How to Use NLP (Natural Language Processing) in Digital Marketing.

When you use auto-correct or predictive text on your phone, you’re using NLP; when you search on Google, you’re also using natural language processing; and even when you ask Alexa a question. The truth is that the NLP market is projected to grow by more than 30% by 2025, and it can be extremely useful in marketing. In this post, I’m going to explain what NLP is, where it fits in from a technical standpoint, how it has evolved, and its applications in the field of digital marketing. Let’s dive in.

NPL, or Natural Language Processing (Natural Language Processing in Spanish) is a field of artificial intelligence that uses computational linguistics to enable computers to understand the complexity of human language in all its forms. And the truth is, understanding the context behind our words is a major challenge.

Therefore, the goal of Natural Language Processing is to help computers make sense of what we say, with the aim of creating value for us.

As I mentioned earlier, PLN and NPL have many uses today; they are so deeply integrated into our daily lives that we no longer even realize their value or what lies behind them. Some basic examples include:

• The grammar checker for the text you write on a daily basis in Microsoft Word.
• Google Translate Every time you try to translate a long text, it no longer gives you a literal translation like it used to; now it tries to make sense of the sentences, specifically through NLP.
• The customer service call centers in basic response scenarios. Here, through natural language processing, they are able to respond to specific requests.
• Google searches, which are becoming more complex every day. Users are typing longer sentences and asking more complex questions to find the solution they’re looking for. Through NLP, Google is able to focus not only on keywords but also take into account the logic behind what the user is asking.

Let’s see exactly where Natural Language Processing fits into the field of science.

Where does NLP, or Natural Language Processing, fit in from a technical standpoint?

NPL is very similar to Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence—even Deep Learning. I don’t want this post to serve as an explanation of each one, nor to highlight their differences; however, it’s important to know where it fits in. Let’s take a quick look.

Artificial Intelligence in very broad terms, aims to make machines smarter on their own, whether it’s a car, an industrial robot, or a refrigerator. Machine Learning Instead, it is a subset of AI that encompasses everything that enables systems to learn on their own. And from this comes the Deep Learning, which, in turn, is a subset of ML (Machine Learning), but applied to large datasets. How do we fit NLP into all of this? It’s very simple: it lies right in the middle of them all.

Although Natural Language Processing has been in the news more frequently in recent years, the truth is that, just like artificial intelligence, it has been around for several decades.

In fact, we can trace its origins back to the 1950s, when it was used to translate from Russian into English. You can probably guess why. Upon learning this, the Soviet Union wasted no time in doing exactly the same thing—but in reverse—and within a few years became the world leader in machine translation.

But it was in 1966 that the NPL began to play an important role in the lives of ordinary people, when Joseph Weizenbaum programmed the first chatbot, with which one could have conversations—albeit very limited ones.

It seems that progress came to a standstill after this chatbot, until the late 1980s, when the field was revolutionized by the emergence of the first forms of machine learning. Since then, natural language processing has continued to grow.

But, what impact is NPL having on digital marketing? Let’s take a look.

What is the value of Natural Language Processing in digital marketing?

Perhaps the best-known use of NLP in the world of digital marketing is in voice search, which relies entirely on it. However, there are many other areas within marketing where it can lead to interesting advancements and benefits, such as:

1. Understand how customers feel.

I’m sure you know what I’m talking about—you might even work with some of these tools—but I bet you’ve never stopped to think that NLP is behind them, right?

That’s right, we’re talking about social selling—that is, the tools that allow you to monitor online conversations related to your business, company, industry, or followers.

Using natural language processing, this software analyzes social media posts, comments, content, and other content. Today, there are a multitude of tools available. Perhaps the best-known ones worldwide are:

• Brandwatch.
• MonkeyLearn.
• Lexalytics.
• Social Mention.
• Social Searcher.

Have you worked with any of them?

2. Creating chatbots for customer acquisition and customer service.

Our society is becoming more fast-paced every day. We want quick answers that help us right when we need them. In this regard, customer service departments have turned to AI and NLP to develop chatbots that allow people to find quick answers before connecting them with real people.

These days, especially among Millennials and Gen Z, people prefer to use a chatbot rather than chat with a real person when interacting with a brand. In fact, according to several studies, of the total population, 54% would always choose a chatbot over a human if doing so would get me an answer 10 minutes faster. Wouldn’t you do the same if that were the case?

3. Identifying trends.

If you’re working on identifying the next trends in your industry, it’s very likely that one of the things you’ll do is subscribe to an RSS feed or a news aggregator, which automatically provide you with all the relevant information. NLP takes things much further by finding that information and summarizing all the key points in a fraction of a second. So, who isn’t up to date on the latest trends?

4. Increase the pace at which you create your content.

In content creation, creativity is extremely important and essential for setting your content apart from that of your competitors; however, AI—through Natural Language Processing—can be used to create many other, simpler pieces of content on a large scale.

However, where there’s even greater potential is in product descriptions. If you run a large e-commerce business that receives hundreds and hundreds of new product listings every week, you’ll be very grateful to have a bot generate those product descriptions for you. And that’s where NLP really comes into its own. Brands like Esprit and Dickies—and even Alibaba—are already doing this today.

5. Voice assistants.

According to the AIMC, 4.3 million Spanish households use virtual voice assistants, which operate precisely on the basis of NLP. Natural language processing converts the voice commands you give the assistant into text. It immediately matches that text semantically with the device’s knowledge base and instantly provides a useful response.

When it comes to marketing, voice assistants haven’t been fully tapped yet, but some pretty interesting things are already happening—like what Netflix did to promote the release of the second season of *Stranger Things*. The campaign allowed people who own a Google Home to have a conversation with Dustin, one of the characters from the series. Imagine the potential of that campaign. If you’re a fan of the series, wouldn’t you want to ask him a couple of questions?

As you can see, artificial intelligence and its variants are offering more and better opportunities in the field of marketing, helping marketing professionals and companies become more effective every day. In MioGroup We have professionals specializing in artificial intelligence who can help you achieve the goals of improvement and innovation you seek for your marketing department or your business as a whole. But we also have professionals with expertise in creativity and strategy who will turn that into something truly innovative and useful. Should we talk?