In one of our earlier posts, we covered various aspects of corporate PR. The work associated with Public Relations are umpteen – promotions, press conferences, events, outreach, media relations, link building, you name it. Now in this article, we will be looking at some of the top KPIs that a brand must consider and how to measure the same. Simply put, a KPI is a figure or value used by businesses to determine their growth and success in different activities.
As the business world gets more competitive, brands all around the world are adopting both offline and online business plans that will help generate more presence. The end of every PR campaign leads to the phase of assessment; what factors get measured and how is it done?
Potential reach
For coverage, a business would target those publications or platforms with good reach. When we say potential reach, it refers to the sum of viewership for websites and publications where you have been featured. For example, if you are featured on Hindustan Times (Delhi edition), then your potential reach would be 985k because that is the circulation count.
Sentiment
Not every mention and coverage is always positive. Therefore, when measuring the sentiment of the results, you should look at the tone and light of the presentation. For instance, a news article talking about an IT firm going bankrupt is definitely a negative coverage. Suppose the same IT firm makes a come back and the news coverage talks more about the earlier failure than its present success, it is still a negative coverage. It is very important to give attention to such details while tracking results.
Social media engagement
Social media, as we all know is here to stay. So, a lot of online business plans focus hugely on these platforms. The engagement for this activity can be measured in terms of likes, comments and shares that a post or a coverage receives.
Website traffic
In order to determine if a PR Campaign has done well or not, it is a good practise to check the traffic on the brand’s website, social media page or any other platform. Also known as earned traffic, this will show you the success rate of your promotion.
Media outreach
Public relations is mainly communications. Media outreach is the number of pitches and press releases you’re sending out and the rate at which they are getting picked up. Forming good bonds with journalists and influencers is a good way to go.
Share of voice
Public relations is mainly communications. Media outreach is the number of pitches and press releases you’re sending out and the rate at which they are getting picked up. Forming good bonds with journalists and influencers is a good way to go.
Share of voice
This is the percentage of coverage for your brand, executives and products in comparison to your competitors. Post identification of your competitors, this measurement can be done in terms of volume and reach. For instance, your competitor may have a higher volume of brand mentions but the platforms that mention your brand may have a higher reach.
Once a brand has identified its key KPIs, the campaign has to begin and in full swing. Post the execution of both offline and online business plans, you will need to give it some time before the campaign results can be measured. Also it is advisable to divide the KPIs into long term and short term since there are some activities that take longer to show results. All the KPIs that are being tracked can be recorded and displayed on a dashboard for better organization.
