New study: USC Annenberg publishes results of eighth GAP study
The results of the eighth edition of the study “Communication and Public Relations Generally Accepted Practices (GAP VIII)” unveil a gaining importance of professional communication measurement and evaluation structures in US organizations. Participants of the study reporting a lack of measurement and evaluation were much more likely to describe their organization as being autocratic, rigid and not strategic thinking.
The USC Annenberg Strategic Communication and Public Relations Center interviews within the framework of the GAP studies senior communication professionals in corporations, government agencies and non-profit organizations; the first study was carried out in 2002. Main goal of the survey: an analysis of the relationship between the communication department and the top-management as well as the organizational strategy. A total of 347 senior communicators completed all 50 questions in the study.
Overview of core results
One of the key results of the eighth GAP study is the advancing use of communication measurement and evaluation methods. 49 percent of the interviewed communicators utilize measurement techniques developed in-house. In contrast, 20 percent of the respondents use proprietary methods developed by their outside agencies. Moreover 22 percent are making increasing use of audience research in planning and evaluating campaigns and 31 percent of the participants are measuring their activities in the social web. Furthermore 71 percent strongly agree that there is a need for communication professionals who can interpret data und use it to plan and evaluate programs. Coupled with the increases in percentages of total budget allocated to evaluation seen over multiple GAP studies, these data reflect the growing importance of measurement and evaluation in the practice.
The participants scored specific tools and KPIs on a scale of 1 (no usage) to 7 (extensive usage) (© VIII GAP-Studie).
The GAP study also assesses the use of some tools and Key Performance Indicators. While relatively simple Key Performance Indicators like the total number of clips or impressions, which represent the output-level, are still used commonly, this is at least partially offset by the high presence of social media metrics and the elicitation of reputation scores.
Moreover the eighth GAP study verifies the augmented usage of social media, a continuing increase of communication budgets and thus a staff growth in communication departments. Finally the authors confirm that communication professionals act as an increasingly strategic contributor to organizational success.
Result
The research team around Professor Jerry Swerling wants the GAP studies to provide Best Practices as well as current trends in different US organization types’ communication departments. The eighth edition of the study series shows a delightful professionalization of communication in US-American companies. The authors speak of a transition from “Old School” to “New School”: communication departments have more often direct access to the top-management, use profound communication measurement and evaluation structures and play a role in defining overall business strategy.
You can download the complete study here.
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