One of the most difficult tasks of a PR agency (or any communications or marketing agency for that matter) is calculating the value of online media secured for clients.
Everyone knows the importance of online media, but the question is: “How do I calculate the value of it?”
In other words, what do I calculate in terms of ROI for our clients?
Let’s talk about what value is and how to calculate it.
As a marketer, you want to know how important an online media piece is to your business. This is what the value of online media is.
You need to determine how much time is worth investing in reaching your audience online? How much is your money worth in buying online?
As a marketer, you know the importance of online media. But how can you calculate the value?
What do you mean “investing in reaching your audience online?”
Well, one of the most overlooked things for online media is the audience outreach component.
If you are not building a long-term following for your business, the number of followers will be insufficient to get your message out.
For instance, if you have a lot of followers but no followers with a large number of engagement and engagement rate (THR), your followers might not be a valuable part of your online media campaign.
When we say “investing in reaching your audience online,” we mean creating value by creating the content that can reach a large audience, cultivate them and connect with them online.
Is there a real answer to how you can calculate the value of online media? Is there a value, as in real dollars and cents, to your online media?
The answer to that is yes, of course, there is.
The value of online media comes in the form of return on investment.
If a piece of online media can get your audience to click or call you or get them to engage with you, then it’s worth investing time and money into it.
One of the most effective ways to determine the ROI (revenue return on investment) is with some fairly basic analysis.
One of the most straightforward methods of tracking potential customers and their response to media coverage is to simply track the number of visits an article gets.
After all, an article that for whatever reason doesn’t get any clicks isn’t likely to be adding any value to your operation.
On the other hand, if you see that an article is getting all sorts of clicks and performs very well, that article is likely worth taking a closer look at to see how it’s affecting ROI.
It can be difficult to keep track of how many times an article has been viewed (and who was doing the viewing).
Here are some tools you can use to at least estimate how many times your secured coverage is being clicked:
Cision is a decent platform that sends out press releases. This is useful if you don’t have organic media coverage, which is the better option. But if you would like to get organic coverage check out PromoPanda.com where we get organic coverage for your brand.
Organic Coverage means real writers writing independently about your brand, this is much more valuable than press releases, which is essentially advertising.
There are various ways to use online media as a part of your marketing and your marketing budget.
The first method of calculating the value of online media is reaching your audience. Are you reaching the right audience for your business? Do you have the right message for your audience?
Research conducted by Mailchimp found that two out of every three consumers will read online articles to find the answers to their questions. They are unlikely to call. And, in general, they will give your company just 3 seconds to make their decision about whether or not to choose you.
Knowing how many people are a part of your audience, you can determine how much time it takes to reach each one of them.
In the same study that found that two out of every three people will read online articles to find the answers to their questions, Mailchimp found that 59 percent of consumers read an article online for facts. They are unlikely to call. And, in general, they will give your company just three seconds to make their decision about whether or not to choose you.
That is a large percentage of your target audience that you need to appeal to, in order to create value for your company. The content must be easy to read. You must reach the right audience, in order to create value.
The best way to create value is by providing the information that people are looking for. In the same study that found that two out of every three people will read online articles to find the answers to their questions, Mailchimp found that the top reasons that people called was to:
You need to provide value to people in order to attract them to your online presence. If you know who your audience is and how you can serve their needs, you can create a content that will appeal to them and compel them to call you.
Creating a content plan that speaks directly to the audience that you have defined and the information that they need is the best way to create value for your company.
If you are going to write content that directly addresses their questions
