PowerPoint Presentation

Public Relations MeasurementBarcelona and Beyond1

Marty McDonald and Kimberly MilesSouth Carolina Governors Conference

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AgendaWhy Measure?Industry SnapshotBarcelona Principles Death to AVEsWhat it Means for TourismReal-World ExamplesTools of the TradeTips and TakeawaysAdditional Resources2

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Why Measure?3

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Why Measure?Evaluate program successesGauge trends, topics and issuesDevelop better strategies and plansTie to marketing, executive prioritiesProtect resources and grow budgets4Source: Weber Shandwick/Tim Marklein

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Sage AdviceWhat gets measured gets done. 5

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Sage AdviceNot everything that can be measured matters. And not everything that matters can be measured.6

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Industry Snapshot7

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Changing Landscape8

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Changing Landscape9

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The Good, The Bad and The Ugly10

Source: Weber Shandwick

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The Really Ugly: Lack of Understanding of PR11

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The Really Ugly: PR as a commodity12

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Turning Point 2010 13

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Watershed Moment2009 Institute for Public Relations (IPR) Measurement Commission condemns the name, concept and practice of ad value equivalenciesEarned media space does not equal paid media space (credibility)Media cost does not equal media value

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Now What? Barcelona and Beyond2010: Barcelona conference on Measurement200 esteemed specialists from five global organizationsBirth of The Barcelona Principles2011: Lisbon Legacy: A 2020 Measurement AgendaA coalition working together

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The Barcelona PrinciplesImportance of goal setting and measurementGoals should be quantitative (increasing revenue or customer satisfaction)Measurement should include traditional AND social media (and their effect on stakeholders

Measure outcomes vs. outputsMeasure the effect of your efforts; not just what you did (releases, clips, events, etc.)

Effect on business results can and should be measured where possible

Media measurement requires quantity AND quality (prominence, tone, sentiment)

AVEs are not the value of public relations

Social media can and should be measured

Transparency and replicability are paramount to sound measurementReveal and explain the method your are usingAdopt a program that can be repeated16

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To Sum it Up

Its not just about media and clip counting measure your program, including socialAlways evaluate quality and message, not just quantityReal world: Some clients and executives still want AVEs nothing better out there yet Transparency is key during this transitionShift focus to business outcomes awareness, understanding, attitudes, behaviors, engagement, sales, market shareBack to basics

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Back to Basics18

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Back to Basics Valid Metrics Framework (AMEC)19

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What does it mean for Tourism?20

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What Matters: As Duane Parrish Puts itHeads in BedsFeet on the FairwaysPeople in the Parks21

Economic Development and Jobs

Source: Weber Shandwick

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The Five Stages of Travel The Funnel22

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Overall Annual Reporting23

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The Real World: Challenges24

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Challenges25

Im sure at some point in time all of you have felt like this woman at work. Lets call her Sally. Sally does PR for a hotel and shes very well read on the Barcelona principles and where the industry is going, but her hotels not caught up and are still using AVEs, not measuring outcomes. Well Sally is already on the right track because shes taken the first step of recognizing what those challenges are for her in order to then take a step by step approach to solving them. She may not be able to completely do away with AVEs but she could add some more metrics to her program such as social media measurement. Now I would like to ask and open the floor to vent and share your PR measurement challenges. Lay them all out!

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Top Measurement Challenges Facing PR ProsFinding the BudgetIdentifying the Right ToolsDesigning programs so they are measureable 26Source: 2011 Bulldog Reporter/Thompson Reuters PR Measurement Practices Survey

Funny enough many of the challenges weve just heard align with the top challenges facing PR pros today which were going to take some time to tackle today. Finding budget: There are Free and Low Cost Tools out there which we will go into. IDing the right tools: There seems to be more and more tools coming out everyday and its important to recognize that not one size fits all. Focus on what tools are going to be the most effective to accomplish your goals. Designing Programs to be Measureable: So as youre looking at your PR plan you want to make sure that the programs your implementing can be measured and you have the right tools available to you.26

Best Practices:Taking Measurement Forward27

Before we delve into various tool, Id like to show you 3 specific examples which use some of the Barcelona principles and that try to go beyond the AVEs and outputs and that delve further into outcomes.

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Campaign Example:Sixty Miles in 60 DaysGoal: Increase awareness of shoulder season travel by highlighting the areas best-kept secrets.28

The first example that Im going to show you is a campaign example we just finished last fall with VisitMyrtleBeach. We were looking to find a creative theme to our marketing and PR messages for the fall with the goal of bringing greater awareness that the fall is a great time of year to visit the area. So launched an integrated campaign for the 60 days of September & October which played off the 60 miles of coastline that makes up the Grand Strand and highlighted 60 secrets that people wouldnt necessarily know about.

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Campaign ElementsMedia RelationsBlogger relationsBlogger FAM tripSocial Media ActivationPinterest pin-to-win contest60 Secrets blog postsSocial media giveaways via blog, TwitterPhoto contests via FacebookAdvertising SupportTVOnline29

And as were looking at how we were going to elevate awareness, these were the overall strategies and tactics we use. If anyone wants any specifics I would be happy to chat after the session or email you.

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MeasurementKPIs:ImpressionsTonalityBlogger engagementFans/followersClick-through traffic to websiteInsights:Topics that sparked conversationSecrets that people knew about most/leastSocial channels generated greatest loyalty30

So as we were implementing this campaign, we also identified the areas that we wanted to measure. We did still use AVEs but beyond that, this was some of the additional information we were able to gather to determine the effectiveness of the campaign. Looking at the KPIs those were traditional impressions, sentiment, blogger engagement was big for us (nearly 40 posts from the fam, hundreds of comments). Topics that sparked conversation (horseback riding on the beach was one the most popular Facebook posts. Secrets people knew about most (Brookgreen), least (vineyards), Facebook, Pinterest page became hub for the giveaway with over 300 entries to Pin To Win

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Tools31

Media Monitoring: My Media Info Social Media Monitoring: Manual using Excel, Hootsuite Final Report: Powerpoint

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Share of Discussion32

Look at article count, articles by top publication32

Causation33

Ohio still uses AVEs and impressions, but they take the data a step forward by also looking at share of discussion vs. competitors and a causation to whether the PR teams efforts caused that story to happen, then they determine an ROI. Tools used: Cision to monitor for data and Excel to compile the data and create analytics and graphs about competitors.

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Value-Based Scoring34

And heres another example of a measurement system weve put together for Sentsy. If youre not familiar with Scentsy they are an international fragrance company that offers a variety of home and personal care products such as their famous scented wickless candles. Scentsy was really focused on quality over quantity of the media coverage they receive so we developed a value based scoring method for them where we looked at each clip and evaluated based on story structure, whether it included key messaging or not and type of media outlet it was and gave it a point rating. The higher the number of course the better quality the story was. Prominence.

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Tools35

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What can you add to the dash?36

There are loads of measurement tools and the best way to determine which ones you should use is based on the objectives of your PR program. Look at these tools like you would driving a car. You need to place the right tools on your dashboard in order to get to your end destination so you dont run out of gas or get a ticket. So if your destination i.e. objective is to communicate messages about your brand, then you need to be tracking those messages in all relevant media. If your objective is build consumer engagement on social media, then you should choose a tool which monitors those channels.

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Bulldog Reporter Buying Guide37

Five ChaptersBefore you start shoppingNew developments in resourcesNeeds assessmentQuestions to ask yourselfHead-to-head comparisons

Id like to direct your attention to a really great resource for comparing and contrasting comprehensive media monitoring services. Bulldog reporter has a great

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Comprehensive Full-Service Monitoring38

Many PR Pros have differing opinions about which one is best, depends on what you want them to do, also factor in customer service. Refer to buyers guide (Most popular Burrelles, Cision, Vocus), MyMediaInfo not reflected because it was recently acquired by Thompson Reuters. Not recommend Dow Jones Insight for travel and tourism specific monitoring, monitor more business and corporate publications.

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Broadcast TV & Radio Monitoring39

There are no free broadcast monitoring services out there. Would only recommend a paid broadcast monitoring service if you know you will be garnering regular broadcast coverage or if your objective is broadcast placement. If you know of a particular placement coming, you can always order individual clips or get from the station you went on. A lot of these use only the standard metrics, not big on analyzing, would recommend a more full service vendor for that. All of these have user friendly platforms for search and exporting, would suggest you take a demo to determine which would work best for your needs.

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Social Media: Free/Low Cost40

Social mention (free), create social media alerts by keyword and track sentiment and reach by keyword. Nutshell Mail (free) is part of Constant Contact and delivers social media info in an easy to read email daily. Viralheat, Hootsuite and Tweetdeck are free and can upgrade to paid playforms to monitor and engage and measure social media. Sprout Social starts at $39 a month but is really user friendly, can have a 30 day free trial.

Trackup, MarketMeSuite not mentioned.

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Social Media: Paid Full-Service41

These are the social media services that really are full service tracking, monitoring, engagements and allow you to run contests. They can cost upwards of $2-3,000 per month. If your budget can allow, Sysomos is one we have used with clients and recommend. They do lot of great things with filtering and analyzing data, their reports are great and also give you insight on the best times to post content. That green logo is Adobe Social, Myrtle Beach is in the process of launching this platform, also has great reporting/analytic capabilities. Ubervue is a little less expensive starting at $500 per month for basic. Attentio, does a good job on share of voice analysis vs. competitors. Radian 6 is also very popular but weve found it to be a little less user friendly to navigate.

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Free = Google Alerts + Netvibes Dashboard42

Great as a dash

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Blogger Evaluation43

How can you vet blogger, some are free, some are not. Tools are getting better for blogger evaluation. Within some of the other more standard platforms like Cision the data is getting better.

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Last, But Not Least44

Important to look at what is driving inbound traffic into the website. Look at where the traffic is coming from, # of branded searches (if doing a particular campaign) and conversion rates. Measure every 6 months or after a campaign taking out traffic from SEO and advertising.

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Tips and Takeaways45

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Tips and Takeaways46

Get smart then get conversationalPractice (measurement training exercise)Demos and free trialsMake your results sing and dance tell the storySet benchmarks (progress over time, comparisons to competitors)Secret to better measurement: simple questions with evidence-based answersWho are you seeking to affect?What about them are you seeking to affect?How much must they be affected to be successful?By when does this need to occur?

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Its Easy.47

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ResourcesK.D. Paines PR Measurement Blog and Measure what MattersInternational Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC)Institute for Public Relations IPR Measurement CommissionPRSABulldog ReporterPR News Measurement Corner48

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Questions?49

Thank You!Marty McDonald@MarMcDonMarty.McDonald@Fahlgren.com 50Kimberly Miles@KimberlyMiles2Kimberly.Miles@Fahlgren.com