AI and PR Measurement
For at least the last five years, I have viewed artificial intelligence through the lens of practical applications. Back then, AI conjured fears of robots taking our jobs, or Temrinators becoming self-aware and destroying civilization (there is a facet of the AI community referred to as “Doomers” who do fear a less Schwarzeneggarian view of that outcome). Those fears still exist, but the practical applications have come at us fast, thanks to the likes of Open.ai and others, as well as AI being baked into technology we already know (heck, it’s been informing Google searches for even longer than that, depending how you define RankBrain’s machine learning algorithm).
Everybody writes about AI now, which makes it a challenge to find something truly interesting. Thanks to my friend Gini Dietrich, I found it. She recently wrote about AI use for public relations measurement, via a tool called Coverage Impact. I am intrigued, for two reasons:
- This is a targeted use of AI, not a vague toy or a widely-used application (like chatbots, or the ChatGPT writing prompts that are either helping us write better or creating brain cell-killing word pollution). It is looking at a particular problem, and creating a way to get to some actual (potential) ways to measure PR, which brings me to…
- PR measurement has been a huge problem in the industry for years. The Barcelona Principles have tried to set us on the road to measuring the effect of public relations, but so few have embraced it to date, in part because they are not sure how to express the effect on business outcomes (whether by cause or correlation), or they are lazy and feed executives meaningless (or near-meaningless) metrics like Ad Value Equivalency or “potential eyeballs.” This tool aims to cut through the inability to see direct effects and outcomes, much as ChatGPT cuts through writer’s block. My only question is whether it can incorporate other simultaneous marketing efforts so that the PR outcomes can be seen in the context of overall marketing efforts. I should think that would be possible.
I look forward to seeing this in action and hope people who use this will share their results. Maybe this will be part (even a small one) of a new push for the PR industry to get serious about measuring their efforts properly
Slop-py AI Language
There is, it appears, a new term for unwanted AI content: it’s called “slop.” We’ll see if it sticks. Certainly, it’s a fine term; I didn’t know we need it. What I am wondering is if we should have a term for unrequested new word coinages. I say yes. Does anyone remember “Bacn?” Do you use it? Me neither. Another example I’m still laughing about is from years ago when a friend tried to coin a word for linkbait on Twitter (“Twinkbait.” That one may have been taken, but I wouldn’t really know, and you probably shouldn’t Google it).
Yes, only two again– I’m not changing the post title
I’ve been talking to these folks about integrating the other marketing metrics (after we get all of the PESO Model outcomes included!) and it’s definitely on the list. I hope they get it there. I’d be willing to pay for it!