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It’s National Hermit Week, Reader! We give this holiday a 10/10.

In today’s edition:

• Today's Tip of the Day is for LinkedIn

• Finding real-world use cases for AI in your business

• Apple unveils Apple Intelligence

• LinkedIn tests AI-powered assistant for Premium members

• TikTok rolls out new image search for TikTok Shop

• Additional industry news from Instagram, Meta, YouTube, and more

Do you use LinkedIn for business? Want to expand your visibility with your target customer?

Join the 5.2%

There are 135 million daily active LinkedIn users, but only 5.2% of them create original content. 

If you’re looking for a way to reach more leads, grow your network, and position your business as a go-to solution, there is little competition.

Here are eight types of content to consider when adding your unique voice to LinkedIn:

• Text-only posts

• Single-image posts

• Multi-image posts

• Native videos

• Image carousels

• Video carousels

• Articles

• Newsletters

Today's tip is inspired by Hala Taha, a featured guest on the Social Media Marketing Podcast.

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How to Find Workflows to Automate With AI

Implementing AI workflows is rapidly becoming essential for businesses that want to stay competitive in today's fast-moving digital landscape. 

But how do you identify specific tasks to implement AI workflows in your business?

Audit Your Data WIth the 'WINS' Framework 

Start by auditing and placing your data types across your business into four categories.

Words: Think about all the unstructured text data that your business generates and collects—customer reviews, social media comments, support tickets, chat logs, call center transcripts, survey responses, contracts, etc.

AI tools can quickly read and analyze vast amounts of unstructured text, identifying common themes, sentiments, emotions, intent, and more. Imagine automatically classifying all your customer support interactions by topic, urgency, and emotional sentiment so you can spot emerging issues or trends in real time. 

Images: From product photos to user-generated social media content to web and mobile app designs, the volume of images businesses deal with is exploding.

AI vision tools can automatically tag and categorize your images, making them much easier for your team and customers to search and manage. AI can also analyze images to detect objects, faces, text, and more.

Numbers: Businesses have been using spreadsheets and databases to track numerical data for decades—everything from sales figures to website traffic to inventory levels. However, with the rise of big data, the volume and complexity of numerical data has exploded.

AI can help make sense of numerical data much more efficiently by automatically spotting patterns, anomalies, and correlations that would be difficult for humans to detect. AI can also automatically generate forecasts and predictive models based on historical data.

Sounds: Audio data is another area where AI can drive significant business value. From call center recordings to video interviews to podcasts, businesses are capturing more audio content than ever before.

AI speech-to-text tools can automatically transcribe audio content, and you can apply AI analytics to the transcripts. You can also use AI to analyze audio data directly to identify speakers, detect emotions, and more.

Prioritize Workflow Use-Cases 

Work with your team to identify the highest-priority use cases where applying AI to this data could drive meaningful business outcomes, such as cost savings, increased revenue, or improved customer experiences.

The goal is to identify repetitive, manual tasks that follow a clear and consistent process from start to finish. If a task is time-consuming for a human to complete but follows a well-defined set of steps each time, it may be a prime candidate for automation with AI. These workflows often appear in the day-to-day tools you use to run your business, such as your email inbox, spreadsheets, documents, file storage systems, etc.

Document Your Processes

When you identify a workflow that can be automated, document the steps from start to finish. See if you can create a simple process diagram to visualize the workflow. This will help you scope out what could be automated with AI.

Detail Your Tech Stack

Take inventory of the software tools and platforms you use to run your business. See if any of them are starting to introduce AI capabilities that you could take advantage of. 

Research, Choose, and Implement AI Automation

Start by picking one or two promising use cases and testing some AI tools. 

For each potential use case, research the landscape of pre-trained AI models and off-the-shelf tools that could accelerate your time to value. The major cloud providers, like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, all offer a range of powerful AI APIs and pre-built solutions that can plug into your existing data with minimal customization.

But don't limit yourself only to the tech giants. Consider the full landscape of off-the-shelf AI tools, both no-cost and paid. 

Hundreds of innovative AI startups offer specialized tools for specific industries and use cases, often with greater flexibility and more attractive commercial terms. Look for solutions that play well with your existing tech stack, offer transparent and predictable pricing, and already have a proven track record with thousands of other businesses.

Analyze the Impact

Measure the impact on metrics like time savings, output quality, and business results. Focus on the workflows that deliver the most value.

Today's advice is provided with insights from Christopher Brock, a featured guest on the AI Explored podcast.

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Apple Unveils Apple Intelligence: Apple recently unveiled Apple Intelligence, its ecosystem-wide generative AI offering, focusing on safety, personalization, and privacy. The feature will be deeply integrated into iOS, macOS, and visionOS, utilizing large language and intelligence models processed locally on Apple silicon and off-device using Private Cloud Compute. Apple also partnered with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT to Siri, utilizing GPT 4.0 for image and text generation without additional costs. Source: Tech Crunch

Instagram’s ‘PALS’ Sticker: Instagram is developing a new interactive sticker feature called "PALS." This sticker will allow users to engage with Instagram Stories by liking them. As more likes are accumulated over time, the "PALS" sticker will grow and evolve. Source: Alessandro Paluzzi via X

LinkedIn Tests AI Assistant: LinkedIn is testing an AI assistant for Premium members. The product prompts users to chat with an AI assistant to learn more about a company or topic, using insights from LinkedIn's user base and Microsoft's Bing search engine. Source: Axios

LinkedIn Restricts Targeted Ads in the EU: LinkedIn will restrict targeted advertising in the European Union following a complaint alleging a potential violation of the Digital Services Act (DSA). LinkedIn has removed the ability for advertisers to create advertising audiences in Europe using LinkedIn Group membership data. Source: Tech Crunch

Meta Rolls Out ‘Communities’: Meta is introducing a new "Communities" feature on Messenger that allows users to create dedicated spaces for real-time communication without requiring an associated Facebook Group. The feature consolidates multiple group chats, allows up to 5K members to join through shareable invites, and can be used for various purposes such as organizations, schools, or connecting with friends who share similar interests. The feature is currently rolling out globally. Source: Tech Crunch

Reddit Partners With DoubleVerify: Reddit has partnered with DoubleVerify to provide global Brand Safety and Suitability reporting for Reddit ads. The integration allows advertisers to align ads with suitable content and refine delivery using Reddit's controls and DoubleVerify's insights. Source: Reddit

Threads’ Tags: Threads is considering replacing the use of tags in favor of traditional hashtags. Source: Alessandro Paluzzi via Threads

TikTok’s New Image Search: TikTok is introducing image search capabilities within its TikTok Shop feature, allowing users to find similar products by taking or uploading a photo. Users can snap a picture of an item they like or upload an image of a product they found online to discover similar items on TikTok Shop. The feature, represented by a camera icon in the search bar, is available to all users in the United States and Southeast Asia. Source: Tech Crunch

YouTube Updates: YouTube’s Test and Compare thumbnail feature is rolling out to creators with access to Advanced features. YouTube is also experimenting with creator QR codes to allow users to share their channel with others easily. Additionally, the YouTube Studio payment experience is expanding to creators who are paid in all currencies. The platform also launched the premium-only Jump Ahead feature on Android in the US. The feature allows viewers to skip to the next best point in a video. Lastly, YouTube is experimenting with the ability to mention YouTube channels in comments. Source: YouTube

YouTube Tests ‘Effects’ for Shorts: YouTube is testing a new feature that allows a small group of creators to design and publish their unique effects for Shorts. All creators in the experiment can use these user-generated effects by tapping the “Effects” button. Source: YouTube

YouTube Tests Shorts' ‘Topics’: YouTube is testing an AI-powered " Topics " feature to organize large comment sections on English-language Shorts into themes. Users can sort comments by "Topics" on select Shorts in the mobile app. Creators can use these summaries to engage in discussions or find content inspiration and can remove topics by deleting individual comments. The feature sources topics from published comments only, excluding those held for review, containing blocked words, or from blocked users. Source: YouTube

Did You Know?

Cornwall County, in the United Kingdom, is the world’s largest annual producer of daffodils. Each year, they grow over 30 million tonnes of bulbs.