The PR Professionals

Definitive Guide to Measurement

1
Table of contents

About this Guide 3

Chapter 1 - Measurements rapid rise to acceptance. But are you on board? 4

Chapter 2 - Proving The Value of PR: Why Measurement Is Important 6

Chapter 3 - Getting started! Your measurement options and how we created a

9
global system in our consultancy

Chapter 4 - A Step-By-Step Approach to PR Measurement 12

Chapter 5 - Measuring PR performance across borders how a global

18
programme works
Chapter 6 - Whats the big deal about the Barcelona Principles and where do
24
we go from here?

Chapter 7 - You can measure social media 28

Chapter 8 - Insights Critical for Effective PR but Must Go Beyond the Bleeding
32
Obvious

Chapter 9 - The client view of what measurement looks like 35

Chapter 10 - Measurement: Encouraging realistic client expectations 38

Chapter 11 - Getting it right: a ten point evaluation checklist 42

Chapter 12 - What we mean! Definitions and terms 44

Top Measurement Tips 55

Like To Know More? 61

2
About This Guide
Our aim is to encourage more PR
professionals, working in consultancy and in-
house, to regard PR measurement as an
everyday part of what they do.

AMEC is the fast-growing global trade body and

professional institute for agencies and
practitioners who provide media evaluation and
communication research.
amecorg.com

PRCA is the professional body that represents UK PR

consultancies, in-house communications teams, PR
freelancers and individuals. The PRCA promotes all
aspects of public relations.
prca.org.uk

ICCO is the voice of public relations consultancies around the

world. The ICCO membership comprises national trade
associations in 28 countries across the globe.
iccopr.com

3
 Chapter 1
Measurement Fast Forward
- Help us in a final push!
Francis Ingham & Jeremy Thompson

ICCO and PRCA are delighted to again join together with AMEC in producing a refresh of
the PR Practitioners Guide to Measurement. This is designed to be a practical guide to help
you demonstrate real return on the investment your clients make in your work.

Our message to the industry is clear and simple.

Were making progress. Weve left the debate behind about whether measurement is
important. There can be no doubt that it is key to our future health. Now we want to turn
talking into action.

We want to get PR professionals to realise one unanswerable fact that - they have to build
measurement at the start of their PR program as part of the planning process. Don't wait
until your PR campaign is over to think about measurement. By then the train will have left
the station, your opportunity will have been lost.

Please get behind ICCO, PRCA and AMEC as we work together to persuade more PROs,
agencies, big brands and the C-Suite of the importance of measurement.

Welcome to this new version of the PR Professionals Guide to Measurement. AMEC, PRCA
and ICCO continue to be great collaborators who have recently worked together to update
the original Barcelona Principles of Measurement to deliver Barcelona Principles 2.0, fit for
an integrated digital age.

Our aim together is to continue to educate practitioners that measurement is not an option
but part of a strategic discipline for the public relations industry.

4
Francis Ingham & Jeremy Thompson's Top 3 Measurement Tips

Measurement is the best way to demonstrate the value of your work - use it;

Be clear about your goals, measure objectively;

Don't obsess about a number, focus on demonstrating the link between activities and
outcomes.

Francis Ingham

PRCA Director General and ICCO Chief

Executive
@PRCAIngham

Jeremy Thompson

Chief Executive, Gorkana Group

5
 Chapter 2
Proving The Value of PR: Why Measurement
Is Important
David Gallagher

I must admit, explaining, why measurement is important in PR can feel a little weird these
days. Id put it in the same bracket as explaining why healthy eating, recycling or wifi are
important.

Most people accept these things are necessary and many of us celebrate them as virtues.
So when people disagree, or need their arms twisting, it can give the impression theyre from
a slightly different era.

I guess you could say PR measurement is now pretty mainstream.

The debate about its relative value is over. Adoption is widespread and growing.

Its now hard to imagine a return to the days of zero measurement or clipbooks, especially
given the huge amounts of accessible data we now have at our fingertips. To go backwards
would feel like a terrible retrograde step, wouldnt it? Perhaps not quite in the same league
as abandoning healthy eating, recycling or wi-fi, but retrograde nevertheless. I mean really,
no wifi?

In 2015 potential employers and clients often make their agency selections based on how
evaluation will be tackled.

Procurement teams look for evidence-based returns-on-investment. PRs have earned a seat
at the top table because we can quantify and qualify the real value of our work - and our
advice, service and content is evidence-based.

The work we do is informed by audience research and measurement.

The real-time content we produce is often iterative and incrementally developed by where
the data leads us. Team assessments are often based on campaign performance. Many of
us are learning to improve how we work by reflecting on what evaluation reports tell us.

However, not everything in the world of PR measurement is rosy.

6
Adoption may be widespread but some people still cling to old measures that dont take
fundamentals such as quality or impact into account. Just as 20 years ago we were
comfortable with clip books stuffed full with glued-in coverage so today were getting a little
too comfortable with tables of hits and impressions.

For me, these only highlight scale, not the power of PR to change peoples awareness,
perceptions and behaviours or change lives for that matter. A colleague uses the line lets
not use data in the same way a drunk uses a lamppost for support instead of illumination
and hes right - we mustnt ignore measurements primary quality.

As individuals and teams we now find ourselves in a competitive environment that requires a
prove everything mind-set. Creative ideas and strategic insight must be rooted in data.

The impact of our work must be measured not in outputs, but actual outcomes and business
results. And the value of our service must be expressible in the precise terminology of
business, not the vagaries of PR.

The phoney war between those who set data against creativity is finished. Instead, the two
can be seen as a team, working together to push communication forward.

The real value of PR measurement is in how it can evidence your performance, offer better,
richer human insights and bring about continuous improvement not only to your business,
but also to your communications.

If you arent measuring your effect on the bottom line you may not be adequately proving
your whole worth, optimising your campaigns or improving your skill sets.

By missing these opportunities you risk presenting yourself as a professional from a bygone
era. A person with an analogue and cavalier mindset in a digital, evidence-based and
financially responsible age.

The kind of person who doesnt bother with wifi.

And seriously, what kind of person doesnt bother with wifi?

David Gallagher's Top 3 Measurement Tips

The age of measuring outcomes in PR is well and truly upon us.

Avoid measurement at your own peril and with significant opportunity costs.

A commitment to measurement is as much an industry issue as a differentiator for

individual competitors.

7
David Gallagher
Senior Partner and CEO of Ketchum Europe
@TBoneGallagher

8
Chapter 3
Getting started! Your measurement options
and how we created a global system in our
consultancy.
Andy West

Measurement was the real bugbear of the

public relations sector for a long time. While
other disciplines were able to attach
concrete ROI figures on the work they were
producing for clients, PR was playing
around with AVE and other supposed
signals of how good your media relations
were. The method was flawed from the start:
it was comparing apples and pears. There
were many in the industry who voiced a
concern over the old way, but there was still
no new methodology that we could all apply.

During the mid-2000s, something began to change. The media landscape looked different
and there was a growing importance of social in PR campaigns. At first, people began to say
that social was hard or impossible to measure, but this soon proved to be incorrect. In fact,
the prominence of social helped re-evaluate all forms of PR measurement. Enter AMEC and
the Barcelona Principles. The industry needed a universal methodology that turned its back
on AVE, and this was it. This was the tipping point in the quest to find an authentic and
credible measurement framework for the industry.

The need for measurement in PR has been there for a long time. Yet as the world has
suffered in economic turmoil, more prominence has been paid to budgeting in corporations
large and small across the world. The value of everything has been under scrutiny and so
now, more than ever the important of attributing a proper value on PR is essential. PR is not
about column inches, it like anything else is about making money.

9
When AMEC released the Valid Metrics Framework, Hotwire started looking at how this
would align to our existing methodology and thinking something that we have always
valued even before this framework came along. While the changes were not hugely drastic,
the tweaks we implemented helped align our approach to measurement with this new
industry standard. The framework brings credibility and it presents the opportunity to harness
thinking across the industry into a force for change across the agency.

AMECs Framework acts as a brilliant springboard for adoption within different agencies and
is created with adaptation in mind. The primary focus of the Framework to put business
outcome at the forefront and focus of any PR work is something that can be integrated into
any type of PR work, and is something that we adapted quickly. At every stage of the
process, from taking the brief through to management, measurement should be involved.

But how to bring this alive through our business? Being a global agency, we carefully
considered how we would roll out measurement across the international offices for all of our
consultants.

After many in-depth conversations on the

topic between different team members, a
white paper was drawn up based on the
AMEC Framework. This white paper was
released internally, with training and then
catch-up sessions used to help inform staff
of the changes. The framework was
introduced across all levels of the agency
from new joiners through to senior
management because it needs to be
something your team lives and breathes.

International training was rolled out with video and audio conference around our 11 global
offices, and then subsequently with the affiliate network. At the same time, we had been
road-testing the Framework in some client work. With the account leads selling in
measurement to the client, and then leading teams with the new way of thinking in mind,
uptake was quick. It was through the early examples of implementing the measurement
approach that made international adoption easier.

Following the internal launch, Hotwire released its adaptation of the white paper publicly.
With an event and digital white paper, we brought in speakers to reinforce the importance of
measurement within the PR industry and also to offer examples from our own experience.
Now, AMECs Framework is part of all the work that we do.

PR has been looking for a solid approach to measurement for a long time and there is no
doubt that this goes a long way to meeting that requirement.

As an industry we have to adapt our approach speak to the language of the CMO and not
just the PR Manager. Having measurable business outcomes lying at the heart of
communication strategy is an important first step in embedding the philosophy of true
measurement into PR.

10
Continued education at all levels will be required to steer clients away from legacy attitudes
in areas such as AVEs but then equally, agencies must play their part in continuing to
develop and innovate in all areas of measurement.

Together, the PR industry can and will become fully accountable for its actions and for the
investment business makes in it. And as an agency, we have taken the first small steps to
becoming part of this shift.

Hotwires Top 3 Measurement Tips

Do the groundwork and engage people at all levels across the agency in the development
of the approach before launching internally.

Identify suitable clients with which to roll out the approach, using the success of the
deployment to facilitate sell in to other clients across the network.

Dont assume universal success immediately; it takes time and sometimes baby steps are
needed

Andy West
Group Chief Development Officer, Hotwire
Communications
@westofcenter @hotwirepr
hotwirepr.com

11
Chapter 4
A Step-By-Step Approach to PR
Measurement
Mazen Nahawi

Public relations professionals today must measure their work if they hope to be taken
seriously. Measurement has never been more productive and innovative. With the increasing
prominence given to measurement through industry associations, academics and analysis
vendors, it is easier to stay tuned to important media channels, keep tabs on competitors
and anticipate unwelcome surprises than ever before. But to maximize the value and
benefits of a measurement program, its critical to set goals and identify key stakeholders for
the data. How do you get the process started without spending a fortune or risking
repercussions from an unsuccessful program? The tips below are a step-by-step routemap
to get you going in the right direction!

FIRST: CLARIFY YOUR

ORGANISATIONAL GOALS

An organisational goal is a
broad idea of what you would
like to achieve, stated in clear,
simple terms. Typically, these
over-arching goals cluster
around the following:

12
 Increase revenue and/or lower costs
Increase customer engagement and satisfaction
Strengthen brand preference and loyalty
Enhance reputation

SECOND: DETERMINE
KEY STAKEHOLDERS
AND PRIORITISE

Who are your key

stakeholders internally
and externally, and
which are most
important to reaching
your goals? Practical
budgeting
considerations may
make it impossible to
address them all, so
start prioritising
through some smart
initial research:

Talk with key internal stakeholders to see what would spell success in
communications
Discover where your most important stakeholders are involved in the social and
digital space
Listen to what they are saying through online and offline surveys and media content
analysis

THIRD: SET SPECIFIC

OBJECTIVES FOR
PRIORITISED
STAKEHOLDER
GROUPS

At the conclusion of this

research, meet again with
key internal managers to
help decide which goals
and stakeholders will take
priority for the PR and/or
social media
measurement. Then, set
specific objectives for
each goal that specify:

13
 1. An action statement
2. A timeline
3. A target audience
4. A measurement outcome (usually expressed as a % change).

For example, if a business goal is to sell more homes, an objective might be to increase the
number of home tours among first-time buyers aged 25-54 by 50% in the following year.
Simply focusing efforts in this way will increase your likelihood of success and enable you to
modify the objective as you gain history and move forward.

FOURTH: SET "KEY

PERFORMANCE
INDICATORS"
AGAINST EACH
OBJECTIVE

Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs) are
quantifiable (numeric)
measures that enable
you to show progress
over time for each
objective. For example,
if your objective is to get
first-time buyers into
your show homes, some
KPIs might be:

1. An increase in the number of visitors who sign-up for your homebuilder newsletter
2. The ratio of posts to comments on your homebuilder website
3. The increase in home builder profile pages downloaded and attendees to an open
house events

14
FIFTH: CHOOSE TOOLS
AND BENCHMARK

At this point, youll need

to decide who to measure
against. Is it just your own
organisation over time or
would it be important to
measure performance
against competitors?

Choosing appropriate tools and metrics for measurement is vital to the success of the
programme - e.g. the AMEC Valid Metrics Framework would enable you to identify the tools
and metrics needed to measure your campaign in terms of:

Public Relations Activity what did you DO? For example, how much content did
you create? How many journalist briefings? White papers? YouTube videos? Twitter
posts?
Intermediary Effects how did the media and key influencers (third parties)
RESPOND to your activities across the Communications Phases - Awareness,
Knowledge, Interest and Support? Are they communicating the right messages, in
a positive manner and in a greater volume than competitive messages? Have they
endorsed or recommended? You can measure this level by charting progress in both:
Owned Media sites - websites, Facebook and Twitter pages, for example.
Non-owned sites or earned media - everything else
Target Audience Effects finally, what ACTION was taken by your target
audience? Actions can be hard or soft, ranging from leads or sales increases and
efficiency savings to brand awareness, customer loyalty and customer satisfaction
improvements. Techniques might include:
Surveys
Correlations and Market Mix Models
Web Analytics
Comparing Earned, Owned, Shared and Paid Channels

15
SIXTH: ANALYSE THE
RESULTS AND COMPARE
TO COSTS

Data by itself does not equal

intelligence. It must be
analysed and interpreted to
generate actionable insights
and recommendations for
strategy and planning. It
should also provide a means
to compare programme costs
against identified results.
Return on Investment is a
very ill understood term, and
some claim that it cannot be
accurately calculated for non-financial programs. However, cost-efficiency metrics such as
cost-per-targeted impression, cost-per-lead or cost-per-unique visitor can be useful. If
you DO want to calculate ROI, you should use a true financial formula expressed as a
percentage or ratio, as follows:

SEVENTH:
PRESENTING TO THE
CEO AND SENIOR
MANAGEMENT

A dashboard or scorecard
with headlines, bullets
and metrics that show
performance trends can
be highly compelling to
the C-suite. Survey
results, correlations to
outcomes, or solid
tracking data from web
analytics, will all resonate
strongly with a CEO and senior management.

16
EIGHTH: MEASURE
CONTINUOUSLY AND
IMPROVE PERFORMANCE

Stay vigilant by keeping your

programme growing and robust.

Mazens Top 3 Measurement Tips

Always start with asking yourself what you want your evaluation to achieve (sounds pretty
basic, but youd be amazed how many organisations forget this vital step).

Be realistic on budget, on timing, on scope. You tend to get what you pay for

Invest time up front with your evaluation provider time invested now in defining
expectations, scope, budget etc will pay dividends down the line.

Mazen Nahawi
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Carma

17
Chapter 5
Measuring PR performance across borders
how a global programme works.
Colin Wheeler & Chris Talago

Setting up a global measurement programme.

Consideration 1: The benefit from measurement.

This important question is all too often never asked not knowing how the analysis will be
used suggests that there is little point in measurement.

Communications activity is an attempt to create a change in behaviour or a change in

perception or both. Without a focus for metrics, it will be difficult to identify any impact, so
why bother?

The value that results from good measurement is the data to create better campaigns, which
communicate more effectively and efficiently; to diagnose issues with a campaign and
highlight opportunities to address these issues; and to celebrate successful campaigns,
showing the tangible impact that has been achieved.

The ideal is a programme that is well linked to business results and ultimately to sales, but
even more limited evaluation should help with communications planning to be useful and
justify the investment. If your evaluation can identify product areas that need support and
how best to provide that support, then the benefits are obvious.

18
Consideration 2: Layers of
complexity.

Layers of complexityThe global

context adds to an already
challenging problem.

Communication campaigns rarely

happen in isolation, and for multi-
national campaigns the background
noise can often vary by region and
country.

News Media activity is only a single

facet of an organisations public face,
social media, word of mouth,
advertising and marketing
communications all impact the target
audience.

Trying to achieve a consistent brand story across all channels then creates the difficulty of
identifying how individual channels have contributed to any behavioural change.

Markets will have different media environments, leading to challenges in reconciling the
performance on a market-by-market basis.

Then language and cultural nuances need to be accounted for.

There is an opportunity within this as well e.g. the ability to test activity in a small market in
a local language, a pilot before a major international campaign which is less likely to leak
across national and language boundaries. This can provide interesting opportunities to look
at individual channels too.

Consideration 3: Useful reporting of results

A natural tension is generated by the need for various levels of reporting (e.g.
global/regional/local, channel by channel) and the sharing of budget across teams. For small

19
markets where budget is limited even basic tracking costs can have a disproportionate
impact.

A successful programme will

demonstrate for local teams
what happened with their
campaign, but will also help the
global or central team identify
overall performance. The level of
detail for each team typically
follows the budget.

The lack of granularity in

reporting for evaluation which is
led centrally with minimal local
detail does result in less value
for local teams and less buy-in to
the process. Conversely there
can be a lack of consistency
where a significant amount of
local customisation and analysis
is possible. However, enabling
strong local analysis can help bottom up sharing of learnings for more effective activity.

EXAMPLE: Global tracking of media coverage for a healthcare client

WE created a custom web portal for an international client communications team of

300+
Customised to provide high level view for global management team, with ability to
filter down and show detail for local teams in specific business units.
Analyst team worked closely with business units across all markets to provide the
context which was then included in reporting, including local competitors, specialist
outlets, and major in-country campaigns and events.
Used to guide global decision making on communications priorities, as well as local
tactical activity, including crisis response monitoring.

This then is an internal discussion for client teams understanding how they will use the
evaluation to drive communications decision making and how the programme will be funded.

Consideration 4: Quality control

A critical element of the reporting is the quality of the data underpinning the analysis. For
many markets, digital content will fairly represent the media coverage, for others where there
is still a print media news channel, content not necessarily published online a clipping
service specialising in the local markets will be needed.

Good quality data needs good quality tools for analysis, and Waggener Edstrom (WE) has
always been committed to identifying ways to use technology to enhance the accurate
tracking of communications activity e.g. developing tWEndz, an award winning tool from
2010 which was one of the early tools to track activity on Twitter for WE clients.

20
More recently, WE has invested significantly in WE Infinity, an automated platform for
capturing coverage for client campaigns, integrating social media channels and news
platforms and establishing new metrics to demonstrate the performance of communications
activity.

This analysis is a mix of automation and human-led effort, checking that automated
processes have categorised and handled coverage correctly, then allowing the human
researcher to provide additional data for the reporting and create meaningful, actionable
visualisations of the data.

The human quality control reduces the risk of inaccuracy in reporting, and further cross
referencing and re-evaluation of a subset of content ensures consistency across the team of
analysts.

The data and appropriate analytics tools are part of the puzzle, an effective measurement
program is a collaborative exercise. In global campaigns showing value for all the partners is
part of getting buy-in and cooperation.

This means that results need to be made as meaningful as possible for local teams as well
as for the central or global team leads.

The local partner agency and client teams are a hugely valuable resource, particularly
dealing with these layers of complexity. By providing the context and background on
different media environments, competitive landscape, how different channels are being used
at a global and local level, even simple reporting can reflect their understanding in the
analysis, points which may not be obvious in a high level overview will be impactful for a
team with a small budget.

EXAMPLE: Global measurement project for a Pan-African investment initiative

tapping into local expertise to ensure evaluation has value across national, regional
and global teams.

- Local teams in Africa highlighted their issues e.g.:

A standard practice of paid for editorial in some markets.

Flagging influencers that may not otherwise have been identified.
Providing language support where an expert was not available.
Share regional and country insights on social media usage.

21
- WE provided an initial update focussed on Broadcast and Digital media, followed by
additional detail on impact of print-only media when the data was available.

- Follow up reporting over time (quarterly) continued to be rated highly, due to the link with
WE analyst team in London and local partners.

Taking the time to engage at a local level, understanding their issues will make the reporting
more interesting and relevant to them and therefore more useful at a local market and a
global level.

The identification of markets which have similarities in terms of type of media landscape,
market share/size, etc. will also help comparison between markets and potentially clarify
where spend will have the most impact.

Consideration 5: Performance

The value of evaluation is often underrated for campaigns which have not performed well, or
where some regions or countries have had issues. Good evaluation enables discussion of
underperforming activity by identifying the issues and using this understanding to create
solutions to the problem.

Having the local context to make the outputs relevant to the individual markets makes the
evaluation more useful and actionable, and more valuable to all partners in the
communications process.

In summary

Much of the guidance shared here is relevant to all campaigns, regardless of whether they
have an international or global scope. Global projects do bring additional challenges but
three simple tips will deliver a strong measurement programme and effective
communications.

Make sure your campaign objectives are clear and link your measurement activity to
the objectives focus on outcome measures over output measures where you can.
For a global or multi-national project, use your local contacts to provide the context to
the results from their region or country. The context is what will make your results
more interesting, more widely read and have more of an impact in the creation of
future campaigns.
Use the results of the measurement activity to drive your overall strategy and
campaign activity its an important resource of valuable data. If your evaluation isnt
being used then change it or stop it!

The examples in the essay are drawn from a number of projects undertaken within the
EMEA region, including global projects and those with a pan-regional scope. These
evaluation programmes were developed using the Barcelona Principles and the AMEC
Measurement Frameworks.

22
Colin and Chris 3 Top Measurement Tips

Set specific and measurable objectives in advance that can be used to improve
communications planning

Use the local expertise of client and agency partners to add market specific value and
context

Dont waste time and budget on evaluation if the results wont be used!

Colin Wheeler
Director, Understanding Expertise

Chris Talago
EVP, EMEA GM, WE

23
Chapter 6
Whats the big deal about the Barcelona
Principles and where do we go from here?
David Rockland & Allison Szeliga

The Barcelona Principles are a set of seven principles that provided the first overarching
framework for effective public relations (PR) and communication measurement. First created
in 2010, and refreshed in 2015, they identify the importance of goal setting; the need for
outcomes, instead of outputs-based measurement of PR campaigns; the exclusion of ad
value equivalency metrics; the validity of quantitative and qualitative measurements; the
value of social media; and call for a holistic approach to measurement and evaluation.

Each Principle highlights

many of the quantitative
and/or qualitative approaches
practitioners can follow, as
well as also accepted
methodologies to put these
Principles into practice.

You may be thinking this

sounds like a logical and
sensible approach. If so,
weve achieved what weve
set out to do create a guide
for practitioners to incorporate
the ever-expanding media
landscape into a transparent,
reliable, and consistent
framework.

You may also be thinking so whats the big deal?

If so, you must remember that when originally unveiled in 2010, the Barcelona Principles
meant big changes for some, particularly those that still used metrics such as AVEs and
multipliers. The Barcelona Principles provide both guidelines to measure efficacy of

24
communication campaigns AND provide a basis to enable the replacement of outdated
program measurement models that included AVEs and multipliers.

Why was this a big deal?

For most of the fifty or so years PR has been around as a defined marketing and
communications practice, measurement was basically around number of clips, number of
impressions and AVEs. The latter placed the value of PR as the cost of purchasing the
equivalent amount of advertising space.

Back in the day, PR practitioners would then multiply that cost by anywhere from 2 to 7
claiming that earned media was that much more valuable than paid media. What was wrong
with this picture?

Clips and impressions alone are meaningless what if all the clips say that the
particular product is terrible, or that the company is run by criminals? Quality,
including consideration of tone and messaging, has to be a consideration, as does
whether or not the articles are reaching the right audience. If you are selling lipstick,
an article in a hunting magazine probably has little value to you. Conversely, if you
are selling tires, a feature piece in a high-end fashion magazine may not hit your core
target consumer.
It may seem silly to say set goals first, but often communication practitioners have
done some exciting program that has little to actually do with the driving the business
of the client or organization. You may have created a campaign thats trending on
Twitter, but if it didnt drive sales, it was just short-lived buzz.
As for AVEs, why would the cost of advertising be equal to the value of
communication? The cost of advertising isnt equal to the value of advertising. And, if
the articles are negative, why would they be given a positive value? In advertising,
you get to say what you want, where you want, and when you want. With earned
media in particular, you are subject to the vagaries of the editorial process
sometimes you win, and sometimes you dont. On the other hand, it is often much
less expensive than a multi-million dollar ad buy, and with an editorial endorsement
can have a much larger impact on sales.
And, is earned media always more valuable than advertising? While we would like
this to be true since we work for a firm that produces earned media for clients, the
reality is that such multipliers have been proven over and over to not exist generally.

Luckily, the communication measurement and evaluation world is maturing. One reason this
has come about is that getting data around press coverage is way cheaper than it has ever
been.

When we started work at Ketchum, junior staff painstakingly clipped articles by hand, literally
pasting them in a book, and delivering that book as proof of value at the end of the quarter or
year.

25
Now, with digital
aggregators, getting the
coverage is simple and
relatively much less
expensive. With social
media tools, you can get lots
of data very quickly. And
when you add the additional
layer of evaluation the
actual process of using data
to make a judgement on
value and effectiveness of
communication it can help us understand and convey the why behind the quantitative
outcomes.

Another reason communication measurement and evaluation is maturing is also a shift from
counting earned media to counting what is much more important target audience change
and organizational results. Now, you can add a few questions to a brand or advertising
tracking survey and know if and what communication overall, including PR, is creating
awareness, favorability, purchase and recommendation.

And, with earned media data now much easier and cheaper to get, you can add it into
market mix and other statistical models to show the effects of earned media on sales, brand
equity and even organizational performance. In other words, you can do with all
communication including PR what has been done for advertising, direct mail and other
marketing channels for a long time.

The playing field has been levelled, but part of that levelling is also the understanding of how
different channels affect one another. When we do market mix modelling for clients, what we
often find is that each channel not only has its own effects on sales, but also tends to affect
the other channels. In other words, advertising and PR, for example, benefit one another.
One plus one becomes three.

This is mindset in particular is important given that we work in an integrated communication

environment, thus measurement and reporting must be integrated. This means integration
across geographies (global and local), across methods (quantitative and qualitative), and
across channels (including paid, earned, owned and shared media). The fact is, PR doesnt
exist in a silo, and we can no longer act in a silo.

Is the maturation of communication measurement complete? No, far from it. But, the
Barcelona Principles started the process. From it has emerged a measurement framework
that can help all communication practitioners that really bring the Principles into daily
practice. And, we will continue to see certification programs in communication measurement
that define what a professional needs to know before he/she can really call themselves a
communication professional.

Whos driving this?

Well, certainly, AMEC and ICCO have got the ball rolling and are continuing to make
progress.

26
However, what is also heartening to see it lots of others have jumped on board and adopted
the Barcelona Principles including PR firms and PR member organizations around the world,
Government teams, and companies and organizations of all sizes, including large
corporations such as FedEx and Philips. Many companies like our own have been leading
this charge with our clients and the associations we belong to. We see that our business is
really driven by the edict prove everything or die.

As practitioners, we must always be prepared to prove our value and the ROI of
communication. But if we dont complete the switch from silly metrics such as AVEs to sales
and ROI measurement, we will no longer be relevant to our clients. As a set of professional
measurement guidelines and practices, our goal is to ensure that the Barcelona Principles
continue to act as a baseline that professionals can use today and in the future.

David & Allison's Top 3 Measurement Tips

Read and understand the Barcelona Principles. Available at amecorg.com

When you report results, place them in the context of the business objectives of the
organization as well as against the goals of the communications program you are measuring

Ask yourself how you can move your measurement program to the next level, whether it
be to add a quality dimension to media measurement if you are only counting clips, or from a
change in consumer perception to its impact on business performance

David Rockland
Ph.D., Partner/CEO, Global Research &
Analytics, Ketchum and Past Chairman,
AMEC

Allison Szeliga
Vice President, Ketchum

27
 Chapter 7
You can measure social media.
Richard Bagnall

Why is it that the mere thought of measuring

the effectiveness of our PR campaigns fills
us with such dread? Why does it always
seem so confusing and overly complex?

For 20 years or more, PR measurement has

largely been a reasonably simple process
that was dressed up as a bit of a black art.
Media analysis companies focused on using
content analysis to measure press clippings
and focusing 99% of the time on purely
output metrics. What do we mean by that? Well simply put, it's the easy things to capture
from the editorial content - metrics like volume of articles, column inches, tone, messaging,
company, brand and name mentions, journalists, publications and spokespeople etc.

To differentiate themselves from their competitors, most of the media analysis companies
then created their own proprietary scoring systems and indices which took these different
metrics, weighted them and then presented them as a single number. They then tried to tell
their clients that this number and the other output metrics represented the success of their pr
campaigns.

Which of course it didn't.

28
Measuring outputs alone is never going to tell a PR professional how successful their PR
campaign has been. The analysis industry was answering the wrong questions. PRs were
being asked by their bosses to demonstrate the value that their work was creating for their
organisation. As an answer they were being provided with a proprietary score based on an
output metric of which no one else in their organisation would have heard. And to cap it all
off, most of these scores were largely meaningless, and all were flawed. It was no wonder
therefore that PR measurement tended to confuse and disengage most of the industry, and
consequently that PR has always struggled to prove it's value successfully.

Recognising this challenge, AMEC took a leadership position back in 2010 when it drove
through the Barcelona Principles (http://bit.ly/YqJAB3). In a nutshell, these 7 statements
encouraged the PR and its associated measurement industry to think more credibly about
how to measure communications success by talking the language of business.

In addition to confirming that AVE's were a meaningless metric, the Principles also state that
to measure success properly, we need to move on from measuring outputs to focusing
instead on measuring outcomes. Put simply, this means that instead of leaving the
measurement just at what we have generated (outputs), we need to focus on what this work
has actually achieved (out-takes / outcomes) for our organisation. The Barcelona Principles
also state of course that social media can and should be measured.

Since 2010 a lot of further work has been done to help the industry think about the correct
way to measure social media. AMEC has again taken a leadership position with its social
media group working in partnership with other trade bodies around the world in PR and the
wider marketing community to set best practice and standards for measuring social media.

At first glance, the massive changes that have occurred in the PR and media industries over
the last 5-10 years make it seem that measuring our success must be even more confusing
than ever. Many in the industry understandably are desperate for AMEC to come up with a
single number that could let everyone know how successful their work has been.

This is not going to happen however. In the same way that a single number was always
flawed in the more simplified world of traditional media analysis, a single number will not
work when measuring social media. The search for a magic bullet can be called off now as
it simply does not and will never exist.

The reassuring news however is that the more things have changed, the more they have
actually stayed the same. The right approach to measuring social media is to focus
relentlessly on your objectives and then to measure in a manner that reflects them. Think
clearly at the outset what it is that you are looking to achieve with your social media
campaign. What conversations do you want to join? What thoughts are you looking to
influence? What outcomes are you looking to drive?

Don't be tempted to make the same mistakes as were made in the old days. Frustratingly,
this is the number one problem that I have found PRs are experiencing with social media
measurement. Specifically don't rely on the new SAAS (Software as a Service) platforms
alone to monitor and measure your work, they are very unlikely to be able to get you to the
tailored measurement and out-take / outcome metrics that you need.

29
Instead, think about the different objectives of each part of your social campaign and then
how you might measure each in a credible manner.

So for example, if looking to measure the exposure that you are getting with your core
audience you should consider measuring the following:

Organisation / brand mentions

Share of conversation
Search rank
Click-throughs
Web analytics etc

If looking to measure the engagement that you are having with your core audience then you
might want to consider these:

Comments/posts ratio
Number of links
'@' mentions / Retweets / Retweets as a percentage of the total
Number of bookmarks / likes / votes / 'pins'
Shares & Likes
Subscriber numbers
URL visits
Awareness
Resolution rate

And of course if looking to measure the action that has happened as a result of the social
media campaign then you should consider 'out-take / outcome' metrics such as:

Footfall
Purchase / donations
Website visits & downloads
Coupon redemption, endorsement
Awareness etc

Clearly not all of these metric suggestions will be relevant to each campaign, and conversely
these are just a few suggestions and not an exhaustive list. As is always the case, the
metrics will need to be tailored to what it is that you are trying to achieve.

What you will also see is that not all of these metrics are available from content analysis of
the online conversations alone. Instead they necessitate market research, others will
involve working with web analytics, and others will need you to work with your marketing or
sales team to gather the date required.

By following this approach however you will be able to focus clearly on what success looks
like to your organisation and report back in a language that everyone understands.

30
AMEC is soon to launch a revised Valid Metrics Framework which will develop this approach
into a grid that you can use as a template for each campaign. This will be launched at the
European Summit in Madrid in June 2013 and will then be available for download from
AMEC's website at amecorg.com/social-media-measurement.

In the meantime, you can follow the conversation on twitter with the hashtag #smmstandards
and the march towards standards at smmstandards.org.

Social media measurement must not be allowed to make the same mistakes of the past.
Don't just count what is easy to count and report using meaningless charts hoping that
somehow you are providing effective analysis. Instead as an industry we must seize this
opportunity to prove the value of our work with credible metrics, that reflect our objectives
and really demonstrate our success. The PR industry deserves nothing less.

Richard Bagnall's Top 3 Measurement Tips

Begin with the end in mind Measure against your objectives, align your social objectives
to those of your organisation

Measure appropriately - Be wary of automation, and counting basic metrics that are easy
to count but basically meaningless

A few charts and numbers are not measurement successful social media measurement
needs relevancy, context and insight

And a bonus tip:

Dont fear measurement, embrace it, its there to help guide you not criticise you!

Richard Bagnall
Chairman of AMEC Social Media
Measurement Committee.
Richard@bagnall.net
@richardbagnall

31
 Chapter 8
Only when you have the killer insight will
the killer creative be born
Michael Frohlich

The best-in-class public relations campaigns those that deliver beyond stakeholder
engagement and media coverage to create lasting behavior change - are grounded in a
strong underlying audience insight.

A well-researched and clearly expressed insight is a far greater driver of success than a
brilliant PR-able idea. Often considered the domain of advertising creative development,
insights are equally the backbone of a successful creative PR idea as they provide a fresh
understanding of a situation or trend that moves our thinking from what it is to what it means.
This is essential if we want a new way of framing a situation that sparks reconsideration and
support for change.

So what is a brilliant insight?

An insight immediately makes sense when it arrives and sparks an Aha! emotional
response. It helps consumers/customers make connections, which they may not have
previously had.

Insights are not merely facts or observations from research, or reading a few online posts.
New mums are under pressure and time poor or Dubai consumers trust recommendations
from celebrities.

Great insights come from research, analysis, judgement and experience:

Research helps us define what it is.

Insights help us define and interpret why it is and what it means.
The Creative idea is driven by the connection of these 4 elements, and together they
show engagement with stakeholders at points relevant to their work, leisure or family
moments where the topic becomes relevant.

32
So how do you build an insight?

If you understand how to play join the dots

then you have the basic skills to build an
insight. Once youre given the numbers, and
you start to connect them, the picture
becomes obvious. Digging for insights is
essentially searching for the data, numbers
and opinions then applying non-linear
thinking to spot connections and unique
opportunities.

So where do you get the numbers from?

Start by reviewing all existing knowledge

and consumer research your client/brand may already have. Often public relations
professionals dont see the relevance of their consumer research to PR messaging, so they
may not think to review or share the research with their agency. Start by seeking out existing
knowledge. Then immerse yourself in consumer behaviour their likes and frustrations, dos
and donts, their true behaviour in the category.

Try to experience the category as they do. Social media listening is a great first step. Start
with a conversation audit to understand how the category or brand is described. Use social
media tools for instant online research, for example, Cadbury UK is very clever at using its
Google+ page and Hangout groups with trusted customers for new insights.

The most critical step is getting out of the office to find the dots. So get out from behind your
computer and go on home visits to see how the category/brand is used in situ. You don't
need a full ethnographic study to immerse yourself in your audience just dive in and see it
for yourself. For example, in-home visits for the room air freshener category uncovered that
plug-in air fresheners are often concealed behind sofas so consumers dont notice when
they run out.

Work in your brands store for a day as a sales trainee, or in your clients office to observe
what they discuss about the category. Accompany a sales rep for a day, especially in B2B
and pharmaceuticals where experiencing the category directly may not be an option. If its a
brand with a consumer call centre, ask to listen in on their call centre line for a few hours to
understand brand frustrations and the current tone of voice. And most importantly- interview
customers / consumers ask them what you want to know.

How do you bring it all together?

David Ogilvy said, Stuff your conscious mind with information, then unhook your rational
thought process. All the rich data and information collected needs time to percolate, be
given time to create a story. It can be helpful to use a war room a dedicated room where
all the dots can be plastered around so you can visually seek out the connections.

Talk team members through the data gathered and listen for their questions and comments
to see what they reveal. Read campaign case studies on databases such as warc.com to

33
learn how similar marketing challenges were tackled in other countries or categories. And
sleep on it for a couple of days to see what emerges.

What does an insight look like on paper?

Simple. An insight should look simple, read simply and translate simply into your planning.

Expressing your insights is, in effect, a copywriting exercise and often benefits from working
with a professional copywriter.

1. Short, sharp sentences

2. Be category specific get to the point versus vague general issues like feeling time
poor
3. Avoid hard sell its an insight, not a selling line
4. Use emotion - get an edge to the insight in a way that makes consumers respond
with yes, thats so true, and if Im honest Ive never thought of it like that myself.

The time invested in killer insight development speeds up the idea generation stage
considerably, allowing you to spend more time on generating many more killer creative
ideas.

Michaels Top 3 Measurement Tips

Be PROVOCATIVE. Abandon all goals for broad coverage. Aim for the right impact only.
Become obsessive about "how did this change behaviour?" not how much coverage it got.
Design communications programs from the outset to drive behaviour change, not clippings.

Speak the language of the boardroom. Always strive to measure business outcomes not
PR outputs enabling results to be banked (ie. not clippings or AVE). This may be a longer
term outcome (eg. new leads to closing deals 12 months later) or corporate reputation gains
that open up access to new resources or cost savings from deeper employee engagement
and reduced staff turnover.

Reserve campaign budget for quality impact and outcome measurement to prove
business impact.

Michael Frohlich
UK CEO / EAME COO, Ogilvy Public
Relations

34
Chapter 9
The client view of what measurement looks
like.
Elayne Phillips

When I think back, to not more than five years ago, the norm in press offices across the
country involved staff busily issuing statements, circulating press releases and basically
sending out stuff. These outputs were easily measured, and the larger the numbers were,
the better. The problem of course was that these results did not account for sentiment,
whether the readership was the target audience or what difference the coverage made to
profits, sales, behaviour or other organisational objectives.

Im not saying these outputs shouldnt be recorded knock yourself out - but alongside
evaluation of whether communications achieve (or contribute to) business outcomes. Having
worked in this field for a few years now, I recognise that outcomes are typically more difficult
to measure than outputs. But gone are the days where a supplier can provide metrics, a tool
or pretty dashboards with no understanding of whether these are useful to inform what we
do next. Now the most successful evaluation businesses are collaborating with their clients,
really listening and asking the right questions. Measurement to me looks at the big picture
the objectives, the performance of our channels, the outcomes achieved and what weve
learned from successes and failures along the way.

Actionable insights is a term I say a lot its probably rather annoying - but honestly its the
bottom line. We must be able to demonstrate our value, show how communications
contribute towards business goals and quickly respond to what works or doesnt so we can
focus efforts on activities that are successful. And we need our partners working with us to
do the same.

35
#ChipMyDogThe introduction of
the Social Media Measurement
Framework by AMEC at its fifth
annual summit in Amsterdam
was much welcomed and was
supported by the UK
Government, PRCA, ICCO and
CIPR. This updated framework
is easy to use, downloadable
and came with a helpful list of
recommended metrics to
consider.

Im a great lover of frameworks

and process but like any
tools, they need to be used in a way thats appropriate for the campaign. The best
measurement Ive seen in Government has been where the individual evaluating the
communications really gets it, recognises where success is evident against objectives and
uses metrics in a way that informs future campaigns.

Why is it important?

Finding gems of insight that change what we do next eliminates waste, helps us to better
understand our audiences, anticipate their interests and meet their needs while achieving
our goals.

Measurement has an important part to play before, during and after campaigns and also
during times of crisis. So I assess measurement and evaluation by asking a number of
questions What is the business and communication objective? What impact did press
releases or social media posts have? Did they drive people to take up a Government
scheme? Did the target audience change their behaviour? Did our partners, influencers or
stakeholders contribute in a positive way? What is the sentiment within the target audience?
Is there a mix of qualitative and quantitative metrics so we can identify why the change
occurred? If there are no direct measures, are there indicators or proxies we can use to
assess success?

So what do we need?

This is chapter 9 of this PR Measurement Guide so this is not the first time SMART
objectives have come up. But I have to reiterate how important they are. SMART objectives
make measurement and evaluation effective, and having them nailed from the start means
investment in communications can be demonstrably well spent this is particularly important
for Government spending tax payers money.

Modern measurement always involves social media it has a key part to play in evaluation
and its fast paced nature provides real-time tracking and can even be used as an early
warning system. It is however one piece of a bigger jigsaw and the industry is moving
towards a more integrated approach to telling the full story. There is a wealth of data out
there so choosing the metrics that matter is important. For a typical government campaign,

36
that can be anything from social analytics to call centre volumes/correspondence, to export
rates, take up of apprenticeships or affordable homes.

With all this data, it means that the typical communicator needs good agencies and suppliers
that really listen, that collaborate and get underneath what the organisation is seeking to
achieve. Modern communicators now need to be multi-skilled in communications and
measurement.

Elaynes' Top 3 Measurement Tips

Dont measure for vanity. Measure what matters against your objectives and demonstrate
successes; but equally use measurement to identify what didnt work and take action as a
result.

Fully understand the problem and objectives before you plan. At this planning stage set
out the key metrics you will track including outputs, outtakes and outcomes.

Dont overcomplicate the reports. Communicate the findings with context so they make
sense to those who are not expert in the field and tell the story of what it means for the
organisation.

Elayne Phillips
Head of Profession, Communication
Insight and Evaluation, Prime
Minister's Office and Cabinet Office
Communications. UK Government

37
 Chapter 10
Big Measurement Lessons from a Small
Budget Campaign: Case Study
Shonali Burke

Lack of budget is one of the most frequently cited reasons for abysmal PR measurement (or
the complete lack thereof). But if a nonprofit can do it on zero-to-no budget, that stops being
an excuse.

I give you Oxfam Americas (OA) International Womens Day (IWD) campaign.

The charge

We were asked to provide digital

support for the campaign;
specifically, to engage bloggers
with the goal of raising
awareness for the campaign and
the work that OA does to
empower women around the
globe.

Since OA already has a robust

social media presence, our task
was not to add to its social media
plan, but to supplement it via
blogger outreach. In other words,
good old-fashioned PR, but in a
21st century setting.

And our timeframe? Just a month, from start to finish.

The objectives

38
Since every good campaign begins with the end in sight, our discussions led us to agree on
our objective: to pitch and secure posts featuring or highlighting the 2012 IWD campaign,
that specifically asked readers to:

send an OA 2012 IWD eCard,

present OAs downloadable 2012 IWD award to a woman who had inspired them, or
write their own blog post to promote IWD 2012.

Or, of course, any combination of the above.

The end-goal was to secure as many new constituents to OAs eCommunity as possible,
since these are the people OA can activate when advocacy is needed.

And as they opted in (hopefully) to be communicated to by the organization, OA would be

able to convert them to evangelists for OAs work and donors to the organization.

Whats measurable?

Here is where it wasnt easy to begin with.

The eCard initiative was new for 2012, so
there wasnt a benchmark, say for 2011, to
set goals against. The downloadable award
was also completely new (that we created
for OA, based on a printable version OA had
already created) same problem.

But heres what we did know: based on a

similar initiative in 2011, where OA asked
people to upload photos to a photobook, the
organization secured 261 new members to
its eCommunity.

And in 2011, there were seven blog posts on the campaign that had been tracked.

So I figured at least a 25% increase on both fronts the eCommunity front, as well as the
post front would be a reasonable goal to set.

The big lesson here, of course, is that when you dont have a benchmark, its really tough to
set measurable objectives. And it takes time to look at the data you have, even if theyre
limited, to figure those out. So start doing this as soon as you can.

The background work and outreach

Any good campaign is grounded in research, so thats where we began.

OA already knew that women, particularly urban women, are an important audience for
them. Then there was the fact that the actions we hoped people would take were digital
actions.

Using a variety of resources and a lot of sweat equity, we created outreach lists of mommy
bloggers, women in the tech and entrepreneur community, influencers in the area of
nonprofit/social good, social media influencers, and some general outlets that popular with

39
the social media crowd and women in general (e.g. Mashable). We netted out at about 245
outlets on our target list.

We also did a lot of background work to create:

A one-pager of talking points, adapted from a broader social media messaging

document OA had created for the campaign, to be provided to bloggers on request;
A more detailed informational document for bloggers, that included links to photo and
video resources;
A sample post for bloggers, that included anchor text, which was included in #2
above.

And then we pitched.

The results

We secured 42 blog posts

from a range of outlets,
including Mashable, Mom
Bloggers for Social Good,
Beths Blog, Tootzypop and
Spin Sucks; this was a
significant increase over the
2011 online coverage (7
posts so thats, what,
600%?). According to OA,
these contributed to nearly
3 million social brand
impressions on March 8th, a
record for Oxfam America
(their words).

Almost 2,000 (1,194) senders sent slightly over 2,000 (2,044) eCards to more than 5,000
(5,515) recipients.

The eAward was downloaded approximately 1,000 times between March 7 and March 10.

And the big one: OA secured 752 new constituents to its eCommunity via the eCards.
Comparing that to 261 for 2011, thats a 288% increase.

Because we asked OA to keep us posted on what was happening on the back-end, we

learned that:

The top 28 traffic sources (defined as driving five or more visits) to OAs eCards page
included 14 of the 42 blog posts we secured; so blog placements, many of which included
the anchor text we had included in our pitches and the sample post, were a significant driver
of traffic to that page

There was a strong correlation between the publishing of the blog posts and search traffic
via keywords such as international womens day ecards, womens day ecard, and so on.

40
Theres nothing fancy about this measurement, and it was done on no budget at all but it
showed results not just in terms of outputs, but outcomes which is ultimately what we must
be working towards.

And if Oxfam America could do it so can you.

Shonali Burke's Top 3 Measurement Tips

Agree on measureable objectives (to say increase awareness is not an objective)

Agree on measuring criteria and methodology (budget does not always allow for a
research company to research a campaign and the impact). And remember to measure all
platforms.

ROI the impact of on the target audience vs the spend on the campaign. (ROI is not
about the sales or the impact on the bottom line it is about the reputation, the target
audience perceptions / media perception changes and influences)

Shonali Burke
President & CEO, Shonali Burke Consulting,
INC

41
Chapter 11
Getting it right: a ten point evaluation
checklist.
Rob Ettridge & Philip Lynch

1. Set SMART objectives:

Set and agree clear and measurable campaign goals up front. If you put rubbish in,
youll get rubbish out.
2. Define success criteria:
Define and agree the campaign success criteria and the base or benchmark you are
measuring from.
3. Agree on methodology:
Define and agree the methodology for evaluation. Is it easy to use, clear, repeatable
and consistent?
4. Agree the focus:
Agree what you are evaluating (quantitative and qualitative) and across which
platforms (broadcast, radio, print, online, social media).
5. Agree frequency:
Agree on the frequency of evaluation and how and when to report back.
6. Agree budgets:
Agree on the available budgets for evaluation. Will it be integrated into the campaign
retainer or charged separately?
7. Measure quality and quantity:
Measure the quality as well as the quantity of coverage. Sentiment, share of voice,
engagement and message are crucial indicators, especially in todays digital
landscape.
8. Focus on commercial outcomes:
Measure the effect on outcomes rather than outputs. Have you answered the
question: What are the proven business benefits to the organisation?

42
 9. Integrate:
Align and integrate your evaluation methodology with the organisations wider
business and marketing metrics?
10. Inform and improve:
Analyse and use the data to assess the effectiveness and inform your next
campaign. If necessary re-set the campaign objectives.

Co-Author Philip Lynch

Rob Ettridge
Partner, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry

43
Chapter 12
What we mean! Definitions and terms
Neil Wholey

Glossary

(based on AMEC Glossary available here: amecorg.com/2012/06/glossary_plain_speaking)

Every fast changing industry has its jargon. The lexicon emerges to aid efficient
communication, but that efficiency is only achieved when everyone knows what the words
and phrases really mean, and uses them consistently. This glossary aims to help secure that
consistency sooner than otherwise.

Feedback is welcome of course via the comments section at the end, and well update the
glossary monthly based on relevant feedback.

All hyperlinks are cross-references. Links to external webpages are indicated by an arrow at
the end of the respective entry.

0-9

+1 allows users of the Google+ social network to recommend websites and other things
online; similar in use to Facebooks Like button.

Advocacy An individual or organisation that is engaged with an agenda, an individual or

an organisation and speaks highly of it to others. The act of seeking third-party support
through persuasion

Algorithm a step-by-step problem solving procedure; an established, recursive

computational procedure for solving a problem in a finite number of steps.

AMEC The International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication is

the global trade body and professional institute for agencies and practitioners who provide
mediameasurement, evaluation and communication research.

Audience / target audience a specified group within a defined public targeted for
influence.

44
AVE Advertising Value Equivalents; a discredited approach to gauging the value of public
relations(or media relations more precisely). See Barcelona Principles.

Barcelona Principles A series of statements to guide best practice in PR measurement

that were endorsed after a vote of global delegates at the AMEC European Measurement
Summit in 2010:

Goal setting and measurement are fundamental aspects of any PR programmes.

Media measurement requires quantity and quality cuttings in themselves are not
enough.
Advertising Value Equivalents (AVEs) do not measure the value of PR and do not
inform future activity.
Social media can and should be measured. Measuring outcomes is preferred to
measuring media results.
Business results can and should be measured where possible.
Transparency and Replicability are paramount to sound measurement

Blog a series of content, typically text or image, published on a web page in sequential
date order focused on a subject or issue and encouraging interaction. Also see vlog.

Bot a software application that runs automated tasks over the Internet. Typically, bots
perform tasks that are both simple and structurally repetitive, at a much higher rate than
would be possible for a human alone.

Bounce rate A bounce is when a visitor to a website only views a single page before
leaving. Bounce rate is the percentage of visits to a webpage where this occurs. A high
bounce rate indicates a lack of engagement.

BPM Business Performance Management; the disciplined approach to management

encompassing metric selection, measurement and organizational learning. The Balanced
Scorecard is reportedly the dominant BPM framework amongst the Global 2000.

Click each instance when a visitor follows a hyperlink from one page to another, or
expects some other action.

Cutting: the piece of written material containing messages about the client or its products or
an extract from a paper or magazine regarding a particular account. Also commonly referred
to as clipping

Communication: the credible, honest and timely two-way flow of information that fosters
common understanding and trust.

Copy: the text produced by a consultancy for a press release or article. Journalists also refer
to their news stories or features as copy.

CPRF Council of Public Relations Firms, the trade association for public relations firms in
the US.

45
CPRS Canadian Public Relations Society.

Download a copy of a document or other digital file is pulled from a web server to the
users Internet connected device. When a user accesses a web page, its actually
downloaded from a web server to the users browser, but this isnt usually whats meant
when the word is invoked.

Earned media third-party media coverage secured through a relationship or news worthy
event, rather than paid-for advertising or other means of securing media. Includes on- and
off-line media. Often used synonymously with public relations, but public relations is not
defined by media.

Engage occupy or attract someones interest or attention; involve someone in a

conversation or discussion.

Evaluation the assessing of the impact and value of a series of actions in achieving
desired outcomes from start to finish. The recording of the actions themselves, such as the
amount, potential value and frequency is only part of the evaluation process.

Eyeballs the aggregated published or acknowledged readership numbers for all content in
which a brand or organisation receive published content. (See impressions, and
opportunities to see.)

Forum an online site hosted by a community to discuss and interact about its area of
interest.

Frequency the amount of times that an event occurs. Often used in conjunction with reach
(seeReach and Frequency).

Hits the logged request for a file on a webpage and images and other digital assets on that
page made by a browser, a search engine or a webcrawler. Commonly confused as a count
of the number of times that the page has been viewed in its entirety. Also, see media hits.

46
I

ICCO International Communications Consultancy Association.

Impact commonly used when analysing how much visual presence and wow factor a
piece of content carries. Is often measured in a number of different ways by different
companies and commonly results in the use of a scoring system. Component impact
measures might include size of headline, font, article, presence of imagery, position in
publication etc.

Impressions the aggregated published or acknowledged readership numbers for all

content in which a brand or organisation receives earned content (see eyeballs and
opportunities to see). For web content, an impression is counted as each time some content
is loaded into a browser.

Influence you have been influenced when you think in a way you wouldnt otherwise have
thought or do something you wouldnt otherwise have done. There is currently no scalable
facility to ascertain or infer who or what caused someone to change their mind or behaviour.
Metrics often presented as measuring influence (eg. Klout) do not measure influence, rather
the propensity for an individuals social media contributions to be shared, and the reach of
that sharing, and this idea is increasingly being rechristened social capital. However, the
degree of influence can be measured on a case by case basis through scientific research
techniques such as statistical analysis and randomised controlled trials. These can help
develop our understanding of how people are influenced and fine tune generalised
approaches.

IPR the Institute for Public Relations, a US based independent non-profit foundation
dedicated to the science beneath the art of public relations.

Issue a matter, typically in dispute, between two or more interested parties.

Klout a well-known service that purports to measure influence but doesnt

KPIs Key performance indicator(s); define a set of values against which to measure
success. KPIs must be defined to reflect objectives and strategy, and will be sufficiently
robust for the measurement to be repeatable. Quantitative KPIs can be presented as a
number, ratio or percentage. KPIs tend to be:

Quantitative indicators which can be presented as a number

Practical indicators that interface with existing company processes
Directional indicators specifying whether organisational performance is improving or
not
Actionable indicators sufficiently in an organisations control to effect change
Financial indicators used in performance measurement and when looking at an
operating index.

47
L

Like allows users of the Facebook social network to recommend websites and other things
online; similar in use to Google+s +1 facility.

Lurker someone who reads social media content but doesnt actively participate in debate
and communication.

Machined media content that is automatically discovered, presented and published by

machines for humans. May be considered alongside paid, owned and earned media.

Market Research a collection of disciplines designed to understand the attitudes and

behaviours of individuals and organisations towards other individuals and organisations.
These disciplines are often categorised as either primarily qualitative or quantitative
research. The topic areas can include both market orientated commercial research to more
societal social research.

Measurement the action of measuring something; ascertaining the size, amount, or

degree of something by using an instrument or device; assessing the importance, effect, or
value of something.

Media hits an item or piece of content to be counted or measured. Not to be confused with
hits.

Media relations a component of public relations focused on journalists and bloggers as

intermediaries to the audience you wish to reach.

Message board a script on a website with a submission form that allows visitors to post
messages (called threads or posts) on your website for others to read. These messages
are usually sorted within discussion categories, or topics, chosen by the host, or possibly the
visitor. A messageboard is also called a web board or a forum.

Metric a system or standard of measurement; (in business) a set of figures or statistics

that measure results.

Microblogs online short form communication services that facilitate the public exchange of
text, video and image links. Popular microblogs include Plurk, Twitter, Tumblr, Posterous,
identi.ca, Yammer, and Jaiku. China tends to have its own popular microblogging sites that
include Sina Weibo and Tencent Wiebo.

Mission a statement of why an organisation exists; often described alongside the

organisationsvision and values.

Motivation reason(s) for acting or behaving in a particular way.

48
MRC The Media Rating Council is a USA based industry-funded organisation established
in the early 1960s at the behest of the US Congress after the Harris Hearings on Broadcast
Ratings with the remit to review and accredit audience rating services. It exists to improve
the quality of audience measurement by rating services and to provide a better
undertstanding of the applications and limitations of rating information. It does this through
three main activities:

to establish and administer minimum standards for rating operations

to accredit ratings services on the basis of information submitted by such services
to audit the activities of the rating services.

MT Modified tweet (see RT); when a Twitter user lightly edits or appends another Twitter
users tweet before forwarding it to their network.

Net Promoter Score (NPS) an approach to quantifying customer loyalty and advocacy
based on customers answers to the question: Would you feel comfortable recommending
us to others?

Objective a specific aim of an organisation.

OTS opportunities to see. The aggregated published or acknowledged readership

numbers for all content in which a brand or organisation receives earned content. See also
eyeballs andimpressions.)

Outcome Something that has happened as the result of a campaign. In public relations
this would typically be defined as a measurable change in awareness, knowledge, attitude,
opinion, behaviour or reputation metrics.

Output in PR terms, the material and activity that the PR professional generates such as a
press release, email, events etc. as well as the ensuing media coverage that is generated.
Outputs will also include proactive communication by an organisation on its owned media
channels and properties.

Out-take what an audience now understands having been exposed to content about an
organisation or a brand. Out-take occurs before an outcome, although some pundits ignore
out-take and just discuss outputs and outcomes.

Owned media media channels that are owned by or in the control of an organisation or a
brand. Typically these will include websites, company blogs, newsletters and brand accounts
in social media.

Page views A request for a file from a webserver whose type has been defined as a page
in the log analysis of the web server. One page view may account for many web hits.

49
PageRank According to Google: PageRank reflects our view of the importance of web
pages by considering more than 500 million variables and 2 billion terms. Pages that we
believe are important receive a higher PageRank and are more likely to appear at the top of
the search results.

Paid media content that has been generated as a result of a purchase such as an advert
or an advertorial.

Podcast an audio or video clip that is available for download online to listen to or watch at
a time of the recipients choosing. Originally used to describe a series of content, the term is
often now used to describe a single piece of content.

PRCA The Public Relations Consultants Association is the professional body that
represents UK PR consultancies, in-house communications teams, PR freelancers and
individuals. The PRCA promotes all aspects of public relations and internal communications
work, helping teams and individuals maximise the value they deliver to clients and
organisations.

PRSA The Public Relations Society of America is the worlds largest organisation of public
relations professionals with more than 21,000 members across the United States.

PRSSA The Public Relations Student Society of America has 10,000 members at colleges
and universities internationally.

Public relations a management function that focuses on two-way communication and

fostering of mutually beneficial relationships between an organisation and its publics. Public
relations is often defined in terms of earned media, but all approaches to media are valid.

Quantitative Data that can be quantified and summarised with a numerical figure. Often
used to describe quantitative research techniques such as public opinion surveys.

Qualitative Data that is descriptive and non-numerical. Often used to desckjribe qualitative
research techniques such as focus groups. To confuse matters qualitatively gathered
information can be quantified in some cases. Similarly in a quantitative survey there may be
a box for verbatim qualitative comments. These in turn may be quantified by coding answers
and counting how many comments occurred within each code. Finally some data techniques
which require significant interpretation, such as identifying customer
groups/segments/clusters, might be classed by some as qualitative techniques.

Randomised Controlled Trials Selecting two random samples with similar characteristics
and only carrying out an intervention in one; thus enabling any change that occurs to be
attributed to the intervention.

50
Reach a dis-aggregated number of people (or percentage of an audience) that have been
exposed to content. Reach differs from impressions, opportunities to see and eyeballs in
that it counts the actual number of people exposed to coverage rather than the number of
opportunities to see the coverage. It is a widely mis-used term in the industry and should
only be used when readership data has been dis-aggregated to take account of cross
readership patterns.

Reach and Frequency a common metric quantifying campaign success predominantly

used and accepted in advertising. It couples the reach metric with frequency which is the
average number of times that each person has been reached, or exposed, to the content.

Reblog when a bloger effectively endorses another bloggers post by posting it facsimile to
their own.

Relationship the way in which two or more people or things are connected, or the state of
being connected.

Relevance closely connected or appropriate to the matter in hand.

Representative random sample a randomly selected subset of the total data pool
(universe) that accurately reflects the profile of the whole data pool. Defined mathematically
but often not as pure in practice as can be impacted on by not all the data pool being
accessible. For example, a random sample could be drawn of news clippings publically
available online but would necessarily exclude those on paid sites (such as the Times in the
UK). This could be misrepresented as a sample of all newspapers. In market research not all
those randomly selected to take part in a survey do take part and initially representative
samples can be skewed to those more likely to take part.

Reputation the beliefs or opinions that are generally held about someone or something.

Research the process of investigating to answer a question.

Resonance the power to evoke enduring images, memories, and emotions.

Return on investment (ROI) a performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an

investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments. To calculate
ROI, the benefit (return) of an investment is divided by the cost of the investment; the result
is expressed as a percentage or a ratio. For the avoidance of doubt, there is no such thing
as non-financial ROI. If this phrase is invoked it may be to convey the importance of non-
financial metrics and their vital role inbusiness performance management.

RT retweet; when a Twitter user endorses another Twitter users tweet by forwarding it to
their network.

Semantic analysis computationally trying to determine the meaning of language, of a

corpus.

Sentiment often used interchangeably with tone, but more precisely refers to the feelings
the author is trying to convey.

51
Sentiment analysis a subtopic of semantic analysis; computationally trying to determine
the authors emotional regard for or attitude towards something from the text alone; usually
expressed on a 3- or 5-point ordinal scale (eg, very unfavourable, unfavourable, neutral,
favourable, very favourable).

SEO search engine optimization; the process of editing a webpage to help maximize its
PageRankand similar quantifications of its relevance to particular search terms.

Significance the quality of being worthy of attention; importance.

Social aggregation sites websites that collect content from multiple sources and re-
presents it in one location.

Social analytics the application of search, indexing, semantic analysis and business
intelligence technologies to the task of identifying, tracking, listening to and participating in
the distributed conversations about a particular brand, product or issue, with emphasis on
quantifying the trend in each conversations sentiment and influence.

Social bookmarking sites websites and services that allow users to store, manage,
organise and share links of content from across the web. Examples include Delicious,
Reddit, Stumbleupon, Digg, Pinterest.

Social capital a phrase growing in use to substitute for the inappropriate use of the word
influencewhen it comes to services such as Klout, PeerIndex, PeopleBrowsr and Traackr.
Social capital is often taken to mean the frequency with which a sources social media
contributions are shared, and the reach of that sharing. Not every social share is accretive to
social capital. Social capital is destroyed when stuff is shared in disagreement, disgust or
mockery for example.

Social media media that isnt traditional / industrial / mass media; media that is
interactive.

Social media spam can be either content or user accounts (for example on Twitter and
Facebook). The content is often auto-generated and designed solely to promote a sale, a
fraud or often to promote porn. The content is mass distributed and has no element of a
conversation to it.

Social Web consists of social media, applications, services and the network of devices.

Splog a spam blog is a blog used to promote affiliate websites with the intention of
increasing search engine ranking or to sell products or adverts.

Stakeholder a person or organisation with an interest or concern in our organisation or

something our organisation is involved in. (Whilst this definition includes competitors, theyre
not normally classified as stakeholders.)

Strategy Michael Porter defines strategy to be about selecting the set of activities in which
an organisation will excel to create a sustainable difference in the marketplace, and thereby
creating sustained value for its shareholders (or sustainable value in the case of non-profits).

52
T

The Coalition a group of PR trade bodies working together to lead the profession towards
measuring social media in a meaningful and credible manner. The coalition includes AMEC,
CPRF and the IPR.

The Conclave a loose body of interested parties looking to extend the work of The
Coalition to include other marketing disciplines which social media also touches.

Tone often used interchangeably with sentiment, but more accurately refers to the general
character and attitude the words convey.

Transparency open to public scrutiny.

Troll a person that lurks on message boards and social media properties making
inflammatory comments.

Trust firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something.

Values describes whats important to an organisation; often described alongside the

organisations mission and vision.

Viral Campaign - a communications campaign which is designed to exploit the potential of

the internet to spread messages rapidly. The audience is encouraged to pass a message on
to all their email contacts.

Vision describes what an organisation wants to be; often described alongside the
organisationsmission and values.

Visits per session a series of web page requests from the same uniquely identified client
(eg, laptop or smartphone) with a time limit of 30 minutes between each page request.

Vlog a blog created using video content, typically focussed on a cause or special interest.

Wiki a website facilitating collaborative editing. The best known wiki is Wikipedia.

WOMMA the Word of Mouth Marketing Association is a non-profit organisation dedicated

to advancing and advocating the discipline of credible word of mouth marketing.

53
Neil Wholey
Head of Research and Customer Insight at
Westminster City Council

54
 Top Measurement
Tips
We asked all our international authors for
their top 3 measurement tips. Here is a
summary of what they said.

Francis Ingham & Jeremy Thompson's

Top 3 Measurement Tips

Measurement is the best way to

demonstrate the value of your work - use it;

Be clear about your goals, measure

objectively;

Don't obsess about a number, focus on

demonstrating the link between activities
and outcomes.

Read Francis and Jeremy's Chapter

55
David Gallagher's Top 3 Measurement
Tips

The age of measuring outcomes in PR is

well and truly upon us.

Avoid measurement at your own peril

and with significant opportunity costs.

A commitment to measurement is as much

an industry issue as a differentiator for
individual competitors.

Read David's Chapter

Andy Wests Top 3 Measurement Tips

Do the groundwork and engage people at

all levels across the agency in the
development of the approach before
launching internally.

Identify suitable clients with which to roll

out the approach, using the success of the
deployment to facilitate sell in to other
clients across the network.

Dont assume universal success

immediately; it takes time and sometimes
baby steps are needed.

Read Andy's Chapter

56
Mazen Nahawis Top 3 Measurement Tips

Always start with asking yourself what

you want your evaluation to achieve
(sounds pretty basic, but youd be amazed
how many organisations forget this vital
step).

Be realistic on budget, on timing, on

scope. You tend to get what you pay for

Invest time up front with your evaluation

provider time invested now in defining
expectations, scope, budget etc will pay
dividends down the line.

Read Mazen's Chapter

Colin Wheeler & Chris Talagos Top 3

Measurement Tips

Set specific and measurable objectives

in advance that can be used to improve
communications planning

Communications creates business value

in several steps: Activity, Output, Outcome,
Business ROI.

Dont waste time and budget on

evaluation if the results wont be used!

Read Colin and Chris Chapter

57
David Rockland & Allison Szeliga's Top
3 Measurement Tips

Read and understand the Barcelona

Principles. Available at amecorg.com.

When you report results, place them in

the context of the business objectives of
the organization as well as against the
goals of the communications program you
are measuring.

Ask yourself how you can move your

measurement program to the next level,
whether it be to add a quality dimension to
media measurement if you are only
counting clips, or from a change in
consumer perception to its impact on
business performance.

Read David & Allisons Chapter

Richard Bagnall's Top 3 Measurement

Tips

Begin with the end in mind Measure

against your objectives, align your social
objectives to those of your organisation

Measure appropriately - Be wary of

automation, and counting basic metrics that
are easy to count but basically meaningless

A few charts and numbers are not

measurement successful social media
measurement needs relevancy, context and
insight

And a bonus tip:

Dont fear measurement, embrace it, its there to help guide you not criticise you!

Read Richard's Chapter

58
Michael Frohlichs Top 3 Measurement
Tips

Be PROVOCATIVE! Abandon all goals for

broad coverage. Aim for the right impact
only. Become obsessive about "how did this
change behaviour?" not how much coverage
it got. Design communications programs
from the outset to drive behaviour change,
not clippings.

Speak the language of the boardroom!

Always strive to link public relations to results
that can be banked (ie. not clippings or
AVE). This may be a longer term outcome
(eg. new leads to closing deals 12 months
later) or corporate reputation gains that open up access to new resources or cost savings
from deeper employee engagement and reduced staff turnover.

Reserve program budget for quality impact & outcome measurement to prove business
impact.

Read Michael's Chapter

Elayne Phillips Top 3 Measurement Tips

To derive value from measurement it must

be linked to both PR and the wider business
goals

The best agencies challenge goals that

are woolly or badly defined

Tailor your measurement for different

audiences for maximum impact

Read Elayne's Chapter

59
Shonali Burkes Top 3 Measurement Tips

Push for outcome metrics. These can

put the BHA in the G; Big, Hairy, Audacious
Goals. Sometimes our clients need our help
in pinning them down. But when we do, we
have a much clearer picture of what we are
working towards, which is a great motivator.

Budget-shmudget. Dont get me wrong;:

Id be delighted with a huge measurement
budget that let me create tons of fancy
charts and graphs. But just because you
dont have one doesnt mean you cant
design a smart measurement program. Be
creative but not prevaricative in your use
of Internet-based tools (many of which are extremely affordable) to track your work.

A clear call-to-action is vital. Not only does it make your strategy more effective, you
know exactly what it is youre tracking. Make sure your CTA connects to your desired
outcome and dont be shy asking for it.

Read Shonali's Chapter

Neil Wholey's Top 3 Measurement Tips

Ensure all project briefs are clear

Avoid jargon but if you must check what

the word means and challenge people who
use it in the wrong way.

Dont invent new words deliberately

unless they truly represent a new idea.

Read Neil's Chapter

60
Like To Know
More?
Thank you for your interest in visiting the PR
Professionals Guide. We intend to update
this at regular intervals to bring PR
professionals the best thinking from around
the world.

For information on the organisations who

collaborated to produce the Guide please
contact:

AMEC

International Association for Measurement

and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC)

Barry Leggetter, FPRCA, FCIPR

CEO

barryleggetter@amecorg.com
T +44 1268 412414
M +44 7748 677 504
www.amecorg.com

61
ICCO

International Communications
Consultancy Organisation

Binta Kristin Hammerich, MPRCA

General Manager, ICCO

info@iccopr.com
T +44 20 7233 6026

www.iccopr.com
www.twitter.com/ICCOpr
www.facebook.com/ICCOpr

Francis Ingham, MPRCA

Director General, PRCA & Executive

Director, ICCO

020 7233 6026

Fax is; 020 7828 4797

francis.ingham@prca.org.uk
www.prca.org.uk

62