8. New Practice #8: The Master of the Metrics

Historically, measurement has been a tough practice, even before social media came onto the scene. PR professionals have worked tirelessly to show how public relations can lead to valuable business outcomes for an organization. One of the greatest challenges is to reveal the “tangibles” of PR. However, many professionals decided this translated into impressions (eyeballs) and the value of media coverage, if the coverage were converted to advertising or Advertising Value Equivalents (AVEs). Ask any PR measurement professional and you quickly learn how and why you should move beyond the practice of AVEs, once and for all.

According to the Barcelona Principles, which provide a set of standard practices, PR requires goal setting and measurement. The Barcelona Principles state, “Fundamentally important, goals should be as quantitative as possible and address who, what, when, and how much impact is expected from a public relations campaign.” They further discuss how, “Traditional as well as social media should be measured to capture changes in stakeholder awareness, comprehension, attitude, and behavior....We need to think in terms of communities of ‘stakeholders’ as the power of communications shifts from companies and institutions to communities of individuals.” Because of this shift from companies and institutions to individuals, it’s imperative to uphold go....¹