PCG Blog

AI (Artificial intelligence) has been the buzzword across industries for a couple of years now. We see new posts every day on how it is making several jobs redundant. While that is a completely different conversation, today, let’s explore how we can use AI to improve your PR campaigns. 

The biggest advantage of using AI in PR is the number of man-hours of effort it helps save. It makes one more efficient by improving automation. It can help in better targeting for campaigns, and most importantly, it helps in better and more qualitative measurement of impact and ROI. 

However, before we begin - a word of warning, AI is still in a nascent stage. Relying entirely on AI would not be effective. AI is a great tool - something that can help you do your job better. But it is just a tool. 

So how do we use this tool? 

1. Media monitoring:
   Well, AI has been in use in the media monitoring and listening sector for a while now. Platforms like Meltwater are AI-powered monitoring tools that help you understand the real impact of your campaign efforts. These platforms across all mentions on the internet and can analyse reach, sentiment, tonality and more, and even give you some insights on how you tracking vs your competitors.
   However, this does need some amount of human intervention. For example, if you are handling a healthcare client - many mentions of your client that is probably positive for the brand would be considered negative.
   This is crucial in crisis management  - AI can help PR agents anticipate and react to potential crises by identifying early warning signs, such as negative sentiment spikes on social media. Platforms like Signal AI and RepTrack help monitor online conversations and anticipate potential public relations issues.

2. Sentiment analysis:
   This is a crucial aspect for PR. AI can be used to analyze the sentiment of online conversations about your brand. This can help you understand how people are talking about your brand and identify areas where you can improve your reputation.
   There are a number of AI-powered sentiment analysis tools available, such as SentiStrength, VaderSentiment, and LIWC. These tools can analyze the tone of text and identify whether it is positive, negative, or neutral.

3. Influencer identification:
   AI can be used to identify influencers in your industry who can help you reach your target audience. This can help you build relationships with influencers and amplify your PR message. There are a number of AI-powered influencer identification tools available, such as BuzzSumo, Upfluence, and HypeAuditor. These tools can identify influencers based on their social media following, engagement rate, and audience demographics.
   Importantly, it can also help you measure the impact and outcomes of a particular campaign.

4. Content creation
   PR involves a lot of content creation.  AI can be used to create content for your PR campaigns, such as press releases, blog posts, and other required content. Tools like Jarvis, Writesonic, and Copysmith can help you create new content, in the desired tonality, help you reshape content, summarise content and more. These tools can generate content based on your input, such as a topic, keyword, or desired tone of voice.

5. Research:
   Research is simplified with AI. It could be something as simple as asking ChatGPT or Bard to summarise an article, or share some prelim data. However, remember that the content available on such platforms is old. Use AI as a starting point for your research, and do not consider this the final outcome. AI can analyze large datasets and uncover hidden patterns and insights relevant to PR campaigns. Platforms like Quid and Talkwalker analyze media coverage and social media conversations to reveal trends and competitor insights.

6. Ideation & Brainstorming:
   Sometimes, the brain needs a trigger to start getting creative. AI is a great trigger. A few keywords can get you started on research and analysis, and you have new campaign ideas. Tools like Jarvis and Copy.ai can generate creative narratives based on prompts and keywords.
   Again, it is crucial to do your research because sometimes, the ideas have already been done before (AI does not know everything, after all)

7. Specific Targeting & Personalisation:
   Journalists move around constantly. They change beats. They change interests. AI can find relevant journalists and news outlets to target with your PR material. AI could help tailor messaging and outreach based on individual preferences and interests - but this is a hit or miss, usually. Tools like Phrasee and Persado analyze audience data and create personalized email subject lines, social media posts, and even website copy. 

8. Workflow Automation:
   PR is a constantly moving, evolving beast and there are a million moving parts every day. AI tools can help you prioritise and even automate certain tasks and workflows that ensure nothing gets missed. 

Conclusion: 

Overall, AI is a powerful tool that can help PR professionals improve their campaigns. By using AI, PR professionals can streamline their workflows, improve their targeting, and measure their results more effectively.

So how do you get started? Start small and learn. Working with AI is like working with a new intern. The output you get is only as good as the inputs you give. Start with a few tools and gradually add more. 

Make sure you do your research beyond what AI gives you. Your team needs special training to ensure they are using AI properly, and ethically.