PR News’ Measurement Conference: How to Turn Data into Meaningful Insights

Earlier this week, The Motherhood team attended PR News’ Measurement Conference in Chicago to dig deeper into the topic of measurement and how to create an effective and accurate strategy that determines campaign successes. A number of prominent speakers from the world’s top brands and agencies shared valuable insights on how they measure PR and social media campaigns and create the case for C-level executive support.

Throughout the day, the biggest recurring theme was: turning data into insights is crucial to a measurement strategy. Here’s a look at some of our key takeaways from the event:

When Your Goals Are Clear, Your Results Are Clear

Before you begin a campaign, spend time discussing the desired results and clearly define goals and performance indicators. Also be sure that standard measurement practices are in place. Ask yourself which target audience you want to reach, what success looks like, and which key performance indicators (KPIs) can be used to measure success. Doing so will lead to shared understanding across the board and better reporting.

Invest in People, Not Software

Each day there is a shiny new platform for social analytics or influencer engagement, and these tools can be great for tracking and reporting success. However, they need to be supplemented with expertise in order to turn facts into insight. Creating or hiring a team that can communicate real analytics and insight from the mounds of data collected will lead to greater success.

Actionable Insights Move the Needle

Create a system of measurement that resonates with your team. Always ask “so what?” when reporting metrics, to move from simply reporting vanity metrics to reporting on outcomes with context. This process will help create informed data, which then leads to more actionable and insightful results.

Check out the #powerofPR hashtag on Twitter for insights and conversation shared during the conference.

Want to find out firsthand how The Motherhood creates valuable insights from campaigns? Let’s work together!