Your brand is not the only one targeting your audience. You’re going up against your competitors, their internal thought leaders and the external influencers with whom they have partnered.
Do your public relations campaigns make an impact or fall short of competitors’?
If your answer is “I don’t know,” you’re missing out on major opportunities to earn new followers and gain more coverage.
So what should your brand include in its measurement strategy? Consider these three factors.
1. Mention Volume
Mention volume helps you understand the impact your brand is having on conversations. With social monitoring software, you can track how many times your brand is mentioned by media outlets, influencers, prospects, bloggers and more.
Don’t limit your tracking to your brand though. Keep an eye on competitors to see how your mention volume stacks up.
For example, look at others’ unbranded mention volume to see if there are any industry keywords or conversations you’re not a part of but should be.
2. Sentiment
Neutral sentiment will likely make up the majority of the conversation about your brand. This means your brand will want to set realistic expectations for positive sentiment benchmarks. Think in small percentage point increases.
One way to keep your positive sentiment higher than your competitors is to take note of customer complaints. Correct negative experiences publicly to demonstrate your superior customer service, turn a hater into a brand advocate and prove to observers that you don’t let negative situations go ignored.
As Neal Schaffer explains in Cision’s Listen e-book, you can find and reach out to your competitors’ unhappy customers and earn leads from those social conversations, too.
3. Earned Media
The effectiveness of your media relations strategy goes beyond the amount of press coverage. You need to track social shares, likes and favorites from influencers, journalists and your audience. Not all media mentions are equal, so understand the type of publication that mentioned your brand.
Pay attention to who is talking about your news, which outlets and platforms are popular and how contacts are interacting with your pitches to determine the success of your outreach efforts and inform future strategies.
Remember, your competitors don’t have a monopoly on media outlets or journalists. See where competitors get their publicity, which of their stories receive the most engagement and how their audience reacts to the news.
Also look at how innovators in other industries are earning publicity. They might have a secret pitching tactic that could give your pitching strategy the boost it needs to establish your brand as a leader.
