What do you think of this year’s most popular Fresh Ideas stories? Were you surprised at the range of topics? What would you like to see covered in 2012? Please share your thoughts and leave comments below.

10. Are PR Budgets Back?

9. Don’t Let a Bad Interviewer Spoil the Interview

8. Twitter Chat Transcripts Now Available from BurrellesLuce

7. When It Comes to Brands and Content, Simplicity Matters

6. Measuring Social Media, The Value of Influence

5. The Evolution of Media Measurement: Dr. Jim Grunig, University of Maryland, Interview

4. Public Relations and Marketing With QR Codes

3. Can We Talk? Social Media’s Impact on Human Relations

2. Survey: Journalists Do Not Want to Be Contacted Via Twitter

1. Blogger Relations Misconceptions

Flickr Image: United Nations Photo

We all know there are many reasons to use social media, but why not use it for a good cause? Well, that’s what many non-profits, NGOs, and supporters do! 

Let’s take a look at a recent social media campaign launched by USA for UNHCR. The initiative, called The Blue Key campaign, aims at raising awareness of UNHCR refugee work and raising money through the purchases of blue keys that symbolize a key to a home, which refugees no longer have. Their goal is to “dispatch 6,000 Blue Keys by December 31, 2011.” To date, they have dispatched over 3,400 keys. The campaign has had huge success this year and still has a presence if you run a Twitter search today. #BlueKey

I recently had the opportunity to talk with Shonali Burke, a public relations and social media strategist based in metro D.C., who consulted on The Blue Key campaign (USA for UNHCR is her client), and blogs at Waxing UnLyrical. From our discussion, I was able to see that the tactics fell into several categories.

Measurement
If you are a PR professional running a campaign, you may choose to set a goal that you can measure such as a set-amount of followers, hashtag mentions, or number of group members. (One of their goals was the number of blue keys.) You can then relate these quantitative metrics to monetary measurements and numbers of people positively affected as a result of such aid. You can also take a look at qualitative metrics, think tone or sentiment, to see how people may be reacting to your campaign and how your campaign may have shifted their awareness – positively, negatively, or neutrally.  What types of response can you get?

To understand how analytics helped UNHCR tell their story, check out this interview between Shonali and Beth Kanter, author of Beth’s Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media.  

Timeliness/Relevancy
Use holidays and events to your advantage. A great idea in the Blue Key campaign was to incorporate an online frenzy via a tweetathon (on June 13th) that approached World Refugee Day, held each year on June 20th.  These tweets then led to more awareness which, for UNHCR, resulted in a direct increase in support through purchases of blue keys. In fact, the tweetathons were so successful that they were held again in September and again on Monday, October 24th in honor of United Nations Day.

According to a recent email message sent by Marc Breslaw, executive director, USA for UNHCR – The UN Refugee Agency, the tweetathon held last week generated 1, 800 tweets with the hashtag #bluekey and have helped to spread even more awareness and keys.

And as 2011 draws to a close, another tweetathon is planned for November 17th from 9am – 9pm.

Word-of-mouth
Clearly, USA for UNHCR and other organizations can create their own campaigns to raise awareness. But how can people get involved with these organizations if they don’t launch the campaign themselves? That’s where the Blue Key Champions come into play. Social media users, in general, can aid in these campaigns by participating by spreading knowledge, posting info for events or fundraisers, and sending targeted info to their friends.

Community Engagement (In Real-Life)
Since part of the goal is to actually bring real world action to causes, it is important for organizations and the communities to meet in real life, not just online. Today (November 2nd), in the NYC-area there is a  tweetup (NYC #bluekey tweetup) organized by local Blue Key Champions and the D.C. #bluekey tweetup will be on November 10th. These tweetups are a great way for people who are passionate about a cause to come together and meet others who are equally as passionate and foster a sense of active community.

Want some other causes to follow on Twitter? Help promote a cause that you are passionate about. Use your social media power to your advantage. Here are a few Twitter handles I suggest you follow to get started: @UNRefugeeAgency, @planuk, @unicefusa, @Polaris_Project, @PlanGlobal, @tkhf, @VolunteerMatch, and @ecoteer.

I hope I’ve encouraged you to get involved and help promote through your social media accounts. It’s easy and it means something important. What organizations do you follow on Twitter? Tell us by leaving a comment on Fresh Ideas.

***

Bio: After receiving a B.A. in communications, and briefly working at a TV production studio, Andrea began volunteering abroad. This lead her to work in the non-profit world, where she was fortunate enough to learn about international education, women’s empowerment and social issues for the elderly, while traveling to over a dozen countries.  Since joining BurrellesLuce in 2011, Andrea is excited to share her thoughts and views on branding, social media, and communications with the growing Fresh Ideas audience, as well as her passion for cultural awareness, volunteerism, and sustainable efforts. Twitter: @AndreaCorbo; Facebook: BurrellesLuce; LinkedIn: BurrellesLuce

The ladies of BurrellesLuce are all ears (and a tiara!) at the 2011 PRSA International Conference in Orlando, Florida. From left to right: Tressa Robbins, Lauren Shapiro, Johna Burke, and Crystal deGoede.

Stop by our booth to see a demo of the Media Outreach, Media Monitoring, Media Reporting and Social Media Monitoring modules of BurrellesLuce WorkFlow and for a chance to enter one of several drawings for prizes. And let us know how you’re enjoying the conference!

If you mistook the clattering of keyboards for cicadas in heat and saw your Twitter feed explode with the hashtag #prndigital, yesterday, then you were probably with me at the PR News Digital PR Next Practices Summit at the Grand Hyatt in New York City. The all-day event was a smorgasbord of useful topics and speakers flinging words such as SEO (search engine optimization), influencers, engagement, and fangate pages.

However, if you have ever spoken to your boss about using social media it probably went like this:

justincaseyouwerewondering.com

If your digital campaign does not translate to the C-Suite language (increased sales, decreased costs, or high ROI) then it wouldn’t matter if you grow their Twitter page to 100,000 followers. They will pull the plug. 

Here are eight steps I took from the panel on Prove the Value of Your Digital Efforts to the C-Suite featuring Margot Sinclair Savell, vice president of Measurement and Analytics at Weber Shandwick, Angela Jeffery, APR and member of IPR Commission and Nick Panayi, director of Global Brand and Digital Marketing at CSC.

1.      Define organizational goals. Make sure your goals are strictly C-suite speak. (e.g., Our goal is to increase sales by 30 percent.) That way they see that you are on the same level.

2.      Research stakeholders and prioritize. This should be done regardless if you are presenting a digital campaign or not; you should always know your audience.  

3.      Ask yourself: What do they care about? I want to add in a perfect line from Margot Sinclair Savell, “Don’t just measure communications; measure the impact on your bottom line.” 

4.      Set social media objectives that correlate with their goals. Now this is where you link your social media efforts to their C-suite objectives. (e.g., With the Twitter campaign, we are launching, our goal is to increase our followers by 50 percent and positive sentiment by 40 percent which in turn will increase our sales by 30 percent.)  

5.      Choose (the right) tools and establish benchmarks. Once your campaign has launched, use tools and benchmarks to monitor how your campaign is playing out in The Media. Remember to monitor both the social media goal and the main goal (C-suite objective).

6.      Analyze, Analyze, Analyze! Be sure to use both qualitative and quantitative metrics and have these also tie back to your communications and C-suite objectives.

7.      Present to management. Remember to add charts of correlation between the campaign and the C-suite objectives. Translate metrics into the language.  

8.      Continue to build on that foundation: monitor, analyze, and improve. Review and revamp your strategy and tactics, making sure to revise as departmental and C-suite objectives evolve. 

So, how are you proving your value of your digital efforts to the C-suite? Please share your thoughts with me, here, on BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.

 ***

Before joining the BurrellesLuce team in 2011, as social media specialist, Ruth worked as a marketing assistant in a kitchen design firm and, later interned with Turner Public Relations. She holds a BA in Economics with a minor degree in International Relations from Rowan University. In addition to economics, education, and finance – Ruth is passionate about understanding the business implications of social media, including how it can be used to increase ROI, find and maintain a career, and create a business. Connect with her on Twitter: @RuthMesfun LinkedIn: Ruth Mesfun Facebook: BurrellesLuce

August 2011

As the media landscape becomes increasing competitive, PR and communications professionals must up their social game. These five tips will help you leverage Twitter for your marketing and communications efforts:

1. Identify casual followers vs. power users. Tools, such as Twitalyzer, are designed to help you learn who to follow and who has the most community influence based on who you’ve identified as being relevant and aligned with your target audiences.

2. Understand trending topics. Consider implementing timed tweets or paying to promote your account. Twitter offers advertisers the ability to promote their products, tweets, trends, and accounts via paid engagement. Promoted accounts see more visibility and come up at the top of Twitter searches and follower timelines.

Learn more tips for Marketing Via Twitter in this month’s BurrellesLuce newsletter.

On Wednesday, May 4^th, I had the opportunity to attend the PR Week Measurement Roundtable, along with some of my BurrellesLuce colleagues.

The roundtable focused on the constantly evolving role of measurement in the PR industry. Bernadette Casey, senior editor at PR Week, and Johna Burke, SVP of marketing here at BurrellesLuce, hosted the event. The breakfast provided attendees the opportunity to network with more than 25 senior leaders in measurement and featured a Q&A with Jason Forget, corporate reputation manager for GE Energy, among BurrellesLuce clients and friends.

In a quest to become a “gold standard communicator,” measurement is a key component of PR and marketing activity. In fact, 70 percent of the day at GE Energy is spent doing media monitoring and analysis.

Here are a few takeaways I tweeted:

• The Barcelona Principles are gaining traction. The concepts are straight forward and it is now incumbent on PR professionals to begin applying these principles.
• Use measurement to propel the organization forward. Move from proactive to reactive.
• Move beyond using numbers as an effort to validate efforts and consider the insight those numbers provide.
• Keep in mind that while preferences change, human behavior\psychology stays the same. Study and learn from trends.
• Insight is not always about dollars and cents.  Don’t be so focused on the bottom line that you overlook opportunities to gain valuable insights regarding long term stakeholder behavior.

Some of my BurrellesLuce colleagues, who were also in attendance, provided a few additional takeaways from the measurement roundtable:

Crystal deGoede, marketing specialist -

• Measurement has to be integrated across all functions of an organization.
• Measurement must focus on the conversation and communities not just the coverage an organization receives.

Denise Giacin, senior account manager, client services -

• Measurement is about the people. Identifying influencers and understanding the outcomes of interactions, not about output of the number of messages.
• Better technologies are needed to help identify the “influencer.”

Tom Kowalski, senior account manager, client services –

• To be successful, an organization’s measurement program needs to provide value.
• Measurement is about people understanding the outcome of activities and their impact on business not about them understanding the numbers.

All three cited the incorporation of social media into the measurement mix as another important takeaway:

• Social media is becoming increasingly important, even to companies who don’t use mainstream social media channels (e.g., Facebook and Twitter).  For example, GE has a 50/50 split between mainstream and social media in order to gain market share and has discovered their audiences use vertical social media outlets, such as electrical engineering forums and discussion boards online.

For a closer examination of metrics strategies, check out this PR Week article discussing other important measurement questions and topics from the roundtable.

How is your organization measuring your public relations efforts? What metrics do you believe are most important to the leadership of your organization?

Last year, in Barcelona, Spain, AMEC was the driving force behind the Barcelona Principles. Many of you have likely seen these referenced in conference presentations or blog posts (some even here on Fresh Ideas) and have worked to apply these basic principles to your own organization’s measurement efforts. The AMEC U.S. Agency Research Leaders Group also provided communicators with the framework and context of how to apply these metrics to drive organization outcomes in the validated metrics overview.

This year, the focus of the group was on identifying and starting to work on the top priorities and issues referenced as the Measurement Agenda 2020. During the delegate discussion, each delegate had the option to select four topics where the organization would look to focus effort and resources.

The top ranking issues, along with their percentage of the vote, are represented below:

1. How to measure the return on investment (ROI) of public relations (89%)
2. Create and adopt global standards for social media measurement (83%)
3. Measurement of PR campaigns and programs needs to become an intrinsic part of the PR toolkit (73%)
4. Institute a client education program such that clients insist on measurement of outputs, outcomes and business results from the PR programs (61%)

The draft options are listed below:

1. Measure how internal and external communications drive employee engagement and support business goals
2. Create and adopt best-practice approaches and standards for culture change management
3. Measurement of PR campaigns and programmes needs to become an intrinsic part of the PR toolkit
4. Develop new business-focused language to align with other top management functions
5. Continue to push for the elimination of AVEs and the adoption of valid metrics
6. Define approaches that show how corporate reputation builds and creates value
7. Create and adopt global standards for social media measurement
8. Determine standard approaches for the inclusion of PR in a market mix and other analytical models
9. Determine standard approaches to determine how PR drives brand equity
10. Institute a client education program such that clients insist on measurement of outputs, outcomes and business results from PR programs

As a fellow PR practitioner and communicator, do you agree with this list as the focus? What would you have selected as the top priority? If anything, what do you feel is missing from the list?

Transcript –

JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and we’re here at the PR News Measurement conference. I’m joined by Angie.

Angie, will you please introduce yourself?

ANGIE JEFFREY: Angie–I’m Angie Jeffrey, vice president of integrated media for VMS.

BURKE: Angie, you spoke earlier about the Barcelona principles. Can you talk a little bit about the validated metrics for those that weren’t here to experience those, about what those mean to PR and to PR campaigns?

JEFFREY: Yes. The validated metrics guidelines were put together by a group of people from AMEC and PRSA who wanted to make public relations measurement much more–much more valid, and to give an alternative to ad value equivalency.  And they take into account three phases of public relations on the left-hand part of the matrix, and on the top they go through the five stages of the communications funnel so that you go from a very simplistic type of measure down to outcomes, business outcomes, much more complex. But the goal of the program would be to work a client down through that grid to that business outcome.

BURKE: Excellent. And I know that part of the benefit of being an AMEC member is having that international influence, and we look forward to seeing how those Barcelona principles continue to develop and influence measurement. Angie, can you tell people where they can connect with you online and in social media?

JEFFREY: Sure, Johna. I’m @ajeffrey1, which is A-J-E-F-F-R-E-Y-1, or my regular e-mail address is ajeffrey@vmsinfo.com.

BURKE: Thanks so much, Angie.

Flickr Image: Sebastian Fritzon

Valerie Simon

Listening, as I define it, is not a passive exercise. Listening is not a matter of simply hearing words. Listening requires a concentrated method of digesting the information, and using that information to take action. So like any exercise program, I’ll recommend you do a quick check up before starting to strengthen your listening efforts.

Check Up
Take a quick pulse: Review your business objectives and marketing plan. Keep in mind that social media participation should be integrated with your overall communications plan.

Set Goals:  What business objectives will your social media participation help you to achieve?

• Sales
• Donations
• Event attendance
• Customer Service (response/retention/loyalty)
• Brand Awareness
• Crowd sourcing/ product development
• Membership/Admissions
• Communications amongst different stakeholders
• Recruitment
• Thought leadership

Warm Ups
Who are you trying to reach? Consider what social media channels will be most beneficial for your organization. Stretch. Extend beyond Facebook and Twitter. Consider Flickr, YouYube, Tumblr, LinkedIn and seek out forums and blogs with strong communities.  BurrellesLuce offers several tools to help get you warmed up quickly, including ContactsPlus™, which helps you to identify new blogs by matching up a current release with those bloggers who are writing on similar topics, and Social Media Monitoring and Engagement solution, Engage121, which enables you to explore what is being said across social media channels and effectively build and manage your online communities.

Speed
Are you planning/prepared to provide immediate responses? The W Hotels “Whatever/Whenever” promise may well be on its way to becoming the standard, rather than the exception, in customer service. Social media allows stories to break and quickly spread at any time of day. I encourage those using BurrellesLuce’s Social Media Monitoring and Engagement solution, to experiment with setting up alerts using filters such as Klout rank or sentiment to sift through the noise and make sure that they are advised of critical information whenever it breaks. Of course a quick, well thought out and efficient response across all channels is critical.

Strength
Do some heavy lifting, err, searching. Investigate the current conversations being said about you, your competitors and the industry. Identify recurring themes and study trends. Review sentiment and compare how the conversations vary across different platforms. Identify key influencers and pay attention to the language and tone. What topics evoke passionate responses?

Flexibility
Don’t get stuck monitoring the same keywords you have always deemed important. As you study industry trends and influencers, adjust your searches accordingly. Begin listening to your communities even when they are not actively speaking about “relevant” topics. What do they care about? Consider what new topics or audiences may be interested in your organization.

Endurance
Set yourself up to succeed over the long term. Put in place a structure to collect the data that will allow you to learn from both your communities and your own social behaviors. There are a myriad of ways to measure social media buzz, sentiment, link tracking, share of voice, fans and followers, geo-location check-ins… slow down and take another pulse check. Review business objectives and consider what metrics can best indicate whether your activity is supporting those business objectives. As you embark upon this listening exercise, look at the data in a number of different ways.

Cool Down
Evaluate all of the data you have collected and all your new knowledge regarding trends and influencers. Go back to your business goals and consider how you will align your social media activity to meet those goals. What channels are best suited for your organization? Where should your voice be heard? Where can you build a strong community that will offer business results? Participating in social media will require an investment of time, so consider the time and resources you can devote. 

Prepare to Play
Listening exercise complete, you are ready for the big game… engagement. But that, my friends, is another post!

What would you add to your listening exercise? What activities are included in your daily listening routine? Share your thoughts with me and the readers of BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.

Washington Women in Public Relations Executive Communicators Committee Brown Bag Luncheon with Johna Burke, Senior Vice President, Marketing for BurrellesLuce

Addressing a packed room on May 19 at Golin Harris in Arlington, VA, Johna Burke, Senior Vice President, Marketing, BurrellesLuce, began her presentation by telling the group that according to CNBC.com, the second most stressful job is a public relations executive.

She sang the praises of EVERNOTE, an organizational app that allows the user to take notes from phones, desktops and online.  The notes can be text, images, files, audio and more and this app is searchable and cloud-based.  Other useful tools to consider: Username Check, Google Labs, Screengrab! (a Firefox plug-in) and twitthat.

“The more things change, the more they say the same,” said Johna when she reminded the attendees that AP was the first viral means of distributing information.  Today, hyperlocal is the new trend and includes print, online broadcast and hybrids (think tbd.com and Patch).  Hyperlocal initiatives are community – not geographically – based and great for niche targeting.

When building relationships with today’s media, communicators must:

• Understand if the journalist thinks like a print journalist, online journalist or MOJO
• KNOW the hot topics/memes and pitch around those themes
• Understand if your “story” is a story or PART of a story
• Have an online newsroom: Executive speeches sources of quotes
• Deconstruct tweets for influencers

Apply measurement best practices
Although no “fix” exists for overcoming measurement challenges, these helpful tips will help you find a solution that works with your measurement goals: Consistency, Manageable and Outside Expertise.

Johna warned the group about graphic seduction.  Although graphics can be very pretty and exciting, never use images you do not understand; sometimes all you need is an Excel spreadsheet. She also stressed the importance of knowing your stakeholders “no matter where they are,” with an example of an inmate in jail.

Barcelona principles
The second European Summit on Measurement met in Barcelona last year, where the participants agreed to basic PR measurement reasearch princples, known as the Barcelona Principles. Currently, a working group has used the principles to devise new, validated metrics.  WWPR members will have access to the exciting new system of metrics, as soon it is complete, probably in mid-June.

Kim Ash, WWPR Executive Communicators Chair, Speaker Johna Burke, BurrellesLuce, and Kendra Kojcsich, WWPR President

May 2011

While the last few years have witnessed new opportunities and tools to advance media and client engagement, the period also has been marked by tumultuous economic conditions. During that time, many PR agencies, especially small- and medium-sized firms, have struggled to maintain clients, and attract new ones.

With strong signs of a pick-up in business activity, the climate now is right for PR professionals to develop strategies and tactics that can help them bring in new clients as well as hold on to current accounts.

In this BurrellesLuce Newsletter, “Six Tips for Signing and Keeping Clients in a Reviving Economy,” you’ll learn half a dozen best practices that PR owner-practitioners can use to boost their chances of profitting from the economy upturn.

Transcript -

JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and we’re here at the PR News Measurement conference. I’m joined by Karla.

Karla, will you please introduce yourself?

KARLA WACHTER: You bet. I’m Karla Wachter, I’m the senior vice president of Insight and Analytics for Waggener Edstrom Worldwide.

BURKE: Karla, you were talking earlier about, you know, people and how they need to tie business objectives to their bottom line. And I think a lot of the viewers probably have very quantitative-based programs right now. What are some of the tips that you would offer for people that want to adopt a more qualitative approach to their measurement campaign?

WACHTER: You bet. Well, first of all, I want to point out that it should be customized based on your unique business problem and business objectives for your company. That’s the most important thing as a filter.

The second thing is taking it beyond volume into thinking about some of the standard metrics like tone, but really thinking today about engagement as well as a core qualitative measurement as well, to really be able to start linking effectively and bridging that gap between what is an output today to an outcome.

BURKE: Excellent. Karla, where can people connect with you online and in social media?

WACHTER: Yes, @karlawachter on Twitter, and waggeneredstrom.com online.

BURKE: Thank you so much, Karla.

WACHTER: Thank.

Transcript –

JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and we’re here at the PR News Measurement conference. We’re joined by Ed.

Ed, will you please introduce yourself?

ED DAVIS: Sure. My name is Ed Davis. I am the director of media relations for the United Way of greater Houston. And we are a nonprofit, one of the largest United Ways in the United States, located in Houston, Texas.

BURKE: Great. Now, Ed, you talked about the changes that you’ve made to your measurement program. And I know so many times people want to get started and they want to make improvements and changes. Can you talk a little bit about some of those incremental changes that would help people get started in improving and overhauling their own–their current system?

DAVIS: Absolutely. Some of the incremental changes that we implemented on our way to a better process from a communications–both from a communications perspective and a measurement perspective is, number one, getting everybody on board with what it is that we were trying to do and helping everybody understand why we should do this. The second thing was proving the usefulness of this information to our senior leadership. Whether it’s your board, whether it’s your manager, whether it’s your CEO, it doesn’t matter. They need to understand at a very basic level why this is important to them and why it makes your business better. And so those are a couple things that we looked at.

BURKE: Great. And I think, you know, anytime somebody’s evaluating a peer measurement program, it’s always good to be able to get that peer advice of how can they get started. Ed, where can people connect with you online and in social media?

DAVIS: Sure. So online we are at unitedwayhouston.org, and you can always find my cell phone number and my e-mail address on there. And then on Twitter it’s H-A–H-O-U-unitedway, so H-O-U-U-N-I-T-E-D-W-A-Y. And then we don’t really use Facebook for that type of thing, so Twitter would be the best way.

BURKE: Great. Thank you so much.

DAVIS: Yes, ma’am.

Transcript –

JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and we’re here at the PR News Measurement conference. I’m joined by Dr. Grunig.

Dr. Grunig, will you please introduce yourself?

Dr. JIM GRUNIG: My name is Jim Grunig, or James Grunig. I’m a professor emeritus of public relations from the Department of Communication at University of Maryland.

BURKE: Also, very humbly, one of the new inductees into the PR News Hall of Fame, rightfully so. You know, part of your career has, I’m sure, seen the evolution of measurement. What are some of the biggest changes that you’ve seen in the growth in the industry over the last few years?

Dr. GRUNIG: Actually, the questions that are asked seem to be about the same as they were in the 1970s when I first started working on research and measurement and evaluation as a consultant at AT&T. People still want to show that they have some sort of measurable effects. I think there is an interest, I hope, in moving beyond just program evaluation, which there’s still a great deal of interest in–that is, how do we measure the effects of media relations or employee relations or marketing communications consultant–to get into the longer-term kind of value of the communication function to an organization.

And I think that’s best done through measuring relationships, and this is something that I’ve probably several articles on that’re published on the website of the Institute for Public Relations. And I think the emphasis on reputation is something that has occurred probably mostly in the last 10 years, and I think reputation can largely be explained by the quality of relationships that an organization has with its publics. And in turn, that can be explained by how the organization behaves. So our greatest value, I think, is in changing the behavior of the organization as much as changing the behavior of publics.

BURKE: Great. Thank you so much for your time. And I think that after that it’s no surprise why you are a highly revered person in the measurement community, and we’re so grateful to have the time with you today. Where can people connect with you online or in social media?

Dr. GRUNIG: Well, you can reach me by e-mail at jgrunig@umd.edu. I’m also on both Facebook and LinkedIn if you would like to contact me there.

BURKE: Thank you so much for your time.

Dr. GRUNIG: Thank.

February 2011

Over the years, PR and marketing practitioners have sought to develop a holistic measurement program, one that combines both qualitative and quantitative metrics. Holistic measurement serves two aims: documenting the success of communications activities, and helping achieve a practical understanding of the conversations taking place and the activities resulting from outreach efforts.

But, even with all the reporting tools that are designed to help PR and communications professionals make sense of their media-relations results, many practitioners seek guidance on designing a program with the attributes most relevant to their specific business.

So, what are the best ways to demonstrate success with The Media and to document for clients or top management the return on investment of a media relations program? Check out the most recent BurrellesLuce newsletter, “Evaluating Your Communications Program: Business Objectives, Measurement Goals, and You” to learn:

• Why business objectives are key to outlining measurement goals.
• How to identify essential qualitative and quantitative metrics.
• Questions to ask yourself as you travel down the road of media measurement.

“Influence is about the value you give,” emphasized Deirdre Breakenridge, author and President of Mango! Marketing at the February 15^th PRSA NJ Measurement and Evaluation workshop on Monitoring and Determining ROI for Digital/Social Media. Breakenridge also noted that it is extremely important to consider the platform(s) where those you are targeting spend time. Measuring social media is about going where your audience is; if you are trying to reach teens, for example, consider focusing your efforts on Tumblr.

Here are some additional thoughts on evaluating influencers Breakenridge shared with me during this video interview following the event.

As we continue to counsel BurrellesLuce clients on new ways to identify influencers and listen to them across all types of media and platforms, one thing is apparent: the elusive influencer is not one who can be discovered by simply noting fans or followers. The power of a particular influencer may change based upon their platform, subject matter, and perhaps most importantly, the demographics and interests of your target audience (hint, no matter how “influential” Lady Gaga is reported to be, if you are attempting to convince my dad where to vacation, find another influencer). 

So what is the real secret to identifying key influencers for your community? It begins with taking the time to get to know your community. Listen. Understand who (and what) motivates them. Consider how you can help brand evangelists to become true influencers and how you can encourage influencers to become consistent and loyal brand evangelists.

What is your definition of an influencer and how do you determine the influencers that matter most to your brand, organization, or client? Who are your favorite examples of influencers and why? The comments are all yours. 

Transcript –

JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and I’m here at the PR News Media Relations Conference. I’m joined by Mark.

Mark, will you please introduce yourself?

MARK PHILLIPS: Hi, I’m Mark Phillips. I’m the vice president of communications for the USO.

BURKE: Mark, I know that you have a great campaign and a great effort of tying your business results to your PR efforts. Can you share some of the secrets of that?

PHILLIPS: Well, you know, anybody who works in this business knows that it is both an art and a science. The science is getting better, but there’s still a lot of art to it, as well. Some of the things that we try to do to capitalize on the science part are being very rigorous about clearly identifying what our goals are, our communication goals as well as our operational goals, making sure that there is a logical connection between the two, that one supports the other, and then making sure that we dedicate the resources to accurate research before we plan, good planning, execution, and then good follow-up research to determine whether or not we were successful both achieving our operational goals and our communication goals.

BURKE: That sounds like a great plan and a good practice for all of us to follow. Mark, where can people find you on Twitter?

PHILLIPS: Easiest way to find me on Twitter is @mark_phillips, P-H-I-L-L-I-P-S.

BURKE: Great, thanks so much.

PHILLIPS: My pleasure.

For me, it’s official – the world has gone totally mobile. The other night a commercial, on a kids’ cable channel my daughter watches, featured a Grandmother giving her little grandson (he looked about six to me) a tablet-reader for Christmas. I’ve been forewarned and won’t be shocked if my eight year old asks for one.

No wonder the rush continues for traditional media to expand to mobile devices, with some innovative apps already rolled out and others on the way:

• The Economist just launched an enhanced version of its publication for the iPad and iPhone. Readers can tweak the layout and graphs so they can receive all the robust content of the magazine, but in a format that makes sense for a small screen. “You’re trying to recreate your print magazine but redesign it to make the most of the medium,” said Oscar Grut, managing director of digital editions for The Economist.
  
• Oprah’s O, The Oprah Magazine has just released its iPad app to much fanfare. As described in the Marketwire release, “’I love the written word, and I love the iPad — to me, it’s another way to experience the intimacy of this magazine and its part of the future of the business,’ said Oprah Winfrey. ‘It’s a new way to connect with our readers, who are on a path of becoming their best selves.’”
• New Corps’ Rupert Murdoch and Apple’s Steve Jobs recently announced they would be teaming up to create a new iNewspaper. “The collaboration, which has been secretly under development in New York for several months, promises to be the world’s first ‘newspaper’ designed exclusively for new tablet-style computers such as Apple’s iPad, with a launch planned for early next year,” writes Edward Helmore in this Guardian UK article. “According to reports, there will be no ‘print edition’ or ‘web edition.’”

In fact, there are already enough publications with apps (over 700) available to audiences and readers on the iPad that strategic research company McPheters and Company was able to put together a ten best list. “McPheters ranked the print-to-iPad products based on design, functionality and use of rich content.” The list presents an interesting mix of both newspapers and magazines covering the gamut of lifestyle, culture, politics, news, sports, food, fashion, etc. The number one spot went to The New Yorker app, with apps for newspaper circulation heavy-weights USA Today and The Wall Street Journal making the list at number eight and ten respectively. Fashion entrant Net-A-Porter made the list at number five.

Mobile applications are becoming such an integral part of the media landscape that other industry organizations are taking notice. The American Society of Magazine Editors announced that among the changes to the National Magazine Awards 2011, they will include a new award for mobile editions.

In this age of PR 3.0, how are you using mobile apps to connect with your audiences? If you use a mobile device to read newspapers and magazines, what outlets would top your list of best media apps? Please share your thoughts with me and the readers of BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.

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Bio: I’ve been in the media business all of my adult life, first in newspapers before going full circle and joining BurrellesLuce, where I now direct the Media Measurement department. I’ve always enjoyed meeting and especially listening to the needs of our customers and others in the public relations and communications fields; I welcome sharing ideas through the Fresh Ideas blog. One of my professional passions is providing the type of service to a client that makes them respond, “atta girl” – inspiring our entire team to keep striving to be the best. Although I have been lucky enough to travel through much of Asia and most major U.S. cities for business or pleasure, my free time is now spent with my daughter, visiting family/friends, and of course the Jersey shore. Twitter: @domeasurement LinkedIn: Carol Holden Facebook: BurrellesLuce

Transcript –

JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and we’re here at the PR News Media Relations Summit. And I’m here with Yanique.

Yanique, will you please introduce yourself?

YANIQUE WOODALL: Yes. My name is Yanique Woodall, and I’m the vice president of enterprise public relations at 1800flowers.com.

BURKE: And, Yanique, you’ve led a session that I think is invaluable for communicators and PR professionals especially, talking about how you targeted your audience, and the research and the focus that you used with your existing audience. Can you share how you did that?

WOODALL: Specifically, when I joined 1800flowers.com, it was important for our internal in-house–our internal PR team, as well as our external PR agency, to align ourselves with the marketing partners to really understand our target audience. But for us it was not just about knowing who the target audience is, because 1-800-Flowers services anyone from 18 to 54, basically anyone with a credit card, we wanted to know the sweet spot of the audience, the brand influencers, the ones that were going to move the needle. So we knew that when we put together a PR campaign, it would affect that audience and we could show measurement at the bottom line.

Specifically, it was important for us to be a part of the focus groups, be a part of the surveys, be a part of the opinion polls, to understand the customer. And once we figured out that customer, we understood she was a social media maven and she was in Twitter, she was in Facebook, and she wanted to engage with brands through social media tactics. Specifically, once we found that best media vehicle, which we understood it would be social media tactics, we needed to do some research to understand if that vehicle was going to have an impact on our brand. And through some research, we did find out that social media has a great impact on the brand, and we decided to go about that route.

Looking ahead, we did a case study for Mother’s Day around our Spot a Mom Movement. Basically, we’re encouraging all of our customers, our best customers, to celebrate every mom in their life. In this case, we saw an increase in multiple purchasing and we saw an increase in total transactions, so we knew that that was a success.

BURKE: Fantastic. And where can people follow you in social media?

WOODALL: If anyone has any additional questions in reference to social media, they can follow me on Twitter @woodallpr.

BURKE: Great. Thank you so much.

WOODALL: Thank you.

Transcript -

JOHNA BURKE:  Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and I’m here at the Bulldog Media Relations Summit.  I’m joined by Sally.

 Sally, will you please introduce yourself?

SALLY FALKOW:  Hi, I’m Sally Falkow from Press Feed, the social media newsroom.

BURKE:  And, Sally, you’re doing a session tomorrow about social media strategy.  Can you please share the two big things that whenever anybody is trying to develop their social media strategy for their communications and their public relations – what are the two core things that they absolutely have to keep in consideration?

FALKOW:  Only two?  We’re only allowed two?

BURKE:  Only two for the purpose of this quick video.

FALKOW:  OK.  Well, first and foremost, I think you have to listen. Before you even start doing anything else, you have to listen to the conversations.  We heard a lot this morning in the first session from people saying how much conversation and discussion there is out there, and that the role of PR people is changing from managing news and getting our news out and working just with mainstream media to actually participating in and shaping and directing what was discussion or conversation.  So you need to know what is being said, you need to listen.

And the second thing, I think, is you need to really understand how you fit into the business and what the business goals are.  And you can’t measure if you haven’t set a measurable goal.  So you need to know what it is you’re aiming for, and then you can figure out how to get there.

BURKE:  Sally, always great insights from you.  Where can people find you in social media?

FALKOW:  On Twitter, sallyfalkow.  I’m pretty much just sallyfalkow, all together, one word, lower case.  If you search that, you’ll find me pretty much all over.

BURKE:  Great.  Thank you so much.

FALKOW:  OK.