How AI and Voice Search are Shaping Public Relations

Welcome. This is the Public Relations Review Podcast, a program to discuss the many facets of public relations with seasoned professionals, educators, authors and others. Now here is your host, Peter Woolfolk.

Welcome to the Public Relations Review Podcast and to our listeners all across America and around the world. This podcast was initially launched in January 2019. So now I actually want to offer my first interview episode for 2023. I want to take this time to express my appreciation, first to all of the guests who have appeared on this podcast to provide the exceptional content, and to thank you, my continuously growing audience of listeners both in America and around the world, for your support. At the end of this episode, there will be a brief artificial intelligence article on the effective use of voice search in public relations using Alexa and Siri. In this first interview episode, I will mention briefly the inclusion of artificial intelligence in our production, mention the accolades this podcast had received, name multiple awards it had received and mention our future plans. I also want to offer an invitation to you as well. So here we go. This past year, 26 episodes were produced In full. Of those episodes, I used artificial intelligence in the production. The platforms I used to produce these episodes included chat, gpt to produce some written text and the text to speech portions. I used both IBM Watson and speech alone platforms. Needless to say, with the exceptional growth of artificial intelligence, I will continue to provide you with information on these new PR related AI platforms in our episodes and, on occasion, use them to produce several episodes. The bulk of the episodes will continue to feature our exceptional guests, so if you or if you know of some PR professionals with some unique experiences or projects that would make a great guest, please contact me. That information is available at the end of this episode. Artificial intelligence is used in other segments of this podcast production. Ai is now used to capture the entire episode and convert the conversation to a downloadable print transcript. In addition, the transcript identifies each of the speakers whenever they speak during the episode. Next, this podcast has received multiple accolades and awards. The accolades include multiple Best PR Podcast rankings. The most important ranking from Apple Podcasts, its posts read and I quote this podcast is ranked worldwide among the top 1% of podcasts. Close quote I was surprised to see this post online and very excited to have received this accomplishment. In addition, we also received multiple additional PR Podcast rankings. Further, from the United Kingdom's Innovation and Business Mutual Innovation Award 2023, we were named as the Podcast Innovator of the Year 2023 for the Southern USA. Further, this podcast is also nominated for two additional awards, one from the American Business Awards and two from the Public Relations Society Chapter in Nashville, tennessee, as a Best PR Podcast, as I said, of the top of this article, I don't want this episode to be without some information you can use. I will continue to provide great guests and information of values to you and your work. Now here is an AI article episode on the benefits of using voice search in public relations. This is the text-to-speech version of that October 31 article written by Sasha Dukou of Crenshaw Communications.

As PR pros, we must continually adapt to emerging technologies that impact consumer behavior. One new kid on the block that's still underused in PR is voice search. Voice search is reshaping how people seek information because of its ease of use and flexibility. According to Demand Sage, there are 4.2 billion voice assistants in use as of 2023, and the number will reach 8.4 billion by 2024. As voice-enabled devices and virtual assistants like Siri, alexa and Google Assistant become common, voice search is also transforming how consumers interact with brands and information. For PR pros, understanding and adapting to this shift is crucial for maintaining relevance and delivering value to internal and external clients. Here are 5 ways to consider voice search in a PR program. 1. Conversational content Voice search queries tend to be more conversational and long-tail, reflecting the way people naturally speak. Pr pros must optimize content to align with these conversational queries, ensuring that it ranks well in voice search results. Voice searches also often have a strong local intent, such as finding nearby businesses or services. Pr pros should prioritize local SEO efforts to ensure their clients' businesses are discoverable through voice search. 2. Content marketing Creating high-quality, informative content that answers common voice search queries can position a company or its leader as an industry expert, increases its chances of being featured in voice search results. Tech PR pros in particular should also consider how to simplify a lot of the complex, jargon-filled content that fills so many websites. Simple, effective content will aid voice search queries and help with discoverability. 3. Reputation management as voice search relies on providing quick, accurate answers, pr teams need to help companies enhance their authority and build trust online. This includes maintaining a strong brand reputation that is accurate and positive. A negative online reputation can be detrimental for brands and decrease voice search results. As such, pr pros should proactively help brands mitigate potential damage. 4. Trustworthy sources as voice-activated devices rely on credible sources to provide answers to queries, earn media coverage becomes very important. Earning media coverage in multiple reputable publications can increase the likelihood of being cited as a trusted source by virtual assistants. Collaborating with reputable influencers and thought leaders who have a strong online presence can also help PR pros establish brands as reliable sources of information in their respective industries. 5. Structured data in schema markup. Structured data and schema markup are foundational elements of SEO that are gaining more prominence in the era of voice search. These tools help search engines better understand the content on a website, making it more likely to appear as a featured snippet or a relevant answer in a voice search response. Pr pros should work closely with web developers to ensure content is structured in a way that's easily digestible by voice-activated devices. Faq pages, for example, are very useful. The goal is for sites to provide concise, accurate answers to common voice queries, aligning content with the conversational nature of voice search. Voice search not only changes how consumers access information, but also how they perceive and trust brands. Since earned media builds credibility, it is very useful to create trust. Embracing voice search optimization while creating strong content that builds positioning will ensure brands can navigate the evolving world of voice search. Pr pros must consider voice search in their long-term plans to ensure the continued relevance of organizations and their leadership as they work to establish themselves as industry experts.

Again, thank you for being a listener to our podcast and please continue to do so during this coming year and tell your colleagues about us. Here is my invitation to reach me. Please send your email to Peter Wolfoak. One word at gmailcom. Please have a great year and join us for the 2024 episodes of the Public Relations Review podcast. So thank you very much.