In recent times and for some years to come, digitization will continue to transform industries and PR is not exempted. Laggard incumbents are disappearing from industries in which digital disruption began early, such as the traditional media. In industries where digitization is less pervasive but more a gathering force, there is still time for incumbents to adapt and survive.

As digital technology continues to advance and innovative startups continue to create disruptive business models, the media, PR and Communication professionals and brand managers now more than ever need to embrace and recognize the importance of monitoring, measurement and maintaining brand perception in a world of social and online sharing.

In 2017, online monitoring and measurement will become even more sophisticated and PR agencies and brands that up their game in data and insights will gain a competitive advantage and those who fail to adopt the trend risk being disrupted and dropping off the tipping point of relevance.

Like all communications disciplines, PR is much more complex today than it ever has been before. The stakes are higher and, to be effective, simply being across all of the different ways you can help your clients in today’s multichannel world isn’t enough. Doing so means building continuous monitoring, measurement and analysis into every stage of your PR plans. While that may seem like a daunting task, with the right partners and tools, it’s easier than you think. And, when you get it right, your clients will thank you for it.

Keep up to date with industry trends
From a digital PR perspective, Online Media monitoring can help you keep up to date with the latest industry trends, mentions across the digital space, sentiments, tonality and much more. Online media monitoring is keyword-based and there is a need for you to have a basic understanding of relevant keywords of your client’s brand, organizations, competition and your industry.

Identifying the keywords and the key-points to listen for is a process and a must have skill for any PR and Communication professional. Some of the keypoints to consider in online monitoring are brand mentions, competition, niche market, hashtags, sentiments, and tonality score.

Identify, Anticipate and Manage Future Issues
Digital PR is about identifying, anticipating and managing online perceptions and conversations that might negatively impact the reputation of a brand. Being aware of these perceptions and conversations in advance, positions you to better manage online reputations and to take actions and to respond accordingly to an issue that might turn into a damaging crisis.

Search, Research and Strategy Development
Compiling a Digital PR strategy can be a tricky task. The usual elements of planning, research and execution need to be combined with the typical Digital PR qualities. Research always creates a great foundation for planning the perfect strategy.  It aids in identifying key opportunities and highlight how to improve your current ideas to create ones that surpass your competitors.

Online monitoring at this phase of planning is not only crucial but a strategic method in capturing in real time overall mentions, key sentiments. Competitor analysis, indepth target audience and conversational insights and much more, which are all relevant factors in putting together a winning pitch or campaign strategy.

Measure the impact of your communication effort
For the modern PR agency, there is no one universal way to prove value. Instead, you need to track and report a variety of metrics that are tailored to specific multichannel campaigns. The trick is not only knowing which channels to include in campaigns, but also which metrics matter most when it comes to demonstrating their effectiveness. Attention to ROI and demonstrating value should be a part of each stage of your communications plans: Strategy, Tactics, Measurement and Analysis.

One of the activities of traditional PR agencies and professionals is media scanning by flipping through the pages of newspapers and solely aimed at capturing mentions of their clients. Good enough, with the emergence of technological enabled monitoring tools such as Digitalprwire, what used to be captured manually can now be done effectively and efficiently with just a simple click while evaluating the success of PR Campaigns and Communication efforts.

Learn about Purchase Decisions
In 2017, online monitoring and measurement will become increasing important and will assume a greater role in the consumer experience. If online monitoring and measurement isn’t a priority for your company, then you’re missing out on critical data and insight into a huge portion of the modern customer journey—not to mention the unique ways you can engage with current and potential customers.

For instance, Social media networks are adding purchase buttons that allow users to complete purchases without leaving the platform with call-to-action buttons such as buyable pins on Pinterest, Get a Quote,”  “Book a Time,” and “Shop Now” on Facebook.

Other data and insight that online monitoring and measurement makes possible ranges from

• Finding influencers who amplify your brand message or who attack your brand message
• Understanding your products’ strengths and weakness.
• Understanding when consumers are active online, what networks they prefer and what type of content they consume.
• Finding and resolving problems with products and customer service issues before they can grow into PR problems.
• Uncovering competitors’ strategies and weakness and emerging trends in consumer preferences.
• To customers, online media can be an outlet for true self-expression. To businesses, it can be a marketing goldmine filled with valuable customer information. By understanding who is talking about your organization, you are able to gain true audience insight that goes beyond content clicks and sharing.
• Online media listening will become increasingly prevalent and beneficial in 2017 due to advances in media monitoring tools and growing numbers of online consumers. Brands that pursue deeper insights into customers’ thinking through sophisticated listening tools stand to benefit the most.

Source: Digital PR-wire