Ho ho ho, Merry PR Measurement!

The holiday edition of #measurePR took place on December 8th, with three of my favorite ladies as guests: Sally Falkow of Meritus Media, Heidi Sullivan of Cision, and Christine Perkett of SeeDepth, Inc.

Here’s some of what we talked about.

On common PR measurement fails:

A2 Biggest PR #fail to #measurePR is focusing on eyeballs & impressions w/o setting objectives. How do you know what you’re measuring?#measurepr

A2: AVE qualifies for a start. It has never been a valid measurement for PR #measurepr

A2) big #PRFail not just #measurePR – is to not ask what client business goals are, not just comms goals. Must align strategy #measurepr

Catherine Carol Lott chimed in:

Q2: Stopping at metrics measuring outputs instead of outcomes. “200 people visited our site — great — …and…?” #measurepr

Austin Gaule offered this great tip:

@Elaine_Hughes I like to use the SMART acronym. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound. #measurepr

On tools they would recommend for PR Measurement:

A3: If you feel a little wary of Google Analytics start with our simple PR Dashboard. #measurepr

A3) You can extract data from Google & Excel if you have to – it’s about putting it into action. Must make the time. #noexcuses #measurepr

A3 If you’re measuring reputation or share of voice, tag manually (free!) or use software that tags sentiment &tracks competitors #measurepr

In addition the following tools and resources were mentioned:

• Cision
• Google Analytics
• Platform analytics (e.g. Facebok, Youtube, Twitter)
• SeeDepth
• PRStack
• The GA PR Dashboard developed by Sally and Tinu
• Sendible
• Simply Measured
• Excel
• AirPR Analyst
• Coverage Book
• The 2015 Complete guide to Public Relations tools via Prezly

Also, don’t forget my classic combo:

A3: My 3 fave #measurepr tools: Google Analytics, Excel & YOUR BRAIN#measurepr

Next, we tackled the one thing you can start doing right now to improve your PR measurement:

A4) ADD IT TO THE BUDGET Also, follow invaluable sources such as @prezly @PRNews @queenofmetrics @AmecOrg & of course @shonali #measurePR#measurepr

A4: Learn the basic measurement and analytics skills you need #measurepr

A4 “Though it’s been said, many times, many ways…”: Set objectives!! Know what you are measuring before you start… #measurepr

Before we knew it time was up. If you missed the chat, had to drop off early, or just want to relieve the magic, check out the #measurePR transcript for December 8.

January #measurePR Twitter Chat Announcement

Next month’s #measurePR chat will take place on Tuesday, January 12, 12-1pm ET. So far, I can tell you that Rebekah Iliff will definitely join as a guest. I’m also hoping to confirm a couple more guests soon, so keep an eye on our Facebook page for the latest info.

Please do save the date and join us for a #measurePR start to 2016!

Image: Christine Makhlouf via Unsplash, CC Zero