Suddenly, Public Relations Outcomes Are Everywhere

The Paine of Measurement

Six recent signs of hope in public relations measurement.

I'll never forget driving through the hills just north of LA after yet another fire had devastated the area. The last time I'd seen them they were charred and blackened and lifeless. Less than six months later they were covered with pale green fuzz -- kind of like my hair after chemo; easily missed, but there nonetheless -- full of signs of life, rebirth, new growth. That's kind of the way I see our industry today after a series of bombshells dropped this week on the Kingdom of Accountability.

Bombshell #1: P&G Pays for Engagement

First Procter & Gamble announces that they no longer want to pay for eyeballs, "HITS" or CPM. They only want to pay for "engagement." And that means, P&G said, those people who provide email addresses, download something or subscribe to your newsletter. Sound familiar?

Yes, I've been suggesting that this is the way the world should go for awhile, but even I was surprised by the P&G announcement. I'm a big believer in the "you're never wrong you're just early" philosophy, and figured it would be years before anyone actually practiced what I was preaching. P&G's announcement was met with howls, praises, and a loud gnashing of teeth around the world as publishers tried to figure out what it really meant.

To me it means that the numbers get smaller, but the outcomes become more concrete. That ultimately ROI will be measured, and that advertisers will force publishers of all sizes to provide better analytics.

Years ago, Eric Petersen defined engagement for web traffic (see the Measurement Standard article, "Three Approaches to Measuring Customer Engagement"). According to him, an engaged reader is someone who:

• Comes back more than 5 times,
• Spends more than 5 minutes on the site,
• Goes directly to the site using the URL, not search,
• Downloads something,
• Provides an email address, and ultimately
• Buys something.

He determined these metrics by deconstructing the purchase process for his book, on his own website. That's relatively easily done on your own site, but at the time it was unrealistic to think that you could get that information from anyone else' site.

But imagine if you could. If there was a social media online crowd-sourced version of the eyeball bible SRDS where all bloggers could post their statistics and advertisers could then select where they wanted to place ads based on those statistics. My guess is that with P&G demanding those stats, it's probably only a year or so down the road.

Bombshell #2: Nielsen Surveys Facebookers

Facebook is providing Nielsen with real metrics – information on what Facebook users like and don't like about advertising, and details on how Web content and online advertising affect consumer behavior. My favorite part of the announcement is that they are doing it not with some weird computer-driven algorithm or pseudo-scientific analysis of what people are saying, but the old-fashioned way. They're going to ask them. Using a survey. What a concept!

For years I've listened to people ask for "a better tool" to determine whether they've increased awareness or preference or to measure trust or reputation. And I watch their faces fall when I say that the tool was invented well over a century ago: It's called a survey. And, while it's a lot easier to do it online than on paper or by phone, it's still the same process. So kudos to Facebook and Nielsen for taking a giant step backwards and forwards at the same time.

Bombshell #3: Organizations Are Not Yet Measuring Their Social Media

Well, maybe more of an opportunity than a real bombshell. Mzinga and Babson Executive Education teamed up to provide us with answers to some of our most burning questions – like how many people are really using social media. The answers surprised even me. Almost 9 out of 10 organizations -- 86% -- are using some form of social media and the majority of them are using it for marketing purposes. That's a lot of Facebook pages. But what is amazing is that nearly as many, 84%, admit that they have no way to measure their efforts.

I know, I know: Most marketers don't measure ROI at all. But the thing about social media is that you need metrics more because you have so many different options. Say you're starting an online video campaign and you don't define goals and measure them. Six months later, when the boss comes in and asks whether you should renew the budget, what will you say? It obviously means there's a lot of opportunity for folks like myself, who are in the social media measurement business. It also means that there are an awful lot of budgets out there that probably won't be renewed.

So what's left in the rubble after these bombshells have dropped? Some wonderful signs of a new measurement world.

Sign #1: Organizations Want to Measure Outcomes

We received an RFP recently that specifically stated that the organization – a government agency no less – was not looking for a firm to measure outputs or activity – but wanted to specifically measure the outcome of their efforts.

Sign#2: PRSA Recommends Outcome Metrics

PRSA released a set of recommended metrics and approaches for evaluating public relations' influence on key business outcomes:

"Our fundamental goal is to change how the industry talks about what public relations accomplishes," says Michael G. Cherenson, APR, PRSA 2009 Chair and CEO. "Instead of meaningless catch phrases, such as 'create buzz,' our recommended approach focuses on identifying meaningful expressions of business performance, suggesting more appropriate measurement metrics and recommending proven tools for demonstrating how those metrics were impacted."

I'm proud to say I was part of the working group that crafted those recommendations. It's not a "tool" but a philosophy (and accompanying Powerpoint presentation) that PR practitioners can and should take to the C-suite to explain exactly how PR can help the bottom line. It's also channel- and industry-neutral; designed to work whether you're measuring social or traditional media, and equally applicable whether you're working for a small local nonprofit or a Fortune 500 corporation. Read more about these metrics and their background in the article "Answering the Call for Public Relations Measurement Standards," also in this issue of The Measurement Standard newsletter.

Sign #3: The ROI Buzz is Up

Last time I checked there were dozens of ongoing conversations taking place on Twitter, Facebook, and blogs on the subject of measuring ROI. While half of them are just adding to the confusion, every day I find a few that are actually adding clarity to the conversation. Social media is being used to improve the ROI of social media. What a concept!

This just in: More signs of hope: From Advertising Age: "How PR Chiefs Have Shifted Toward Center of Marketing Departments," and from Business Day: "How Recession Stimulated Vibrancy in PR."

Happy Measuring,