There are a lot of things to consider when you’re figuring out which type of PR measurement to use: your budget, the business outcome you want, what social channels you want to measure, how many tools you want to use, the insights you want to get, how broad the scope is, and the list goes on.
Then there’s the question of what to measure: page views, followers, website visitors, average time on a site, impressions, “likes” and “unlikes,” retweets, mentions, your Klout score, search terms, etc. It’s a lot to deal with.
Every PR pro needs something just a little different from their colleagues. Odds are good that you’ll need a mix of tools. With that in mind, here is a list of tools that can help with your specific measurement requirements, even down to the cost.
The PR Daily newsletter ran an article by Barbara Rozgonyi and Pete Codella on some outstanding tools you can use for measuring your PR performance.
1. TalkWalker.com/Alerts
Sends email alerts with the latest relevant mentions on the web directly to your inbox, for free.
2. List.ly
Enables users to curate lists by subject matter for free.
3. Tame.it
Offers Twitter timeline analysis of relevant topics, people and links. It can be used for free, but premium packages are 5 € per month.
4. BufferApp.com
When you fill up your Buffer, it “automagically” posts for you throughout the day. It’s $15 per month for one user and 8 social media accounts; on the upper end, it’s $99 per month for 6 users and 25 social accounts.
5. SocialBro.com
Offers audience insights and competitor analysis. Costs $13 to $149 a month for up to 20k or more than 200k Twitter connections.
6. Keyhole.co
Users can track conversations on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
7. SproutSocial.com
Social publishing and monitoring for Facebook, Google+, and Twitter. It has free and paid plans
8. Clicky
A free website analytics tool to monitor, analyze, and react to your blog or web site’s traffic in real time.
9. Brandwatch
A tool for online listening and responding.
10. GroupHigh.com
A blogger relations tool that costs from $179 per month.
Kim J. Harrison has authored, edited, coordinated, produced and published the material in the articles and ebooks on this website. He brings his experience in professional communication and business management to provide helpful insights to readers around the world. His wide-ranging career includes roles as a corporate affairs manager, consultant, author, lecturer and business manager. Kim has received several international media relations awards and a website award. He has been quoted in The New York Times and various other news media, and has held elected positions with his State and National PR Institutes.
