How to measure PR: 6 key metrics to track

A lot of people don’t quite get PR - and partly, it’s because it can seem a bit tricky to measure. Where exactly should you expect results?

So here’s the simple answer: PR helps build awareness, trust and a reputation for a business. And though it’s hard to measure these directly, there are lots of specific metrics you can track to see how PR is helping you reach your business objectives.

1. Media Mentions

Media mentions are the number of times your business is mentioned across different platforms. For instance, you could look at how many article mentions you have in the news or how many mentions you’ve received on social media.

These things are simple to keep an eye on by setting up notifications for keywords or phrases related to your business (your company name, company products, company research/content, key people within your organisation, to name a few). And this can be easily done using tools such as Google alerts or Mention.

By keeping on top of media mentions, you’ll understand how relevant your brand is in the current period as well as how your PR is impacting the reach and reputation of your business. 

2. Share of voice (SOV)

SOV measures how big your ‘voice’ is in the market in comparison to your competitors. In other words, it measures your mentions in comparison to theirs. 

For example, you have two main competitors and between the three of you, there are 100 mentions - 65 of which are yours. This means that your SOV is 65%.

This metric is great for understanding how well your PR is helping you take part in or even dominate market conversations in direct contrast to your competitors. 

3. Media impressions

Media impressions are the number of times your content is displayed to people across a specific platform or channel. 

When in the news media, for example, it’s the article you’re mentioned in, multiplied by the average readership of the publication the article appears within. 

(Article mention X Readership of publication)

Or, on social media, impressions are the number of people who can see your content in their feed and is usually visible when you click onto the metrics of your post.

However, when it comes to impressions, bear in mind that they don’t reveal the actual number of people who read or click onto your content. Instead, it’s about the potential of your content to reach certain audiences. 

4. Website traffic

Articles and social media mentions as well as your own company content (blogs, videos etc.) are all part of the PR effort and encourage people to visit your website. 

If you measure your website traffic before you begin a PR campaign, you can then easily compare traffic levels once your campaign ends. This is a really simple way to analyse the results of PR for your company.

5. Website authority

A large part of PR can be getting journalists to include backlinks to your website within their articles. The reason for doing so is that increasing the number and quality of backlinks a website has helps its authority to grow - and with higher website authority comes a higher chance of boosting traffic and improving rankings within search engine results pages.

A proviso though - this is not the norm in HR publications, so don’t count it as an easy-win. Some publications will add in backlinks depending on the content, and some won’t, saving the privilege for advertisers or sponsors. It is always sensible to consider paid-for opportunities in this situation. 

Keeping track of your website authority will reveal a lot about the ability of your PR to keep you visible online, trusted by search engines and consequently, on the radar of your audiences.

6. Conduct market research

This method is a straightforward technique to check on general awareness levels of your brand. All you need to do is conduct a survey to get an overview of how your brand is perceived before and after you begin your PR campaign. In this survey, you can collect information on the consciousness of your brand, how well people understand your products or services, as well as overriding opinions on your company. It’s a really good idea to survey journalists in your market too - what do they know about you? 

This way,  you’ll not only get a good sense of how the market views your brand but how your PR campaign is influencing ideas surrounding your business.

If you want to understand how PR can specifically help your business, get in touch - we’re happy to help.