1. Start with goals. Be as specific as possible. The final list of indicators to be used will depend on the goals. For example, if the goal is to save money, then the metrics will differ significantly from those pursued to strengthen the brand image.

2. Don't limit yourself to your own brand. To get a better picture of overall communication efforts, measure everything in comparison to competitors and in the dynamics of “been/became”.

3. Below you can notice the indicators that refer to the so-called Paid Media. This is not a mistake, today PR actively uses legal and transparent marketing tools. For example, promotional posts on Facebook.

4. The following are the most used and well-known metrics that help to immediately show the impact of PR on the brand. Even if your business is still small, measure first the key indicators that are most relevant. Over time - create your own or detail existing ones.

Each of the above indicators can be measured independently, as long as it does not take much time. As you scale up - connect professional services to help.

TOP indicators from LOOQME.

‍1. Mentions in the media.

‍Mentioning the company, its speakers, the product is the heart of PR. You can count the quantity, quality, coverage, role, tonality, and much more. However, you can start with quantity.This indicator can be compared with awareness - knowledge about the brand, and something with market share. Mention analysis demonstrates how well audiences, including the media, understand who you are, what your strengths and differences are. What competitors are talking about, what is the relationship to the market as a whole, what niches for communications remain free.

‍2. Quality of mentions.

‍Determined through a comparison of tonality, the role of references and sources. For example, the publication of an interview in Interfax is a better mention than 10 identical news stories in a secondary role in regional publications. That is, the principle is this - identify key media, look at the tonality and delivered messages, compare with the nearest competitors.Quality can be calculated both for a single news and for an array for a specific campaign or period. You can compare two campaigns or the quality of distribution in two or more targeted media. Since the indicator eliminates the effect of scale, it is possible to consider objects with a different volume of mentions, for example: “PrivatBank” and “Ukrbudinvestbank”. Obviously, their visibility in the media field is significantly different.

‍3. The tonality of the mentions.

‍If it is not possible to promptly track negative mentions (receive alerts), you should work with the negative afterwards. It affects search results, media availability to cover a position, partners, customers - reputation in general.With the number of positive and negative mentions, you can measure the Media Favourability Index (MFI). This is a relative indicator calculated by the formula:MFI = Number of positive mentions/Number of negative mentionsIf MFI < 1, then during the period of negative mentions there were more - it's time to work on improving the situation if you do not fulfill this goal.

‍4. The role of mention.

‍Demonstrates the relevance of the publication - whether the company is mentioned once among the list of sponsors, or in comparison with competitors in the market review, etc. Distinguish between the main and episodic roles of mentions. We also add a secondary one. Sometimes you can find a classification: focal/accent/episodic mention.The role shows the saturation of the publication text with a specific brand and key messages. Positive publications in the lead roles are the best foundation for a good reputation and a source of new traffic.

‍5. Share of voice.

‍SoV (%) = Total number of publications/Total publications about the companyCan be used not only to compare your activity with competitors and the market. In addition, to compare mentions in targeted and non-targeted media, national and regional, in main and episodic roles, etc. SoV is easily adjusted to communication priorities, so it is often used for KPIs.

‍6th. Resonance.

‍Resonance (Media Visibility Index, MV) — highlights the visibility of the brand/company in the media and the quality of filling the media field with mentions. Calculated for each publication and for the entire array of mentions. Can take into account the role, tonality, type of media, their rating and coverage. Unlike quality, when determining resonance, the volume of mentions of a brand or information drive is taken into account.Additionally, you need to track how you communicate key messages. Write key messages, add them to all materials for media and other communications. The list of these messages is called a message box. After the campaigns have been carried out, determine how many of them contain key messages, as well as how many reposts/comments/likes such posts receive. This will show which media have realized what exactly you are trying to convey. In addition, which content is better perceived by the audience of these media.

‍7. Web traffic.If a site is an audience engagement hub, then web analytics should be at the center of measuring PR effectiveness. Ask questions:

• How much new traffic does a media article, blog post, or Facebook bring?
• Do visitors go to other pages of the site?
• What is the bounce rate?
• How much time do visitors spend on the site?
• Do they leave applications, make purchases?

Users of the site for PR purposes can be divided into three groups, depending on the source of their receipt:

• through your own (owned) content on the pages of your site;
• through earned content from third-party sites where posts were published or you were mentioned in media articles;
• through social content from social networks.

Engaged and social content indicators allow you to understand which resources to focus on. When comparing user behavior, modify the content for the target audience.8. SEO.Ranking in search results critically affects the number and quality of leads received (applications), increasing user trust.Check your rating regularly. Select the top 10 queries your customers are looking for, contextual advertising is set up, and more. Measure their positions monthly and quarterly. For accuracy, use the “incognito” mode in the browser.To increase the ranking, add the main search queries to the key messages of your content.

‍9. Backlinks.

‍Links from other sites that direct traffic to your site. It is a good source of traffic, which also helps to strengthen reputation among target audiences and in search engines. However, not all links are equally useful. They differ in size and impact. Three types of backlinks by value level:

• A good backlink mentions your brand in a positive tone, but does not contain an active link to the site. Essentially - this is any mention of you on the net. It is important to monitor the correct spelling of the brand name and the ranking in the search results. Find out if contextual advertising is configured by brand name.
• A very good backlink mentions the brand and contains an active link. So it is possible to identify the source of traffic and get a lot of other useful information.
• The best backlink links to your site and mentions the positive aspects of the brand, especially the keywords you want to rank up on Google. Although the media does not like to post active links in positive articles, miracles happen and it can be worked on.

However, each of these mentions will have a positive impact on your brand. Track their quantity and quality to identify suitable resources and adjust the content plan.10. Email marketing.In mailings, it is important to monitor the number of transitions to content, content downloads, sharing in social networks/messengers/mail, lead generation. It is advisable to create mailings for internal communications with employees, partners, as well as for different categories of customers. We do not recommend using for journalists, experts and opinion leaders - these are important audiences with whom it is worth building personal relationships.11. Conversion.Conversion is the holy grail of marketing, an underrated indicator in PR. This is the ratio of the number of successfully completed target events to the total number of such events. The most understandable indicator in terms of the number of sales or leads received.Conversion, like SoV, can be calculated for different events - even for the distribution of press releases (total number of events) and the number of outputs in the target media (successfully completed event). However, it is better when you demonstrate how a specific material from a site or an external resource generated the number of new visitors and applications. Similarly, for example, by combining Facebook statistics with web analytics of the site, you can find out which promotional campaigns are successful or failed.Several dozens of such data can be analyzed to create effective content.Also, by conversion numbers, you can build an effective sales funnel or Customer Journey, attracting additional content at each of the stages.12. NPS and ENPs.Net Promoter Score is the most popular measure of customer loyalty on a scale of 1 to 10. Depending on the answer to the question “What is the probability that you will recommend our product/service to your friends, colleagues, partners?”, customers are divided into three groups:

• 1-6 — Detractors. That is, brand critics. This is a growth zone - a dissatisfied critic can be turned into a promoter.
• 7-8 are neutral. Neither negative nor positive. This is a risk zone - the customer does not understand the value of the product, can use/buy out of habit, is more sensitive to price changes, can go to a competitor.
• 9-10 — promoters. Brand lawyers who actively use the product generate recommendations and positive feedback. They are a source of insights.

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To calculate the indicator, use the formula: NPS =% promoters -% DetractorsThere is a lot of data on which value to consider the norm. For example, for service companies, the value for new customers after a completed order is found at the level of 75. But we are convinced that it is better to look at ourselves in dynamics. So you can determine at what stage it is better to interview customers, how often, to interview everyone or divide into groups. From this list it becomes clear that there is no universal number.Similarly to NPS, eNPS (employee NPS) can be measured, already relative to employees.

‍I'm 13. Commitment.

‍Engagement is a key indicator for social networks. Includes tracking of likes, comments, views, downloads, reposts without text or with a post, etc. These data reveal useful insights - which audience works best for a promo, more effective cats or dogs, photos or videos, Wednesday evening or Saturday morning. Don't forget to also monitor the spread of news from the media or your website through social networks. With social networks (including instant messengers or professional platforms like LinkedIn), it's easy to build communities around your brand. If you manage to form an active community, it is almost guaranteed to bring additional sales.

‍14. Ranking.

‍Not a separate indicator, but a general principle. You can independently create a rating concept through a system of points or coefficients.For example, for social networks, rate each like at 1 point, a comment at 5 points, and a repost at 10 points. Next, for individual social networks, create your coefficient. 1 - for Facebook, 2 - for LinkedIn, 3 - for Telegram.Also rate mentions in the media. Divide the media into three groups: profile - coefficient 2, rating - coefficient 3, others - 1. Positive mentions receive 2 points, negative ones receive 0 points or even negative values.In this way, it is possible to create a permanent system of evaluation of communication activity and quickly identify the most effective channels and campaigns. A similar ranking system underlies the determination of the quality and salience indicators of mentions (MV and MQ) in LOOQME.

‍I'm 15. Content analysis.

‍Also not a separate indicator, rather a trend analysis system and constant performance tracking. Analysis of topics and dynamics of the media field in general - not only by own mentions, but also by all competitors, regulatory bodies, experts, etc.If you regularly reduce the mentioned indicators into one report, you can get a convenient tool for tracking and improving work efficiency. The first time you measure baseline, the reference point. Then, month/quarterly/annually, you compare the data and analyze the differences. As a reference point, you can choose market averages - benchmarks, or target values, if they can be substantiated.In the analysis, additionally pay attention to:

• Topics that are most frequently raised in the media. Are there any mention leaders behind them?
• The media that most often writes about your market. Who is elected as Speakers? What is the average coverage of such materials? Who are professional journalists?
• Materials that most often receive more reprints and reposts.
• Themes that most often have a negative tone. How do they spread?
• Positive information reasons covered in the media.
• Examples of campaigns that look like custom. What are the scenarios that use, how do the objects of criticism react?
• Communication formats that are most effective.
• Experts in the market. Who are they?

The list of questions can be expanded and detailed depending on the task. If you are interested in getting an example of content analysis, write to us.

‍Useful links:‍

‍PR Measurement: 12 Important PR Metrics That You Need to Monitor‍

‍The Employee Net Promoter System‍

‍SEO Links: How to Build Them On-Page and Earn Them Off-Site

‍‍For the first time the material appeared on Advertising Laster