Our friends over at Tealium, a web analytics technology and consulting firm, wrote an excellent blog post the other day on the myths and facts surrounding social media measurement. Quite familiar with their technology, I offer this companion piece focused on measuring PR from a marketing perspective.

Myth: Current PR measurement methods are satisfactory

Fact: Current PR measurement is all over the place, and completely unsatisfactory. In fact, PR measurement has been nothing short of a black box. PR professionals, through no fault of their own, have been flummoxed by measurement details, and have traditionally offered up weak statistics — advertising values anyone? — to marketers demanding some type of ROI data. Measurements like tone of coverage definitely have their place, but they don’t speak to true business results.

Driving better results through PR and social media measurement.

Myth: You can’t measure PR in terms of traffic and conversions

Fact: You absolutely can, thanks to new web analytics technology from companies like Tealium. PR (and social media) can now be measured like any other online marketing campaign: in terms of traffic, conversions, leads and sales. You can see exactly which media outlets — blogs, trade press, mainstream press, and social media — deliver the most traffic and results. You can even measure the impact of online stories or blog posts that mention your company’s name, but don’t contain a direct link to your site. That last detail is huge – it’s the missing component for true PR and social media measurement. For the first time, PR and social media can be measured for ROI.

Myth: PR isn’t about measurement and ROI

Fact: It hasn’t been, because no one’s been able to measure it thus far. PR, though not corporate communications,  is a marketing channel, and therefore should be scrutinized like any other marketing channel. Why not? Yes, PR is about starting a dialogue, changing opinions, influencing the influencers, etc. But at the end of the day, especially during this economy, when you ask marketing executives what matters most, they’ll tell you: revenue and ROI.

Myth: I can’t compare PR measurement to my other online channels

Fact: Because Tealium technology integrates into your analytics tool, you can get real-time ROI metrics right alongside your other online acquisition channels: search engine marketing, banner ads, newsletter sponsorships, etc.

Myth: You can’t make actionable decisions from PR and social media metrics

Fact: Yes, you can. That’s what makes it so exciting. You can make big decisions, both strategic and tactical. For example:

•    Which social media programs should I invest in?
•    Should I invest in PR?
•    Which media outlets — blogs, trade press, business press, etc. – drive the best awareness and results?
•    Which specific sites or blogs generate the best response? Should I consider advertising possibilities on those sites?
•    Was it worth it spending $30K to develop that ‘viral’ Facebook application?
•    Did our online video initiative produce anything beyond a lot of video views?

The list goes on. With the advent of real technology, best practices around PR and social media measurement will become a growth area (it’s something Engage already specializes in). The best part about PR measurement is that it finally gives PR folks a long-awaited seat at the marketing table. Why? Because for the first time, they can sit down and provide bottom line results for their work.

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