AI in Social Media Marketing: Opportunities, Challenges and Ethical Insights

By mpeacockArt & Design, Community Management, Content Strategy, marketing, Resources, Strategies

It’s hard to avoid the topic of AI in social media marketing. And it’s even more challenging to figure out how to use, when not to use it and to understand it’s impact that changes day to day. 

Let’s learn about the current state of AI in social media and marketing overall, and explore the opportunities, challenges, and ethical considerations. 

AI is everywhere these days, and people are definitely paying attention. 

In fact, 75% of consumers have used ChatGPT or another AI-powered tool. Interestingly, AI adoption is even higher in places like India, Brazil, and the UAE compared to more established tech markets.

When it comes to using AI in daily life, people have mixed feelings—43% are excited about it, while 29% have concerns. But in the workplace? The excitement jumps to 70%, with only 15% expressing worries.

What’s really interesting is how opinions shift once people actually start using AI. Before trying it, many feel more skeptical than optimistic, but as they experience the benefits firsthand, that skepticism often fades.

Chances are you’re already using AI even if you don’t think you are. It’s hard to avoid. 

Think about how often you scroll through social media—whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. AI is working behind the scenes. On Facebook, machine learning decides what content to show you, recognizes faces in photos, and even fine-tunes the ads you see. Over on Instagram (which is owned by Meta), AI analyzes images to understand what’s in them. And LinkedIn? It’s using AI to recommend jobs, suggest new connections, and curate the posts in your feed.

These are just a few ways AI shapes our experience on social media, often without us even realizing it. Across every platform and every post, AI algorithms determine how content gets delivered—whether it’s something you create or an ad you’re running. And the tricky part? These systems aren’t always transparent, even to marketers who rely on them.

AI isn’t just something built into social media platforms—it’s also something for social media managers to leverage. There are tons of AI tools out there that can help with everything from creating content to tracking performance. Here are some ways AI is being used: 

  • Managing Ads – AI can help businesses segment their audience and make sure ads reach the right people at the right time.
  • Analyzing Data – Need to track how your posts or ads are performing? AI can sift through massive amounts of data in seconds to give you insights that would take hours to figure out manually.
  • Automating Posts – AI-powered scheduling tools can publish your content when your audience is most active, boosting engagement without you having to do the heavy lifting.
  • Moderating Content – AI can help filter out inappropriate or off-brand comments on public pages, keeping things professional and within community guidelines.
  • Generating Content – From writing captions to picking the best hashtags, AI tools can help craft high-performing social media posts. On LinkedIn, AI even helps businesses draft job descriptions.
  • Finding the Right Influencers – With so many influencers out there, AI can help brands identify the best partners for their campaigns based on engagement, audience, and fit.
  • Social Listening – AI can track online brand mentions to help businesses understand what people are saying about them in real time.
  • 24/7 Customer Service – AI-powered chatbots can handle customer questions and support requests at any time of day, right through a company’s social media pages.

We all know that social media management is demanding. AI can definitely help make it easier to manage. In fact, recent studies have indicated that 74% of marketing professionals say AI usage increases through existing tool integrations. So these tools are likely already available to you within platform and through management tools like, Hootsuite, Buffer, Hubspot and more!

When we look at the marketing industry as a whole, research suggests that from 2023 to 2024, the number of marketers who use AI in their roles has jumped 2.5X. That’s a year-over-year jump from 21% to 74%. Additionally, 68% of marketers say AI has helped grow their careers, while more than 74% of marketers believe that most people will use AI in the workplace by 2030. 

What’s behind this AI marketing surge?

Increased productivity, creativity and return on investment!

It’s no accident that more organizations are eager to leverage the power of AI into their marketing output. Consider the following from Hubspot’s 2024 AI Trends Report: 

    • Nearly 75% of marketers indicated that AI tools help them become more productive at work—and that translates to benefits for their business, as well 
    • 55% of marketing leaders say AI has helped their teams become more productive
    • 70% of marketers said that using AI tools helped them become more creative.
    • 68% of marketing leaders reported ROI on their AI investment

All this improvement may come at a cost. Research also shows that with increased AI use, comes job uncertainty, bias and ethical implications that could compromise an organization’s reputation. For instance: 

    • 57% of marketers feel pressure to learn AI, or risk becoming irrelevant
    • 48% of marketers are concerned that AI will replace their jobs
    • 40% of marketers believe it will result in a decline of jobs
    • 80% of brand leaders have “serious concerns” about how the technology is used by agency partners on their behalf

Additionally, when it comes to ethical concerns: 

    • 33% of consumers are concerned about data security and ethics 
    • 76% of US adults are either very or somewhat uncomfortable with AI tools using their personal data to enhance their shopping experience and recommendations
    • By 2026, the electricity consumption of data centers is expected to approach 1,050 terawatts (that’s about as much power as consumed annually by 130 US homes) 

Let’s start by taking a closer look at the opportunities that AI in social media marketing afford: 

AI isn’t just about making social media marketing more efficient—it’s about making it smarter, more creative, and even more inclusive. Here’s how AI tools are transforming the social media experience in ways that really matter:

  • Creating safer, more inclusive spaces – AI helps filter out harmful content and enforce community guidelines, making social media a better experience for everyone.
  • Freeing up time for creators – By handling routine tasks like scheduling posts and responding to customer inquiries, AI lets marketers focus on strategy and creativity instead of busywork.
  • Boosting creativity – Need fresh ideas? AI can help brainstorm, refine messaging, and enhance campaigns to make them more engaging and impactful.
  • Helping small businesses grow – AI-powered tools make it easier for small businesses and independent creators to expand their reach without needing a huge marketing budget.
  • Cutting costs – Automating content management and ad optimization means businesses can do more with fewer resources, reducing the need for manual work.
  • Providing better insights for smarter decisions – AI can analyze massive amounts of data in seconds, helping brands understand what’s working, what’s not, and where to focus their efforts.
  • Driving revenue – AI can pinpoint the best-performing content, suggest new audiences, and fine-tune advertising to reach people who are most likely to convert.
  • Enhancing security – AI helps protect users from scams, phishing, and identity theft by identifying suspicious activity and minimizing risks.

At the end of the day, AI isn’t just making social media marketing easier—it’s making it more effective, more creative, and more accessible for businesses of all sizes.

Just as AI brings a lot of great potential for social media efficiency, it also brings a lot of challenges. Most emerging technology does. We might ask ourselves — is it too good to be true? Let’s take a look. 

A new McKinsey report shows that more and more organizations are stepping up to tackle the risks that come with generative AI. But what exactly are those risks?

One big concern is AI bias—since AI learns from existing data, it can pick up and amplify biases, leading to content that lacks objectivity and fairness. And while social media algorithms are AI-driven, they’re ultimately created and influenced by people, which can introduce even more bias.

Then there’s the issue of misinformation. AI generates content incredibly fast, but it doesn’t always fact-check what it’s producing. That means false or misleading information can spread quickly, sometimes with serious social and political consequences—especially when deepfakes enter the mix.

Another challenge is plagiarism. AI scrapes the internet for information, pulls from existing content, and compiles it—often without proper citations or even rewording the material. This raises big questions about originality and intellectual property.

Finally, many companies are still figuring out where AI fits into their operations. Without clear compliance guidelines, businesses risk running into ethical dilemmas, conflicts of interest, or even legal trouble if they unknowingly violate industry regulations.

The bottom line? AI is powerful, but it comes with challenges that businesses and marketers need to navigate carefully. Here’s how: 

Bias in AI Algorithms

Since AI plays such a big role in social media, a lot of the content we see is automatically generated. But here’s the catch—AI isn’t perfect. It can have biases, and it doesn’t fact-check itself, which means there’s a real risk of inaccurate information slipping through.

For businesses, this means AI can be a great tool, but it shouldn’t be a replacement for human oversight. Always take the time to review, validate, and fact-check AI-generated content before posting. That way, you can make sure you’re sharing accurate, reliable information—not misinformation.

Lack of Transparency in AI Decision-Making

Right now, most companies are still figuring out how to navigate AI. In fact, only 36% have set clear guidelines for how their agency partners can use generative AI, and just 29% have updated contracts to include AI-specific clauses.

At the same time, social media users are already wary about how platforms handle their data—and AI can add to those concerns. 

There are a few things companies can do to mitigate these risks: 

    • Be transparent about how AI is used, particularly in data collection and targeted advertising.
    • Clearly outline AI policies and how customer data is handled.
    • Label AI-generated content (e.g., images or text) to help users distinguish between real and AI-assisted material.

Intellectual Property Concerns

How does AI create content? Generative AI platforms are trained on massive datasets, including text, images, and question snippets. These platforms process billions of data points to identify patterns and relationships, which they then use to create rules, make judgments, and generate responses to prompts.

However, this raises some important legal questions. Does copyright, patent, or trademark law apply to AI-generated content? Who owns the material that AI creates—for businesses, creators, or customers?

While the legal side of AI-generated content is still being figured out, businesses and creators need to take steps to protect themselves now.

If you’re a content creator or brand, it’s important to monitor where your work is being used. Check large datasets and AI training models for your logos, artwork, and even metadata like image tags to safeguard your intellectual property.

On the flip side, AI developers need to play by the rules by properly licensing content and compensating creators whose work is used in training data—whether through licensing agreements or revenue-sharing.

For businesses using AI, it’s smart to review contracts and transaction terms. Make sure agreements with AI platforms confirm that the training data is properly licensed. At the very least, businesses should include AI-related disclosures in vendor and customer agreements to clarify ownership, rights, and responsibilities when AI is involved in content creation. This ensures that both parties are on the same page about intellectual property and how ownership is registered and protected.

We’ve explored opportunities and threats of using AI in social media — and most of the risks and best practices are focused on balancing workflow efficiency with business needs. But what about concerns that are more nebulous and harder to navigate? 

Let’s investigate a few of the top ethical concerns with using AI with social media. 

AI relies on massive amounts of data to generate content, and businesses have access to plenty of it. We use consumer data every day—in customer relationship management tools, marketing campaigns, targeted ads, and personalized experiences. But how ethical is it to let AI tap into all this information?

Fairness and Inclusivity

To make AI more fair, we need to take a close look at the data it’s trained on and the decisions shaping its algorithms. Developers and businesses working with AI must commit to equity and inclusion, ensuring that biases in big data don’t lead to biased outcomes in AI-driven decisions.

Data Consent

AI thrives on personal data, but that raises big questions. Where does this data come from? Where is it stored? Who has access, and under what conditions? Traditional data protection laws aren’t built to handle these concerns, leaving gaps in oversight and accountability.

Moving forward, businesses must prioritize transparency, collaboration, and accountability when using AI. By setting clear ethical guidelines, we can embrace AI’s potential while safeguarding people’s rights to privacy and data security. Striking this balance is one of the key challenges we face, and finding the right approach will take careful consideration and collaboration.

Compared to data privacy, our next ethical consideration is much more significant and not as well-known. The environmental impact of using AI is a real threat to sustainability, as the energy required to train and run AI models can contribute to increased carbon emissions and resource depletion.

Training generative AI models requires immense computational power, consuming a significant amount of electricity, which contributes to higher carbon dioxide emissions and strains the electric grid. Additionally, as millions of users interact with AI daily, the energy consumption continues long after the model has been developed. Additionally, a great deal of water is needed to cool the hardware used for training, deploying, and fine-tuning generative AI models, which can strain municipal water supplies and disrupt local ecosystems. Power grid operators must have a way to absorb those fluctuations to protect the grid, and they usually employ diesel-based generators for that task.

Not only are these environmental impacts daunting, they can also put an organization’s reputation at risk, especially if they have values that reflect sustainability and environmental stewardship. Is the efficiency of a business workflow worth the increased carbon footprint? 

Now that you’re rethinking everything as it relates to AI and social media, what now? How to navigate the way ahead? 

Implement responsible AI: Responsible AI is an approach to developing and deploying artificial intelligence from both an ethical and legal standpoint. The goal is to employ AI in a safe, trustworthy and ethical way, which increases transparency while reducing issues such as AI bias. 

Ethical vs. responsible: Instead of using societal values to guide your AI usage, responsible AI relates to the way companies develop and use technology and tools (e.g. diversity, bias). 

While consumer concerns as well as regulatory frameworks may be driving businesses to make more fair, responsible, ethical AI decisions, one must first figure out what AI means to their organization. Create and openly share these decisions with as diverse a range of stakeholders, along with consumers, clients, suppliers and any others who may be tangentially involved and affected to capture their insights. 

Principles of Responsible AI: we’ve addressed many of the key issues of responsible AI during this presentation, but it’s worth noting that using AI for social media or other digital marketing needs should address the following: 

  • Fairness: Datasets used for training the AI system must be given careful consideration to avoid discrimination.
  • Transparency: AI systems should be designed in a way that allows users to understand how the algorithms work.
  • Non-maleficence: AI systems should avoid harming individuals, society or the environment.
  • Accountability: Developers, organizations and policymakers must ensure AI is developed and used responsibly.
  • Privacy: AI must protect people’s personal data, which involves developing mechanisms for individuals to control how their data is collected and used.
  • Robustness: AI systems should be secure – that is, resilient to errors, adversarial attacks and unexpected inputs.
  • Inclusiveness: Engaging with diverse perspectives helps identify potential ethical concerns of AI and ensures a collective effort to address them.

How does this translate directly to social media? 

Ensure data privacy and security: Many businesses including Apple, Samsung, and JP Morgan Chase have either warned against or entirely banned their employees from using AI tools, like ChatGPT. What you’re using AI for can put information at risk. For example, for customer service purposes, inputting data like emails and names of customers into AI may make it easier for it appear in responses, compromising your clients’ safety and jeopardizing your business’s reputation. 

Address potential biases in AI-generated content: It can be tempting to let AI tools take over your content generation for social media, but you will be putting yourself at risk of publishing inappropriate, biased, or duplicated content, which can harm your brand. 

AI can helpful for generating engaging content for your social media, but the content it generates should be vetted and examined thoroughly to ensure appropriate use.

Keep the Human Touch: AI may streamline repetitive tasks, but an over reliance on automation can also strip away the human element from communication. Social media is an inherently human experience – it’s about being social! AI isn’t human and as a result, it can generate inappropriate emotional responses, incorrect sentiment analysis, or unrealistic promises—issues that can be easily avoided with human oversight. AI tools are valuable for brainstorming and crafting copy than can be refined and customized, but again, it’s just a starting point that should assist – not replace humans. 

A presentation on this subject was delivered at Web Con 2025.

Sources & Citations: 

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