INDUSTRY GUIDE

From Measurement to Management

PART 2:
ENGAGEMENT

From Measurement to Management Part 2: Engagement

EDITORS NOTE
Engagement is the second of a five-part PR measurement series based on the
five key dimensions adopted in the LEWIS measurement framework.
Previous guides include:
Introduction with Foreword from AMEC
Exposure
Subsequent guides include:
Preference
Impact
Advocacy

CONTENTS
Overview 4
Adding context to insight 5
Measuring true value of placements

Setting engagement goals 8

Key KPIs 9

From Measurement to Management Part 2: Engagement

OVERVIEW
Getting attention is no doubt a top goal of communications. But keeping it is
just as important, and perhaps more difficult. As data-driven intelligence
makes each new in-road through marketing and communications channels,
its becoming ever clearer: progressing from a focus on pure exposure
toward the objective of two-way interaction is fundamental to communications success. While engagement is not the end goal for most campaigns
although it is for some - its a decidedly important category of performance.
With the task complete of initiating exposure to a brand, engagement
represents the second step on the continuum toward audience attachment.
When a member of a target audience responds to content, it represents a
basic instance of engagement. Response by very definition indicates that
content is seen as relevant. When individuals also go as far as to make
the choice to share that content, the action both validates the content and
signals a potential opportunity for further attachment. The individuals have
injected themselves into the contents identity by acting as connectors to it.
For years, have you seen that commercial? was the question most
commonly asked to see whether youve engaged with a brand. The
proverbial office water cooler has seemingly mostly relocated within social
channels. This has arguably led to the re-definition of the term engagement
itself, but no doubt, communicators can now measure it on a more granular
and quantitative level.

From Measurement to Management Part 2: Engagement

ADDING CONTEXT
TO INSIGHT
Social media platforms have created opt-in platforms providing the opportunity
for people to serve up opinions and share experiences in real-time. This yields
an array of structured and semi-structured data from which to derive insight into
content effectiveness, at bare minimum. In social channels, most measurement
of engagement boils down to response to and sharing of content.
Although the names for these interactions are channel specific, whether retweets,
shares, comments or pins, they all represent instances of content being vouched
for as relevant, and worthwhile of additional exposure. Counting these instances
and tracking them over time gives a sense of overall progress. But ratios
centering on the number of these sorts of actions taken in proportion to overall
exposure are increasingly seen as more insightful than mere counts. Examples
include re-tweets per 1000 followers or clicks on shared links per 1000 followers.
These measures allow communicators to go beyond exposure to determine
which content snippets audiences are finding most compelling.
In owned channels like websites and blogs, measures of stickiness correlate
with engagement these are quantifications of the desire of the user to remain
in or return to the channel for more good content. Google Analytics and other
website metrics that indicate engagement include bounce rate, return visits, time
on site, number of incoming links and subscriptions. Here too, ratios comparing
these indicators with overall traffic volume can yield insight with more context.
In paid channels such as online ads, holding audience attention is measured
through engagement metrics like number of video starts, time viewing, and
interaction rate - the ratio calculated by dividing the number of clicks on an
asset by its total impressions. Interaction rate is also often used for video content
within owned channels.

From Measurement to Management Part 2: Engagement

MEASURING
TRUE VALUE OF
PLACEMENTS
So what about media relations result? The approach should be much the
same. Whether an ad, a photo, a video, a tweet or a blog post, each unit of
engagement centers on a single piece of content. Likewise, with earned
media coverage, it makes sense to measure engagement around the
journalists article or multimedia asset. Do people comment on it? Is it
shared within social channels? Does it spark additional content creation by
other individuals and brands? By answering these questions, each media
placement can be measured not simply on the basis of how many people it
reached, but also by whether they felt it was valuable.
By taking the approach of answering these questions for each media
placement, PR professionals can both create aggregated assessments
of engagement as well as retain the ability to drill down to which forms of
content are most successful. One can make the argument that engagement
assessments are, across channels, where measurement becomes less about
merely proving value and more about content improvement.

From Measurement to Management Part 2: Engagement

When it comes to enhancing content strategy, while coverage levels

and other exposure metrics give a sense of what is successfully being
sold into journalists, engagement metrics push through toward the
audiences validation of the nature of the content within the articles once
they are published.
Editors too are interested in what content is driving readership, evidenced
by media websites own public rankings and lists of most emailed and most
viewed articles. Certainly, editorial decisions are being made based on
audience appetite. Therefore, PR professionals should see engagement
metrics as leading indicators for future exposure metrics. If an article is
getting a lot of interest on a media sources website, chances are, there will
be more opportunities for similarly themed content pieces. Likewise, if a
placement isnt sparking sharing and comment, future pitches with that
content theme might be increasingly futile.

From Measurement to Management Part 2: Engagement

SETTING
ENGAGEMENT
GOALS
Much like with exposure metrics, PR teams should set engagement goals
based on an analysis of past content performance whenever possible.
Examining the data around the most successful individual pieces of content
in the past and comparing numbers with average engagement levels over
time can help yield realistic goals for a campaign. Content that has been
highly successful in non-earned channels, such as blogs or ads, can
predictably translate this over-performance within earned media channels.
For example, if a content asset achieved 150 per cent of average
engagement in an owned or paid channel, its reasonable to set that goal
within media.
Its important to note that in every campaign, there will be always a few
keystone pieces of content that drive deeper interest and spike the
measures of engagement. Its natural for teams to look at the troughs and
wonder why there are periods where levels have declined. Rather than
view a dip as a failure, its often a key strategic asset. If exposure
measures remain constant, insight can be gathered to inform whether to
devote further resources to that kind of content. Improved engagement
strategy is not about a smooth and steady line graph, or never missing the
mark with content. Proactive engagement strategy involves setting the goal
of a graph with more spikes, sent higher with each content campaign.

From Measurement to Management Part 2: Engagement

KEY KPIs
In addition to the other channel-specific metrics mentioned above, LEWIS
recommends the following KPIs as the easiest to collect specifically for
media placement engagement measurement:
Comments on article within media website/comment system
Tweets including article placement links
LinkedIn updates including article placement links
Facebook Likes including article placement links
Facebook Shares including article placement links
YouTube (and other video platforms) views of content embedded
within articles
Pins of placement links
Re-blogs, digests, email newsletters, linking to placement
Engagement metrics yield a better understanding of which media
placements and content themes are driving the most interest. Creating
consistent engagement means opening up numerous conversations
around the topics that intersect with the audience. The natural result
should be that these good conversations turn into relationships. At the
core of any relationship is whether someone prefers your opinion and
presence to anothers.
This will be explored further in the next chapter in this series: PREFERENCE.

White Paper Exposure

About us
LEWIS was founded in 1995 by a former journalist and, since then, it has grown to over 500 employees
based in more than 28 offices across the US, EMEA and Asia Pacific.
Its regional headquarters are in London, San Francisco and Singapore. LEWIS is known for delivering
bold digital communications campaigns that enhance revenue, value and reputation for global brands.
Digital communications services span PR and media relations, social media marketing, search engine
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