A Chapter Ends and a New One Begins

This semester has been full of reading. Whether it be the lessons from "Real-Time Marketing" or the importance of "Measuring What Matters", the books that I have read for this semester of school have been very informative and easy to read, surprisingly. The books all cover almost the same material, but each book harps on a certain aspect of PR and social media tactics. The reading was never something that I would do on my own, but when I did read for the chapter quizzes, I would find myself noticing instances in the real world and my life that applied to the books teachings.

The book "Measure What Matters" is the book we have just finished and I really liked chapter 10 with measuring employee relationships. This summer for my internship, one thing I noticed about Fox was they never really asked for their employee input or showed concern for the employees relationships in the workplace. I am not saying that Fox is wrong for not keeping in touch with their employees relationship with their job, but if they wanted to make themselves better, that would be one way.

Measuring employees relationships, according to the text is "important because employee morale and sentiment are closely tied with sales and profit."

When a companies executive members and superiors show concern and genuine care for the well-being of their subordinate employees, that really tightens the camaraderie around the office and builds trust between co-workers. Employees are the backbone of the business and without them, the grunt work can't be done. Maintaining the relationship with the employees is when the measurement part comes into play. The better measuring tools we use, such as surveys, are key in coming up with data to measure and better our relationship with our employees.

These books have all taught me something unique about the public relations field and isn't that what we want from a book? To at least be able to take away one thing from each of those books would be three lessons that I didn't know before hand. The books serve as a guide to successful marketing and PR, but it is up to me to execute those guidelines and do so correctly and ethically.

Measure What Matters Chapter 7

Chapter seven of the book, "Measure What Matters" deals with measuring the impact of events. In social media today, events have become "redefined" according to the book on page 107. 

"'Events' is a term that can now refer to an online fund-raiser or an in-person Twestival organized via Twitter."

As we always seem to point out, there are a multitude of ways that social media has enhanced the marketing world and industry as a whole. When we see how much the social media platform changes things that were capable before, but are easier and quicker now, it is changing the opinions of consumers to use social media and that it is more than just a way for teens to retweet their favorite memes. 

The best part of the chapter in my opinion was the 7 steps process. I like these steps the book lists for the reader because it provides order and strategy. The seven steps in the book to measure sponsorships and events are:

1. Define Your Objectives

2. Determine Your Measurable Criteria of Success

3. Decide Upon Your Benchmarks

4. Select a Measurement Tool 

5. Define Specific Metrics 

6. Choose a Measurement tool

7. Analyze Your Results and Use them to be more effective 

The last step was the one that caught my attention and Dr. Agozzino alluded to it in class last week. The measuring process is not over. The process is never over, because we must constantly be updating, remodeling and improving our content and tactics if we want to thrive. 

Impressions in SEO

This week in our class reading of "Measure What Matters", we have been reiterating the lesson of impressions. What types of impressions there are, how we can track our impressions, what to do with our impression data moving forward. One thing Dr.Agozziono stated in her notes is measuring is a constant thing. You are always looking to improve your measurement strategies and impressions.

The types of impressions can be differ in terms of how the impression was made. If the impression comes from a solely a search and a tag is matched, then it is considered an organic impression. Also if you are getting impressions from traditional media without paying for impressions or viewership, then it is organic as well. 

The counterpart of organic impressions are paid impressions. Paid impressions are simply paid advertising or product placement. It can be noticed deliberately and/or separately from the content that it is in. These impressions are not as rewarding or as concrete as the organic impressions because without the money, it is unknown if your product, (or organization, or service) would have been found. 

The best way to track the impressions for your website or your organizations social page is probably through Google Analytics. Google Analytics is way to transform the social media platform and how our content is truly perceived and not just going off of views or likes. Google Analytics is proven to be a productive tool for most organizations, but last week when a guest speaker came into our class, she she worked for the Hollister Co. and she spoke of her companies own way to track their impressions on all of their social channels. The system showed how each channel had a certain number of organic and paid impressions and what times the impressions were at a peak and at a low. Lindsey taught me some very valuable social media skills and tips going forward into my career. Although I don't have aspirations to be a social media manager or coordinator, I do know that social media is going to be around for awhile and will continue to change the communications landscape. 

Measure What Matters

As the beginning of our next class reading comes upon us, the book, "Measure What Matters" by Katie Delahaye Paine has a different tone to it than others. It seems a little harder to comprehend and follow, but with the assistance of Dr. Agozzino and her power points, it is very much a refutable resource and has content that made me think this weekend.

In chapter 2 Paine states that there 10 questions that every communication professional needs to answer:

1. What are your objectives?
2. Who is the target audience?
3. What is important to your audience?
4. What motivates them to buy your products?
5. What are your key messages?
6. Who influences your audience?
7. How do you distribute your product or service?
8. What are you going to do with the info from the research?
9. What other departments or areas will be affected?
10. What other measurement programs are underway?

The more I analyzed these questions, the more I realized that it was true in the real-world. I understand that the author would't publish these ideas if they're weren't applicable in the real-world, but I found them very relatable to my experience this summer in Los Angeles working as an intern for FOX Sports. Question 6 is the question in particular that got me thinking, because what really motivates or influences us as an audience to a company like FOX Sports? In my opinion, what influences us to watch FOX is the whatever ESPN is not showing. FOX has had trouble trying to keep up with ESPN, but in it's efforts this year, it has made some significant triumphs over the bigger brother that is ESP. FOX hosted the women's World Cup for the summer and also just hosted the World Series. Those 2 monumental events are not being televised on ESPN, so that influences us to watch FOX sports more frequently. These questions are a great way to break down your job as a communicator or just to prepare for the future in the business world.