The number of metrics and analytics available to sift through is enough to give even the biggest data nerd a headache! From a public relations standpoint, what metrics should you care most about when you’re using the media as a delivery option to your target audience?
You can listen to Move the Stairs CBD Brand Protection PR™ conversation each week as a podcast! Find us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify.
Media monitoring and metrics to know: reach vs impressions
Subscribing to a digital media monitoring software can be very important to your CBD brand!
You’ll be prepared: With alerts in place, you can get ahead of a potential issue before it becomes a larger problem. At the very least you can prepare messaging and not be blindsided.
Bark vs bite: If someone is talking negatively about your brand, you’ll be able to identify how large their audience is, which will help you decide whether or not you need to engage.
On the flip side, publication or influencers can be a huge asset to your brand especially if what they publish gets thousands of impressions.
It’s a bit of “inside baseball” but there is a difference between reach and impressions.
Impressions: The number of times your content appears on a screen.
Reach: The number of people who’ve definitely seen your content. You’ll find this metric used in paid content such as social media ads.
Think of impressions as the metric you use at the top of your sales funnel. By targeting specific influencers or media outlets, you can research or make an educated guess that your future consumers are in their audience.
Media reach matters, even if it’s initially small
If you’re looking for a crash course into Insider Media Relations™, be sure to check out last week’s blog or podcast. Your story is worth its weight in gold if you can find a newsworthy element. Think to yourself, “How can I make the average person care about this story?”
Hemp Industry Daily editor Kristen Nichols wrote a fascinating editorial called “Make the Press Your Secret Branding Weapon.” She outlined the story of Charlotte’s Web and its rise to consumer popularity from a local journalist’s article.
She writes, “When you have a patient or a client finding amazing results from your products, get those folks in touch with a local reporter. You can’t make medical claims. But reporters can share the story of your experience with no chance of government sanction. Sometimes those local newspaper stories turn into priceless global media exposure. Just ask the Charlotte’s Web pioneers.”
We don’t expect our clients to have viral stories like this but we try to evaluate what newsworthy angle we can pitch that would peak the interest of a reporter. This is part of our Insider Media Relations™. Be sure to check out our 10 steps to building media relationships on Twitter to help get you started!
Metrics to measure your success
We use analytics from Meltwater to help our clients define their current and future public relations goals.
Media exposure: This takes us back to the top of the funnel! Who is talking about your brand? How often? How many eyeballs are in their audience?
This is important when you are trying to measure the success of a specific event or campaign
Trending themes: This metric allows us to measure exactly what keywords are most often being talked about for our clients. This is useful to make sure our client’s messaging is on point for a given topic being covered online.
Sentiment: This metric is tricky on the surface. If you take it at face value, you have to trust that an algorithm is yielding accurate results. You’ll likely get more neutral returns than positive or negative, however, the percentage of positive returns should be higher than negative (if you’re pitching a positive story).
Data is critically important to shaping the tactics of your brand’s public relations outreach. As you focus on specific campaigns or events, the metrics will change and become more specific. However, the above analytics are all great examples of looking at your CBD brand’s public outreach as a whole as you work toward building Brand Protection PR™.
Check out the video recap of our conversation below: