Humbug. Sometimes it feels like 2017 was so full of disasters its hard to find any “best” about it. Nonetheless, the past year brought us some good news to celebrate in communications measurement…
1. Enough carrots, finally some sticks.
The launch of AMEC’s Say No To AVES campaign was a huge step forward for our industry. Even better was the Chartered Institute of Public Relations threat to discipline members who use AVE; without a doubt the best new thing in the measurement world. It throws down the gauntlet to companies and vendors that continue to use the discredited metric. The AMEC program isn’t alone. Numerous other professional organizations have signed onto the campaign from all corners of the globe: here’s a list of a dozen and a half of them.
2. More business value, fewer “HITS” [1]
Whether it was at PRSA, ICON, the Summit on the Future of Communications Measurement, or PR News’ Measurement Boot Camp, you couldn’t escape the talk about the need for business metrics and the growing disdain for impressions, AVE, likes, etc. Clearly, it’s an idea whose time has come. The growing adoption of tools like PROOF, and a new generation of communications staffers that are experts in SEO, proves that the future belongs to the data-informed.
3. Happily ever after in the halls of ivy.
(Not sure if it’s the chicken or the egg given #2, but…) I can’t help but notice how many business schools are pairing up with communications schools to educate a new generation of professionals that understand that their job isn’t to just create content but to add value to the organization. Thank you, to McMaster and Syracuse Universities, The Quadriga University of Applied Sciences, Berlin, and all the other institutions that are finally installing some business sense into our warm and fuzzy occupation.
4. Employee communications takes center stage.
One of the most welcome additions to the measurement world this year is the proposed new standards for measuring internal communications. But more than just the standards, the growing trend to include internal communications metrics in communications dashboards is a terrific new development. Whether you are measuring credibility of management, understanding of strategy, or good ole engagement, more and more corporations are replacing or augmenting their bi-annual employee surveys with innovative new measurement. These include games to test understanding of strategies and priorities, and Leader Say Do surveys to test management credibility.
5. Trust, but verify — and measure.
Perhaps it’s the increase in global skepticism about all things “establishment,” but we’ve seen a sizable uptick in the interest in organizations wanting to measure trust to better understand their relationships with their stakeholders. Many are surveying stakeholders regularly using questions from the Grunig trust survey instrument to test trust levels among both internal and external stakeholders. The truly innovative are combining results from influencers, employees, customers, and partners to create trust indexes that serve as a primary KPI.
6. Fighting fake news with fact checking.
The silver lining to all the fake news this year is that the fact checking industry has exploded. Even more exciting are the efforts on the part of publishers to combine technology with human intelligence to filter out the fake stuff. We have a long way to go, but even baby steps are welcome.
7. Crooked Media – the way media should be.
If you haven’t discovered Crooked Media and their record-shattering podcast Pod Save America, you are missing out on one of the brightest rays of hope in 2017. A group of speech writers and communications professionals from the Obama White House set out to start a media company that they’d want to listen to. Their first podcast scored its first million listeners in just a few weeks. The twice-weekly podcast covers news, politics, and anything they want to talk about. The self-described “no-bullshit conversation about politics” averages 1.5 million listeners per show.
Their simple idea has grown into eight different podcasts covering everything from race to foreign affairs to a game show that I have to listen to twice just to catch all the jokes. They epitomize the best in podcasting: honest conversations with people you’d like to hang out with. And obviously people want to hang out with them, because tickets to their live shows sell out in hours.
The Crooked phenomenon can teach us communicators a lot. It’s not just that they poke fun at our corporate-speak and messaging. Or that they remind us that to be heard we must be real. It’s their approach to their sponsored ads that we really need to pay attention to. Their sponsors encourage them to ad lib and make the ads about how they use the products. The result is ads that are so funny that you want to replay them, and brand affinity that normally would take years to earn. All are measured with “Crooked codes” that come with a discount. ∞
[1] How Idiots Track Success
(Photo by Austin Chan on Unsplash)
