INDUSTRY GUIDE
From Measurement to Management
PART 2: ENGAGEMENT
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From Measurement to Management Part 2: Engagement
EDITOR’S NOTE Engagement is the second of a five-part PR measurement series based on the five key dimensions adopted in the LEWIS measurement framework. Previous guides include: Introduction with Foreword from AMEC Exposure Subsequent guides include: Preference Impact Advocacy
CONTENTS Overview 4 Adding context to insight 5 Measuring true value of placements
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Setting engagement goals 8 Key KPIs 9
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From Measurement to Management Part 2: Engagement
OVERVIEW Getting attention is no doubt a top goal of communications. But keeping it is just as important, and perhaps more difficult. As data-driven intelligence makes each new in-road through marketing and communications channels, it’s becoming ever clearer: progressing from a focus on pure exposure toward the objective of two-way interaction is fundamental to communications success. While engagement is not the end goal for most campaigns – although it is for some - it’s a decidedly important category of performance. With the task complete of initiating exposure to a brand, engagement represents the second step on the continuum toward audience attachment. When a member of a target audience responds to content, it represents a basic instance of engagement. Response by very definition indicates that content is seen as relevant. When individuals also go as far as to make the choice to share that content, the action both validates the content and signals a potential opportunity for further attachment. The individuals have injected themselves into the content’s identity by acting as connectors to it. For years, “have you seen that commercial?” was the question most commonly asked to see whether you’ve engaged with a brand. The proverbial office ‘water cooler’ has seemingly mostly relocated within social channels. This has arguably led to the re-definition of the term engagement itself, but no doubt, communicators can now measure it on a more granular and quantitative level.
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From Measurement to Management Part 2: Engagement
ADDING CONTEXT TO INSIGHT Social media platforms have created opt-in platforms providing the opportunity for people to serve up opinions and share experiences in real-time. This yields an array of structured and semi-structured data from which to derive insight into content effectiveness, at bare minimum. In social channels, most measurement of engagement boils down to response to and sharing of content. Although the names for these interactions are channel specific, whether retweets, shares, comments or pins, they all represent instances of content being vouched for as relevant, and worthwhile of additional exposure. Counting these instances and tracking them over time gives a sense of overall progress. But ratios centering on the number of these sorts of actions taken in proportion to overall exposure are increasingly seen as more insightful than mere counts. Examples include re-tweets per 1000 followers or clicks on shared links per 1000 followers. These measures allow communicators to go beyond exposure to determine which content snippets audiences are finding most compelling. In owned channels like websites and blogs, measures of ‘stickiness’ correlate with engagement – these are quantifications of the desire of the user to remain in or return to the channel for more good content. Google Analytics and other website metrics that indicate engagement include bounce rate, return visits, time on site, number of incoming links and subscriptions. Here too, ratios comparing these indicators with overall traffic volume can yield insight with more context. In paid channels such as online ads, holding audience attention is measured through engagement metrics like number of video starts, time viewing, and interaction rate - the ratio calculated by dividing the number of clicks on an asset by its total impressions. Interaction rate is also often used for video content within owned channels.
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From Measurement to Management Part 2: Engagement
MEASURING TRUE VALUE OF PLACEMENTS So what about media relations result? The approach should be much the same. Whether an ad, a photo, a video, a tweet or a blog post, each unit of engagement centers on a single piece of content. Likewise, with earned media coverage, it makes sense to measure engagement around the journalist’s article or multimedia asset. Do people comment on it? Is it shared within social channels? Does it spark additional content creation by other individuals and brands? By answering these questions, each media placement can be measured not simply on the basis of how many people it reached, but also by whether they felt it was valuable. By taking the approach of answering these questions for each media placement, PR professionals can both create aggregated assessments of engagement as well as retain the ability to drill down to which forms of content are most successful. One can make the argument that engagement assessments are, across channels, where measurement becomes less about merely proving value and more about content improvement.
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From Measurement to Management Part 2: Engagement
When it comes to enhancing content strategy, while coverage levels and other exposure metrics give a sense of what is successfully being sold into journalists, engagement metrics push through toward the audience’s validation of the nature of the content within the articles once they are published. Editors too are interested in what content is driving readership, evidenced by media websites’ own public rankings and lists of most emailed and most viewed articles. Certainly, editorial decisions are being made based on audience appetite. Therefore, PR professionals should see engagement metrics as leading indicators for future exposure metrics. If an article is getting a lot of interest on a media source’s website, chances are, there will be more opportunities for similarly themed content pieces. Likewise, if a placement isn’t sparking sharing and comment, future pitches with that content theme might be increasingly futile.
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From Measurement to Management Part 2: Engagement
SETTING ENGAGEMENT GOALS Much like with exposure metrics, PR teams should set engagement goals based on an analysis of past content performance whenever possible. Examining the data around the most successful individual pieces of content in the past and comparing numbers with average engagement levels over time can help yield realistic goals for a campaign. Content that has been highly successful in non-earned channels, such as blogs or ads, can predictably translate this ‘over-performance’ within earned media channels. For example, if a content asset achieved 150 per cent of average engagement in an owned or paid channel, it’s reasonable to set that goal within media. It’s important to note that in every campaign, there will be always a few keystone pieces of content that drive deeper interest and spike the measures of engagement. It’s natural for teams to look at the troughs and wonder why there are periods where levels have declined. Rather than view a dip as a failure, it’s often a key strategic asset. If exposure measures remain constant, insight can be gathered to inform whether to devote further resources to that kind of content. Improved engagement strategy is not about a smooth and steady line graph, or never missing the mark with content. Proactive engagement strategy involves setting the goal of a graph with more spikes, sent higher with each content campaign.
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From Measurement to Management Part 2: Engagement
KEY KPIs In addition to the other channel-specific metrics mentioned above, LEWIS recommends the following KPIs as the easiest to collect specifically for media placement engagement measurement: Comments on article within media website/comment system Tweets including article placement links LinkedIn updates including article placement links Facebook Likes including article placement links Facebook Shares including article placement links YouTube (and other video platforms) views of content embedded within articles Pins of placement links Re-blogs, digests, email newsletters, linking to placement Engagement metrics yield a better understanding of which media placements and content themes are driving the most interest. Creating consistent engagement means opening up numerous conversations around the topics that intersect with the audience. The natural result should be that these good conversations turn into relationships. At the core of any relationship is whether someone prefers your opinion and presence to another’s. This will be explored further in the next chapter in this series: PREFERENCE.
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White Paper Exposure
About us LEWIS was founded in 1995 by a former journalist and, since then, it has grown to over 500 employees based in more than 28 offices across the US, EMEA and Asia Pacific. Its regional headquarters are in London, San Francisco and Singapore. LEWIS is known for delivering bold digital communications campaigns that enhance revenue, value and reputation for global brands. Digital communications services span PR and media relations, social media marketing, search engine optimization and digital content production.
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