Written By: Olivia Felsher, HJ-PR Intern
The public relations (PR) industry has undergone significant changes in recent years, and the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has been one of the major driving forces behind this transformation. AI is revolutionizing the way that PR practitioners approach their work on a variety of levels, from how they gather and analyze critical data to how they communicate with their target audiences, and practically everything in between. Below we will further explore some of the key ways in which AI is changing the way we as individuals do PR.
- Data Gathering and Analysis
Within the PR industry, data has always been a crucial component. PR professionals gather data on their clients’ target audiences, media outlets, and competitors in order to craft the most effective PR strategies. While traditional methods of data gathering and analysis tend to be time-consuming and prone to errors, with the help of AI, PR professionals can gather and analyze data more efficiently and accurately.
AI-powered tools have the ability to sort through mass amounts of data, identifying patterns and trends that might otherwise be missed by human analysts. These tools can also provide real-time insights, enabling PR professionals to quickly adjust their strategies to better suit the situation at hand.
- Media Monitoring
Media Monitoring is another critical aspect of the PR industry, in which PR professionals must constantly keep an eye on news outlets, social media platforms, and other relevant sources to identify potential opportunities or crises for their clients.
AI-powered media monitoring tools can scan vast amounts of media data at an incredibly fast pace, alerting PR practitioners of any mentions of their clients, as well as any other relevant topics that pertain to their clients’ interests or needs. These AI tools can also aid in the identification of audience insights within various media outlets and platforms, giving the PR professionals real-time knowledge of their target audience’s behavioral patterns.
- Content Creation
PR professionals create a wide array of content, including content to pitch to journalists, to post on social media platforms, or to publish on their clients’ websites. This content needs to be eye-catching, entertaining, and oriented to appeal to a specific audience; as a result of these needs, content creation can be very tedious and time consuming.
Implementing AI-powered tools can greatly help PR professionals create high-quality content at a much more efficient rate. These tools can suggest headlines and other creative elements to make the content more engaging, which is done by the AI tool identifying topics that have been successfully resonating with the intended target audiences.
- Chatbots
The use of Chatbots is becoming increasingly popular in the PR industry, in which PR professionals use chatbots to directly interact with customers or journalists in real-time, thus providing quick, helpful, and accurate responses to their inquiries.
AI-powered chatbots utilize natural-sounding language processing, which in turn allows them to understand and respond to queries more appropriately. They can also provide personalized responses based on the user’s history, therefore building stronger relationships with customers and journalists alike.
Overall, AI is greatly transforming the PR industry in countless positive ways. AI is providing PR professionals with more efficient and accurate tools to gather and analyse data, monitor media outlets, create content, interact with potential customers and journalists, and much more. As AI technology continues to advance and grow within society, we can expect to continue to see even more changes within the PR industry in the years to come.
