Data has all but taken over public relations. Advances in digital media and the growth of social media data has ushered in this new era, perhaps a golden era, allowing PR pros to look at metrics besides awareness and engagement.
PR pros can now see how their efforts impact the bottom line by seeing what actions their efforts cause their audience to take. What’s responsible for this change? Largely, it’s content publication tools, social data and analytics.
Cision’s latest white paper “PR Tech: What’s in Store for 2015?” looks at the changing PR landscape, showcases the role tools will play in the near future, and offers practical advice for using them.
Here are some of the topics the white paper explores in more depth.
Data’s Impact on Business
Reach and impressions were once a PR pro’s only means of measuring success. The rise of data has given way to first-touch attribution as a means of monitoring PR impact. For a long time brands monitored what content or interaction convinced people to buy. First-touch attribution shows the initial step that people took before entering the buying funnel.
Brands can now also measure sentiment in real-time and use quantitative and qualitative data to see how what its target audience thinks about its content and other offerings.
All of this data gives PR pros the opportunity to identify customer trends, create more effective content and engage in deep competitive analysis. However, if PR pros want to leverage that data, they need the right tools.
Google Universal Analytics and Trends
What would we do without Google? It offers services beyond search that PRs could use on a daily basis. With its Analytics and Trends features, PR practitioners can compare their content and other efforts to previous campaigns and trends. This better enables PRs to track, measure and optimize their efforts moving forward. They also make it easy to prove first-touch attribution.
Marketing automation
Marketing automation tools allow for easier sharing, promotion and assessment of your latest PR campaigns. That analysis can be used to determine the strategies for campaigns moving forward.
Social sentiment/analysis tools
PR pros put a lot of effort into understanding what their audience thinks. Monitoring and analysis tools that scour the Internet in real-time to find conversations about your brand can help determine key performance indicators (KPIs), steer product marketing and even measure the impact of specific campaigns.
Are You Ready for PR in 2015?
As Kellye Crane recently demonstrated during her webinar, PRs have a long list to choose from when considering the PR tech to use in 2015. If you’re diving in for the first time, you have even more to consider. Here are three tips for preparing to use PR tech in the new year.
1. Avoid “shiny object syndrome”
Just because something is touted as the “next big thing” doesn’t mean its true. Make sure whatever tools you decide to use will help you reach your target audience.
2. Start small with data
The abundance of data can make it seem overwhelming. It doesn’t have to be, though. Just get your feet wet with data and focus on the outcomes that matter for your brand.
3. Tell stories visually
Visuals can provide a big boost in engagement, and many PR content creation tools allow for the inclusion of visual assets. Many more allow you to easily create visual assets to include in social updates and blog posts.
Want to leverage PR tech to success in 2015? Get your free white paper now!
