One of the biggest struggles us PR pros have is how to measure earned media… and there’s not an exact science to this, but in this video, I am going to share some tips and tricks that will help you measure the media that you are earning.

If you want to earn media exposure without spending any money on ads and make sure you subscribe to this channel where I post videos just like this one every Thursday.

Hi, my name’s Christina Nicholson. If you are new here, I help business owners all over the world earn media exposure without spending big bucks on advertising. (I mean who really pays attention to ads anymore.)

How to Measure Earned Media

In this video, I am going to show you how you can measure your earned media to see if it is working for you.

Share it.

Now, first things first, you need to share it. Don’t expect the media to do everything for you. If you don’t share the media after you earn it, then don’t complain that it’s not working and it’s not doing anything for you.

I see this a lot, not just with clients but really with anybody who’s earning media exposure. They just expect everybody to see it and everybody to act on it. That is not the case.

If you do not take that exposure that’s in the newspaper and a magazine or on TV and share it repeatedly on your platforms, you are leaving so much money on the table so you need to share it and for more on how you can turn that publicity into profit.

And make sure you check out a podcast episode that I recently published 35 things to do after you earn media exposure. I will link to that in the description for this video so you can take a listen. You can also read it on the blog post if listening to podcasts isn’t your thing?

But you’re definitely gonna want to check it out because I am giving you 35 things. I mean even if you do a quarter of these, you will turn that publicity into profit.

Track your website visitors.

The second thing you can do is track your website visitors – where and when are they coming to your website from. So when you get coverage online, or even offline – offline always almost end up online anyway. That’s just the way our world works today.

So when you get coverage, make sure your head into your Google analytics and you are checking out how people are getting to your website. Are they clicking on a link from that online outlet that links back to you?

That’s how you can track how many people are coming to your website and where they’re coming from. And then once they get there and what are they doing now, this will give you some insight into how people are reacting to your site.

Because if people get on your page and they jump off within three seconds, then there’s something wrong with your page. And this is where measuring PR kind of gets complicated. So you may think, “oh we got that media hit and it didn’t work well” but maybe it did work and they did go to your website, but there was something on your website that they didn’t like or it was unclear. Or maybe your website just looks terrible and then they bounced off of it.

So do your part to make sure your website was ready to convert and make sure you’re checking out your Google analytics. How are people getting to your site and when are they getting there? Is it right after a media hit? Is it a couple of days later?

Backlinks are good for SEO.

And number three, remember that backlinks are good for SEO. So the big thing about SEO is people want to focus on the keywords and that’s it.

There are so many other things you need to focus on, like your site speed. If your website isn’t loading fast than Google’s going to knock it down.

But something else that’s very important is earning those backlinks. And again, this is something that you can’t pay for. So I know ads are easy, you pay money, you get it, but if you’re paying money for a backlink, it’s going to be a no follow backlink that doesn’t do anything for your SEO.

But when you earn coverage on an outlet that gets more traffic than you and that outlet has a higher domain authority than you, then that sends a message to Google and that lets Google know, “hey this website must be important because all of these other outlets are linking to it” so that’s going to move you up higher in the search and it’s going to benefit your SEO.

Now, why is this hard to measure? Because I hope you know by now that SEO is a longterm game. You don’t just hit page one of Google in one day. It’s something that slowly happens over time and you need to build up multiple backlinks to increase your chances of moving up in that Google search.

What is your call to action?

Now before I go on, I want to know what your call to action is. Are you sending people to your website? Are you asking them to call a phone number? Are you sending them right into your brick and mortar store?

So let me know what your call to action is. I always say go to the website (if you have a website). Send people to the website because they can get so much information there and it’s just easier. I know I would rather visit a website than pick up a phone and call somebody or get in my car and drive somewhere. So are you sending people to your website? Let me know what your call to action is when you are earning exposure in the media in the comments below.

Look at your social media following.

Number four, look at your social media following. Are you seeing an increase in followers? Are you seeing an increase in likes and comments and engagement? Many times when we’re earning exposure in the media, people will want to find out more about you. And if they’re not going to your website, then they’re going to look for you on Twitter or Instagram or Facebook, wherever you’re active on social media.

So pay attention to your social media analytics in addition to your website analytics because you want to see how you are growing online on those many platforms.

And again, this depends on where your audience is and where you are most active. So if you are concentrating on people who are maybe 40 years or older, than Facebook is probably going to be your jam. But if you focus on millennials, then they’re probably going to be on Instagram.

So just pay attention to what’s going on on your social media channels after you earn media exposure. Because remember you should be sharing this media exposure on these social media channels as well and that will also help elevate your following on social media in addition to your website and other online platforms.

Email list growth.

Number five, email list growth. So this is a big one, especially if you are on podcasts. I find that people who listen to podcasts are more likely to respond to an opt-in offer and then they will make their way over to your landing page and get on your email list.

I know I saw this big time when I was on John Lee Dumas’ EOFire and I have been on Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income podcast a couple of times and after every episode, I could see my email list jump and that was because people wanted to find out more about me.

So they looked me up online, they went to my website and they opted in to one of my free offers, or on the podcast I actually gave away a freebie and I said, “hey, if you want more of this, I have this free resource and you can check it out by going to pitchpublicityprofit.com” for example.

And then I would see my email list grow and then over time I would nurture them and some of those people on my list which turns into customers or clients.

So again, when it comes to measuring earned media, this isn’t something that happens overnight. There are multiple steps that need to be made and I think a lot of people are in media and they just expect to see an ROI overnight. It doesn’t happen like that.

Pay attention to traditional traffic.

Number six, pay attention to traditional traffic. So again, after I was on those podcasts, I would have people literally pick up the phone and call me. I don’t have a brick and mortar. I work from my beautiful home, so I really hope nobody is stopping by because that would be a little creepy. Um, but people were calling me.

So pay attention to traditional traffic, like phone calls, and if you do have a brick and mortar – people walking into your store, because that is a result of getting that media exposure.

Remember, people can’t do business with you if they don’t know about you and the point of earning this exposure is so they know about you. You want them to get to know you, to like you, and to trust you… and that is who people are going to do business with.

You don’t get that trust factor through advertising because everybody knows you’re just paying to be there. That’s not very trustworthy.

If you haven’t already, please check out my three-day video class that is completely free. I teach you how to pitch the media to earn publicity and then turn it into profit and you can get that at pitchpublicityprofit.com and by now you will know how to measure that earned media that you will start earning after you go through this three-day video media class.

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