Microsoft Copilot - What this means for your Microsoft Ads campaigns

Ellie Burns Written by Ellie Burns

5 min read   -  5th July, 2024

Microsoft Copilot - What this means for your Microsoft Ads campaigns

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that its AI, “Copilot” would be integrated with its advertising platform, Microsoft Ads. This takes Microsoft’s advertising to the next level, but only if you know how to get the best use out of these newly integrated AI features.

The combination of AI capabilities and Microsoft’s advertising platform is something that Microsoft believes will be useful for digital marketers. Microsoft’s own Kya Sainsbury-Carter explains “We believe that generative AI can unlock productivity, boost creativity, and provide real-time intelligent assistance to help you achieve your advertising goals."

AI is an emerging and fast-developing tool, so we’ve included some details on how generative AI can upgrade your ad content creation and targeting, leading to more personalised and effective ads.

In this article, we’ll guide you through the features of Copilot, highlighting how you can make the most of it when creating your next campaign in Microsoft Ads:

Microsoft Copilot’s Evolution

Microsoft Copilot's launched in February 2023 as an AI assistant for productivity tools in Microsoft 365, enhancing tasks like writing and data analysis. It was a replacement for Cortana, Microsoft’s original virtual assistant. It’s such a mainstream part of Microsoft’s future toolkit, the most recent Windows keywords are equipped with a dedicated Copilot key. Safe to say, this is a feature that is set to stay, and only become more capable and efficient over time.

If you’re curious, the system is modelled on Microsoft’s Prometheus model, working with OpenAI’s GPT-4. As these models become more sophisticated, Copilot will do the same, benefiting from ongoing advancements in AI algorithms and machine learning models to improve functionality.

Copilot has now been integrated into more Microsoft products, including Microsoft Ads. It’s designed to help speed up the process of ad creation, spark creativity, and simplify the ad creation process overall. The power of Microsoft’s AI capabilities is giving Google a run for its money, literally, so now’s the time to get familiar with everything Copiot has to offer, to keep up to date with the face of digital marketing.

The Features of Microsoft Copilot

Here’s the lowdown on everything Microsoft Copilot has to offer. Let’s dig into some details.

Generative AI capabilities
Copilot has a powerful ability to create ad copy and suggest keywords, making ad creation faster and more efficient.

Then you’ve got the treat of automated image and video generation for ads, ensuring visually appealing content tailored to target audiences. This could be a huge time-saver for digital marketers working with extensive product feeds and visually appealing products.

Data-driven insights
Any marketer knows that the most powerful asset in your arsenal is the data you have to hand. Copilot makes use of vast amounts of data to inform ad strategies, providing advertisers with actionable insights and suggestions to act upon.

You have access to real-time analytics and performance tracking, allowing you to monitor and adjust campaigns dynamically. This live and totally up to date data gives you the strongest idea of what is working in your campaign, and what could be improved, allowing you to make informed decisions.

Integration with Microsoft Ads platform
An efficient feature of Copilot is its seamless interface with existing tools and workflows, ensuring a smooth user experience. You’ll have 24/7 support, as detailed in Microsoft’s blog on the updates: “It provides real-time answers to your support questions, synthesises relevant information, and provides direct links to where you can take action.” 

From this automated and manual round-the-clock support, Microsoft have reported a “29% reduction in support tickets” from users creating ads within the Microsoft Ads system. So this is a feature that is already benefiting digital marketers.

Copilot is also compatible with other Microsoft products like Office and Dynamics, enabling a unified approach to business operations without any pesky setup issues.

How Your Microsoft Ads Campaigns Can Benefit

If you’ve already got some Microsoft Ad campaigns running, you may be wondering what you can benefit from by making use of Copilot. Let’s cut to the chase and dive into the features available to you.

Enhanced ad creativity and relevance
Copilot will create suggested text and images assets, sourced directly from your URL as a starting point. This means you’re never starting from zero. This can massively speed up your creation process. You can benefit from improved engagement through AI-generated visuals, creating more compelling and attractive ads. This includes personalised ad copy tailored to target audiences, improving engagement and conversion rates.

The buttons titled “Find similar copy,” “Try a different tone,” or “Rewrite” can be used with many of your ads, providing prompts that customise assets to your business objectives and personalise ads for your audiences. Whether you use this as your final copy or a simple starting point, they can speed up your copywriting process.

Efficiency in campaign management
The primary benefit of Copilot is its time-saving capabilities. Automated ad creation reduces time and effort, allowing advertisers to focus on strategy and optimisation. It presents an option for streamlined processes for ad placements and adjustments, minimising manual intervention and errors.

Better targeting and optimisation
These AI-driven insights offer precise audience targeting, ensuring your ads reach the right people at the right time.

The chat features of Copilot are also bringing engaged users to ads in an entirely new way. Microsoft has revealed that “82% of ad clicks came from short chat communications in less than 60 seconds” with Microsoft’s AI Copilot chat feature when using Copilot to search online. Meaning that a high visibility on this platform can benefit PPC campaigns specifically.

Best Practices of Microsoft Copilot

Before you jump in and explore for yourself, here’s some guidance on how to get the most from Copilot.

Leverage AI-generated content 

  • Make sure you review and edit AI-generated ad copy to maintain a top quality brand voice. AI can only get you so far, the refining and checks from you and your team will be what ultimately levels up your copy.
  • Take things a step further by ensuring brand consistency and compliance with guidelines that you write for any AI that you work with, making necessary adjustments as you go. This can make any AI tools you use more efficient, getting closer to your ideal outcomes at a faster rate, with less errors along the way.

Data insights 

  • Take any data that you source from Copilot and develop actionable strategies based on your findings. Always double check this data to be completely confident in it matching your manually sourced metrics.

Integrating Copilot into existing workflows 

  • Copilot is already integrated with a lot of Microsoft apps, but you can go a step further and integrate it with custom apps using a simple embed code.
  • Remember to keep your team fully updated with training in recent updates to Copilot, making AI a part of every digital marketer’s toolkit at your company.

Coming in to land…

Copilot has the potential to enhance the creativity, efficiency, and targeting of your ad campaigns. If you take the time to learn its full variety of features, and test out the latest ways to make use of its features, your Microsoft ads will be truly cutting edge.

It’s a speedy way to explore the future potential of generative AI in advertising, which is a fun way to stay one step ahead of your competition. It also future-proofs your marketing team as AI makes bigger waves in the industry. 

 

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