Contributed post.
Public relations (PR) is a critical component of any business, yet it can be difficult to track the success of PR campaigns. Many companies rely on key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of their marketing and sales efforts, but what KPIs should your PR department be tracking?
Here are six of the most important KPIs that your PR and media relations team should be monitoring.
Web Traffic
One of the most critical KPIs your PR department should be tracking is web traffic. This metric can help you measure the overall reach of your PR campaigns and determine whether or not your efforts are driving more people to your website.
You can track web traffic using tools like Google Analytics, which will show you how much traffic your website is receiving from both organic and paid searches, and even more importantly, which websites are driving referral traffic your way.
Social Media Engagement
Another important metric for your PR department to track is social media engagement. This metric will help you measure how well your PR campaigns resonate with people on social media and determine whether or not you should increase your spending on social media advertising.
You can track engagement using social media monitoring tools like Twitter Analytics, which will show you how many impressions your tweets are receiving and how many interactions (likes, retweets, etc.) they are generating.
Media Coverage
Media coverage is another vital metric that your PR department should be tracking. This metric can help you measure the overall success of your PR campaigns and determine which publications are most interested in your story.
You can track media coverage using tools like Google Alerts, which will send you an email notification every time your company is mentioned in a news article, or brand monitoring tools like BrandMentions or Brand24.
Share Of Voice
Another crucial measure that your PR department should be monitoring is the proportion of voice. This metric can help you measure the competitiveness of your industry and determine how well your company is performing compared to its competitors.
You can track the share of voice using tools like Brandwatch, which will show you how much online discussion your company is generating compared to its competitors.
Brand Awareness Improvement
Brand awareness is another important KPI for your PR department to monitor. This metric can help you measure the overall success of your PR campaigns and determine whether or not people are more likely to remember your company after hearing about it in the news.
You can track brand awareness using tools like BuzzSumo, which will show you how many shares your company’s content is receiving on social media.
Improved SEO Rankings
Finally, your PR department should be tracking SEO rankings to determine if there has been any improvement in the search engine results pages (SERP). This metric can help you measure the overall success of your PR campaigns and determine whether or not people are more likely to find your company’s website when they use a search engine.
You can track SEO rankings using tools like SEMrush, which will show you how your website performs in the search engine results pages for specific keywords. More specifically, monitor your backlink profile for changes in the quantity and quality of external sites linking in; successful PR efforts will positively impact this.
All of these KPIs need to be tracked and presented weekly to ensure that your PR department is getting the critical work done. Presentations should be concise and to the point, preferably through a graph maker or similar technology to visually display information for analysis.
In conclusion, the KPIs that your PR department should be tracking is essential for measuring your PR campaign success. By monitoring these metrics, you can ensure that your PR efforts positively impact your business.