CLASS NOTES

Chapter 19
Measuring Success

Wilcox, D.L. & Reber, B.H. (2015).  Public relations writing and media techniques (8th ed.).  Boston, MA: Pearson (ISBN:978-0134010496)

The Skill of Measurement

• Return on Investment, ROI – It’s essential to be able to measure the ROI for a public relations investment
• Measuring  – PR practitioners use Metrics, analytics and numerous evaluations to measure
• “Remember Mae” – Measure, analyze and evaluate (Not listed in text)

Why Measurement is Important

• Final step of a PR campaign is measurement – You need to tell what was done, how well and what good it did
• Quantified, meaning able to count, not just general statements
• Measured in outcomes, not production and distribution of content
• Cost effectiveness, also know as return on investment, ROI, should be looked at for measuring success of a campaign.

“Measurement helps us prioritize and execute our programs;  it’s a road map to our activities.   It also helps build aliment with business objectives, gives ex. management a sense of confidence that we are using a quantifiable process in which to invest our money and time.”   – Bill Margarits, senior VP of worldwide communications, FedEx

Measurable Program Objectives

• Evaluation and measurement start with a set of program objectives that are realistic, credible and measurable
• Public relations staff and the client should mutually agree on the objectives and how they will be measured at the end of the programThings to think about related to Measurable Program Objectives
• PR objectives need to relate to the organization’s  objectives
• PR staff and client need to  agree on the criteria to evaluate success in reaching the objectives for a program, campaign.
• Plan at the start of campaign determine  how it will be evaluated.
• Remember objectives must be specific and measurable:  Use social media, website  dashboards or a survey?
• SMART:  A good objective is Specific, measurable, Achievable, realistic and time specific.
• Example:  Bad objective:  Increase awareness of product X.
  Lacks:  something specific and a time frame
  Better objective:  Increase awareness of Product X from 20 percent to 50 percent by the end of  2017.  Note:  Any measurement of awareness needs a scientific sampling of consumers before and after campaign.

Measuring Production and Distribution

• Compiling the number of news releases written and how many media received them only measures output and productivity.
• Instead of sending out large numbers of news releases or mailings, target specific media outlets or blogger of influence.

Measuring Message Exposure

• Most common measurement in public relations is compilation of media mentions, formerly called clippings.  Shows there was an audience exposed to the message.
• Can hire monitoring service to monitor print, broadcast, online mentions of employer, name, product and services.
• Message reach, one of the coverage and how many times a key message is mentioned can be determined with software.
• Impressions – total circulation of a publication or the audience of a broadcast outlet, don’t tell how many people read or hear story.
• Advertising equivalency,  idea of converting publicity in news columns to comparative advertising rates, is highly suspect as a real form of measurement
• Monitor web – see what bloggers, chat groups, social networks are saying about organization, product and services.
• Social networking provide statistics about gender, age, geographic locations and other demographics. (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WordPress and more)
• Requests for brochures and calls to 800 numbers give you an indication of people’s exposure to a message.
• Cost per person – Used to analyze the cost of reaching your audience
• Attendance at an event  – A form of measurement as it shows audience exposure to the message.  Survey at a meeting you can find out more, such as attitudes, opinions about the meeting.
• Agility and more will monitor entire online fo free, giving daily reports.

Free online Tools for Analyzing Social Media

• Buffer – Facebook, twitter, Goggle+ LinkedIn
• Followerwonk – Twitter
• ViralWoot, Pinterest
• Iconsquare, Instagram
• Collecto, Instagram
• quintly, Facebook and more
• Tailwind, Pinterest and Instagram
• Keyhole, stats on popularity and sucess of branded hastag
• Klout, analyzes soicial media platoforms, schorl of 0 to 100.  Organizations select celecbrits to endorce on their Klout Schores
• My Top Tweet, on any Twitter account, shows top 10 tweets
• HowSociable – entire brand name and will show a score on Facebook, twitter, YouTube and Linked.  Go to HowSociable

Hootsuite  – 90 days of free access for students, see free course from Hootsuite

Measuring Social Media – not all about number of friends, ranking and social media scores, look at percentage change in a campaign using social media.

• number of downloads, registrations, leads, online sales
• engagement with repeated visitor, time on site, retweets, comments
• improvement in google page rank
• desirable conversations, recommendations
• a share of desirable conversations or commendations, vs the competition
• post containing one or more key messages
• share of visibity of your thought leaders

Measuring Audience Awareness

• Surveys need to tell if audience really got the message and understood it.

Measuring Audience Attitudes

• Benchmark surveys done before and after a campaign can help show if audience attitudes and opinions changed.

Measuring Audience Actions

• Behavioral change, difficult to accomplish is relatively easy to measure.  Use sales figures, market share and voting results.

Evaluating Newsletter and Brochures

• Should be evaluated regularly, looking at content analysis, readership survey and article recall.   

Writing a Measurement Report

• After campaign, give a final evaluation report to client.  Should have a record of accomplishments, source of ideas for future programs.
• The measurement report refers back to:  Situation, Audience, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics, Timing and Cost