Digital & Technology

Whether or not Alexa or Siri are your best girlfriends, public relations practitioners should research and explore the extent to which their organizations use AI and its performance. According to the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute: “AI is the umbrella term for the algorithms, technologies and techniques that make machines smarter, and give them superhuman capabilities.” While AI may seem smart enough to set and forget, responsible pr pros should lean in to the learning, advantages and possible disadvantages the tools may provide.

Nearly all communicators use technology in their daily work. In healthcare, though, technology surrounds communicators and the practitioners they work with each day. Ahead of next week’s PRNEWS Top Women in Healthcare Communications awards luncheon in NY, we asked several awards finalists to discuss communications, technology and how to maintain a human touch.

On July 16 PRNEWS will honor some of the best female communicators in healthcare during its Top Women in Healthcare Communications awards luncheon. NY’s Yale Club will be the venue. Ahead of that gala event, we asked a trio of healthcare communicators, who also will help us present the awards, about how to break through the noise of the internet and maintain the human touch.

Google has several enterprise-level tools that require a budget, but many of its tools—including Data Studio, recently graduated from beta—are completely free for the time being. Our roster of SEO and Analytics pros will be discussing some of these tools next month at PRNEWS’ Digital Boot Camp: Using Google Tools for Communicators, July 17 at NYC’s Yale Club. Ahead of the boot camp, though, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t feel empowered to start familiarizing yourself with these tools now. Communications professionals would be well-served to start experimenting with Google’s latest offerings, tinkering with messaging placement and delivery to see what resonates most with audiences.

When it comes to making sense of the beast that is Google Analytics, we’ve got you covered at our Google Boot Camp for Communicators, going down July 17 at The Yale Club in NYC. And for those wishing to get their feet wet earlier, looking at the analytics native to big social platforms is a fantastic place to start. Native metrics offered by each social platform can give you a better idea of how well each piece of content you put out into the world is performing. And it’s all free. Here’s how to make the most of those native analytics offerings.

Your company has had a data breach. No, it’s potentially had a breach. What’s your counsel to the C-suite? Should the brand reveal this information to the public or wait until you have perfect knowledge? These questions are at the crux of the communicator’s dilemma in the age of cybercrime.

Many communicators know blockchain is a technology mostly with electronic cash or cyptocurrency. They also may know Facebook plans to unveil a cryptocurrency, Global Coin , later this year. In fact, there’s a lot more senior communicators should be aware of regarding blockchain and trust could be a big factor.

Not long ago, one of the pleasures of taking vacation was being completely out of touch with the daily grind. Today, though, too many PR pros check in with the office during vacation. Worse, we chronicle our trip. While it sounds radical, try unplugging your phone before vacation begins. You might be surprised how much it boosts your creativity. Tips in this post will help you disconnect.

Muck Rack recently surveyed over 800 PR professionals, ranging from coordinators at boutique agencies to Chief Communications Officers at major global brands, to take a pulse on the state of PR in 2019. Among its questions, the survey looked at how communicators are spending their time, their money, and what software they use. Muck Rack will drill deeper into these results at PR News Google Bootcamp for Communicators, taking place on July 17th at the Yale Club in NYC. Looking at these survey findings, it’s easy to see why a base level of tech literacy is not only helpful, but necessary for PR pros— the results remind us that measuring success remains the number one challenge for our profession.

There is always more to the story of data collection than just a consumer’s well-being. For Amazon, and marketers everywhere, emotional-recognition voice software could help provide the most specific personal insights to date to promote product recommendations, targeted ads, and eventually, the creation of products that could impact and relate to mental and physical health.