AI tools for press relations and more are here
The debate around AI ethics may seem distant and abstract, but the early tools are here and by this time next year we will wonder how we ever managed without it. ChatGPT is already pretty well documented as a text analyser and can knock up a first draft press release and suggest headlines and quotes in seconds. But there are already other tools that can create presentations and brochures in a similar space of time.
The ability of an AI to create media lists based on its understanding of a subject and press release is particularly interesting. I’m not going to hazard a guess at what is going to happen, but media database platforms like Vuelio and Kantar need to work out how they will work with AI, or be eaten by it.
Frankly I’m looking forward to a techno-slave to do the leg work, but the impact of AI on entry-level jobs in the PR industry (and many others) is concerning. Jobs are going to be lost to AI in the PR industry, but it remains a tool to use and not a replacement for people. In fact there are limitations in the PR-media ecosystem which will eventually make humans and personal relationships in the industry even more important – a subject for another day.
TikTok is growing up
I experimented with TikTok at the start of the pandemic and quickly found that it was the most addictive platform I’d ever encountered (RIP Vine) so I uninstalled it. (I’m now taunted by Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts and need to develop some sort of electroshock device that engages after 15 minutes of video browsing.)
Back on TikTok, 57% of users are aged 18-34, leaving 43% aged 34 and above – and an increasingly older user base is turning to the platform. (NanTok anyone?) It’s now visited more than Google and, despite political arguments over its security, has one billion monthly users worldwide. The question remains, how many of these people are a useful audience for your organisation?
Meta still dominates social media
Yes engagement on Facebook is in the dumps and Instagram is going through an identity crisis, but Meta platforms remain the top three social media apps (we’re including Whatsapp and Messenger) used across Gen-Z, Millennials, Gen-X and Boomers. (It would be top four, but TikTok crept into fourth place for Gen-Z).
Video content is going up like a rocket
Whether it’s TikTok, Instagram Reels or YouTube shorts, this content is doubling, trebling or (YouTube Shorts) sextupling. (I know, I could have used percentages and avoided that). You would think that a certain social media CEO would be able to spot figures going into space and jump on the popularity of that content (for god’s sake man, Vine is dead, let it go) but why do that when you can start a culture war, insult your user base, and let money drive content visibility instead of quality.
We need to end the obsession with measuring engagement, or do we?
Does the rise of video content mean a rethink on what we consider successful measurements? Does it matter whether a 45 second video prompts a like or comment, or is the ability to hold attention enough? When considered against a constantly swiping audience, whether they stop like and comment doesn’t seem so important. But when it comes to curating the atmosphere of your channel then engagement takes on a new aspect – more for qualitative impact than quantitative. “TikTok lives and dies in the comments” was a phrase from the conference but YouTube will also give greater exposure to comments which receive responses from the creator. So the opportunity is there to set the tone of your channel through engagement, which is more important than chasing numbers.
Ultimately you need to think about how the channels are working for your organisation rather than the way you are scoring on social media platforms, which are related statistics but not the same thing.
#GrowingPRintheMidlands #PRConfMids
Express Words 