To measure PR efforts correctly today, media monitoring tools are needed.
Special attention must be paid to brand mentions,brand impact, media reach, sentiment analysis, and crisis communications among others.
Brand mentions include how many times a brand and its associated hashtags and keywords have been mentioned online within a given period of time.
Brand impact is the effect of a PR campaign and it is an important metric to track.
Yet another important PR metric is the reach of specific publications. Public perception of a brand is a crucial PR metric.
It is also important for a PR team to stay ahead of potential crises so that negative perceptions can be avoided.
Measuring comments received during a crisis also helps to determine if coverage during a crisis is resonating with the audience.
It also gives the PR team valuable insights as to what may be included and what should be avoided in a crisis communications plan.
The New Rules of PR
Technology has transformed PR to an extent and companies are trying to make the most of the technology-enabled marketplace of today.
The new rules of PR have been stated below:
a) People are looking for authenticity.
b) People want to participate.
c) Sustainability should be an important part of a company’s PR strategy.
d) PR is about the target audience of a business being aware of its online presence.
e) Businesses have to drive people into the purchasing process by creating customized content.
f) The language used to craft content should be the language that the target audience understands.
g) Customers today expect instant and 24/7 communications.
h) New words like and terms like ‘social distancing’, ‘new normal’, and ‘flatten the curve’ have been introduced. PR professionals have to be careful while communicating with the audience.
PR and Keywords
Nowadays customers turn to search engines for their news.
To look for relevant information customers use keywords.
To make sure PR material like press releases, blogs, and other types get noticed a list should be made of all the words that are used to describe a company and its products and services.
For instance, for a company that manufactures apparel, useful keywords would be ‘fashion’, ‘fashion week’, ‘trends’, ‘model’ among others.
If the product of a business has been in the news recently, the name of the news source or media can also be used. Popular topics should also be examined. If any current news is related to a business, keywords related to the headline topic can also be used.
Twitter can also be very helpful in this regard. Looking up ‘trending topics’ on Twitter will produce frequently tweeted terms, terms that are being used by people.
Word combinations should also be used. A phrase often does better than single words. It is important to be creative but the words chosen should be relevant to a business.
Mike Paffmann is the CEO of Virgo PR. He has previously worked as a Vice President at Clarity PR, 5WPR, and Highwire PR.
Checkout the Virgo PR blog @ https://virgo-pr.com/blog/
Virgo PR is a full-service digital marketing and digital PR agency that caters to clients in all industries. Paffmann has over a decade of experience in the public relations industry and has provided diverse media relations programs for brands and corporations across enterprise, software, eCommerce, technology, and consumer apps of all sizes. He has worked with clients including IBM, Genies, Glint, Rebel Ventures, AppAnnie, Owl Labs, car2go, Vkanesee, and more.