By Leigh Andrews

On 18 August, Newsclip hosted the Johannesburg leg of its third series of breakfast networking seminars for the year. This comprised a presentation on 'Media evaluation: best of practice' presented by Daniel Munslow, followed by a workshop session on the value of media analysis based on the use of Newsclip’s interactive tools, hosted by Newsclip MD, Simon Dabbs. This created an excellent networking opportunity for keen members of the Gauteng-based PR and branding industry.

The seminar focused on issues of global best of practice in media measurement, and highlighted trends in the use of measurement and evaluation, as well as the value of Advertising Value Equivalence (AVE), and where evaluation fits into social media. Dabbs contextualised the seminar discussion by mentioning lessons learned at the First European Summit on Media Measurement in Berlin this June, hosted by AMEC in association with the IPR. With 180 delegates in attendance, as well as 35 presenters, many of which were academics, there was much material to digest. From this, Dabbs extracted content that would be useful in the South African context. A key message from the measurement perspective was to look at the output of a PR campaign not in isolation, but rather to include out-takes and outcomes of the campaign to determine its success. The conference showed many case studies of communicators now working with their clients and measurement agencies to ensure a healthier relationship based on understanding and interaction. This means that the client and the PR company will have clarity regarding the pre-determined outcomes of the campaign, which means that the intended goals are more likely to be met. However, outcomes should not only be considered at the end of the campaign – measurement needs to be a focus throughout the campaign, so as to change expectations and intended outcomes as new developments take place. This involves the need for comparison through control groups and benchmarking. According to Dabbs, the bottom-line is to realise that AVE is but a unit of measure. It should therefore not be seen as monetarisation of the campaign. He added that when questioned by David Rockwell of Ketchum Research as to who uses the concept of AVE, 99% of summit delegates said they do so. Dabbs cautioned that in using AVE, we need to go beyond seeing it as a unit of measure, and see how it can also be used for comparison purposes.

Munslow took to the podium next. He put the concept of media evaluation into context by stating that while there is no doubt that the media landscape is changing, based on an almost complete decrease in the latest ABC circulation figures, the measurement fundamentals stay constant. There is now less media, and therefore less space for exposure. A key example of this is the recent FIFA Confederations Cup, which produced 15 000 media clips in a single month – with so much real estate allocated to the Cup coverage, there was a reduction in available space for any other exposure. This links to a need for a shift in reading measurement results, which rely on interpretation by analysis, and qualitative measurement over quantitative measurement. Public relations practitioners need to decide from the outset what they are trying to achieve. Global best of practice points toward project-based measurement at a clip-sorting level. Media evaluation determines the effectiveness of the overall PR strategy and contextualises the results, especially in terms of how much other media is taking up key space – one is thus able to find the root cause of a lower clip yield. There needs to be a move away from measuring results by counting the clips received alone, as some of these may be negative. Measurement is therefore a controversial hot topic, especially in the current tough times when every cent of marketing spend needs to be accounted for.

In terms of sorting data, Munslow emphasised the need to measure specific items within the whole, as this is a step toward project-based measurement. Data can be segmented to analyse different topics, as well as how different spokespeople fare in the media. Meta-data can then be extracted and evaluated against the pre-determined end goals. Meta-data includes clip count; AVE; media groups; media types; geographic distribution and circulation; which all assist in ascertaining the percentage of correct media targeted. Munslow then explained how to read into trended data, which is plotted over a set period of time, in order to see how well a campaign has done. The key to this lies in understanding what one is looking for from the beginning. Control groups are useful in terms of benchmarking your company against others in the industry, based on competitor analysis. If this is trended over a set period of time, one can pick up on crucial events and react as and when they begin to impact on outcomes, in order to adapt one’s strategies to the reality of the situation. If one sees where one is positioned, it becomes easy to determine the outcome, which is the achievement of the output goals. It is therefore recommended that one benchmarks expected outcomes against previous results.

Next, Munslow explained the fundamentals of media perception, stating that media monitoring is a crucial part of broader-based analysis of a company’s overall perception; reputation; and public opinion. Media perception is thus just one dimension of a multi-dimensional process, not to be confused with reputation analysis. While some companies choose to use a weighted AVE figure to elaborate on certain exposure results, such as gaining coverage on the front page as opposed to a run-of-paper story, some companies are afraid of finding out their true results, and others have severe budget constraints. However, evaluation is a necessity. One needs to first determine the exact audience that one would like to reach, and hone one’s skills, not relying on the ‘spray and pray’ approach to press release distribution in the hope of greater media exposure. Munslow says that the engagement opportunities offered by a niche market publication with a lower circulation than a monthly lifestyle title can actually result in lower cost per contact. After all, media; strategies; and situations can change. Live trended data is therefore a crucial aspect of holistic media evaluation.

77% of PR-focused delegates at the AMEC/ IPR summit claimed that their clients had shown an increased interest in measurement – media measurement is therefore becoming a client-centric call to action. 92% of delegates claimed to also have interest in measuring social media, and to being price sensitive. Munslow coupled this with findings from the most recent MasterCard survey, which found that 80% of purchase decision is now based on price. With this in mind, he cautioned that PR professionals are still basing their success on placing content, as opposed to placing it for the right reasons. However, specific project-based campaign analysis is becoming more important.

On the topic of AVE, Munslow stated that it shows great promise when not abused, as AVE does have a place in measurement when seen as a non-monetarised unit of measure. He again quoted Rockwell, who feels that AVE is an affordable unit of measure that is easy to understand and complementary to other qualitative units of measure in order to correlate outcomes, and that it is conclusive as an absolute value. The true value of AVE is seen when it is used as a place to start the measurement evaluation process. One needs to keep in mind that editorial PR placement does not have the same value as ad placement; and that a high AVE value does not necessarily imply a successful PR campaign, as this is likely to include negative mentions too, as well as messages targeted at the incorrect audience. If multipliers are used, this must be disclosed and justified, and if possible, the real values should be given as well as the weighted result. Surprisingly, there is a global trend in downscaling AVE value, and a move toward giving a proportionally determined value, particularly if the campaign is mentioned just once in a four-page article.

The comparability of clip count and AVE as areas of measurement are based on taking the media roll-out, as figures still give the numerical facts based on media space occupied, which is then analysed and interpreted, to determine whether one’s end goals have been met from a common place to find comparisons. As it is now a case of comparing like to like, this becomes best of practice, as the same methods of measurement are used. Munslow gave an example of media coverage garnered for sporting events such as the IPL and the FIFA Confederations Cup to illustrate this. Comparison does become tricky when multipliers are used to try and illustrate the worth of the coverage received in terms of the effort it took to get the clip published. Some PR agencies don’t believe in using multipliers, while others can’t agree on the figure that should be used – for example, 'times three' or 'times five'. Dabbs added that we need to develop a code of conduct and an accepted unit of measure to correct this situation, for AVE to become truly comparable, which will greatly benefit the industry. There is a move towards not using weighting in reporting AVEs, which will help brand managers in the long run. Globally, people are moving beyond monetarising AVE, a trend which can be viewed as beneficial to adopt in our local industry as well.

Munslow moved on to describe the social media space. He stated that there are two schools of thought in this regard - those who support the use of social media to achieve certain results, and those that simply use it because it is there. Social media provides excellent points of contact with clients if controlled, but for this to be effective, users need to understand it in order to use it to its full potential. Unfortunately, social media often has poor staying power, as illustrated by the fact that while many Facebook users join numerous groups, they lose interest and tend to stop visiting the groups they have joined. Social media has a different appeal than mass media, as it is based on interaction. It is an open system, meaning that it can prove difficult to evaluate and measure - but keep in mind that it is not impossible, as anything you do can be monitored and measured. Social media provides a challenge because of its volumes. However, social media is not about the quantity, but rather the quality of the interactions. It's about more than merely starting a group on Facebook, as once you take the plunge, you need to keep up a constant effort to maintain the interactions and the conversation. Regarding social media usage, Munslow stated that 23.8% of people are online globally. In South Africa, this group of online users is just under 10% of the country's population, which equates to just under 0.3% of the total global internet users. Just 1.5% of the South African population has a Facebook account. There is not a vast population of online consumers to be reached. We also need to look at multiple outlets of figures to increase comparability.

Another interesting figure that Munslow used is that only10% of the people on Twitter contribute to 90% of the total tweets. The average user makes just one tweet per lifetime, and if they do happen to make more regular posts, it is not likely to be more often than once every 74 days. Therefore, determine how many active users are on your social networking site of choice, and whether this is the target population you would like to reach.

So, where to from here? Munslow stated that while just 9.4% of South Africans have internet access, over 70% have a cell phone - there are more cell phone SIM cards than there are people. In terms of online engagement, we are reminded not to over-estimate the effect of our limited technological infrastructure to date, coupled with the possibility of reaching the incorrect target market. Companies need to commit to long-term plans in order to keep the movement going if they decide to enter the exciting social media space, and to consider using the SMS as a communication tool, especially for internal communications. In conclusion, Munslow summarised the points that global best of practice suggests we sort data for meaningful results; that output indicators be used to determine whether goals have been reached; that qualitative analysis measures true trends of opinions, attitude and behaviour; and that evaluation is important in PR engagement.