KDPaine's PR Measurement Blog

Calling Toronto Measurement Mavens! Hope to see you tonight

" » Third Tuesday Toronto Tweetup with Katie Paine" from Pro PR.

The Guru Speaks to Ad Age

This is a great discussion of metrics by Google's Avinash Kaushik:
Digital Marketing Guide: Analytics - Advertising Age - Digital.best part is his tag line: Data-driven decision making uncomplexified."

AdWeek picks up on what I've been telling audiences for the past year! Impressions don't count

This AdWeek piece on measuring advertising in today's media environment

essentially echoes what I've been saying for the past year. That in an age when you can measure direct response and engagement, impressions are no longer a valid measure of anything.
The interesting observation here is that most media and most advertisers don't want to change.  Which is why those marketers will be the 21st century equivalent of buggy whip manufacturers, shouting "just give me a faster horse" while their competitors drive away with the profits.

What's the point of social media?

Today's This I believe segment on NPR written by Matt Harding

he of the "Where in the World is Matt" videos maybe one of the best driveway moments of the year thus far.  Matt says that the one thing he's learned from all of his dancing around the world is that "People want to feel connected to each other. They want to be heard and seen, and they're curious to hear and see others from places far away."  He goes on to suggest that there's an inherent conflict today because our brains can deal with our tribe, but not the greater tribe that is our social networks.
I think he's right, but I'd take it a step further, which is that people inherently want to connect with people who share the same interests, whether those interests are dancing silly dances or debating the principles of social media measurement or the pros and cons of a broadway musical.
So many people say to me that they don't see the "point" of Twitter.  And I see their point. If you don't see the "point" i.e. value,  in a conversation or a connection with someone because of a shared interest, you won't  see the point of social networking. Is it any more worthwhile to start a conversation with your seat neighbor on the plane, or the guy next to you in the bar? Depends how you define "worthwhile" -- Obviously some of these conversations turn into business opportunities, The vast majority are just exchanges of opinions and a bit of ones personal story. Is that valuable? For me it is. I happen to think that its a necessary part of being human, but not everyone would agree. I'm sure there's a curmudgeon born every minute.
However, if you find value in those connections, in the ideas that are shared across enormous geographical distances and cultural differences, then you will see the point in all of this social "conversation."
The problem comes when marketers invade Facebook and Twitter and the like because they see it as "worthwhile" in that its a new way to scream ever louder at a new audience. Not only will they find it hard to find ROI in that but they'll drive many of the good conversations away.
But that's the point. The tribe will keep talking, only the location will change.

 

This is must read stuff about how and why people engage

How and Why Do People Engage? | The Relationship Economy.......

Classic example of measuring outputs not outcomes

To call PR Newswire's new Visibiliy Reports measurement is generous. While its always good idea in general to track who has opened your press releases, all this is really doing is doing what email marketers have done for years, count the  open rate and cllick thru rates. It's not telling you whether or not your messages carried thru to the reporter or editor, because that requires an analysis of subsequent stories written about it, nor does it tell you whether they got them right or wrong, nor is it telling whether anyone really acted on it because to do that, you'd need a good sales tracking system. But it is a step in the right direction.

Great post on measuring ROI of Events

10 Ways to Measure Your Event (ROI) with Social Media.

This is such a menace it can't wait for the next issue of The Measurement Standard

Normally, I hold out really egregious examples of bad PR measurement for my regular Measurement Menace column in The Measurement Standard but this propposal to create a mythical potential value for advertising is so bad I couldn't wait.

There are so many flaws in this argument. First of all it doesn't apply to the vast majority of communications efforts, since it only works on pages where the circulation figures are readily available. It will never tell you how much a mention on influential blos like  Shel Israel's blog is worth, or the value of a Tweet by  GeekMommy because they don't have published advertising rates.

Secondly, this system bases its entire calculation on numbers provided by Alexa which is the least reliable of the various panel-based systems. Alexa was initially shipped with many new Vista computers, but because it was immediately blocked by most spam filters, most people stopped using it.

Finally, what's the point? Why would I bother doing arcane math to compare my efforts with an outdated model, when I can use a unique URL to directly measure the sales impact of my efforts.

Measuring Transparency

This analysis of the much heralded and even more eagerly awaited transparency in the Obama White House is a good lesson for corporations seeking to follow his lead. It isn't enough to be more transparent than you were in the past.Ultimately, the judgement as to whether you really are transparent rests with the stakeholder.

I was going to write about SXSW, but Brian Solis has already said it better than I ever could

If you look at any of the SXSW pix especially the ones by Richard Binnhammer (better known as Richard @ Dell) you'll see the Queen of Measurement having a very good time schmoozing with all kinds of interesting folks. My thanks to Beth Kanter who put together the first ever Non Profit ROI Poetry Slam, which required my presence, so I didn't have to wonder anymore what all the fuss was about. And now that I'm no longer a SXSW virgin, I had planned on writing up all my observations but then Brian Solis said it so much better.