, capturing it whilst preserving privacy and storing safely are huge challenges as we digitally transform. Any tips for data security? 

Yes, if you are in doubt about whether what you’re doing impinges privacy then don’t do it. The promise of the use of AI can easily be lost if privacy concerns become widespread, the same way the promise of social media has been. There are some great lessons to be learnt from social media’s soul searching, the biggest is that there will be unintended consequences to the mass deployment and uptake of a technology. We must put in checks and balances upfront to ensure that any developments are constantly being referenced to original goals before being pushed out.

Q9. How do you keep up with the blindingly fast pace of change in the digital landscape? 

I read... A lot. I easily spend 4-5 hours a day reading, not necessarily directly about digital, but with digital being so ubiquitous across industries and geographies some link to digital is never far away. I’ve recently become a fan of podcasts which I listen to whilst commuting or exercising, it’s a great way to digest information and opinions efficiently. 

Q10. What’s your best tip for staying agile when implementing change? How can teams respond quickly to what they learn?

Communication! Communicate why you’re doing it, when you’re doing it, how you’re doing it, who it will impact, and most importantly, how it’s going at regular intervals. Having a robust feedback mechanism is also important but again it comes back to communication. 

The Meltwater Blog

The Basics of a Successful Marketing Campaign

WhatsApp and Messenger Apps as a Marketing Tool

Q&A with Prakash Senghani: Your AI & Transformation Questions Answered

How CPG Brands in MENA Can Benefit From Digital Marketing

Growth Hacking for Marketers

Event Marketing Strategies and Best Practices

The Rise of Converged Media [Expert Interviews]

Lifestyle Marketing: How To Leverage Your Consumers' Lifestyle

5 Things to Learn from Apple's Marketing Strategy

What is (Online) Display Advertising? An Updated Guide

Push and Pull Marketing: Differences and Synergies

The Top 3 Things to Know About the Future of Marketing