ImpactWatch Blog

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is working on a set of recommended metrics and approaches for evaluating public relations’ influence on key business outcomes. An outline of the draft guidelines is below.

The guidelines cover the impact of public relations programs on financial, reputational/brand equity, employees/internal and public policy goals.

PRSA intends to release a final set of standardized methods this fall, after compiling feedback from industry. Comments can be made via PRSA’s blog – comPRehension.

Michael G. Cherenson, PRSA’s 2009 Chair and CEO said of the effort:  “Our fundamental goal is to change how the industry talks about what public relations accomplishes. Instead of meaningless catch phrases, such as ‘create buzz,’ our recommended approach focuses on identifying meaningful expressions of business performance, suggesting more appropriate measurement metrics and recommending proven tools for demonstrating how those metrics were impacted.”

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AMEC, the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication, has released a new study to mark the opening yesterday of the 1st European Summit on Measurement in Berlin.

The results reveal that PR clients are increasingly interested in using media evaluation techniques to gauge the effectiveness of their PR programs. 77% of AMEC members reported an upward trend in client requests for measured proof of PR campaign success.

Other key results include:

• Increasing client interest in measuring social media (92%)
• Clients becoming more price sensitive (92%);
• Increase in the involvement of  procurement specialists in the purchase of measurement and evaluation services (69%)

Other study highlights are:

• Increase in client demand for measurement of online communications from 29% in 2008 to 41% in 2009.
• Increase in client demand for broadcast media evaluation from 15% of assignments in 2008 to 25% in 2009.
• 77% of clients commission single country programmes or projects.
• 54% of AMEC members are pessimistic toward economic conditions, believing the market will worsen in the next 12 months.

Barry Leggetter, Executive Director of AMEC, said: “It’s ironic but it has probably taken a recession to be the turning point for achieving a breakthrough in the recognition of the value that proper measurement can bring to a PR programme.”

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• Social Media Measurement, Part One: What I Want, What I Really, Really Want – Media Bullseye

There are two types of horrendous monitoring, one worse than the other. The first is a “clips report” simply regurgitating a bunch of stories without providing any frame of reference to what it all means. Lame.

• Simple Ways to Measure Your Social Media Efforts – Social Media Exchange

Here are so­­me easy­ (and­ free) way­s to­­ help­ d­etermi­ne whether y­o­­u­r so­­ci­al med­i­a effo­­rts are si­zzli­ng–o­­r fi­zzli­ng.

• Measure Time In Social Media To Determine Engagement Results – PR Communications

Time is the critical factor in social media, the more time you spend on reading, commenting and building a relationship with a colleague the greater the chances that something will happen. You can measure the time it takes to interact with a community member and the results.

• 13 Essential Social-Media ‘Listening Tools’ – MarketingProfs

• Online Reputation Management: 16 Free Tools – SitePoint

• Digital Media and Traditional Media: Will it Blend? – Chief Marketer

Agencies must continue to innovate to develop more powerful measurement tools, whether that is a tag that can track a single consumer’s behavior across channels or a holistic solution that displays all marketing in one place, along with easy-to-understand graphics and actionable insights.

• Can you measure PR in hits? – Speed Communications

So, here’s the big idea. If the media were to share website analytics such as the number of unique hits each article gained and  how long those visitors had spent reading each page,  PR’s could provide their clients with an accurate number of views for each piece of online coverage.

• How Do you Really Calculate Social Media ROI? – Bella Web Design

Our conversation on The Bella Buzz podcast today is a very important one for business owners, marketing managers, or anyone who is interested in determining how to measure the Return on Investment (ROI) that can be achieved via social media strategies.

• The Web’s Dirty Little Secret: Flawed Measurement – The Media Biz

Nine million or 42 million????? That’s like saying the circulation of the New York Times might be 800,000 or 4 million? You’d think you might pay a different price for advertising, depending on which one it was!

• How To Measure The Effectiveness Of Your PR Program – Evan Carmichael

Here are eight things that smart public relations managers and consultants have learned about the use of external measurement to demonstrate the value of their programs in this environment.

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Photo courtesy of Peasap.

The International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) and the Institute for Public Relations are sponsoring a study of communications practitioners to benchmark Best Practices in the field of PR measurement and management.

It is part of a research project for The First European Summit on Measurement, to be held in Berlin June 10-12th, 2009. Results will be compared to a previous global study conducted 5-years ago. The results will be presented at the European Summit on Measurement and provided to all attendees.

Collaborators on the study include:

• Donald K. Wright,Ph.D. -Professor of Public Relations, Boston University, USA

• Richard Gaunt MCIPR–CEO Benchpoint Ltd, London, England

• Mike Daniels- CEO Report International and AMEC board member, London England

• Barry Leggetter – Executive director, AMEC, London, England

• Ansgar Zerfass, Dr- Professor of Communication Management, University of Leipzig, Germany

Barry Leggetter, Executive Director of AMEC, said: “During a recession the role of measurement in public relations practice has taken on a new sense of importance in order to demonstrate proof of performance. We therefore hope ICCO members will take a few minutes to complete the study.   We are working with other international trade bodies as well to give the study international scale and substance.”

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The 6-12 minute survey is available in French, German, English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Please click here to participate!

Thank you for your support!