Chapter 8 - Evaluation

Key learning outcomes
• Explain how evaluation research can be used in public relations
program development and message testing.
• Describe how media monitoring services have evolved in the
digital age.
• Discuss how digital technology has expanded our ability to track
and analyze data in evaluating public relations programs.
• Evaluate public relations research practices using industry
standards for research (i.e., Barcelona Principles).
• Identify tools for measuring online and traditional public relations
outcomes.
• Analyze the relationship between independence as a core value of
public relations and the ethical conduct of research,
measurement, and evaluation.
Kelleher,PublicRelations,1e
OxfordUniversityPress
2

The "E" for evaluation
• The four-step R-P-I-E outline
• Evaluation and research go
together, and both inform strategic
public relations programs.
• Evaluation of prior programs can
be useful at the very beginning of a
new campaign or program.
3

Old and new methods
Significant innovation in research methods
• Digital watermarking
• Eye-tracking software
• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
4

Evaluation research
• Message testing
• Media monitoring
• Measurement of outcomes (i.e., metrics and
analytics)
5

Message testing
A way to evaluate your tactics for communication,
message testing can range from informal to formal
and from qualitative to quantitative.
• Focus groups
• Readability tests
• Experiments
6

Message testing
Focus groups
• Trained moderators may lead discussions with small groups of
carefully recruited participants who must respond to
campaign concepts.
Readability tests
• Every time an editor or reviewer reviews copy and offers feedback,
they are helping with message testing.
• This feedback is normally qualitative in the form of editorial
suggestions and comments, either written or oral.
Experiments
• Message testing experiments, known as A/B testing in the parlance
of digital media
• Automated copy testing
7

Media monitoring services
• Another area of evaluation that has
sped up in the digital age
• Daily sifting through newspapers
and magazines
• Evaluating items as primarily
positive, negative, or neutral
• Clipping services
8

Media monitoring services
Media monitoring services enable the analysis
of social media content that is actively
produced, discussed, and shared by publics
online.
9

Metrics, analytics, and data
• Metrics and analytics are essentially synonyms for
measurement and evaluation.
• Algorithm tests
• Message selection
• Message placement
• Image selection
• Headline styles
• Color
10

Metrics, analytics, and data
• Big data
• Cookies or registrations
• First-party data
• Third-party data
• Analytics
• tracking visitor behavior
• segmenting referring sources
11

Tracking visitor behavior
• The first important use of Web analytics in public relations is
tracking the behavior of website visitors.
• When someone visits your web page, searches for a word or
phrase, or clicks on an ad or other link, all that information can be
recorded and analyzed.
• Bounce rate: the percentage of visitors who go to your site but then
leave the site instead of continuing toward other goals you may have
established
• Conversion rate: the number of goals reached divided by the number
of unique visitors to your site
12

Segmenting referring sources
A second important use of web analytics outlined by Seth Duncan
• Learning whether people found your site online by directly typing
in the URL (direct traffic) or as a result of organic search results or
paid search results (e.g., Google Ad Words)
• Learning about key search words people are using
13

Parsing big data
• With the abundance of data available now, demographic
profiles easily can be segmented into hundreds, thousands, or
even millions of unique profiles.
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Companies collect, buy, and sell data that can be used for
targeting messages.
14

Barcelona Principles
Goal setting and measurement are
fundamental.
Good goals are supported by SMART
objectives. The “M” in SMART stands for
measurable. Measurable implies
quantifiable.
15

Measure communication outcomes.
Outputs are tasks that you complete, but the outcomes of public
relations programs are changes in knowledge, attitudes, and
behavior.
• Cognitive
• Attitudinal
• Behavioral
16

Measure the effect on organizational performance.
When goals are marketing-based, the metrics should include the
traceable steps in the conversion funnel.
• Searching for key terms
• Clicking on links
• Browsing product offerings
• Making purchases
17
Programs like Google Analytics and Brand Lift can help
measure both sales and non-sales-driven
organizational performance.

Employ both qualitative and quantitative methods.
• Example: Starbucks YouTube video from November 2013 titled Hiring
Veterans and Military Spouses
• Quantitative results: In 2016, the Starbucks channel on YouTube had
93,746 subscribers and this particular video had been viewed 6,215
times.
• Qualitative results include the following comments:
• “All lies.”
• “Ya right they may hire you but [your] going to make minimum wage and
be treated as if you some dumb high school drop out”
• “Pay taxes properly!!”
• “Cool!!!”
18

Advertising Value Equivalencies (AVE) are not the value of
communications.
A calculation of the value of news or editorial coverage based on the
cost of an equivalent amount of advertising space or time
19

Measure social media consistently with other media channels.
Digital media and media monitoring services present new
opportunities to use data to improve the evaluation of public
relations programs.
Ensure measurement and evaluation are transparent,
consistent, and valid.
Transparency in research means that researchers are open and
not secretive about their methods .
20

Case Study
TheBarcelonaPrinciples:Somebodyhadtodoit
Andy Hopson launched “The
Agency”
• Why was recruitment a
challenge?
• How was strategic
planning useful?
• What became the goal?
21

Measuring the right
outcomes
If we don’t use AVEs, then what are the right metrics?
And, since social media is the hottest thing going on in
public relations, and the Barcelona Principles
specifically address its measurement, how do we make
sense out of all the different approaches that the
approximately 300 suppliers of social media
measurement are pushing?
22
Andre Manning and David Rockland wrote in early 2011:

23

Ethics
Independence
We depend upon statistics in public relations to summarize and clarify
the nature of our complex society.
• In public relations counseling, practitioners must balance
advocacy and loyalty with independence.
• As defined in the PRSA Code of Ethics, independence
means that “we provide objective counsel to those we
represent” and that “we are accountable for our actions.”
• Counseling includes summarizing and clarifying data to
interpret human attitudes, knowledg,e and behavior.
24

Summary
• Explain how evaluation research can be used in public relations
program development and message testing.
• Describe how media monitoring services have evolved in the
digital age.
• Discuss how digital technology has expanded our ability to track
and analyze data in evaluating public relations programs.
• Evaluate public relations research practices using industry
standards for research (i.e., Barcelona Principles).
• Identify tools for measuring online and traditional public relations
outcomes.
• Analyze the relationship between independence as a core value of
public relations and the ethical conduct of research,
measurement, and evaluation.
25

Chapter 8 - Evaluation

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Chapter 8 - Evaluation