The team at Swerve, a leading digital marketing agency in Canada, has been closely following the advancements in AI and its impact on marketing, particularly in the areas of PR and social media influencer marketing in Canada. AI-generated social influencers will soon have active channels across the social media landscape, potentially rivalling, even overtaking, human-operated influencer channels. The question many of us have is - how do we differentiate between them and how can we use this growing classification of influencers to our and our client’s advantage?

AI-generated social influencers are computer-generated profiles designed to simulate human behaviour and content on social media. They are growing so rapidly as they can produce content faster and with fewer limitations than humans can. As a PR agency in Canada, we are working hard to stay up-to-date about the growing practice of AI social influencers, as they have the potential to attract followers, attention and ultimately, client influencer budgets.

Here are ten ways for PR professionals to identify AI-generated social influencers:

1. Perfect images: AI-generated profiles often feature flawless images that lack imperfections.
2. Consistently high-quality content: AI-generated profiles consistently generate top-quality content free of errors or inconsistencies.
3. Limited personal information: AI-generated profiles often have minimal personal information such as background or biography.
4. Questionable engagement: AI-generated profiles often display high levels of engagement, which can be difficult to determine as genuine or artificially generated.
5. Lack of personal opinions or emotions: AI-generated profiles typically lack personal opinions or emotions, designed to appeal to a wide audience by being neutral.
6. Rapid growth in followers: AI-generated profiles often experience a rapid increase in followers, optimized for growth and engagement.
7. Few personal connections: AI-generated profiles often have few personal connections, such as followers, friends, or links to other social media platforms.
8. Automated responses: AI-generated profiles often utilize automated responses, such as standardized comments or likes, to interact with followers.
9. Consistent posting schedule: AI-generated profiles frequently have a consistent posting schedule, programmed to generate content at regular intervals.
10. Inauthentic engagement: AI-generated profiles often display inauthentic engagement, such as fake comments or likes, aimed at increasing engagement and followers.

We also recognize that PR professionals can leverage AI-generated influencers to our advantage:

1. Targeted audience reach: AI-generated profiles can be optimized to attract specific target audiences, making them an effective tool for reaching and engaging with specific demographics.
2. Improved brand visibility: AI-generated profiles can enhance brand visibility by generating high-quality content and boosting engagement on social media.
3. Amplified brand messaging: AI-generated profiles can amplify brand messaging by creating and sharing content that aligns with brand values and messaging.
4. Lead generation: AI-generated profiles can help generate leads by engaging with potential customers and directing traffic to brand websites.
5. Brand reputation monitoring: AI-generated profiles can monitor brand reputation by tracking mentions of the brand and identifying potential issues that require attention.
6. Generating interest: AI-generated profiles can generate interest and excitement by creating buzz-worthy content.
7. Increased social media presence: AI-generated profiles can enhance a brand's presence on social media by generating content and increasing engagement.
8. Cost-effective marketing: AI-generated profiles offer a cost-effective solution for influencer marketing, eliminating the need for human influencers and associated costs.

Whatever your opinion is of AI-generated social influencers, their rise is inevitable and just around the corner.  Examples of AI content across mainstream media, news channels and social media are already widespread and growing by the day.  As a PR agency in Canada, our team recognizes we will be ‘working’ with these channels in some way or another soon, and we will continue to update the industry on our findings and approach here on the Swere blog.