"Social Media is the biggest fish in the PR pool"
By: KK / 04.03.09
Clipping services fail, Twitter will rule, and those who don't get social media will be thrown out of the gene pool - following Katie Paine, editor of the Measurement Standard Newsletter these will be the things to come for public relations measurement in 2009.
In twelve "Survival-of-the-Fittest 2009 Predictions" published in the Measurement Standard Newsletter you can find a resume about the developements in measurement and with it challenges especially regarding the use of social media companies are facing in 2009. communicationcontrolling.de spoke with Katie Paine about her sharp-cut predictions.
communicationcontrolling.de: Mrs. Paine, you've introduced twelve predictions for public relations measurement in your Measurement Standard Newsletter. Could you please summarize again in short what in your opinion are the most important developments in 2009?
Katie Paine:
- Consolidation, In tough times, free services like Google Analytics and Google Alerts will kill off the weakest of the clipping and monitoring services.
- PR and communications professionals who understand statistics and analytics will survive, the rest will become greeters at Wal-Mart.
- Measuring PR is really about "Measuring People & Relationships" as organizations realize PR is more about listening than shouting and that the true benefit of social media and the Web 2.0 revolution is in the connections you can make with your constituencies - internal and external.
communicationcontrolling.de: What reason in particular let you be so confident to say companies will be aware and - in an next step - discover social media as THEIR state-of-the-art communication platform?
Katie Paine: I think that smart organizations are realizing several things about social media.
- If you're not listening, you're missing valuable market information.
- If you're not engaged, your enemies (competitors) will be.
- An engaged audience is essential to survival.
Again, in challenging economic time, survival goes to the fit, and having a healthy social media strategy is part of survival. Look at what happened with GoDaddy and the superbowl.
communicationcontrolling.de: You've said corporations will rely on Google instead of continuing to use clipping services as it is still common at the moment. Do you really think that especially big companies will change their habit so rapidly joining Google as the standardized media measurement tool? And could the online search engine be an appropriate tool to provide the basis data which is necessary for e.g. media analysis?
Katie Paine: I can already name half a dozen who are. People are cutting budgets, and if they can do something for free, they're going to do it. We use Google News and Google Analytics for most of our clients already.
communicationcontrolling.de: Another social media tool you've highlighted is Twitter. In which areas Twitter will gain the most importance? How could the value for corporations using this social media platform be measured?
Katie Paine: Twitter will gain credence as a way of establishing relationships with the media. When NPR's Scott Simon and Dan Schorr are on Twitter, the rest of the PR mob is not far behind. The value of Twitter is measured by web traffic, links, all the usual social media metrics. What you want to know is -- are people moving from following your Tweets to taking action on behalf of your brand.
I think social media are relevant in most markets, regardless of the size of the company. Small companies have greater opportunity in this market because they can move faster.
communicationcontrolling.de: Thank your for the interview!
About Katie Paine
Katie Delahaye Paine is the CEO and founder of KDPaine & Partners LLC. You can find her online via twitter, in her blog or newsletter "The Measurement Standard" dedicated entirely to measurement and accountability. Katie has 22 years professional experience in PR measurement, and 10 years of journalism and corporate communication. She will be speaker at the first European Summit of Measurement organized by AMEC and IPR and supported by DPRG in Berlin, June 2009.
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