Communication measurement helps you understand how your campaigns perform and whether your messages are driving behaviours that generate the results you want. The PR industry is adapting to technological advances and changes in consumer behaviour, and communication measurement is no exception.
Here are 6 key trends for 2023 that will drive change in PR and communication measurement:
1. Having a media monitoring solution as part of your communication plan
With the Global Media Monitoring Tools Market revenue expected to surpass USD 7.8 Billion by 2028, cloud-based monitoring solutions will gain even more popularity among businesses. These solutions enable you to monitor and measure your online performance. Tracking mentions is not a new trend, but as more and more users populate the digital space and create social media profiles, consistently monitoring your social media analytics will help you create a successful communication strategy.
There are many media monitoring tools available on the market – Hootsuite, Talkwalker, and Brandwatch to name a few. After you decide on what tool to use, you should either create a team that will set up the platform and track mentions daily or outsource the service to companies that will do it for you.
2. Increased transparency about data collection practices
Going forward, brands will have to be more transparent about their data collection practices. As consumers become increasingly aware of how much data companies collect on them, brands will need to be more transparent about what data they’re collecting and why they’re collecting it. This means that brands will need to make sure their communication measurement strategies are aligned with their privacy policies so that they can prove that they aren’t using personal information in ways that violate consumers’ trust.
3. Focus on metrics that highlight results
Communication measurement will move away from traditional metrics like impressions and reach toward more sophisticated measurements of brand impact and engagement. While many brands still rely heavily on traditional metrics like impressions and reach, these metrics undervalue the importance of engagement with a brand’s content—and this is where the future of communication measurement lies. If brands understand how people react emotionally or intellectually when interacting with their content (rather than just how many people saw it), they’ll be able to create better content for their audiences.
There is an increased focus on measuring PR and communication success by looking at results rather than inputs. It’s no longer enough to say “we did X” or “we had Y.” Now it’s time to show how your efforts helped your business — and more importantly, how they can help your business grow in the midst of a global economic crisis. This is especially important as more and more companies are shifting toward a data-driven culture. If you want to stay competitive, you need to be able to prove your value with metrics that matter to your stakeholders.
4. Targeted messaging
Online users are becoming immune to paid advertising so targeting people in bulk will no longer generate the ROI you are expecting. Moreover, it’s not ethical to target everyone with the same message, seeing how the cost-of-living crisis fueled by inflation and low wage growth in 2022 left some people deciding between buying food or paying their energy bills.
That is why it is important to design targeted messages based on specific demographics or psychographics (e.g., age group, gender, location, ethnicity, income, etc). This allows businesses to tailor their messaging towards specific groups within their target audience so that there is a less wasted effort on reaching out unnecessarily.
In order to address people as customers rather than as followers, more and more businesses will move away from “brand” language and move towards “customer” language. It’s not enough anymore just to talk about your brand—you need to show why YOU matter!
5. Emphasis on long-term brand measurement, rather than short-term ROI
As brands move more into the performance marketing space, they’re beginning to place greater emphasis on long-term brand measurement and reporting. This is especially important as we move out of an era of ROI being the sole focus for many marketers. Brands are increasingly looking to measure the impact of their campaigns over time and focus on emotional connection as a key metric.
In many cases, the shift has come about because of advances in technology that have made it easier for marketers to track long-term metrics like emotional connection and brand awareness. As these metrics become more accessible and easier to measure, brands are able to see how their performance marketing efforts are impacting their overall customer experience.
The result is that marketers are now able to better connect the dots between their campaigns and customer retention rates. This gives them confidence that they’re making smart investments in their paid media campaigns, which ultimately leads to better customer retention rates.
6. Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing shows no signs of slowing down, and it will be a big PR trend in 2023. The only difference, however, will be that businesses will be focusing on real-time analytics and data to assess the success of their influencer collaborations. This includes choosing influencers based on audience demographics and engagement and not only on follower count and potential reach.
Businesses will focus on finding influencers who have communities that trust them. By doing so, they can ensure that they are creating the right emotional connection with potential customers. With the rise of TikTok, users started valuing transparency and authenticity over aesthetically curated feeds, which creates the need for brands to have data to assess the level of trust an influencer enjoys from their community.
Are you interested in measuring your communication efforts?
Our multilingual teams at A Data Pro deliver data-driven insights on how well your team is communicating, what kind of content is resonating with your audiences, and how often those messages are being seen. You can use our data to make strategic decisions about what content you should be sharing, who you should target it to, and when they’re most likely to be receptive. The result? More engagement with your audience—and more sales!
