PR Measurement Principle Three: What Counts?

Posted by Scot Wheeler on July 22, 2010 0 comments

Thanks to the detour into the semantics of communications 2.0 and a wander through miio, I arrive at the Barcelona PR Principle Three just as the debate has become quite a “kerfuffle”. Sorry, but expect a long post.

For those visitors who aren’t PR mavens, Advertising Value Equivalents are dollar values that result from a formula that tries to estimate what the coverage of a Public Relations campaign would have cost if it had been executed through advertising.

The formula is appealing to many organizations because it allows PR to present itself in what is usually a pretty great light. The ROI for PR work as evaluated through AVE almost always justifies the spend on PR.

The issue of course is that the formula is an estimate that bases a hard dollar value on a number of assumptions, and that when these assumptions are wrong, they produce an inflated result that has no real connection to the actual outcomes of Public Relations, which ultimately erodes the credibility of Public Relations measurement in general. This is a real problem of AVEs. » Read more…

The Influence of Framing on "Influence" and the miio Factor

Posted by Scot Wheeler on July 20, 2010 0 comments

My experience on the new site miio over the last several days has opened my eyes to what a difference terminology can make. The social psychologists refer to this form of cognitive bias as “framing”; the idea is that initial context will shape all following perceptions, experiences and behavior.

Twitter was built around the idea of “followers”. And given the ego-boost that comes from feeling that you’re building a devoted following, is it any surprise that the most important measure around social media became “influence”? In the case of Twitter, in the minds of many, this seems to have far too often been understood as a euphemism for “importance”.

Now, with the mercenary nature of influence-mongering exposed by the Fast Company Influence Project, the conversation has been shifted from influence to trust… » Read more…

Getting the Message

Posted by Scot Wheeler on July 19, 2010 0 comments

I’ve been cautioned at being too literal, so maybe I’m taking this question too seriously. Could be “just a matter of semantics” as they say, but as I think about new communications and measurement, I keep getting stuck on trying to meet one of the new standards.

Many social media strategists, most prominently Brian Solis (who I greatly respect), have called for communications pros to move away from thinking of “pitching” “audiences” with “messages”, and to think instead of engaging with people.

The shift from thinking of “audiences” to thinking instead of people in communities is a must for social media. I still default to this term “audience” too much, but what I really mean, and hereby pledge to say instead, is people, individuals, groups and communities. And the notion of pitching does seem pretty impersonal in a social media context. I wonder, however, if thinking in terms of “messages” must be struck from the practice completely?

After all, there is something we want to get across in our engagement with people, and people are actively seeking information in social media all the time. In semiotics, a message is simply the conveyance of meaning. » Read more…

The Practice of Influence: Brian’s Hybrid Theory

Posted by Scot Wheeler on July 12, 2010 0 comments

The write-up on Barcelona Principle Two below presents the importance of measurement in order to understand markets and exert influence to achieve business objectives. In that context, I thought it worth commenting on Brian Solis’ blog today introducing his Hybrid Theory Manifesto.

I particularly like Brian’s definition of the hybrid workforce: “a workforce of cross-breeds , experts who master an array of marketing artistry, social sciences such as psychology and sociology, creative vision, business dynamics, service, and communications. These individuals do not displace the authorities in their respective disciplines, they simply extend their capabilities into new media and corresponding domains and markets.”

This description of the emerging “social communications” practitioner, and Brian’s take on the new communications environment, where “attention is earned and engagement is a privilege” illustrate why the Barcelona Principles for PR measurement require immediate understanding by all PR practitioners. As organizations develop their hybrid workforce in response to changing social expectations, everyone, will need to understand how what they do fits in to the new workplace, and will need to show how they contribute. Work that is done without measurement-based planning and evaluation cannot hope to connect with a practice built on social sciences and business dynamics. The Barcelona Principles are the pylons on which PR teams can build their bridge from a siloed practice, to the hybrid organization.

PR Measurement Principle Two: The End of Assumptions

Posted by Scot Wheeler on July 12, 2010 0 comments

Media measurement requires quantity and quality – cuttings in themselves are not enough

With Principle One having established that PR practice must have some measureable link to business-related goals, we come to Principle Two, which seeks to establish the nature of that measurement.

The collection and counting of cuttings (and the related calculation of impressions) is a measurement solely of output, and what good is simply measuring output, especially when the basis for success is just “more is better”?

What would happen if the operations team acted on the same basis, producing as much product as they could and measuring their success simply on getting that product out to market? What if they were not concerned with whether it was being produced at the highest quality for the lowest cost, or sold at a profit, or whether people were actually buying the product at all?

A business that only cared about making stuff and putting it in stores without worrying about whether it was profitable, or was even selling, would not be a business for long. Yet communications teams that understand their only goal to be “produce public relations messages” (see Principle One) and measure that goal on volume that they get into outlets are the equivalent of such a business. » Read more…