by Brian Lubocki, Agency Consultant, PR Newswire
Evolve or die. The strategies and tactics that you’ve been evolving over the years to improve your brand perceptions must be equally matched by the metrics and reporting that go along with them. This year we’re seeing better ways to measure and monitor the success of both individual pieces of content and overall campaigns.
Measuring the performance of a piece of content and correlating its traction with a brand’s overall perception are key elements in understanding success. The digital era has brought new metrics that provide a more complete view of content performance.
Digital metrics to look out for include:
- Engagement: As impressive as your “potential reach” might seem, what really matters is the conversations being triggered by your content. Social media comments, shares and posts also boost your content’s SEO, as click-throughs and page interaction drive Google results.
- Visits: Consider the number of visitors coming to your website as a result of your content. If not your website, then your social media page, point of purchase site, etc. Find your baseline metrics and compare them against the life of your campaigns and content distribution times. Did your UVM go up during your campaign, right after your last messaging?
- Conversion Rates: What is the percentage of people taking your desired action as a result of your content? A specific “call to action” guides your audience to click-through or download or join.
- Sentiment and Influence: You gain much stronger insights into your messaging when you monitor the tone of the coverage that a content piece has garnered. While automatic sentiment is better than nothing, getting in the habit of self-scoring your coverage is a worthwhile investment of time.
- Potential Reach: Just as important as Nielson ratings to a TV show’s success, the total number of people who could have been exposed to a piece of content (i.e., potential reach) still makes for a meaningful metric to your client or C-suite.
For the best thought leadership on seamlessly incorporating analytics in to your overall PR strategy please visit PR Newswire’s Knowledge Center, a free educational tool that empowers you to better connect with key industry influencers.
