Imagine posting on Twitter about your broken washing machine and then receiving ads about a new, all-in-one washing and drying machine.
That's the approach Milwaukee-based startup Marathon Laundry Machines is taking by using technology built by Socialeads Inc., another local startup that leverages artificial intelligence to mine social media channels to find high-quality sales leads.
Socialeads got its start in the insurance and financial services industries with early backing from Northwestern Mutual, which is also a customer, through the life insurer's first Reverse Pitch competition in 2018. Its other users include Allstate Corp., which was also an investor, and New York Life Insurance Co.
Now, Socialeads aims to expand to other industries, starting with Marathon Laundry. Socialeads's tool is designed to help companies enhance the return on their digital advertising spending by scanning platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for key words and trends, enabling companies to tailor ads with the goal of improving conversion rates.
"If you could advertise to people who are expressing a need for your product or service — as opposed to defining in an audience that you hope one person out of 1,000 is a person who might be interested in you — it's a very different way of thinking about, 'How do I target somebody with my product marketing?'" Socialeads CEO and co-founder Larry Hitchcock said.
Hitchcock is an advisory board member for Marathon Laundry. He and Marathon Laundry CEO and founder Glenn Reid both attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and spent much of their careers in California before moving back to Wisconsin. In the late 1990s, Reid worked closely with Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs to create the company's video editing application iMovie.
Marathon Laundry makes internet-connected laundry machines with prices starting at $2,350, according to the company's website.
Socialeads currently has six employees and is hiring at least one additional engineer, Hitchcock said. It plans to hire more employees as demand rises, he said.
The company's push into consumer goods represents the same technology applied for a new application.
For its insurance customers, the Socialeads tool might look for social posts about a person having a baby or buying a car as an indicator that the individual might need an insurance product, Hitchcock said. For Marathon Laundry, it might seek to detect users posting about moving into a new house, or complaining about their existing washer or dryer.
"It's just a different way of detecting what the appropriate marketing signal is for the client," Hitchcock said. "The core AI engine is not being very heavily modified."
