In August, the #measurePR Twitter chat took a big picture look at the field of PR measurement. We were excited to welcome four amazing guests: Nichole Kelly of Social Media Explorer, Sally Falkow of The Proactive Report, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, and Michelle Drifka Hinson, Chair of the Institute for Public Relations’s Measurement Commission.

Here’s some of what we talked about:

On PR measurement best practices:

A2: Don’t ignore the systems you use…look for opportunities to connect data sources and integrate into CRM #measurepr

A2: Best practices- know what you’re measuring and why. Before you measure, take a baseline so you can see growth. #measurepr

A2 Must be able to measure outputs and outcomes and tie back to business objectives. #measurepr

A2: and now that brands are their own media they need to track & measure like media does #measurepr

#measurePR community member Shannon Mouton Gray also offered up some solid advice:

A2: Best practice – your data/analytics need context, nothing happens in a vacuum…especially w/ communications. #measurepr

As did Gerard F. Corbett:

A2. You should no longer do it unless you can measure it. #measurepr

I then decided to ask for examples of common PR fails:

A3: Another mistake is not using data to tell a story and instead expecting others to see what you see #measurepr

A3: I still have people complain to me that their “hits are down”. Makes me want to eat glass. Hits have been irrelevant forever. #measurepr

A3: Judging PR awards I saw several entries that measured only increase in followers/likes #measurepr

A3 Not agreeing on definitions. 1/2 the time we’re not even speaking the same language. #measurepr

Jill Van Nostran also chimed in:

A3: Most common #measurepr fail ever? Literally sitting in an office with a ruler measuring column inches. #whatajoke #measurepr

Whaaaa???!!!

I couldn’t resist the opportunity to ask Michelle about IPR’s progress on the measurement standards:

A4: We’re currently involved in the updating of the Barcelona Principles with @AMECorg and others. #measurepr #i4pr#measurepr

Since Tinu and Sally recently developed a new Google Analytics dashboard for PR, I asked them for the details:

A6 @sallyfalkow & I realized Google Analytics is confusing for people who may be experts at #pr but novices at #Google. #measurepr

A6: The webinar with full walk through of the dashboard is next week http://t.co/9YasNTu0Cg #measurepr

I’d definitely log on to the webinar, if I were you. If Sally and Tinu are working on it, you know it’s bound to be good!

During the chat, newcomer @classickatie asked for some measurement tools for those on a small budget. Since we can all stand to save a few bucks when measuring, I’ve included a list below:

• Google Analytics
• Survey Monkey
• trks.it
• SME Social Media Reporting Toolkit
• CyberAlert
• Talkwalker
• TweetReach
• Sendible
• Topsy
• Little Bird
• Michelle also suggested this great list of tools from Marcia DiStaso

Nicole offered some words of wisdom regarding tools:

A7: Recognize that tools don’t solve the problem, they just facilitate answers to the questions. :-) #measurepr

And then Michelle said something that I will most likely frame and hang in my office:

A7 Don’t be a tool, learn how to use it. #measurepr

As you can see, there was never a dull moment, so before we knew it our time was up. If you missed the chat or just want to relive the action check out the #measurePR transcript for August 11.

September #measurePR Twitter chat announcement

Next month’s #measurePR chat will take place on Tuesday, September 8, 12-1pm ET. In honor of Measurement Month we’re pulling out all the stops with not one, not two, but ELEVEN amazing guests!

Get ready to talk to:

• Pierre-Loic Assayag of Traackr (disclosure: Traackr is my client)
• Stephen Waddington of Ketchum
• Aseem Sood of  Impact Research & Measurement Pvt Ltd
• Amith Prabhu of SCoRe – Indian School of COmmunications & REputation & the The PRomise Foundation for PR
• Jordi Ballera of Edelman Madrid
• Johna Burke of BurrellesLuce
• Richard Bagnall of PRIME Research
• Katie Paine of Paine Publishing
• Margot Savell of Hill+Knowlton Strategies
• Martin Waxman of Martin Waxman Communications, and
• Donna Vincent Roa of Securing Water for Food TA Facility.

You won’t want to miss this chat, so please save the date (RSVP to the event, it will help!); once again, it’s Tuesday, September 8, 12-1 pm ET. See you all there!

Photo: Nicola Perantoni via Unsplash, CC Zero