Understanding Public Relations (PR): How Smart Agencies Track Their Client's Reputation?
Brand reputation defines the public understanding of organization's image. It's the sum of all the communication activities the company has launched on every channel.
However, each action brings a different kind of value. A prime-time spot on national television might influence your client's reputation more than a mention on a low-traffic blog. But this is not news for public relations experts. What could be more interesting is how precisely tracking your client's reputation could unlock new revenue streams, increase sales for your agency, or bring in new clients with less effort.
So, how could tracking your clients' reputations provide value for communication professionals and publicists?
Legacy PR methods in a data-driven time
Traditional reputation tracking is not effective anymore.
In a world where every click is tracked, most global PR firms are lagging behind. Every customer-facing profession, from performance marketing to sales to customer support, already has precise data-driven tools to help them make business decisions. They use real-time data to mitigate risks, build relationships, and unlock new markets.
For some reason, communication and public affairs teams did not jump on the trend. They still track only the approximate impact of their customers' reputation, analyzing the share of voice research or counting the number of mentions in the media. Public opinion changes quickly, so savvy public relations specialists must stay on top of it to ensure the company's success.
Unfortunately, the standard tools do not effectively show the real impact of PR and communications campaigns. One could even say they focus on vanity metrics instead of showing the real impact of the brand reputation.
So, what are the correct metrics to track to see the complete picture?
Shaping the comprehensive brand image
Today, the domain rating of the website that publishes your press release is less important than how high on the first SERP page the release is listed.
The longer you hold the top position on the first page, the more people will notice it. It's in the best interest of all content creators to ensure they not only disseminate the press release or promote a product but also make sure it's easy to find online.
The entire reputation of the brand depends on several criteria:
Visibility of the top positions on Google search
Reviews on social media and specialized platforms about the company, product, or service
A regular presence in the media
Strategic advertisement
The overall reputation of top management and personnel
The positive sentiment behind each piece of content
Measuring the presence on each channel important to your client's stakeholders (employees, shareholders, partners, or media) helps the company to create a comprehensive brand image.
Looking at the brand from multiple perspectives
So, what needs to happen to objectively measure the impact of various communication activities? All of it begins with tracking the changes in the news positioning on Google search and looking at this information from the perspectives of several different stakeholders.
Analyzing these multiple perspectives allows PR professionals to notice the weak spots in the reputation and help clients find ways to remedy the issues.
After all, the typical reputation tracking tools that check the brand mentions will only see how the general public sees the brand – checking only the main brand-related keyword, such as the company name.
However, one brand can have many names. Customers might search for the brand using product-related keywords. Investors might look for information related to the official company name. Potential employees might browse the pages that discuss the company culture or top leadership.
These different types of requests create a multidimensional network of keyword clouds related to brand, product, company, and top leadership reputation. The basic tools cannot track everything. After all, you must analyze data from review sites, job ads, multiple SERPs, social media, Wikipedia, and other sources.
Keeping track of the trending topics
Having a clear reputation score for each of these verticals allows public relations agencies to quickly identify the reputation flaws, objectively show the pain points, and as a result, offer additional services to the client. It allows to notice issues instantly and maintain a positive public image. Also, it informs a long-term public relations strategy and communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations.
A clear reputation score will allow the best PR agencies to offer such additional services as:
Web asset management which includes updating social media, reviews sites, social platforms, newsroom, or Wikipedia pages.
Employee engagement initiatives that would create a better flow for gathering and displaying positive reviews
Integrated communication services that connect content marketing, digital marketing, media relations, influencer marketing
Data-based tools for communication crisis management
Additional services for strategic communication
Altogether, it helps to build a new type of technology PR skillset that uses data analytics to connect the responsibilities of a communications agency, a creative agency, and a marketing agency. Brand management is no longer the responsibility of public relations professionals, and every department in the company must take care of it.
Tracking reputation allows public relations firms to focus on quick wins while working toward lasting improvements.
Repsense Reputation Index uplifts public relations
Repsense develops a reputation management service that precisely calculates how various stakeholders see your client's brand. This allows you to notice even the slightest changes in the public's perception of the client's reputation and take action quickly.
Would you like to understand how Repsense can take some of the most common problems off your hands?
