How do we as PR and communications

professionals demonstrate our worth?

Introductions

Matt Appleby MCIPR

Chair, CIPR Cymru WalesManaging Director, Golley Slater, CardiffCIPR Chartered PR Practitioner

Golley Slater PREstablished in Cardiff 1957UK-wide – 11 offices, 300 peopleCardiff PR team of 12Clients from private & public sector

CIPR Cymru WalesProfessional membership body for PR350 members in WalesCPD, events, training & the voice of PR

Today

• What we can measure• The PRE process• Measurement methodologies• Setting up a system• Where the debate is – COI• Other things to measure• The Golley Slater system• Online & social networks• Questions/discussion

how can we monitor & measure

Pic: Nomaan on Flickr

Public Relations can be measured in terms of…

1. Contribution to management, leadership and organisational performance (commercial success, better decision-making, avoidance of mistakes)

2. The process of communication, relationship & reputation building – and as part of programme development and implementation

3. Its contribution to social and economic development

4. The contribution and competencies of individual practitioners

The PRE process: Planning : Research : Evaluation

2. OBJECTIVESWhere do we need to be?

5. RESULTS & EVALUATION

How did we do?

1. AUDITWhere are we

now?

3. STRATEGY & PLAN

How do we get there?

4. ONGOING MONITORINGAre we getting

there?

PRE

Setting up a system – 6 steps

1. Define objectives – are they SMART?• Specific : Measureable : Achievable : Relevant : Timed

2. Determine criteria – use IMPACT?• Influence/tone : Message Communicated : Prominence : Audience reached : Consultant/spokesperson quoted : Type of article

3. Choose a benchmark (media audit, stakeholder audit, year’s coverage)

4. Select a measurement tool – or set one up

5. Compare results with objectives

6. Modify campaign

© Jim R Macnamara 1992 & 2001

IMPACT - Media Content Analysis

• Number of articles per target media• OTS received per message• OTS per media activity• Number of times key messages are

featured• Tone of coverage –

– scale of +5 positive, 0 neutral -5 negative

• Section in which articles appeared • Number of articles per media titles• Position of articles• Visual impact of articles

Content weighting

• Percentage weighting on top of readership for:– Tone of coverage – Section in which articles appeared – Number of articles per media titles– Position of articles– Visual impact of articles

where is the debate

Pic: Nomaan on Flickr

Qualitative measurement

We haven’t mentioned AVE yet…

• Volume measurements are crude and of no use in the planning process (never mind the quality, feel the weight!)

• AVE increasingly discredited as misleading – why measure the value of PR against advertising?

• No way to measure and evaluate broadcast or online coverage• Evaluation should be a tool that helps with planning campaigns in

‘real time’ and demonstrating that messages are reaching the relevant audiences through the right channels

“While AVE should not be used to measure PR, it is often requested and can sometimes provide a simple, though flawed, comparative metric across campaigns”.

COI Standardisation of PR Evaluation Metrics

how does this work in

practice

Pic: Nomaan on Flickr

Golley Slater planning & measurement

Agreeprogramme

Agree outputs Document outputsAgree

measurementCollect results

Apply measurement

Apply measurement

Apply measurement

Contact reports/campaign specific

programmesEstablish benchmark

Report

Setting outputs/measurement

Setting theprogramme

ActivityMeasurement and

reporting

Review benchmarkingManagement reports/

evaluations

what else should we

measure

Pic: Nomaan on Flickr

Demonstrating professional success

• Within (and on behalf of) the organisation:– Performance of the team –

appraisals, awards– Professionalism of the team –

qualifications, CPD, credentials– Time input– Recognition of counsel and advice

role – Case studies of success– Internal PR for PR

Other methods of measuring success

• Depending on the objective and activity:– Journalist audits– Stakeholder audit– Feedback from events– Publications – feedback and reader

surveys– Focus groups– Target audience surveys

Measuring outcomes

• Often requires investment in research• Difficult to tie outcomes back to PR

activities• Can look at changes to behaviour

– enquiries up, complaints down, web traffic changes

monitor & measure online

Pic: Nomaan on Flickr

Free tools for monitoring• We should be monitoring online

‘chatter’ as part of our day-to-day PR lives

• We should be listening for ourselves, but also ‘buzz monitoring’ – comparing the amount and quality of conversation and engagement about us vs our competitors

• Free tools can also be used to evaluate the success of online activity against your set objectives

• Check out the PR Measurement Blog for discussions around social media monitoring or here http://bit.ly/LoSzE for 100 ways to measure social media.

Pic: imagesource.com (free content)

General alerts and trends

• Google alerts www.google.com/alerts– set up regular checks for clients and also competitor brands – send through competitor information to your clients

• Google insights www.google.com/insights– Free industry insights and keyword data

• Google Trends www.google.com/trends – Shows the most popular searches

• Compete www.compete.com – Shows web traffic and compares up to three sites

• Social media stats and analytics– www.forrester.com– www.comscore.com

Blogs

• Blogs– www.technorati.com is the main search engine for blogs as it also

ranks them by authority. Google also offers the facility to search blog and the buzz monitoring tools below will pick them up too.

– www.co.mments.com just tracks comments – use www.boardtracker.com to keep an eye on forums– Find an influential blogger (start with the main media’s blog in the

sector) and see who they subscribe to and link to – it will give you a picture of the network

– Tag clouds are good quick way to get a picture of a blogger’s main interests

– Use an RSS reader to monitor new blog content

Facebook

• Facebook– Check regularly for Fan pages

and work out how/whether to engage

– Also search for potential Anti Group

– Use Facebook insights on fan pages you run for data on what content is most engaging and to check if you’re attracting the right audience

– Facebook ad planner shows you demographic data against location and interests for planning campaigns

Monitoring social media and online buzz

• www.howsociable.com – free weekly analysis of leading social media sites

• www.socialmention.com– realtime social media search, alerts and analytics

• www.blogpulse.com– track trends and conversations, search blog profiles

• www.netvibes.com– set up personalised dashboard to track social media, brands or news

• www.perspctv.com– compare up to five search terms for blog, news and social media

mentions• www.surchur.com

– real time social media search• www.tinker.com

– Monitor conversations on twitter and facebook

any questions

Pic: Nomaan on Flickr