The goal of public relations is to build brand awareness and grow target audience, but measuring the impact of a PR campaign can be a tricky task.

That being said, it’s very important because it helps define a company’s return on investment into PR activities and it can be used as a guide to establish what are the most effective ways to reach broader audiences. 

In the world of public relations, a well-placed press release can have more significance than loads of coverage in publications that don’t cater to the company’s target audience. 

Metrics Worth Measuring

There isn’t one specific metric to quantify how well the campaign is performing, but there are a few key factors that play a big role in evaluating the success of a company’s PR efforts. 

1. Media coverage

One of the easiest ways to track the impact of the campaign is to look at the number of coverage. Having press releases published in established publications raises brand awareness and makes the company appear more credible. If the press releases are securing good coverage, then it means that you’re going in the right direction with the campaign, if not, then it’s a hint to rethink the campaign strategy.

2. Social media followers and engagement

The increase in followers and engagement after the start of the campaign is a good sign that your brand is getting more attention from the public. A lot of companies collect thousands of followers with giveaways, but if the following of your account grows organically after a PR initiative, then there’s higher chances that amongst the followers are people who are genuinely interested in your brand. 

3. Website traffic

If your company is struggling with driving traffic to the website, then a well thought-out PR strategy can have a massive impact. PR companies generate traffic from new audiences by including the client’s links to press releases. If you compare the website traffic before and after the campaign, then you’ll likely notice a spike in the number of site visitors. 

4. Brand mentions

Monitoring the growth of a company’s online presence can be done by tracking how much their brand is being mentioned in different online channels, like social media, blogs and forums. It’s a good way to get insight about what people are saying about your product of service and it helps to improve SEO rankings. 

5. Increased sales numbers

The purpose of PR efforts is raising brand awareness, which drives potential customers to the company’s website and essentially increases the sales figures. One of the main interests of business owners is sales and although PR does not automatically equal with skyrocketing sales numbers, it definitely plays a big part in the company’s success by helping to build a good reputation, credibility and visibility for the brand. 

6. Number of links

One of the most important elements of digital PR is link building. Gaining high quality backlinks to the company’s website plays a big part in improving SEO and helping the website rank high in Google search results. This will give you a huge advantage over your competitors. PR companies earn links for their clients by pitching editorial content to relevant publications and including the link of the company’s website to the release.

7. Domain authority of received links

As mentioned before, securing links has a major impact on a company's success. The number of received links is a useful metric to measure PR efforts, but it’s also important to look at where these links are coming from. Domain authority shows how authoritative the website is ranked by search engines. In your PR strategy, you should target websites that have a high domain authority score, because they’re most valuable for SEO and website rankings. 

© MOTIVE