Slides accompanying a talk to Carleton University journalism students enrolled in a public relations course. The talk focused on the importance of evaluation in the execution of social media programs for organizations.

1. Measurement in
communications and
social media
Bob LeDrew, principal consultant
Carleton University, February 13, 2014

2. Why measure?

3. Why measure:
• PR objectives to organizational objectives
• Demonstrate ROI of comms initiatives
• Calibrate programs and learn from
experience
• Ensure best use of time and resources

4. Why do social media?

5. It’s just
communications

6. Birth of PR

7. PR’s youth

8. Public information model

9. PR measurement 101
• Stage 1: Measure outputs
Stage 2: Measure outcomes
•

10. What to measure
•
•
Tactics must relate to strategic
goals
Measurement tools must relate
to your tactics

11. Outputs
• News releases
• Emails
• Tweets
• Blog posts
• Podcast episodes
• Web updates
•?

12. Outcomes
• Web visits
• Open rates
• Clickthroughs
• Conversions
• Subscriptions
• Likes
• Shares

13. The goal is engagement
• Old-school: impressions
New-school: engagement
•

14. Strategize
Evaluate
Resource
Execut
e

15. Evaluation (should)
drive strategy

16. Online resources
• Katie Paine: www.kdpaine.com
• Institute for PR: http://www.instituteforpr.org/index.php/IPR/research/measurement/
• MediaMiser: http://www.turningnewsintoknowledge.com/
• Media relations rating points: http://www.mrpdata.com/
• New PR Wiki on PR:
http://www.thenewpr.com/wiki/pmwiki.php?pagename=PRMeasurement.HomePage
• New PR Wiki on social media: http://www.thenewpr.com/wiki/pmwiki.php?
pagename=SocialMediaMeasurement.HomePage
• IABC’s Measurement Commons: http://commons.iabc.com/measure/
• Ed Moed’s “Measuring Up”: http://measuringupblog.typepad.com/measuring_up/
• Avinash Kaushik’s “Occam’s Razor”: http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/
• Nathan Linnell on key measurements: http://searchenginewatch.com/3641089
• Webtrends: http://www.webtrends.com/products/analytics/facebook.aspx

17. Books
• KD Paine: Measuring Public Relationships
• Avinash Kaushik: Web Analytics 2.0 and Web
Analytics: An Hour a Day
• Shiv Singh: Social Media Marketing for
Dummies
• Jim Sterne: Social Media Metrics
• David Meerman Scott: The New Rules of
Marketing and PR

18. Questions?
Discussion.

19. Thank you!
Bob LeDrew, principal consultant
http://translucid.ca
613.869.2148