While discussing the difficulties of measurement in public
relations, my professor brought up the Barcelona Principles, a newly developed
set of standards for PR measurement and evaluation that I had never heard of.
The Barcelona Principles are a fairly recent development by the Institute for
Public Relations (IPR), named so for the location of the 2nd European Summit on
Measurement which took place back in 2010. The summit addressed the need for a
clearer set of standards when measuring the results of public relations
efforts.
They seem like important principles to know, particularly
for up and coming PR practitioners. So if you too were unaware of this
important new development in PR, check out my simplified guide to understanding
the Barcelona Principles:
1. PR relies on goals
and objectives. Well-set goals are vital. They should be quantitative in
order to address who, what, when and how much influence a campaign has caused.
2. Media measurement
requires both quantity AND quality. Consider this- would you rather get
coverage in one article of the New York Times or ten in your best friend’s
blog?
3. AVEs ≠ value of public
relations. Advertising Value Equivalents measure the cost of media space,
not necessarily the success of the message.
4. Social media can
and should be measured. When measuring social media, it’s important to
focus on communities and the kind of conversations they are having. This should
also be enhanced with other methods like survey data or web analytics.
5. Outcomes are
preferred to outputs. Outcomes help to understand the extent to which the
PR plan has affected awareness, behavior or opinion. This is preferred to
output, which is simply pieces like news releases, media tracking or research
done.
6.
Business/Organizational results can and should be measured. This
measurement should take into consideration the effects of a PR campaign on
sales, revenue and other business metrics.
7. Transparency and
Replicability are paramount. For valid and accurate measurement, it should
be done in a way that is both transparent and replicable.
Do you think these principles will help shape the way the
public relations industry measures success? Let us know!
1 comment:
There are numerous numbers of institutes that offer public relations courses in Delhi but before choosing one you should first decide that for what purpose you wish to join Public Relations.
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