Role of Data Analytics in Public Relations can range from creating the right public relations strategies to measuring and optimising them.

For the better part of the last few decades, we’ve seen Public Relations to be considered a difficult to measure or sometimes immeasurable communications effort. Several norms and practices have come in and gone out of acceptance by consultants and clients, each rejected for its lack of accuracy. But despite the absence of an absolute way of measuring its impact, there is a lot of data produced through PR campaigns, and several insights can be drawn from its analyses. Word of mouth that happens as a result of a PR activity is now social – permanently recorded and measurable.

At every media where public relations outputs interact with their audiences, the level of measurability has increased. Almost every public relations output also has a manifestation on digital media, making it even more measurable. In several public relations firms the line between the digital function and exclusively public relations line of work is blurring, and we are increasingly finding PR professionals who are dexterous with web measurement tools and 1^st and 3^rd party social media measurement tools. While 3^rd party tools could require an investment that may be difficult to justify, there are several freely available services that can be used to extract and analyse data.

It is an asset that will become increasingly valuable going forward. It makes your services more competitive and desirable by increasing the accuracy of your efforts.

Below are some of the ways in which data analytics in public relations can be used to that effect:

• In creation of content:
  • Identifying the right keywords, headlines and titles that not only increase the organic visibility of your content but also make it more attractive to be perused thoroughly.
  • Strengthening the rhetoric being created, by way of more facts and figures substantiating it.
• In distribution of content:
  • The right portal for the publication of your content can be identified through data representing the audience and the nature of consumption of that portal
  • Several levels of beta testing can also help you identify the optimal timing of publishing your content. Beta testing is a good way to fine-tune other relatively subjective variables of your content such as tonality.
• Relevance to businesses and audiences:
  • The right data and its comprehensive understanding can provide you with invaluable insight into the demographic and psychographic characteristics, and consumption behaviour. The most relevant audience for your content can be targeted accordingly.
  • Data analytics in public relations  can also enhance your understanding of how a business objective translates in terms of PR activity. This bottom up approach is especially relevant to PR activities being carried out for the first time or for new clients.
• Measurement
  • While measuring a singular PR activity may be difficult, over a period of time the performance can be measured, for instance, in terms of approval rating of a brand or recovery from a crises.
  • Attributes most closely associated with brands can evolve over a period of time. Whichever way the brand or its audience evolve, consistent capturing and monitoring of data can ensure that brand sustenance efforts are in the right direction

The abundance and variety of data that can be captured and analysed is increasing, and therefore consultancies and professionals therein must prepare themselves to master the art of drawing insights out of it.

This blog is a part of insights on Public Relations shared by SCoRe. Know more about what we do to spread PR Knowledge, www.scoreindia.org and our Post Graduate Programme in Public Relations