Second-year Algonquin College public relations student, Daniela Gyeabour-Domfeh, is the 2010 winner of MediaMiser’s fourth annual Turning News Into Knowledge award.  Here is her winning post.

Ivory Coast votes while the world watches online

On October 31, 2010,  I woke up to Facebook status updates from friends asking everyone to keep Ivory Coast in their thoughts and pray for peace. 

Ivory Coast, also known as Cote d’Ivoire, is located in subsaharan Africa. Over the past few years the country has gone through much turmoil and strife. Elections had been expected to occur since 2005 but were postponed several times due to rebels in the North taking up arms and creating instability in the country.

Since I don’t own a television (I know that sounds shocking), I had to turn to the Internet for information on the elections. I wasn’t sure what was going on in Ivory Coast and decided to do a Google search which led me to results that said the West African nation was having elections after eight years of civil unrest.  The BBC stated that these elections, which had been delayed six times, were seen as a step to healing a nation that has deep ethnic rifts.

Many of the young people on the continent and in the Diaspora relied on outlets like Twitter to hear about results from the elections and ensure that chaos didn’t ensue. The hashtag   started to show up in my timeline as the day progressed.  Freelance journalist @nii_ayertey sent out a tweet which stated that he believed the elections in Ivory Coast would help to redefine the continent.

Peace is what the citizens of Ivory Coast were voting for.  If these elections were able to occur without any tragedy and bloodshed, it would help to move the whole continent towards a brighter future.

According to nnenna.org,  there were many organizations in the country to ensure these elections were peaceful,  8,000 U.N. officials, 7,302 monitors and 600 journalists.

According to BBC Africa Have Your Say, the head of the UN mission stated that theturnout was one of the highest ever seen in Africa with 80-85 per cent of people in Ivory Coast going to the polls.

As the day went on there were pictures on Twitter and Facebook of candidates voting at poll stations,  and people standing peacefully in the streets.  There was also a photo of a lady happily showing her finger as proof that she had voted.

As night time approached, people were anxious for results of the election.  @nennatweeted that she was waiting with fingers on the keyboard for results to let others know what was going on.

As the votes rolled in the world was happy to hear that peace had prevailed in a country that struggled for almost ten years to achieve it, and no major incidents that would have put a blemish on the elections.

On November 12, 2010 The UN declared the elections as being legitimate. Since there was no clear winner in the elections, the UN is taking  steps to prepare for a peaceful runoff election on November 28.

Fingers are crossed that the second runoff elections go as well as the first round did. I know I will be watching the results from the Internet.

This post is co-authored with Claudine Wilson, APR, special projects manager at MediaMiser

Would you spend more on a product if it was coming from a socially responsible company? Would you take a pay cut to work at a socially responsible company?

Chances are, if you’re a female aged 18-39, you would, according to an Abacus Data national poll. The poll revealed on average, around 60 per cent said they were willing to spend $8.62 or more on a $100-dollar product or service from a socially responsible company. In addition, 50 per cent (mainly those 18-39) said they would take a pay cut to work for a company that is socially responsible.

If Canadians are attuned to social responsibility, what about companies? Those who made presentations on their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs at the Corporate and Community Social Responsibility Conference (Nov. 10) certainly are.

The workshop stream we attended included insights into some innovative programs and campaigns by some of the country’s best-known corporations, including Xerox Canada, KPMG, Export Development Canada, SaskTel, and Cisco Canada.

Andrew Souvaliotis from Air Miles for Social Change discussed three kinds of approaches to sustainability – compliance, strategic, and transformative – and went on to explain his company’s program to use environmental reward points to transform Canadian consumer buying habits.

Tim McGurrin from Canada Post provided details on how the corporation set up a registered, arms-length, charitable foundation to “deliver hope” to grassroots organizations dealing with mental health issues. Since June 2006, the program has raised more than $2.6 million.

Susan Henry discussed Alterna Savings’ small business development program that offers micro-loans to individuals who normally would not qualify for them. What we found most impressive about the Community Micro-Loan Program was that when a third party measured the program’s social return on investment (SROI), the outcomes were significant. Since receiving their loans and developing their businesses:

• 70% moved to a better home (20% became home owners)
• their families are eating healthier (33%)
• more than 60% hired others
• 50% of those who were on social assistance no longer rely on government subsidies – a saving to taxpayers estimated at $2 million.

Alterna’s SROI demonstrates that effective CSR programs can have a tremendous impact on society, and Emechete Onuoha from Xerox Canada provided insight into the type of corporate philosophy that drives these some of these kinds of initiatives: “Business strategy matters, but values matter more. Culture eats strategy for lunch.”

We felt right at home at this conference, especially since we’re members of MediaMiser’s first-ever employee CSR committee. While our firm is small (ant) compared to the companies (elephants) at the conference, we know that ants can make a difference.

I’m currently reading Web Analytics 2.0 by Avinash Kaushik, and while the book is aimed at marketing folk, every page I turn, I think in my head: “Every PR pro should read this book too!”

It perplexes me that web analytics is not taught to students of PR–in fact I’ve met more than a handful of very smart and talented PR people who didn’t even realize that measuring their website’s activity was even possible! Hopefully that’s changing…

However, the other side of this, is web analytics can be pretty complicated stuff. There’s so much *to* measure that you can waste an entire day trying to determine what you *should* measure. Also I’ve been interested and learning about analytics for about three years now and still don’t feel like I have a solid grasp on what I need to be measuring, how often and why. (That’s where the book comes in! I’m about half way through but already have pieced many puzzles together.)

If you work in a larger organization, chances are, someone, somewhere is already tracking analytics. There are quite a few tools available ranging from free (Google Analytics, Yahoo! Analytics) to paid (Omniture, Coremetrics). If you don’t have anything set up-what are you waiting for? I’ve used Google Analytics with five different websites (ranging from corporate sites to my personal blog, to the site of a charity I volunteer with) and I can safely say it’s more than sufficient for most analytics needs. However if you’re running a complicated eCommerce site or have very specific needs, a paid solution might be right for you.

So, if you are ready to go with analytics and want to know how you can leverage these tools to complement your PR measurement, here are three simple metrics you should steal from marketing (or “share” if you prefer to be civil!)

1. Keyword traffic

It’s always interesting to analyze the keywords people are searching to find your web site. However, where PR is concerned, one area you’ll definitely want to pay attention to is people searching for you by your company name. This is particularly helpful as a common PR goal is increasing awareness and the more people searching your company by name, the more aware they are that you exist.

Here’s how I do it*:

1. Establish a benchmark/pre-campaign

To do this, I recorded all searches that included “MediaMiser” or “Media Miser” I looked at three-month period and averaged it by month. The magic number: 445

The reason I averaged over three months is because looking only at one month may cause inconsistent results. For example, traffic was overall lower in December due to holidays, and overall higher in November due to an event we hosted which received a good amount of exposure.

2. Measure against a different time period/after a campaign

Next I looked at a three-month period, six months later (i.e. six months after the original third month) and did the same process of averaging. This time I got 610. Optimally, you’ll have a campaign to measure before and after, but if you want an overall measure, this can work too.

3. Calculate the difference

610-445=165 (See? Math is fun sometimes! If not, no worries, this is the only math in this whole post)
This equates to a 37% lift.

Now if you can pair that metric with other traditional metrics for measuring an increase in awareness (i.e. by doing surveys, cross referencing with media mentions/reactions etc.) you probably have a pretty compelling story to tell of increasing awareness. If the results are not positive, you can do an analysis of what didn’t work and start again.

*I’m no analysis-ninja yet so there may be better way. Feel free to weigh in if you do something different.

2. Top content

Some topics are more popular with the masses. Whether you’re tailoring a pitch for journalists, planning a theme for a corporate event or developing content for a newsletter, you may find inspiration by studying the top content pages of your site. Especially if your site has a resource centre or blog, you’ll get great clues into what people are interested in. Hey-you may even be able to use this info to help persuade a journalist that the topic you’re pitching is of interest to many.

Chances are your homepage is going to be the most popular, also if you have a client login page, that’ll likely be up there to but pay attention to content-based sites that rate highly and also seek out the not-so-popular pages, what’s different?

Also… very important here: when comparing, pay close attention to the bounce rate. This is the rate of people who landed on your site and left after only one pageview. While perhaps you drew in their interest via keywords or incoming links to that page, you lost it when they landed on the page and chose not to go anywhere else. If a top page has a high bounce rate, you may conclude that the topic was interesting-but the content did not execute it well. This can also help you plan future content.

3. Referring sites

One of the most powerful web metrics is referring sites-this is because much of how Google measures the relevance of your site is dependent on links you receive from other sites (and how relevant those sites are themselves). So the people who link to you are not only doing you a favour, they’re also potential allies. PR is all about building relationships and this metric can lead you to the right people. Alternately, if people who should be linking to you are not, maybe you’re not targeting properly or not reaching your audience. Now you know.

This is just barely scratching the surface of how PR can use web analytics for measurement. If this post has been successful in whetting your appetite for analytics, I strongly suggest the following resources to learn more:

• Occam’s Razor (Avinash Kaushik’s analytics blog)
• Web Analytics Demystified – Eric T. Peterson is another recognized expert on analytics
• Complete Web Monitoring – O’Reilly Media book by Sean Power and Allistair Croll
• Jim Sterne’s blog -  expert on eMetrics and marketing optimization
• Institute for PR Whitepaper on PR using Web Analytics - a more in-depth overview of why it’s important.

Come meet the team and see what’s new with MediaMiser at the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) World Conference in Toronto next week.

However, we’re not your typical tradeshow booth. Here are just a few fun things we’ll have going on at booth 108:

1. Stump the MediaMiser 20Q - (20 Questions electronic game) win a prize if you succeed, most likely though, you’ll just be amazed!
2. Ask a media expert – we’ll have several members of our client services team, who work directly with our clients to maximize their media monitoring and analysis needs, on hand to answer any burning questions you may have.
3. MediaMiser Enterprise demos - want to see what our software has to offer? drop by for a demo on our iPad!
4. Oh yea, we’re also giving away an iPad!

Don’t miss out on any of the fun,  follow @MediaMiser on Twitter and follow all the tweeting conference attendees via out list @MediaMiser/iabc-wc. Come by and mention that you read this and follow us, and we’ll have a special prize pack for you!

At the CPRS 2009 Conference: Onlookers are amazed at the MediaMiser 20Q game

Today there are far more “influencers” than ever before. An influencer is simply someone with an audience who can influence the buying behaviour of that audience. The ultimate example is Oprah—when she endorses a product or service, millions flock to it.

As magical as that would be for any business, it’s definitely not easy to be endorsed by Oprah. The good news, however, is influence isn’t just for celebrities anymore. There are hundreds and likely even thousands of influencers blogging and on social networks who can get the word out about your product or service and in a beneficial way. Think of it as an extension of media relations.

However, it’s not exactly like media relations—influencers usually aren’t journalists, and many don’t take nicely to an unsolicited pitch. So how can you reach influencers and get a positive return? Here’s a few pointers:

• Make sure it’s the right influence: Don’t be fooled by numbers—these days people can build up large numbers of Twitter followers, but still not carry a lot of influence. Influence involves a lot more than big numbers. Google the person, find out what others say about him or her and most importantly make sure his/her audience is relevant to what you do!

• Forget pitching, build real relationships: If the influencers you’re targeting are involved in your industry, you should have no problem finding common ground. Invite them for coffee, seek them out at trade shows, stop pitching and take the time to really get to know them first!

• Create a spark: When people talk about products they really love—it’s obvious and that passion is what attracts others to follow suit. So instead of asking an influencer to talk about your product, consider giving him/her access and guidance. Hopefully she/he will fall in love and want to talk about it. Also, look to your existing user base for influencers, if they’re already there and in love, approach them about making the love more public and offer to help.
  

• Be weary of paying for influence: Many do, and I’m not saying it can’t be a successful strategy, but know what you’re getting into first. Last year, the FTC passed a law stating that bloggers are required to disclose payment or other perks received from companies. The reason for this is because readers are less likely to trust an endorsement if money is involved (and probably rightly so). If you do choose to go the pay route, make sure you know the law and won’t get yourself (or your target influencers) in trouble. Also be sure to measure the impact and ROI of paying for influence and make sure it’s worth your investment.

• Measure your success: While it’s important to measure the buzz generated from an influencer’s endorsement, make sure you can trace it back to your bottom line as well. A great way to do this, is to offer a discount to the influencer’s readers and provide a unique discount code. Or simply ask the person to use a custom URL to measure traffic and how it converts.

Adapted from our April 2010 Newsletter. Want to be the first to know? Sign up here…

We’d all love to “set it and forget it” as they say on that cheesy infomercial… But the truth is things change. All the time. In front of our eyes.

Since spring is the time for renewal, now is an ideal time to re-examine your measurement program. Of course, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to measurement, so we’ve compiled a list of five tips to get you on the right track:

Five tips to clean up your measurement program

Tips courtesy of MediaMiser’s account manager, Stephanie Luedee.

Fortunately you don’t need the rubber gloves and mop for this one, but you will need to apply a bit of critical thinking. What you’ll need to evaluate here will of course depend on what you are already measuring and what your goals are. Here are a few factors to look at for your own measurement spring cleaning:

1. Toolkit tune-up
Are you equipped with the right tools? Is each achieving what you need from it? One example: have you started monitoring social media? Are you measuring the right social media? Take a look at the tools you’re using and make sure you’ve got the complete set.

2. Keyword Cleanse
The likely scenario is you set up a set of keywords one day and let your software take care of the rest! The reality is the only constant in business  is change. So it’s very likely your media monitoring keywords change over time. Think about if any of the following have changed:

• Competitors – any new ones on the scene? Perhaps one has fizzled out or changed focus?
• Issues – issues that affect your organization may change over time, make sure you include all the latest.
• Buzzwords – buzzwords come and go all the time, yesterday’s ‘eco-friendly’ is today’s ‘green’ you may be missing key coverage if they’re not up-to-date.

3. Rejuvenate your rolodex
Is your media contact list up-to-date? What about your monitoring distribution list? The longer you put off updating contact lists, then save yourself the hassle later and update now.

4. Polish up parameters
Does your toning scale still make sense? Are ad values and circulation numbers accurate? Look at the values you’re using to measure and make sure they still fit with your overall goals.

5. Prune your process
Have you allocated the proper resources? Are your reports getting out in a timely matter? Take a minute to examine your process and so that your measurement is happening in an efficient and effective manner.

The Altimeter Group and Web Analytics Demystified have joined forces to produce an ‘Open Research’ (read: free!) report about social media analytics and building a measurement strategy. From Jeremiah’s blog post:

Industry Challenge:  ”I can’t measure social media ROI”
Marketers around the globe are ranging from toe dipping to jumping all the way into the social marketing space –yet most lack a measurement yardstick.  While experiments can fly under the radar for a short term, without having a measurement strategy, you run the risk of not improving what you’re doing, justifying investments, and the appearance of being aloof to upper management.  To be successful, all programs (even new media) must have a measurement strategy, and we’ve done just that.

Last month, our PR and social media measurement newsletter, MediaPulse, was all about building a measurement strategy… If you loved the idea, but aren’t sure where to start, then this report is for you!

Read Jeremiah Owyang’s blog post for more info about the report, or skip straight to SlideShare to read the full report: Social Media Analytics, A new framework for measuring results in social media.

Media monitoring and analysis is an emerging communication sub-field that can feed intelligence and insights into a communications plan. It also can provide a measurement structure for a media relations department. Media analysis can be used to drive marketing campaigns or to form a social media strategy around. It’s diverse and necessary to any organization, especially one that’s issues are often addressed in media or that participates in media itself.

However, there’s not much information out there about media monitoring and analysis and what it entails. Furthermore definitions of terms can mean different things to different people. And for that reason, we’ve decided to publish a Media Monitoring & Analysis Glossary on our web site.

The glossary contains some often used keywords around media analysis, and also a few others that we’ve coined ourselves.

Do you believe it’s important to define an industry? What other glossaries would be helpful?

Please let us know what you think about the glossary by leaving a comment here Alternately, if you want to privately provide feedback, you can email me at kelly@mediamiser.com.

Undoubtedly if you’ve been following the Olympics (or you know, not living under a rock) you’ve heard about the red mittens. The absolute must-have accessory for the 2010 Vancouver games that have been selling out across the country since they were released…

Last week, MediaMiser released a report that looked at some of the fun aspects of the pre-Olympics media coverage. One such topic was those red mittens. While it was no surprise they received a good amount of media coverage, we were shocked to learn they aren’t just being talked about in Canada, but in fact, the top-three news outlets talking about the mittens were all US-based.

While we’re working on a follow-up report (watch for its release first week of March), using our Twitter Analysis tool, I noticed that chatter about the mittens skyrocketed on Feb. 13 and again on the 16th. While the spike on the 13th likely had to do with timing – the first full day of the Olympics, everyone was wearing the mittens, etc., I set out find what triggered the second spike on the 16th…

Image from USA Today article

The top mentioned link about the mittens on Twitter that day was an article in USA Today. Yep, another major US publication. In fact, none of the top links were by Canadian mass media-the majority were (Canadian) blogs hosting mitten giveaways, actually. The USA Today article even mentions the mittens are the “gotta-have souvenir” of the games and features a photo of Vice-President Joe Biden sporting a pair.

According to the article, mitten retailer, the Bay, had originally projected selling 1-million pairs of the mittens, and now anticipates 3.4-million total.

Pretty neat, eh?

Download our preliminary Olympics Report

How the Media Sees It: A fun look at the 2010 Olympics. MediaMiser analyzes the fun side of the pre-Olympic Coverage. Download now!

 

 

Olympic fever is in full swing with the opening ceremonies happening tomorrow. Here at MediaMiser, we thought it’d be fun to analyze the media coverage leading up to the games and take a look at some of the lighter issues. Here’s a taste from the executive summary:

We spent the month of January examining the lighter side of pre-Olympic coverage. Much of the information gathered and analyzed has been assembled in this report to create a fun look at the following areas:

• “Truthiness” and the Olympics
• The Olympic red mittens
• The media’s favourite Olympic sport
• Top six “hyped” hockey teams
• Olympics in the blogosphere
• Olympic Tweets

Some of the findings were surprising. For example, Canada isn’t the country whose media wrote most about our ubiquitous red mittens. However, it should come as no shock to anyone that the Olympic sport covered most by online media was hockey.

And here’s a sample chart, showing the top-10 talked-about sports:

Download the whole report free here. Have a look and let us know what you think.