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What is Artificial Intelligence?

04 September 2025

Artificial intelligence shapes much of what we do online, including the social media we use every day. It helps platforms show relevant content, supports customer interactions, and gives marketers tools to plan, post, and measure campaigns more effectively. From early experiments in computing to modern AI assistants and image generators, these technologies are now part of how brands and creators work.

This article looks at the history and types of AI, how it applies to social media, and practical ways to use it for content creation, analytics, and automation while keeping your brand voice human. You’ll also discover the tools that make it easier to save time, improve engagement, and make smarter decisions.

A Quick History of Artificial Intelligence

Modern AI began to take shape in the 1940s and 50s. This was when Alan Turing proposed the famous Turing Test and researchers started experimenting with early models of neural networks. Over the following decades, progress came in waves: the first chatbot, Eliza, appeared in the 1960s, IBM’s Deep Blue beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997, and in the 2000s, digital assistants started arriving on the scene.

By the late 1990s and early 2000s, AI was already part of everyday life. Search engines became smarter, spam filters started protecting inboxes, and assistants like Siri and Alexa became household names. Around the same time, social media platforms began relying on AI to personalize feeds, recommend content, and improve how users experienced their apps.

A big leap came after 2018 with the development of large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI’s GPT series. These systems, built on deep learning and transformer technology, allowed machines to generate text that felt natural and conversational. The launch of ChatGPT in 2022 made this technology widely accessible, opening up new uses for communication, creativity, and business.

Today, generative AI and LLMs are everywhere. They support customer service, help create content, and play a growing role in how we interact with digital platforms on a daily basis.

Photo by Alex Knight on Unsplash

What Counts as AI?

AI comes in two broad categories:

Narrow AI: This is what we interact with most often. Narrow AI specializes in one task, like recognizing faces, recommending songs, or answering questions through chatbots.
General AI: This is the theoretical form of AI that would be capable of performing any task that humans can. While it is often discussed in science fiction, it has not yet been achieved.

The applications of AI are everywhere. In our everyday lives, AI can be found in:

Healthcare: Reading scans and helping discover new treatments.
Finance: Identifying fraud and assessing risks.
Transportation: Powering self-driving cars.
Education and Retail: Creating personalized learning or shopping experiences.
Social Media: Delivering tailored content, analyzing performance, moderating comments, and supporting customer service.

And so much more. However, social media is where AI touches most of us daily, whether we realize it or not.

Social media never stops moving. New trends, viral posts, and changing algorithms make it a fast and often unpredictable space. AI is what allows platforms to keep up with that pace and what gives marketers the tools to do the same. From the way your feed is organized to the ads that seem perfectly timed, AI is quietly working behind the scenes.

For brands, businesses, and creators, AI tools are no longer a nice-to-have. They have become part of the daily toolkit for planning campaigns, publishing content, and understanding how audiences behave online. Instead of spending hours on repetitive tasks or trying to guess what your followers want to see, AI steps in to handle the heavy lifting so you can focus on the creative side.

Automation:

AI-powered schedulers make it possible to plan content days or weeks in advance, freeing you from the grind of manual posting. It also automates reporting, quickly turning campaign results into clear insights. On the customer service side, chatbots answer common questions instantly, giving followers quick support while reducing response time.

Personalization:

One reason social media feels addictive is the way platforms tailor feeds to each user. AI analyzes browsing habits, likes, and shares to curate content that keeps people engaged. For marketers, this means the ability to deliver ads and posts that match audience interests more closely than ever before.

Data Analysis:

Social platforms generate huge amounts of data every second. AI can sift through it all in real time, identifying what content is performing best, which demographics are engaging, and what trends are starting to build momentum. Instead of combing through endless spreadsheets, you get the insights that actually matter.

Ad Targeting:

AI makes paid campaigns more effective by matching ads with the audiences most likely to respond. It adjusts bids, experiments with audience segments, and helps campaigns reach people at the right moment without wasting budget.

Content Support:

Even when it comes to creating posts, AI lends a hand. It can suggest hashtags, draft captions, edit copy for clarity or repurpose popular content for different platforms. Some tools even recommend the best time to publish or which visuals will resonate most with your audience.

Best AI Image Generators

If you manage social media accounts, AI can help you save time, reduce manual work, and improve results. The key is knowing how to use it without losing the human touch. Here are several ways to integrate AI into your strategy:

1. Pick the Right Tools for Your Goals

Before diving into AI, it helps to be clear about what you want to accomplish. Different tools shine in different areas, and matching them to your goals saves time and frustration.

Scheduling and Automation: Metricool takes the guesswork out of timing by recommending the best posting windows based on past engagement. It can also handle cross-platform publishing so your content stays consistent everywhere without extra effort.
Analytics and Insights: With Metricool, you can see how your audience behaves in real time, track engagement, and identify your top-performing content. For deeper listening or sentiment analysis, tools like Brandwatch or Sprinklr are useful additions.
Chatbots and Customer Support: Tools such as ManyChat or Chatfuel can respond instantly to FAQs, guide users through sign-ups or purchases, and ease the load on your support team.
Content Creation and Repurposing: Jasper and Grammarly help polish captions or suggest hashtags, while Metricool highlights high-performing content you can adapt for different platforms or formats. A carousel that worked on Instagram, for example, can be repurposed into a LinkedIn post or video short.
Ad Management: Metricool’s paid campaign tracker pulls data from multiple ad networks into one dashboard, so you see performance side by side. Tools like Smartly.io or Adext AI can then test variations automatically to fine-tune campaigns further.

2. Personalize Your Content

One of the biggest advantages of AI in social media is its ability to help you move past generic posts and deliver content that truly speaks to different groups of followers. Personalization makes your audience feel understood, encourages engagement, and can even boost loyalty over time.

Segment your Audience: Break down your followers by location, age, interests, or online behavior. Understanding these differences allows you to create posts that feel relevant to each group. For example, a local promotion might only be relevant to followers in a specific city, while certain topics may resonate more with younger audiences.
Use Predictive Analytics: AI tools can identify patterns in your audience’s behavior, such as which types of posts they interact with most, what times they are most active, or which topics spark conversations. This insight makes it easier to anticipate what your followers want to see and deliver it before they even realize it.
Optimize Timing: Tools like Metricool can help you schedule posts based on when your audience is most active. You can post content at the moments when it is most likely to be seen and engaged with. This increases reach and improves the overall performance of your campaigns.
Tailor Content Formats: Personalization isn’t just about topics or timing. AI can reveal which formats perform best for each audience segment on different platforms, whether it’s videos on TikTok, carousels on Instagram, or text posts on LinkedIn. This helps you create new content or repurpose successful posts in the formats that fit each platform and audience.
Refine Messaging over Time: As you gather more data, AI helps you adapt your messaging. You can test different approaches, learn which wording or tone works best, and continuously fine-tune content to maintain relevance.

3. Automate Daily Tasks

Managing social media often involves repetitive tasks that take up time you could spend on strategy and creativity. AI can handle much of this work, allowing you to focus on building campaigns, engaging your audience, and producing better content.

Customer Support with Chatbots: AI-powered chatbots, such as ManyChat or Chatfuel, can instantly respond to frequently asked questions, guide users through common processes, and even provide product recommendations. This helps your audience get a fast response while freeing your team for more complex questions.
Automated Reporting: Tools like Metricool generate performance reports automatically, tracking engagement, reach, and other key metrics across all your platforms. Instead of spending hours compiling data manually, you get clear, visual insights in minutes. This also makes it easy to share updates with your team or clients.
Content Support: AI can help with caption ideas, hashtag recommendations, and visual templates. By suggesting options based on what has performed well in the past, these tools make publishing faster and reduce the risk of content underperforming.
Repurposing High-Performing Content: Automation can also help identify posts that have done well and suggest ways to reuse them on other platforms. For example, a popular Instagram carousel can be adapted into a LinkedIn post or a short video for TikTok, keeping your content fresh without extra effort.

AI Prompts for Social Media

4. Track Results in Real Time

One of the biggest advantages of AI in social media marketing is the ability to see how your campaigns are performing while they are still live. Instead of waiting until a campaign ends, you can make informed decisions on the fly and adjust your strategy based on real data.

Spot Trends: AI-powered analytics can quickly identify emerging patterns in engagement, reach, or clicks. This allows you to capitalize on trending topics or tweak underperforming posts before it’s too late.
Measure Performance: Whether it’s posts, ads, stories, or videos, AI tools show which formats and messages resonate most with your audience. This insight helps you prioritize the content that drives the best results.
Social Listening: Monitoring conversations about your brand, competitors, or industry trends is easier with AI. You can track mentions, hashtags, and sentiment to stay ahead of trends and respond proactively to both positive and negative feedback.

Metricool brings all these analytics into one dashboard, giving you a clear, real-time view of your performance across platforms. You can compare channels, analyze audience behavior, and export reports in minutes, making it simple to keep your team or clients informed.

5. Experiment and Adapt

Social media is always shifting, which means the strategies that worked last month may not hit the same way today. AI takes a lot of the guesswork out of experimenting with new ideas.

You can set up simple A/B tests to compare different captions, visuals, or posting times, and let the data show you which one connects better with your audience. The same goes for ads. Instead of running one version and hoping for the best, AI can monitor variations and point out the option driving more clicks or conversions.

Small tweaks like a new headline, a different video style, or a stronger call-to-action can reveal what really resonates. With Metricool, you can track results in one place and spot patterns that help shape your next move.

6. Balance automation with human input

AI can handle a lot behind the scenes, but at the end of the day, people connect with people. Striking the right balance helps your brand feel both efficient and authentic.

Let AI take care of research, scheduling, and reporting so you can focus on the bigger picture.
Keep your brand voice consistent by writing posts or replies that sound human, even if AI helped draft them.
Step into conversations directly when your audience expects empathy, humor, or a genuine touch.
Use AI-driven insights from tools like Metricool to guide your decisions, then add your own creativity and storytelling to bring campaigns to life.
Remember that the strongest results often come when technology supports your ideas rather than replacing them.

Automation can save time, but it is the personal side of your brand that builds trust and long-term connections.

Why is AI so valuable for social media management? Here are a few reasons:

It saves time by handling repetitive tasks like scheduling posts, generating reports, or suggesting hashtags, giving marketers more space to focus on strategy.
It helps create more personalized content by analyzing audience behavior and preferences, so your posts feel relevant and engaging.
It offers detailed insights that go beyond basic metrics, revealing patterns, trends, and opportunities you might otherwise miss.
It reduces costs by automating work that would otherwise require hours of manual effort, letting your team focus on higher-value activities.
It improves customer service with 24/7 chatbots that respond instantly to questions and guide users through common issues.
It makes campaign tracking more accurate and immediate, allowing you to see which content performs best in real time and adjust strategies on the fly.

Tools like Metricool put all these benefits into practice. From automated scheduling and performance tracking to AI-assisted content suggestions, Metricool lets you save time, understand your audience better, and make data-driven decisions without losing your brand’s voice. It’s a central hub where AI, data and analytics, and creative strategy come together for smarter social media management.

Challenges of Artificial Intelligence to Watch Out For

AI can do a lot, but it comes with considerations. Some of the most important things to keep in mind include:

Privacy: Be thoughtful about how user data is collected and used. Respecting privacy helps maintain trust and keeps your campaigns compliant with regulations.
Bias: Algorithms can unintentionally reinforce stereotypes or exclude certain groups. Regularly reviewing AI outputs can help spot and correct these issues before they affect your audience.
Transparency:Let your audience know when they are interacting with automated systems. Clear communication helps maintain credibility and prevents confusion about how content or responses are generated.
Balance: AI should handle repetitive tasks, but creativity and strategy need to stay human. Combining AI efficiency with your own creative insight keeps campaigns authentic and engaging.

AI can be a huge help, but it works best when paired with careful planning and human oversight. Following these practices will help you get results while avoiding common pitfalls:

Combine AI Insights with Your Own Knowledge: AI can identify patterns and trends in your audience’s behavior, but your understanding of context, brand values, and community culture is what turns those insights into meaningful action. This helps reduce the risk of biased or irrelevant content.
Regularly Check Your Tools: Algorithms can drift or produce unexpected results over time. Keep an eye on outputs to make sure recommendations, content suggestions, and targeting decisions remain accurate and fair. This addresses potential bias and maintains transparency in your social media strategy.
Set Clear Goals Before Using AI: Define what you want to achieve with each campaign or tool. Whether it’s engagement, lead generation, or brand awareness, having clear objectives keeps AI from running on autopilot so it can support your strategy rather than replace human decision-making.
Maintain your Brand’s Voice: AI can draft posts, suggest captions, or recommend hashtags, but your tone and messaging should stay consistent. Human oversight help your content feel authentic, build trust, and avoid over-reliance on automation that can alienate your audience.
Use AI to Complement, not Replace: Think of AI as a tool that helps with repetitive or data-heavy tasks. Let it handle scheduling, reporting, and content testing, but keep creativity, strategy, and relationship-building in human hands. This balance protects both authenticity and audience engagement.

When it comes to social media, the right tools can make all the difference. From creating eye-catching visuals and writing engaging captions to analyzing performance and managing campaigns, AI tools can save time and help your content stand out. Below are some of the most useful platforms for marketers, including Metricool, which combines scheduling, posting, and analytics with AI-powered content support.

AI Tools for Social Media

Metricool (with AI Assistant)

Metricool’s AI Assistant is designed for social media content creation. It suggests hashtags, brainstorms campaign ideas, and repurposes high-performing posts across platforms. You can generate multiple variations, tailor content for each network, summarize analytics, and refine tone and length to match your brand voice. It turns ideas into polished, platform-ready posts quickly, saving time while keeping content consistent.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT excels at ideation, drafting, and conversation management. Marketers use it to create captions, brainstorm campaigns, respond to followers, and summarize feedback. It also supports AI chatbots and quick analytics interpretation, helping boost engagement while maintaining a consistent style and tone.

Canva

Canva’s AI features, including Magic Design and Magic Write, let you create images, videos, and text content quickly. Social media managers use it to generate graphics, resize assets for different platforms, animate posts, and collaborate visually with teams. Its intuitive interface and templates make it easy to produce polished visuals without design experience.

Canva with Metricool

Freepik

Freepik’s AI tools generate images and vector assets from text prompts. You can edit backgrounds, upscale visuals, or prototype unique designs for posts, stories, or presentations. It’s great for creating distinctive, on-brand content when stock media falls short.

Grammarly

Grammarly’s AI checks grammar, tone, readability, and clarity in posts, replies, and campaign materials. Its integrations and browser extension keep your content consistent across platforms. This means your messaging stays professional and easy to read while reflecting your brand’s personality.

ClickUp

ClickUp combines AI writing with task management, content calendars, and collaboration tools. Teams can brainstorm ideas, generate drafts, assign tasks, and track progress all in one place. This streamlines the workflow so creative work doesn’t get lost in administrative tasks.

Midjourney

Midjourney creates original visuals from text prompts, perfect for campaign imagery, moodboards, or unique branding elements. It helps social media profiles stand out with distinctive graphics that capture attention and spark conversation.

DALL·E 3 (OpenAI)

DALL·E 3 converts text prompts into high-quality images, with tools like inpainting and real-time edits. Paired with ChatGPT, it lets marketers turn ideas into shareable visuals without waiting for design resources.

AI in social media is moving far beyond simple automation. Some of the emerging trends to watch include:

Sentiment Analysis: Monitoring how audiences feel about a brand in real time.
Smarter Scheduling: Not just choosing the right time to post, but identifying the right type of content for each moment.
Content Moderation: Detecting and removing harmful or inappropriate posts more efficiently.
Multilingual Support: AI chatbots that can handle customer service across different languages.

These developments show that AI is not just a passing trend in marketing. It is becoming a standard part of how social platforms operate.

Anniston Ward , 04 September 2025