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The July edition of #measurePR focused on an area most PR pros don’t often think about: internal communications. And I was delighted that three extremely experienced practitioners – you might even call them legendary (or on their way) made the time to join us: Shel Holtz of Holtz Communication, Dr. Julie O’Neil of the TCU School of Journalism, and Dr. Barbara Gibson of Syracuse University London.

Here’s some of what we talked about:

On best practices for internal communications and the measurement thereof:

A2 Measure the right things, not just the easy-to-measure ones. #measurepr

Q2 Don’t confine measurement to outputs. Results have to align with business goals. Have relevant KPIs to measure against. #measurepr

A2: Measurement can occur at 3 levels: outputs, outtakes, and outcomes; just know the difference and value provided #measurepr

#measurePR community member, Sarah Parker chimed in:

Q2: Have a benchmark. To engage/motivate your internal community, you need to understand the ‘state of the union.’ #internalcomms #measurepr

As did Martin Waxman:

A2-This may be jumping ahead but I think it’s important for internal comms to take an employee-first approach #measurepr

We continued our conversation by taking a look at the importance of setting a baseline to measure internal communications:

A3 Measurement is assessing whether the needle moved. You need to know where it moved from, hence the need for a baseline. #measurepr

A3 Often see “raise awareness” goals in plans, w/ no idea of what it is now. Need something to measure improvement against. #measurepr

I then asked how our guests felt internal communications and PR should work together:

A5 Employees are key source of intel for a company, so #internal #comms should be feeding rest of comms team. #measurepr

A5 PR messaging is just 1 dimension of IC. There’s the HR, Org Dev, and other dimensions to consider. #measurepr

A5 Agree with @shelholtz PR also needs to work with HR to foster employee connectivity, empowerment, and engagement #measurepr

When it came to common mistakes made in measuring internal communications, the guests each had their own stance:

A6 Most common mistake is not so much in the measurement but in poorly developed objectives. Bad objectives, wrong measurement. #measurepr

A6: Not measuring outcomes; measuring outputs such as clicks, likes, etc. #measurepr

A6 My least favorite IC measurement tactic: reader response surveys (which only measure what your readers think). #measurepr

Janet Fouts also weighed in:

If you don’t enable the team with the right content they’ll make it up trying to help. Not always a good thing. #measurepr

All this talk about internal communications was enough to inspire one of our #measurePR community members to ask for some recommendations for getting a job in the field. Some great suggestions were offered up including:

Use keywords to set up social media alerts for relevant positions
Brush up on your math skills

A9 Based on what we’ve said about math & measurement phobia, a candidate who is good at it stands out. #measurepr

Volunteer your internal communications services to a local charity or nonprofit
Come up with a internal communications plan for potential employers

Q9: Propose your best guestimated #internal #comms #measurePR plan for them. Wow them with what you might do. Good luck! #measurepr

Read the junior PR pro’s guide to becoming a PR geek
Join IABC
Connect with people that work at the companies you want to work with via social media
Build your online reputation through LinkedIn networks and groups, meetups, and about.me
Check out the treasure trove of IC research and best practices on the IPR website
Experiment with blogging and writing outlets to start broadcasting your thoughts

And of course, if all else fails, you can always follow this advice (ha!):

A9 Drop names like @shelholtz and @shonali in the interview, and say you were just chatting with them about internal comms. #measurepr

Throughout the chat, many (mostly free) tools were mentioned. I figured it made sense to put together a list for easy reference:

As you can see, there was no shortage of insightful material, so in the blink of an eye our hour was up. If you missed the chat or want to re-live some of the action check out the #measurePR transcript for July 14.

August #measurePR Twitter chat announcement

Next month’s #measurePR chat will take place on Tuesday, August 11, 12-1pm ET. We’ll take a big picture look at the field of PR measurement with our guests Nichole Kelly of Social Media Explorer, Sally Falkow of The Proactive Report and Tinu Abayomi-Paul, who will share details about a new Google Analytics PR dashboard, and Michelle Drifka Hinson, Chair of Institute for Public Relations’s Measurement Commission.

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, August 11, 12-1 pm ET. See you all there!

Photo: Charles Forerunner via Unsplash, CC Zero

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