What Are the Key Performance Indicators for Digital PR?
Traditional public relations (PR) activities have many key performance indicators (KPIs) and depend on specific objectives. However, their ultimate goal is to increase brand awareness. So what are the KPIs for digital PR?
As discussed in a previous article, digital PR is a form of traditional PR integrated with digital marketing strategies. In addition to boosting brand presence and brand awareness online, digital PR also helps improve a brand’s or company’s website ranking on Google’s Search Engine Results Page (SERP) and provides important information that can drive more leads or potential customers.
Both traditional PR and digital PR share the common goal of creating an impact through PR activities.
While in traditional PR, the expected impact is media coverage, digital PR can achieve much more.
As a digital PR agency, Media Buffet determines the Key Performance Indicators for a brand’s campaign by assessing the impact generated, including through:
Table of Contents:
Digital PR KPIs
Brand Mentions
This refers to how often a brand appears or is mentioned in articles, online discussions, conversations, or social media feeds. In his book “How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market,” Gerald Zaltman states that 95 percent of consumers’ decisions regarding choosing and purchasing a product are influenced by their subconscious.
According to him, the more often potential consumers hear, read, and see a brand, the more likely they are to be interested in purchasing that brand. Media Buffet uses the Brand 24 social listening tool to monitor social media conversations about the brand being promoted.
Media Publications
Just like traditional PR, mass media coverage is also a key performance indicator in digital PR. For every online campaign it runs, Media Buffet consistently conducts media monitoring. One method involves using Google Alerts to measure how many online media outlets are interested in the campaign.
Website Traffic
When running a digital PR campaign, one of the goals is to drive traffic or visits to the brand’s website. The higher the organic traffic generated, the more successful the campaign is likely to be. Website traffic can increase leads and potential customers.
Keyword Ranking
Digital PR activities are inseparable from the selection of target keywords. Keywords, which are part of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), are a way to understand audience behavior on the internet. Another metric Media Buffet uses to evaluate a campaign is whether the keywords embedded in an article on the brand’s website appear on the first page of Google.
Since social media has been widely adopted by internet users worldwide, the term “social currency” has emerged. Forbes defines social currency as popularity on social media, which in turn gives rise to terms like “viral” or “trending topic.” The more popular a brand is on social media, the higher its value in the eyes of consumers.
When running a digital PR campaign, Media Buffet also measures how often the campaign is shared on social media, how many new followers are gained, and how many “likes” are generated. The metrics can then be analyzed in greater depth—for example, whether the campaign generates positive or negative sentiment.
