How AI Is Changing Digital Marketing and Public Relations

A first draft can take minutes. An online conversation can be monitored at scale. A message can be tailored for different audiences. AI is making all of this possible, changing how communication professionals approach digital marketing and public relations.

But faster and easier does not necessarily mean better. As AI becomes part of the communication process, professionals are having to rethink how they create content, reach audiences, and monitor conversations. Dr. Janis Page, instructor of COMM 512: Digital Marketing and Public Relations in UIC’s Online Master of Arts in Communication, Digital Media and AI, shares how these changes are playing out across the field and what communication professionals need to know as AI becomes a bigger part of their work.

AI Content Creation Still Requires Human Review

One of the most visible uses of AI in digital marketing is content creation. AI can generate blog posts, advertising copy, social media captions, product descriptions, emails, and video scripts. For communication professionals managing multiple projects, this can provide a starting point and reduce the time spent getting a piece of content onto the page. But Dr. Page emphasizes that generating content is not the same as producing finished communication. “Human review is still important for accuracy, originality, and brand voice,” she says. Dr. Page compares AI to an administrative assistant. It can help with some of the work involved in creating content, but people still need to review what it produces and decide whether the content is accurate and consistent with the organization’s voice. That distinction matters in marketing and public relations, where communication represents an organization and can influence how audiences understand it.

How AI Is Changing Marketing Personalization

Personalization is another area where AI is changing digital marketing. Rather than creating a single message for everyone, marketers can use audience data to tailor copy and other communications to different groups. Dr. Page explains that AI can analyze customer behavior and help marketers explore how different audiences might respond to different messages, visuals, channels, or even tones.

The idea of tailoring communication to different audiences is not new. Before AI, marketers could use focus groups to test different images, titles, and other creative elements. AI provides another way to explore those variations and examine which approaches may be appropriate for a particular audience. For communication professionals, this can offer another way to use audience information to develop and refine marketing content.

How AI Is Changing How Audiences Find Information

Beyond content creation and personalization, Dr. Page also points to a change in how people find information. Instead of searching through several websites to find an answer, someone can ask an AI-powered search tool a question and get a response that brings together information from different sources.

This means marketers need to think about what questions their audiences are asking and whether their content clearly provides the information they are looking for. For example, imagine UIC publishes an article answering, “Will AI Replace Communication Professionals?” Traditionally, a prospective student might Google that question, see UIC’s article in the results, and click through to read it. With AI-powered search, that person might instead receive an AI-generated answer that draws on information from several websites. Research from the Pew Research Center found that users were less likely to click on traditional search results when an AI summary appeared, making it important for organizations to consider how their content can be surfaced and referenced within these answers.

That does not mean marketers suddenly need an entirely new approach to SEO. Keyword and audience research can still help identify the questions people are asking, while traditional SEO helps search engines discover and understand content. Google explains that its AI Search experiences are designed to connect users with relevant websites and sources. For communication professionals, that means creating content that clearly answers audience questions and provides useful, trustworthy information. The way audiences search may be changing, but marketers still need to understand what people are looking for and give them a good reason to engage with the content.

How AI Is Changing Public Relations and Media Monitoring

AI is also changing how public relations professionals monitor the digital environment. Dr. Page sees significant potential for AI in media monitoring and issues management because the technology can scan large amounts of information quickly, including news coverage, social media posts, opinion pieces, and online discussions, to identify mentions of an organization and detect conversations that may be emerging around it. Dr. Page describes this as scanning the digital environment and being aware of what is happening. Conversations may be positive or negative, and identifying them can help organizations understand what is being discussed before an issue develops further. “You don’t want a crisis, you want to manage an issue before it gets to the crisis stage,” Dr. Page says.

AI can also suggest possible responses to problematic conversations happening online. That does not mean an organization should automatically use the response AI generates. Instead, the technology can help identify what is happening and offer ideas for how to handle it, while communication professionals still need to determine the best course of action for the organization. In this way, AI can make monitoring and early issue identification more efficient while leaving the communication strategy and response to the people responsible for the organization’s public communication.

Why AI Literacy Matters for Communication Professionals

Using AI effectively requires more than knowing which tools can generate a caption or create an image. Dr. Page believes communication professionals also need an understanding of how organizations use AI, where it can be useful, and what concerns it raises. In COMM 512, Dr. Page builds that perspective into the course by asking students to look at real examples of AI in marketing and consider both what the technology makes possible and the questions it raises. One example is Coca-Cola’s “Masterpiece” ad, which students examine as a case of AI in brand marketing. “I really try to build their AI literacy,” she says. “How is it being used well? What are the criticisms of it?”

That kind of evaluation matters because communication professionals need to consider whether it makes sense for the brand, the audience, and what they are trying to accomplish. Understanding both what AI can do and where it has limitations can help professionals make better decisions about when and how to use it.

Interested in learning to use AI strategically? Explore UIC’s Online Master of Arts in Communication, Digital Media and AI to see how you can use AI while strengthening your skills in communication, digital media and public relations.

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