AI influencers, CPA, prompt engineering will fuel the future of content marketing: Vinit Karnik

New Delhi: Gone are the days when brands used to produce a few DVCs (Digital Video Commercials); marketers are now driving roughly 6000 campaigns around a brand using an army of over a million content creators, a.k.a., influencers. 

Vinit Karnik, Managing Director, Content, Entertainment, and Sports, GroupM India, highlighted this crucial insight while building the foundation of the future course of influencer marketing. What is that future course, you ask? Going forward, Karnik advocates the rise of AI-powered influencers in the marketing ecosystem. 

Calling it the “next stage of influencer marketing,” Karnik stated the advantages that an AI influencer can provide. “They are going to be absolutely brand safe, adhering to the brand guidelines; they will work across the funnel and maintain a similar voice; dialects will no longer remain a challenge for marketers. 

In addition to this, AI influencers will also be attuned to global trends and popular culture. This will enable them to seamlessly integrate brand messaging with current trends in a way that traditional influencers may not have achieved, all while being consistently available.

The opportunities from an engagement standpoint are going to be endless. You can create a content piece every day if you like to,” Karnik said at GroupM's TYNY report launch.

However, a crucial point of discussion missed the spotlight, which was how will consumers engage with AI influencers. Maybe that is a discussion for later.

While the bar for influencers’ worthiness is transforming with the advent of AI-powered influencers, what is also witnessing a rapid change is the metrics of how the impact of brand messaging is weighed. 

Speaking on the subject, Karnik indicated a complete makeover of traditional metrics like likes, shares, subscribers, and views. “These traditional metrics will likely become less important,” he said. 

The focus will shift to cost per action, emphasising concrete results. The new currency will likely revolve around actions such as downloads, transactions, and purchases driven by marketing communications, according to Karnik.

With cost per action directly under the spotlight, influencers will be pushed to deliver measurable impact as well. Unless there exists an army of AI influencers at the brand’s disposal. 

Catapulting further into the future, Karnik spoke about the rise of ‘prompt engineers.’ “Content curation at scale will be simplified through prompt engineering,” said Karnik. The core idea is that prompt engineers will be the ones who will be able to drive content narratives by providing accurate and relevant prompts to the AI systems. After all, AI is as good as its prompts, right? Karnik observed that prompt engineering will be crucial for effective AI utilisation. Moreover, it will also proliferate what is called a “two-way listening exercise.” 

“Previously, feedback was limited to binary data sources. Now, with prompt engineering and AI-powered influencers, we can achieve two-way feedback. The system can reveal consumer preferences, how they engage with content, and what they want to see next. This allows for programmatic adjustments based on the feedback received,” Karnik explained.