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Measuring the impact of your PR campaigns is the most important way to figure out what’s working, strategize, and prove the benefits of public relations. Here are four things every effective media measurement strategy absolutely must have.
Financial understanding
To demonstrate the value of your position and your department to the C-suite, you must think like a CEO and focus on the contributions you make to the organization and how you’re leveraging your existing resources. This also means you need to understand the basics of how your organization makes and spends money. Acquiring this information isn’t always a simple undertaking if your company is privately owned, but the information is crucial for setting realistic, productive benchmarks and measurable objectives. Start here if you need a primer on the ins and outs of corporate finance and how they connect to PR.
A framework
Your measurement program must have a clear, cohesive framework for measuring media coverage. To have a framework, you must know your metrics, the data you will need, and how you will collect if. Two excellent frameworks specific to social media measurement are part of AMEC’s Social Media Measurement Framework User Guide, and can also start as a good guide for measuring other media components as well.
For other media, you can integrate other tools like the Balanced Scorecard, the Barcelona Principles, and the Sources and Methods Transparency Table. Remember, these are only tools; you’ll still have to sit down and work out the nuts and bolts of your organization-specific measurement program.
A full range of metrics
When laying out your framework, you must make room for metrics that account for both quantitative and qualitative metrics. Quantitative metrics account for things that have a numerical measure, like impressions, circulation, and pageviews. Qualitative metrics include tone and key message delivery. It often feels easier to measure quantitative metrics only, since it’s easier to automate measuring software. But qualitative metrics give you a more multi-dimensional look into the progress of your efforts.
A better understanding of ROI
The way the industry talks about “ROI” is sometimes disconnected from what ROI actually is. Remember, ROI – or return on investment – is a financial figure. Hence, if you’re trying to calculate it, it should be a dollar measure. True ROI can only be calculated if you have a stated goal and you’re truly calculating all the costs that go into your efforts, and that calculation will depend on so many variables, some of which are intangible, that your result might be cloudy at best. ROI can be valuable in certain circumstances, but don’t get so carried away with all the buzz that you pin your entire measurement process on “ROI” that isn’t clearly defined or manageable.
Breaking it down into more specific metrics can help you get a more precise look at how much your efforts pay off. Other metrics that will potentially have more value than ROI would be cost-per-impressions or cost-per-awareness (here’s how to calculate those).
Media measurement is not easy – especially if you’re trying to do it all yourself. That’s why we keep talking about it. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as calculating how many retweets you got or how many media mentions you have versus how many you’ve earned. But the good news is, it’s possible. Start small, focus on doing it right instead of doing it quickly, and keep learning, and you’ll find your insights gained by your measurement efforts will improve each year.