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| Ronn Torossian |
Things move fast in New York City and 5W Public Relations Founder and Chairman Ronn Torossian is no exception. His firm has thrived in the hustle and bustle of the city since 2003.
We blitzed through a discussion on artificial intelligence where Torossian explained his overall embrace of the phenomenon and how it’s a core part of his agency’s expertise, both for clients and to improve internal efficiencies.
“AI is changing the whole world, every business on Earth. There’s no reason to think that the PR and digital marketing business won’t be completely changed as well,” Torossian insists.
One of the first points Torossian hit upon is the use of AI tools that streamline media monitoring and offer more precise targeting of journalists.
“AI enables us to analyze big amounts of data and identify trends much quicker,” Torossian said.
5W’s approach to earned media has undergone a paradigm shift. “We’re just better able to understand and track in real-time public sentiment,” Torossian said.
Recent work for a 5W fintech client involved demonstrating the responsible use of AI and addressing consumer bias concerns for the company’s use of AI algorithms to gauge risk assessment and credit scoring.
| This article is featured in O'Dwyer's Nov. Technology PR Magazine |
Torossian pointed out in an article posted online with O’Dwyer’s that public relations is essential in bridging the gap between innovation and understanding, fostering trust in AI, and ensuring its responsible adoption.
For Torossian, there should be no shortage of educational resources to help the public understand AI and its potential benefits.
An edtech client was counseled to run a public workshop on demystifying AI’s role while also offering personalized learning, Torossian explained.
5W’s counsel for a healthcare client keyed in on AI driven diagnostic work and highlights the need for real-world examples of AI solving problems and improving lives, according to Torossian.
Torossian is not shy about encouraging his clients to invest in AI and take it seriously. “Any company not looking at AI is making a mistake,” Torossian said.
Torossian emphasizes AI’s positive impact on society, including advancements in medical research and climate change mitigation, as a way to ease concerns people might have about it.
AI and journalism
Torossian feels that journalism was already in trouble before the emergence of AI, and he thinks it will just continue to struggle.
I pointed out to Torossian that the ratio of PR pros to journalists was only two to one in 1980, but now stands at more than six to one.
This means getting earned media will be harder and harder, Torossian lamented.
AI is just capable of automating so many tasks, Torossian notes. “You’re going to see for every 100 jobs, 20 of them will be eliminated.”
While a mention in the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times is still seen as a major coup, posting original thought leadership for clients on platforms like LinkedIn is just as much of a goal, Torossian explained.
Torossian feels LinkedIn is a great B2B tool while X is mostly for breaking news. “My consumer-packaged goods clients pretty much stay away from X,” he said.
AI’s place with social media is to help you leverage use of different channels and make life easier, Torossian explained.
Torossian described how staffers are using a proprietary tool that queries their own knowledge base to assist with prepping releases and other client documents.
“AI makes it easier to make noise, to create content and to respond to whatever’s going on,” Torossian said. “There’s no question about that.”
“Whether it’s X, Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram, you must know these platforms inside and out and be able to leverage these channels to be effective in PR in 2024,” Torossian said.
Search engine optimization
5W has long recognized the importance of managing how clients appear in search engine results, Torossian explained. “It’s the first place people turn when they are seeking answers,” he said.
Search engine optimization is not a dead art, but gone are the days of loading up key words on a web page and tweaking meta tags, according to Torossian.
His team looks to websites, blogs, social networks, inter-linking and SEO copy writing to impact online search results.
Google has always been the smartest when it comes to the algorithms that rank web pages and they are continually inventing new ground rules, especially in the AI space, Torossian explained.
“Everything has to be creative and original and can’t only be machine-generated,” Torossian said.
Torossian believes AI is going to completely change the PR and communications business, but what is unknown though is how and in what way, he admits.
“If I knew the answer, I’d have a much larger business in many different sectors besides PR,” Torossian said.
Torossian acknowledges that no matter what happens with AI, human creativity and interaction are key in PR and communications. “You still need relationship building.”
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