United States

Generative AI is everywhere now. You see it in content, campaigns, customer experiences, and even internal workflows. It promises speed, scale, and efficiency, but there’s a harder question sitting underneath all that progress; Do your audiences actually trust it?

Trust in the Age of AI: What Consumers Really Think About AI Generated Content

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

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

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

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

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
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

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management 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

AI Search has Become a New Reputation Layer

LinkedIn Dominates Tech, Professional Services, FinTech and Marketing

The AI-Citable Content Recipe is Repeatable

Buyer-Intent Content Formats Top Citation Rankings

Third-Party and User-Generated Sources Have an Edge

Fresh, Original Content Creates More Opportunities

Your Practical Visibility Playbook for LinkedIn

The AI Brand Visibility Goal: Become the Answer


AI is changing how decisions get made, and our new research with LinkedIn shows exactly how brands are (and aren’t) appearing in the answers that matter. In this post, we break down the key findings, and you can download the full report, How LinkedIn Content Wins in AI Search, for a deeper look at the research. 

AI is reshaping search. Instead of scrolling through links, users now get instant, synthesized answers—driven by models that decide what sources to trust and what information to surface.

For marketers, that changes the game. Visibility is no longer just about ranking in search—it’s about showing up in the answers themselves. 

LinkedIn is a leading citation source in AI search

YouTube is the most cited source in our analysis at 1.52%, followed by LinkedIn with 0.53% of citations.Other cited platforms include: Reddit (0.44%), Capterra (0.38%), Medium (0.21%).

Citation Share is the proportion of times a brand, website, or source is cited by AI-generated responses compared to competitors within a given topic or query set. Because this research used millions of prompts and  AI cites such a vast range of different websites, even the most commonly cited can appear to have a low citation share percentage, despite being cited far more than others.

If your category conversations are happening on LinkedIn but your experts are not publishing there, AI tools may learn from competitors, customers, analysts, or independent creators instead.

LinkedIn Dominates Tech, Professional Services, FinTech and  Marketing

Our research shows LinkedIn performing especially well when questions are professional, technical, or decision-driven. 

LinkedIn ranked in the top 5 in citations for B2B searches across key industries, including  Technology & SaaS, Consulting and Professional Services, Financial Services and Fintech, Marketing & Advertising, and HR & Talent.

LinkedIn has more than 1.3 billion members, including executives, analysts, recruiters, consultants, technologists, and domain specialists who explain how their industries work, making it fertile ground for AI platforms seeking expert sources.

Within 14 business categories, LinkedIn is a top-five ranked domain in AI citations. 

<table class="table-primary">

  <thead>

    <tr>

      <th>Category</th>

      <th>Rank</th>

      <th>Category</th>

      <th>Rank</th>

    </tr>

  </thead>

  <tbody>

    <tr>

      <td>AI &amp; Data Science</td>

      <td>#1</td>

      <td>HR &amp; Talent</td>

      <td>#3</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

      <td>Marketing &amp; Advertising</td>

      <td>#1</td>

      <td>Legal &amp; Compliance</td>

      <td>#3</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

      <td>Leadership &amp; Strategy</td>

      <td>#2</td>

      <td>Technology &amp; SaaS</td>

      <td>#3</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

      <td>Sales &amp; Revenue</td>

      <td>#2</td>

      <td>E-commerce &amp; Retail</td>

      <td>#3</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

      <td>Supply Chain &amp; Logistics</td>

      <td>#2</td>

      <td>Real Estate</td>

      <td>#4</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

      <td>Consulting &amp; Prof Services</td>

      <td>#2</td>

      <td>Healthcare &amp; Life Sciences</td>

      <td>#4</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

      <td>Financial Services &amp; Fintech</td>

      <td>#2</td>

      <td>Energy &amp; Sustainability</td>

      <td>#5</td>

    </tr>

  </tbody>

</table>

AI visibility strategies should start with the questions buyers ask, not the channels marketers prefer. For professional queries, LinkedIn is often cited in the answer.

Across the models analyzed, 75% of LinkedIn citations came from content posted by individual members, while 25% came from Company Pages. 

This makes intuitive sense because LinkedIn profile metadata includes signals such as title, company, and industry. When credible people write about their own domain (with examples, data, and specific details) the content gives AI models confidence that the source is grounded in real expertise.

While individual member content tends to get cited more often, balance is important. Well- managed Company Pages and a strong bench of individual employees regularly posting quality content will work in conjunction with boosting your brand’s AI visibility.

Corporate Communications teams have a leading role to play in brand AI visibility strategy. Subject matter experts, executives, practitioners, and customer-facing teams should be encouraged to publish in their own voices, Communications teams can guide them with coordinated messaging and best practices. 

AI visibility is not a pure popularity contest; you don’t need huge audiences or content that regularly goes viral. Models reward relevance, domain expertise, and credible content that’s easy to read more than they reward wide reach.

Build a bench, not a single influencer program. The strongest programs will help many credible employees own specific topics and publish consistently.

The top-cited LinkedIn articles share a surprisingly practical structure. They use bullets (100%), clear headings (92%), named entities (75%), quantitative data (67%), comparison frameworks (50%), and decision guidance (33%)- all exactly the kind of structure AI systems can parse, summarize, and cite.

The ideal article is not a vague thought-leadership essay, but much closer to a practical buyer guide: a clear question, a direct answer, criteria, ranked options or examples, a how-to-choose section, and an FAQ.

Treat LinkedIn Articles like an answer you will give to a question. Put the answer near the top. Use sections. Name the tools, companies, categories, and criteria. Add numbers. Make trade-offs explicit.

The highest-performing formats mirror the way people ask AI tools for help. 

Best X listicles appeared in 54% of the top-cited content

Educational explainers and thought leadership with data also appear, but pure opinion is less likely to be cited on its own.

That does not mean every brand should only publish listicles. It means that AI systems need content that directly supports decision-making, like: which options is best, how to evaluate a vendor, what criteria matter, what risks to consider, and how one approach compares with another.

Turn expertise into decision support. The closer your content is to a potential customer question, the easier it is for AI to use.

Looking at the broader citation landscape, User Generated Content (UGC) platforms, such as LinkedIn, Reddit, and YouTube, accounted for 47.5% of all AI citations, while peer review sites made up 15.0%, and company websites totalled 18.7%.

Company websites remain important, but AI tools often look beyond them for independent validation, practitioner detail, and real-world examples. LinkedIn sits at the intersection of those signals: professional identities, domain expertise, and publishable long-form context.

Your owned site is only one factor in the citation equation. Pair it with credible third-party proof, LinkedIn expertise, and influencer programs.

Plain text posts and articles made up 83% of cited content in the report. 

Rich media or videos can help engagement, but citation visibility depends heavily on written clarity and the associated post. AI systems need words, structure, entities, and numbers they can retrieve and quote. Which LinkedIn content formats receive the most AI citations? 

This emphasizes that written, long-form expertise performs best in AI-driven citation systems. 

Do not let the production burden stop your experts from publishing. A sharp text post or structured LinkedIn Article can be more AI-visible than a highly produced asset with little extractable substance.

The report found that 72% of AI-cited content was original, not reshared. It also found that 48% of cited content was published in the previous three months, offering a strong rationale for consistency and recency.

Repurposing still has a role, but reposting alone is not enough. The best AI visibility programs will create original content, on a predictable cadence, that answers questions. The key is to continuously refresh the content as categories, tools, and questions evolve.

Assign publishing cadence by topic owner. A practical starting point is two to three posts per week per expert, supported by editorial templates and data inputs.

Start by auditing the answer space to understand what your buyers are asking AI. Identify 25–50 high-intent prompts related to your category, including queries like “best,” “compare,” “how to choose,” “what is,” “pricing,” “risks,” and “implementation.” Ideally, you should track a broader range of prompts - Meltwater GenAI Lens can help you scale up. 

Next, map topic ownership across your organization by pairing each prompt cluster with a credible internal expert. Focus on individuals with hands-on, real-world experience rather than relying solely on seniority or job title.

Build content around concrete proof points so it’s easy for AI systems to recognize and use your insights. Each brief should clearly define the target question, provide a direct answer, and include named entities, evaluation criteria, examples, data points, and a recommended article structure.

Publish content in both long-form and short-form formats to maximize visibility. Use LinkedIn Articles to create durable, structured assets that answer key questions, and complement them with feed posts that summarize the main argument, add timely perspective, and drive readers to the full piece.

Remember that LinkedIn is a powerful citation vector, but it’s only one part of the puzzle. You need to build an earned media strategy that will make sure AI finds your messaging everywhere, strengthening your brand authority and trust. LinkedIn content should form a core component of any broader comms campaign. 

Finally, measure performance on a monthly basis to refine your strategy. Track metrics, such as citation counts, domain rank, differences across AI models, and which prompts surface your content, then double down on the formats, contributors, and topics that consistently perform best.

For continuous updates on driving LLM visibility with LinkedIn, bookmark this post.

Meltwater’s GenAI Lens can streamline this entire process, giving you metrics, insights and recommendations to improve your citations - see it in action!!

AI is changing brand discovery from a search-results game into an answer-trust game. The brands that win will optimize both their Company Page and expert voices. They will make their expertise easy for AI systems to discover, consider, and cite.

LinkedIn's role in the report is a signal of that shift. The platform wins because real members are going there to explain their work and have professional conversations, in a public forum. For marketers, the opportunity is to organize that expertise into a repeatable AI visibility program.

The next time a buyer asks AI what they should do, which vendor to consider, or how to evaluate a category, your goal is simple: do not just be mentioned. Become the answer.


Using Meltwater GenAI Lens we analyzed 9.5 million AI citations across six major AI Platforms: 

The study ran thousands of test prompts across B2B categories— including AI, Data Science, Marketing, Leadership, HR, Sales, Supply Chain, Professional Services, Financial Services, and more— then tracked which domains and URLs appeared in generated answers.

Throughout this article, citation means a website domain or URL referenced by an AI model in a generated response. Domain rank refers to the position of a domain among all cited sources for a given prompt or model. Citation share is the percentage of total citations that reference LinkedIn.

GenAI Lens is Meltwater’s AI visibility monitoring platform that tracks how large language models describe your brand, products, and competitors. It helps PR and marketing teams analyze sentiment, sources, and trends in AI-generated responses so they can manage reputation, spot risks, and shape their brand narrative in AI-driven search. 


Why is LinkedIn content showing up so often in AI-generated answers?

AI systems prioritize content that demonstrates clear expertise, real-world experience, and structured information. LinkedIn excels here because it combines professional identity signals (titles, companies, industries) with detailed, practitioner-led content, making it highly “trustable” for AI citation.

Do I need a large following on LinkedIn to be cited by AI?

9.5M AI citations analyzed: How LinkedIn content wins AI search

AI is now a core part of modern marketing, not an emerging trend. Brands need to embrace AI-powered systems to remain at pace with competitors. 

Marketing teams use AI in a number of ways: to create content, analyze audiences, and optimize campaigns in real time — but adoption comes with new expectations around transparency and trust.

A new Meltwater report, in collaboration with YouGov, on the public perception of AI shows AI conversations have increased significantly, with mentions rising 53% year-over-year. So as companies ramp up their usage, it's important to remember that AI and it's permeation online are also on the consumer mind.

What are the benefits of AI in marketing?

How do consumers feel about AI in marketing?

AI in marketing is the use of artificial intelligence technologies — such as machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and predictive analytics—to automate decisions, generate content, and improve marketing performance.

These technologies allow marketers to analyze large volumes of data, identify patterns, and act on insights faster than would be possible manually. As a result, AI can be used to personalize customer experiences, optimize campaigns, and improve targeting across channels.

 As of 2026, AI has been embedded across all different kinds of marketing workflows, from content generation to media monitoring and audience intelligence. What was once considered experimental is now a foundational capability for many marketing teams.

<table class="table-primary alternate-color">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>AI Use Case</th>
      <th>Marketing Application</th>
      <th>Outcome</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Content generation</td>
      <td>Blogs, ads, emails</td>
      <td>Faster production</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Social listening</td>
      <td>Brand monitoring</td>
      <td>Real-time insights</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Predictive analytics</td>
      <td>Campaign optimization</td>
      <td>Higher ROI</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>AI visibility tracking</td>
      <td>Monitoring AI outputs</td>
      <td>Brand accuracy</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

AI offers a range of benefits that help marketing teams operate more efficiently and effectively. By automating repetitive tasks and providing deeper insights, marketers are able to focus more on strategy, creativity, and building stronger converting campaigns.

AI enables teams to produce content at scale. AI tools can help generate blog posts, ad copy, emails, and social media content in a fraction of the time it would take manually, enabling teams to produce more content and improve their discoverability.

AI can analyze customer behavior and preferences on deeper levels and at scale, to deliver highly targeted messaging, improving engagement and conversion rates.

Use AI to process large datasets and uncover trends, sentiment, and performance insights that would otherwise go unnoticed.

Routine tasks such as reporting, segmentation, and campaign optimization can be automated using AI, freeing up time for higher-value work.

Predictive analytics helps marketers allocate budgets more effectively and optimize campaigns in real time.

Machine learning marketing is already making an impact on real brands. It's improving business processes with artificial intelligence and generating more effective marketing campaigns.

It's not industry-specific either. It’s spurring complete revolutions in how companies across industries start and operate. See these AI-driven lawtech startups, for example.

This approach to using AI in marketing is similar to how Spotify delivers relevant song, artist, and playlist suggestions. Learn more about its algorithm and how AI is helping Spotify lead the music streaming world.

Marketing extends far beyond the digital space, even in an era where online channels dominate. At its core, marketing is about guiding products and services from concept to customer—ultimately creating demand for what your business offers.

So where does AI-driven marketing fit in? To build meaningful demand, you first need a clear understanding of your audience. 

Effective marketing depends on knowing who your customers are, what they care about, and how they engage with content. Without that insight, even well-executed campaigns can miss the mark.

From identifying and understanding your audience, AI-powered tools can help you build detailed buyer personas and audience segments.

Social listening, in particular, enables you to collect richer, more nuanced customer data. By analyzing real conversations, you gain valuable insight into preferences, behaviors, and sentiment. This allows you to move beyond a one-size-fits-all approach and develop more targeted, relevant strategies.

With intelligent audience segmentation, you can refine your marketing efforts based on real customer behavior across the entire customer journey—resulting in more effective, personalized campaigns.

You have keywords, trending themes, and influencer profiles—but how do you turn that data into meaningful insights? The next step is analysis. And when powered by AI you can go beyond surface-level metrics to uncover deeper patterns in your data, enabling better marketing decisions.

AI-powered tools make a measurable difference in helping teams look beyond vanity metrics for deeper insights. Quantitative metrics alone don’t tell the full story of campaign performance. 

Social listening platforms like Meltwater provide a look into what audiences are actually saying, how they feel, and where those conversations are happening.

As a result, proving ROI becomes more straightforward. Instead of relying on selective data points, marketing teams gain access to comprehensive, data-driven insights. Features like sentiment analysis, image recognition, and heat maps offer clear visualizations, making it easier to interpret performance and assess the success of each campaign.

Meltwater helps marketers understand more about their audience and brand. AI-driven marketing insights you can glean using Meltwater include:

How competitors are perceived in the market

Influential voices driving the conversation

What's trending in different markets and for different audiences

Predicting trends before they peak offers marketers a major advantage. Tapping into real-time media trends means establishing authority on a subject early on.

Understanding these trends and conversations can help marketers optimize campaigns. Today, AI can collect online customer insights to build profiles and use them to create more relevant marketing.

Meet Mira, your AI marketing assistant within Meltwater

Mira Studio delivers on-demand insights and handles the heavy lifting of analysis, so you don’t have to. 

Introducing Mira - The Power of Meltwater AI, Unleashed

With prompts like "Summarize social media discussions in [Insert Timeframe] about [Insert Topic] in [Insert Geographical Region]" you can instantly get all the information you need to move forward with various campaigns or marketing initiatives. Track how they're received with a prompt like: "Can you create a social media performance report for [Insert Brand] [Insert Timeframe]".

Mira is your AI-powered teammate, ready to make your marketing activities more streamlined, providing deeper insights and breaking down complex datasets into straightforward takeaways that support real work.

Tip: learn how Meltwater uses AI and find out more about Meltwater's AI-Powered PR Assistant

While AI offers significant advantages for marketers, it also introduces risks that should be actively monitored and managed.

One of the most important challenges to be aware of when using AI in marketing is trust. 

According to the 2026 Trust in the Age of Generative AI report, 32% of consumers would trust a brand less if they knew its content was generated using AI, highlighting how sensitive audiences are to how AI is used.

Misinformation and accuracy issues
AI-generated content may contain errors or misleading information, which can damage credibility.

Loss of authenticity
Over-reliance on AI can make content feel generic or less human, reducing emotional connection with audiences.

Lack of transparency
Failing to disclose AI use can negatively impact trust, especially as expectations for transparency increase.

Brand reputation risks
AI-generated content that is perceived as deceptive or inappropriate can quickly lead to negative sentiment.

These risks reinforce the need for thoughtful, responsible AI use in marketing.

To use AI effectively while maintaining trust, there are a few key principles marketers are recommended to follow:

Be transparent about AI use
86% of consumers say it is important for brands to disclose when AI is used in content. Transparency helps build trust and avoids potential backlash.

Maintain human oversight
AI should support—not replace—human creativity and judgment. Human oversight ensures quality and authenticity.

Prioritize accuracy and quality
Always review AI-generated content to ensure it is accurate, relevant, and aligned with your brand voice.

Monitor audience perception
Track how audiences respond to AI-generated content and adjust your approach as needed.

Use AI strategically
Focus on areas where AI adds the most value, such as automation, insights, and scalability, rather than applying it indiscriminately.

The Meltwater platform helps brands monitor perception and conduct sentiment analysis so you can make sure you stay on top of audience expectations at they relate to AI use.

Consumer sentiment toward AI is mixed and, increasingly, cautious.

While AI adoption is growing rapidly, enthusiasm is not universal. Only 39% of consumers say they are excited about a future with more AI, while 51% express skepticism or uncertainty (Trust in the Age of Generative AI Report). 

Key concerns highlighted in the report include:

73% worry that AI could be used to create fake content or scams

69% are concerned about misleading or inaccurate information

67% say it may become difficult to distinguish between human and AI-generated content

At the same time, many consumers recognize the advantages AI can offer, particularly in terms of speed, efficiency, and accessibility — according to the Global Digital Report (2026), 48% of the world population, ages 16 and older, is excited about AI. 

So for marketers it's important to be aware that while AI can improve performance, it can also undermine trust and brand loyalty if used carelessly.

AI in marketing refers to using artificial intelligence tools to automate, optimize, and improve marketing efforts such as content creation, targeting, and analytics.

AI is used for content generation, audience segmentation, predictive analytics, chatbots, and social listening. Many platforms now also support AI visibility tracking.

AI improves efficiency, enables personalization at scale, reduces costs, and helps marketers make faster, data-driven decisions.

The biggest risks include misinformation, loss of trust, lack of transparency, and over-reliance on automation.

Do consumers trust AI-generated marketing content?

Not always. Around 32% of consumers say they would trust a brand less if it uses AI-generated content, highlighting the importance of responsible use.

AI marketing insights help teams optimize strategies, maximize ROI, and stay ahead of competitors.

The Meltwater Blog

9.5M AI citations analyzed: How LinkedIn content wins AI search

AI in Marketing: Essential Insights for Driving Success

Key Takeaways from Meltwater Summit 2026 Day 2

Top Misinformation Detection Software Solutions in 2026

Key Takeaways from Meltwater Summit 2026: Day 1

What Is Substack Marketing? How Leading Brands Use It

AI-Generated Misinformation: Detect Harmful Narratives in LLMs

Trust in the Age of AI: What Consumers Really Think About AI Generated Content

Introducing Verified YouTube Data in Meltwater Influencer Marketing

PR Crisis Management: 10 Steps to Protect Your Brand in 2026

The Top Branded Influencer Posts of Coachella 2026

How LLMs Recommend Sunscreen Brands: An Analysis of AI Search Visibility in SPF