Here's how you can navigate the emerging trends in using new technology for public relations.

To navigate emerging tech trends in PR, embrace AI integration. AI streamlines tasks like data analysis, personalizing content, and automating responses. Leverage chatbots for customer engagement and sentiment analysis tools for real-time insights. Harnessing AI's power enhances efficiency, accuracy, and scalability, keeping PR strategies ahead of the curve.

Navigating the emerging trends in public relations through new technology is about embracing innovation while maintaining the core principles of effective communication. Start by integrating AI-driven analytics to gain deeper insights into audience behaviour and media consumption patterns. Utilize chatbots and virtual assistants to provide real-time engagement and customer service. Leverage augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to create immersive brand experiences that captivate your audience. Stay ahead by experimenting with 5G technology to enhance mobile connectivity and content delivery. The key is to adapt these technologies to tell your brand’s story in a way that resonates well with your audience.

Chatbots backed by your own internal documents can be immediately useful for your teams, in finding answers to problems. This requires you to input various internal documents into a knowledgebase that is updated as you grow in the use of AI. Chatbots for external stakeholders, such as customers, can also follow this paradigm, with public domain information you intend to share. Such chatbots will be constrained with your own information, rather than rely on the public Internet (where facts and fiction or misinfomation can mix). For PR, AI is also useful for asset creation for content outreach, through audio and video. You can now use AI for producing human-sounding podcasts, animations and videos for YouTube and other social channels.

I started out my PR career in the Measurement & Analytics team of a global public relations firm, and I remember vividly what the mantra of a team was: what can be measured, can be done. Data analytics is arguably the best ally of the PR professional, because it can help them make informed decisions and eliminate the guess work from their communication strategy.

I think this is the most important answer out of all of these. The media landscape is shifting / has shifted so substantially, that my advice to ALL the companies that I work with off the bat is to get their social house in order - before doing anything else. PS - this work for both B2B and B2C companies. Start building an audience, and then you can sell them some sort of product or solution.

In my experience, mobile optimization is crucial because that's where consumers (and the audience at large) are. So anything (from mobile-friendly websites to QR codes, social-first channels like Instagram and Tiktok, and other mobile optimized tools and strategies) are extremely important to contribute to the success of a greater PR campaign.

This is also important because users on mobile tend to share things at a higher rate than those on desktop. This can help spread your message at a much quicker rate.

If there's one scenario where PR becomes the most important tool in a company's toolbox, that's when there's a need for crisis communication. In such case, AI can help draft a press release or key talking points for your spokesperson within seconds. And that's something that should not be underestimated. On the other hand, though, a wise PR practitioner should use the following approach when it comes to navigating emerging trends and mixing them with crisis communication: "Trust, but verify."

Public relations is a "people" job, not a tech job. While it's important to leverage all the new technologies available at our disposal, one should never forget that the job of a PR professional is to develop and foster relationships and craft stories that make brands shine. That's it. If tech can help with this, good. But it shouldn't be forced into the picture at all costs.