Measuring the Media

The field of public relations, although being more established as a profession in some countries than others, is still relatively young and has been working toward becoming a more established field worldwide. As PR becomes more involved in digital and social media, the struggle to measure how successful campaigns are that utilize this media increases. For example, it is easier for stores who use print ads to measure success by researching how much sales went up when advertisements were placed. Many companies and PR ethics associations (such as PRSA) are attempting to create a standardized way of measuring how successful public relations really is in relation to other factors that may affect sales or awareness.

An article in PR Week online informed the public that the first global way of measuring the value of PR was created at the European Summit. The article states that “goal setting and measurement are fundamental aspects of any PR programmes” which emphasizes the need for PR professionals to be able to ascertain the worth and value of their work. The role of public relations professionals is not only to create and preserve relationships but they also create campaigns that promote their clients and ensure that they are viewed in a positive light. The PR people may continue to have great working relationships with their clients but it is much harder to judge the relationship between the client and the client’s audience.

As I mentioned earlier, social media and it’s increasing use in the PR field make it that much more important to be able to measure how effectively it works. Another goal mentioned in the article says, “social media can and should be measured” which recognizes the growing use of media and the need to harness it. The internet is ever-changing and when it seems we have finally established a set of rules to govern it, it has already changed and those rules are suddenly obsolete. Public relations has been accused of being a field made up of people who are great at cultivating and preserving relationships, swaying people to get what they want and having a keen sense of human behavior which doesn’t give the field much credibility. If these conferences can reach a worldwide agreement on how to measure PR it would give the profession and its practitioners more clout among skeptics and potential clients alike.

To view this article please visit: http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/1010806/First-global-standard-proving-value-PR-created-European-Summit-Measurement/