Big Data is a big term these days, but most of what you hear relates to marketing. Marketers are using all the masses of data out there to better target their emails and content marketing campaigns. But what about public relations? Can’t we also benefit from it?
Absolutely, and here’s how.
Know What to Pay Attention to
There’s a lot of information out of there, but most of it’s noise, at least as far as your PR strategy goes. A few areas worth paying attention to:
1. Online statistics
Not only can analytics tell you a lot about the traffic on your website, but they can also measure the effectiveness of your social media efforts, as well as provide press release analytics. Knowing which of your releases were read the most can help you craft future releases for maximum reads.
2. Media analysis tracks
Seeing who’s writing about your brand helps you stay on top of both the positive and negative mentions, helping you avoid potential PR crises.
3. Brand awareness
Whether you’re managing PR for your company or for clients, data like social media mentions and reviews is instrumental in helping you gauge your brand’s reach.
4. Survey research data
You can analyze brand and audience sentiment with surveys, as well as use survey results for press release fodder.
Use The Right Tools for Managing Big Data
This list will be outdated as soon as it’s published, since there are so many new data management tools coming on board, but here are a few of my favorite picks:
- SurveyMonkey: makes getting that information from your community simple, and its free account is more than adequate for most needs.
- Google Analytics: from a PR standpoint, you can use it to see which sites that published your press release or wrote about your brand are sending traffic back to your site.
- Google Alerts: great for monitoring mention of your brand across the ‘Net.
- Vocus: provides rich data on each press release you publish, including reads, impressions, and interactions.
Want to see how Vocus can help with data? Click here to take a demo!
Take Action
Big Data is only as useful as the action you take as a result. For example, it does you no good to know that three new sites mentioned your new product unless you do something with this (sure, you’ll get traffic back to your site anyway, but you should still be proactive in being involved).
Comment on each blog post, thanking them for the review and answering any questions that were brought up in the article. Tweet the articles to your community. Link to them in a blog post.
Or if you have a negative mention on social media, respond immediately to diffuse the situation, remedy it and turn a disgruntled customer into a happy one.
Don’t fear Big Data. It’s here to help all of us, and with the right tools, it can be manageable and helpful.
Want to read more about measurement in PR? Click here!
Susan Payton is the President of Egg Marketing & Communications, where she helps her clients realize the benefits of social media, content marketing and blogging. Read more of Susan’s articles here!
Photos: Chase Elliott Clark, & Blue Diamond Photography (Creative Commons)
