Many have focused on ramping up new styles for crisis plans and pivoting story lines, but this new media landscape is also forcing us to change how we look at PR measurement.
Lucky for us, math is pretty immune to “alternative facts.”
That said, just as old school clip books and ad-value equivalencies have been replaced by business-driven metrics, it’s time for PR pros to rethink PR measurement again. In a world where bots can aggressively inflate view and click analytics and your recent feature article has a shelf life of a second, how much stock can you put into impressions?
To continue to add value—and prove that value—consider these tips for measuring PR in the post-truth era:
1. Control and define what you can.
The great thing about content, social media and “owned” media (including organizational blogs and newsletters) is that you can track activity directly to leads and determine awareness levels.
Click-through and open rates on emails, engagement and subsequent action on social media posts and path completions and conversions on a website can be measured via Google Analytics, trackable URLs and most email marketing tools.
This data can help you measure your efforts and adjust your strategy better than any impressions number or clip count. If you have control over tracking, use it.
2. Broaden your view.
It’s important to expand your benchmark monitoring and analysis beyond your own brand and direct product/service line competitors.
Target audiences are still people. Remember, you’re competing for their attention. Track success by how well you create relevancy for your industry, products or services by thinking in terms of the end consumer.
Expand news and social media monitoring to include broader industry terms instead of just your organization’s name and competitors’ names. Look for patterns in national news coverage and how it proliferates through trade publications and local news media outlets to better insert your story in a way that adds value to readers.
3. Redefine your “wins.”
Everyone wants to be on the cover of The New York Times, but will that one placement solve all your PR and marketing problems? No.
It might help, but brand managers must rethink what a “PR win” looks like—and do so with data.
In terms of media relations, ask: “Which publications are effectively sharing content on social news streams and generating engagement?” or “What articles include backlinks that drive quality traffic and leads?”
Think broadly and define your successes relative to business impact, which includes sales, employee recruitment and retention and investor interest. An on-message, feature placement in a niche trade publication could have a stronger effect on your organization than a placement in a traditionally higher-tier news media outlet—but you’ll never know unless you check the performance data.
Kate Bachman is an account manager for InkHouse PR. A version of this article originally appeared on the agency’s blog .
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