Data can be overwhelming for PR professionals. Online metrics are crucial for measuring the success of campaigns, and with so many sources there’s a lot to consider. Here’s a breakdown of the main metrics, what they are, and why they are useful.
Impressions
The impressions metric gauges the reach of campaigns. Impressions refer to the number of times a piece of content is seen, even without interaction. PR professionals can use impression tracking to measure how many people encounter the message and helps assess its effectiveness.
Engagement
Measuring user engagement is an important task for PR professionals. It measures how engaged the audience is with the content. A high rate of engagement shows that the audience is connecting to the content and creating more brand awareness as well as loyalty. Tracking metrics such as likes, shares, comments, and clicks help keep track of this.
Reach
Reach refers to the number of individuals exposed to a piece of content. Unlike impressions which track views, it accounts for each user only once, regardless of how many times the content is viewed. PR professionals rely on reach to determine the audience size and assess targeting ability. Tracking reach is essential for gauging the effectiveness of the campaign’s efforts.
Website Traffic
PR professionals must track website traffic to gauge the success of a campaign. Monitoring this data reveals whether messaging and targeting is effective in increasing website traffic. This allows the assessment of the campaign’s impact.
Conversion Rates
Conversion rates measure the percentage of users who take desired actions on a website, such as signing up for a newsletter, filling out a form, or making a purchase. Tracking conversion rates is required for PR professionals to gauge the campaigns’ success in achieving the company’s objectives.
Social Media Followers
PR pros must track social media followers to measure a company’s audience size and the effectiveness of campaigns. This helps identify which campaigns drive follower growth, as well as the impact on social media growth.
Sentiment Analysis
Sentiment analysis is the identification of emotion in online company and product mentions. Crucially important to PR professionals, sentiment analysis can be positive, negative, or neutral. PR professionals use sentiment analysis to ascertain public opinion and pick up on issues and opportunities that may not be immediately evident. Monitoring sentiment allows them to adjust their messaging strategy for maximum effectiveness.
Share of Voice
Share of voice measures a company or product’s presence online relative to its competitors. Tracking the share of voice is an essential element of PR work, enabling pros to assess a firm’s standing in the marketplace and judge how successful PR campaigns have been in raising awareness.