Read our other coverage of the new measurement standards: So What If We Have Standards?, Cocktail Party Measurement Standards Talking Points, and 7 Reasons Why You Should Implement the New Measurement Standards Now!
OK, so you know there have been new standards developed for public relations and social media measurement. What should you do with and about them? Below is your checklist. #1 will bring you up to speed on just what the standards are, the rest are how you can start using them.
1.
Read the standards at www.smmstandards.org and at IPR's Standards Center.
Extra credit: Read WOMMA’s Influencer Guidebook and AMEC’s PR Professional's Definitive Guide to Measurement.
Extra extra credit: Post your comments, critiques, and encouragement on these efforts.
2. Issuing an RFP for measurement? Make sure that your RFP includes a requirement to comply with the standards. Have your vendors use The Sources and Methods Transparency Table.
3. Evaluate your current programs. If you already have a measurement system in place, take a hard look at all your programs. Which ones adhere most closely, which ones have the farthest to go?
3a. Start with the ones that might need just a bit of tweaking to be in compliance. Maybe your definitions need to be consistent, or you could make use of The Sources and Methods Transparency Table. Make a list of your metrics and compare them to the best practice methodologies.
3b. Now look at your programs that are seriously off the standards track. Perhaps you are still using AVEs, or are measuring outputs rather than outcomes. How can you redesign these programs, or replace them with those that are standards-compliant? See 2. above.
4. Make your organization standards-compliant. Gather the communications staff and hold an educational workshop about the standards and explain why they need to change their metrics. Help them go through 3. above for their own programs.
5. Make your awards program standards-compliant. If you work for or with a professional association, encourage the awards committee to rework the awards criteria to include adherence to measurement standards as part of the “measurement of results” section. If there is a certification program, make sure that questions about the standards are on the exam.
6. Make your classes standards-compliant. If you’re an educator, rework the research syllabus to include a section on standards.
7. Let the world know that you are standards-compliant. Fly your standards standard high by indicating on your reports and organizational boilerplate that you adhere to the standards. Let us know, and we’ll list you on the honor roll at www.smmstandards.org.
(thanks for the image to Steve Harris and Openview Sales Lab)
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Katie Delahaye Paine is Chairman, KDPaine & Partners, (a Salience Insight company), and Chief Marketing Officer of News Group International.
KDP&P delivers custom research to measure brand image, public
relationships, and engagement. Katie Paine is a dynamic and experienced
speaker on public relations and social media measurement. Click here for the schedule of Katie’s upcoming speaking engagements. Katie and Beth Kanter are authors of the book “Measuring the Networked Nonprofit,” published last year by Wiley.
The Measurement Standard is a publication of News Group International.
“I cannot stress often enough that what science is all about is not proving things to be true but proving them to be false.” --Lawrence M. Krauss
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