Without standardization of measurement practices in the PR industry, Public Relations professionals won’t know how to quantify a campaign’s impact. As competition increases and budgets face greater scrutiny, the ability to accurately assess a campaign’s effects and communicate PR’s value in achieving the organization’s goals is paramount.
The topic of measurement is an ongoing debate within the industry and academia, and is a key theme within GW’s Strategic Public Relations master’s program curriculum. While the guidelines outlined by recognized authorities provides a general structure for identifying WHAT to measure, the industry has yet to establish a clear standard for HOW we interpret and quantify these measurements to determine effect and ROI. One theme has become clear, however: measurement is getting more refined, and audience engagement and response carries the most weight.
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Without proper standards, PR professionals can’t measure the effectiveness of a campaign accurately. Not only that, the lack of standards mean PR pros can share and collaborate on the campaign outcomes, which mean that they can’t gain more insights and learn from their mistakes.
But PR effectiveness measurements have gotten better. There are some principles to follow and metrics to analyze – both can offer a decent common ground for PR professionals and marketers:
1. The Barcelona Declaration of Measurement Principles, which can be translated into these tips:
- Emphasis on goal setting and measurement
- Focus more on the effect on outcomes than the outputs of a campaign
- The impact of your PR campaign on your bottom line should be measured
- For a proper measurement, you need quality and quantity
- PR value is not equal to advertising value – it’s a different thing
- Social media impact should be able to be quantified
- The PR campaign measurement should be transparent and replicable
2. The PRSA Standard Metrics can tell you the 5 most important items to measure for each of your PR campaign:
- Engagement: How many people take action on an item (likes, comments, shares, views, etc.)
- Impressions: How many people have viewed an item
- Items: How many of your original content appears as digital media
- Mentions: How many of your content refers a brand, organization, product, etc.
- Reach: How many people may have been able to view an item
The principles and metrics should be used hand in hand to make sense of your PR campaign. They are not perfect, but they are a good start, indeed.
