I do know. “AI public relations” (PR) sort of feels like an oxymoron.
Public relations is about shaping and sharing your human tales with different people. It’s about capturing and creating real human pleasure and resonance. How can we ever go away that to the robots?
Properly, we will’t — at the very least not fully. Like making use of AI to digital advertising and marketing or every other subject, you should be selective and considerate about incorporating AI into your public relations technique. That’s the place we are available.
We’ll unpack the professionals and cons of utilizing AI in public relations and share a few of the smartest use instances and professional suggestions that will help you get essentially the most out of it.
Desk of contents
Why Use AI in Public Relations (PR)
Utilizing AI in public relations has many advantages, however all of them come again to 1 all professionals attempt for — improved productiveness.
Let’s break down the specifics.
Execs of AI Public Relations
Larger Effectivity
HubSpot analysis discovered 90% of entrepreneurs say AI and automation assist them spend much less time on handbook duties, extra time on the obligations they take pleasure in most (80%), and extra time on the inventive points of their position (79%). Public relations is not any exception.
In truth, 76.6% of PR professionals already use AI instruments to automate their most tedious and repetitive duties, in line with Prowly.
For PR professionals, AI can imply faster market and marketing campaign evaluation, in addition to quicker press launch and pitch drafting. AI and automation can even assist eradicate handbook duties like e-mail follow-ups to your press companions.
Decrease Prices
By aiding with time-consuming and mundane duties, AI can even assist decrease pointless bills in your public relations funds.
For instance, for those who pay a freelancer by the hour to draft press releases, utilizing an AI device like Jasper and even HubSpot’s Free AI Content material Author will help minimize the necessity for these hours.
Don’t consider me? Prowly discovered that 43.5% of PR professionals utilizing instruments say it has lowered their firms’ general prices and useful resource wants. That’s on high of 48.2% reporting they struggled with working with a small funds up to now 12 months.
These small efficiencies add up.
Elevated ROI
With decrease prices comes the potential for elevated return on funding (ROI). Arduous to argue with that.
Cons of AI Public Relations
As nice as AI sounds for public relations, it nonetheless has drawbacks.
Information High quality & Accuracy
Information high quality and accuracy are a few of the greatest issues of utilizing AI in public relations or any use case, actually.
Most public synthetic intelligence runs off info fed from its customers and the web — and I feel everyone knows we will’t belief every thing we learn on-line.
Due to this, you can’t at all times know if the outcomes you get from AI are correct or based mostly on dependable sources. This may be harmful when utilizing AI in public relations, particularly when doing analysis.
Be cautious of validity and even bias. The very last thing you need to do is make strategic selections based mostly on false or misguided info.
Privateness
There’s little doubt that AI will help expedite your public relations workflow, however that always means sharing particulars about your model or firm to supply outcomes you’ll be able to really use.
AI is at present unregulated, so any info you share is vulnerable to being saved or handed onto others utilizing the device, together with probably our rivals.
Lack of Human Contact
Public relations is about human connection. It’s about how your model or consumer is perceived by different folks and the general public at giant.
Whereas spectacular, AI or automation’s means can solely go far on this area.
AI can’t create private relationships and bonds. It could actually’t take photographs with followers, shake arms with potential buyers, or attend a charity occasion. It could actually’t “learn the room” or perceive the delicate nuances of present occasions or tradition.
And its insights and data are solely as present as its final replace. So. tread frivolously when utilizing AI or automation for one-on-one communication.
With out cautious enhancing or strategic use of the instruments, its synthetic nature will be simple to identify.
This personalization mistake from UK restaurant burgerific is a typical one.
How is AI utilized in public relations?
The chances of synthetic intelligence are fairly boundless, however with the cons and limitations we mentioned in thoughts, listed below are a few of the greatest use instances in public relations.
1. Drafting press releases and pitches
In certainly one of my first advertising and marketing and PR jobs, I wrote and distributed about 2-5 press releases a day. I loved it, however I’d be mendacity if I stated it wasn’t time-consuming, not to mention draining.
I may have developed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from all of the typing, however we’re not right here to debate the significance of workspace ergonomics.
With generative AI, you’ll be able to dramatically cut back your press launch and pitch writing time (and possibly even Carpal Tunnel Syndrome).
All you want is a immediate answering these questions:
- What’s the purpose of your press launch?
- What vital info do you need to embrace?
- Who’s it supposed for?
- What tone do you need to use?
For example, I gave ChatGPT this immediate:
“Are you able to write me a press launch about Apple’s September 2024 Product Occasion? It ought to embrace the date and time — Monday, September ninth at 10:00 AM PT and get most people enthusiastic about it.”
Right here’s what I received again:
However bear in mind, this could solely be a place to begin. Neerja Patel, a PR skilled of over 15 years and founder and CEO of her personal PR agency, advises, “Use AI to reinforce your creativity and help with analysis and content material creation.”
“It shouldn’t substitute your thought course of or be used as a substitution in your work. Essentially the most impactful campaigns which have most outcomes are those that mix the human thoughts with AI.”
Professional tip: “To make sure you are telling the most effective narrative in AI-assisted press releases, embrace not solely vital and related info but in addition present world traits,” continues Patel.
“This can assist strengthen your messaging, finally growing your probabilities of garnering consideration from journalists and securing tales in publications.”
Additionally, are you not the savviest with ChatGPT or prompting simply but? Our free information, “Methods to Use ChatGPT at Work,” will introduce you to the device and share greatest practices and 100 immediate concepts to get you began.
These abilities are simply adaptable to different chatbot-style instruments like HubSpot’s Free AI Content material Author. You may strive them in a device particularly designed for public relations, like Meltwater.
2. Automating social media engagement
With the ability to schedule social media posts for publication frees up a whole lot of time for entrepreneurs and PR professionals, however the use instances for AI and automation don’t finish there.
It’s also possible to use AI to answer feedback or direct messages mechanically.
There are just a few choices on the market for this, however personally, I’m an enormous fan of the conversational advertising and marketing device ManyChat.
ManyChat can be utilized to mechanically reply to feedback on Instagram posts or ship a private message when folks use a selected phrase or phrase. It will also be used with Fb Messenger or WhatsApp.
3. Monitoring model sentiment and repute
AI and automation can even assist preserve you retain a pulse on how the general public feels about you or your model. In different phrases, it could actually enable you to monitor model sentiment and repute adjustments.
All of it comes again to social listening.
For instance, Digimind’s social listening device “combines Digimind’s AI Sense with OpenAI’s ChatGPT to watch social media, blogs, evaluations, podcasts and extra, to detect key occasions about any model or subject,” defined MarTech managing editor Constantine von Hoffman.
“It then determines vital metrics, resembling attain, model affect, and key mentions despatched to ChatGPT to be analyzed and summarized in plain English in real-time.”
Want a extra easy or budget-friendly various?
Arrange Google Alerts for any phrase or key phrases you want, resembling your model or product identify. For there, Google screens the net for brand spanking new content material matching your phrases and sends an automatic e-mail when a brand new outcome seems.
It’s free and easy so that you can keep.
Professional tip: For those who’re a HubSpot person, use social inbox streams.
These streams will let you monitor social media for mentions of your model, product, or different key phrases from inside your portal.
4. Sustaining your press record(s)
Prowly’s State of PR Know-how stories that almost half of public relations professionals wrestle to search out related media contacts.
Databases like these from Prowly, Cision, and Brandwatch will help, however even as soon as you discover your contacts, sustaining the record will be simply as laborious.
Fortunately, that is one space the place AI shines brightest.
For one, AI and automation will help you phase your press contacts into totally different lists based mostly on their distinctive specialties or demographics.
You may create one record for tv, one other for digital media, and others segmented by location, like New York or London.
AI can even assist clear your information by mechanically figuring out and eradicating inactive or bounced e-mail addresses, correcting typos in e-mail addresses, and filtering out duplicates.
All this helps cut back record decay and enhance deliverability charges.
Professional tip: For those who use HubSpot, use good lists and workflows to maintain your press lists present.
Sensible lists will mechanically replace, including and eradicating contacts based mostly on the factors you set, whereas workflows can be utilized to wash information within the CRM.
5. Reaching out to media.
AI doesn’t simply enable you to construct and keep your press record; it could actually enable you to contact it.
As an example, utilizing automated e-mail instruments like HubSpot’s, you’ll be able to arrange follow-up messages for brand spanking new contacts who obtain your press/media equipment or those that e-mail about press inquiries.
You may even arrange a sequence to comply with up with contacts who could not have opened your outreach or have gone darkish.
Quite than having to ship out dozens, if not tons of, of handbook emails, automation can scale your outreach efforts and improve your probabilities of getting
6. Researching
This doubtless goes with out saying, however AI is usually a game-changer in public relations analysis.
Utilizing AI slightly than a standard search engine could make it simpler to reply particular queries. Why precisely? Properly, there isn’t any have to click on by a number of pages and hope you discover what you want; AI does that for you.
It crawls the net for associated sources after which distills and summarizes the content material for you. Whereas it might take just a few tries to get the precise info you want, an AI chatbot like ChatGPT or Meta AI can prevent large quantities of time scrolling.
(Ai)ding your public relations success
As quick-witted as many individuals are, AI can usually course of requests, analyze information, and reply quicker than people ever may.
I imply, give it some thought this fashion: I can do lengthy division, however that doesn’t imply a calculator gained’t assist me get the reply quicker.
Take our suggestions and recommendation above and begin utilizing AI in public relations with the identical mindset.