Discover the power that data has to color decisions in PR, help PR firms find influencers and how perspective can make real-time monitoring better.
At the core of public relations is the need to monitor, influence and respond to public opinion. However, “public opinion” is not one single, definable thing. At least, not any more. These days, people broadcast thousands of opinions a minute. Some voices may hold no real influential weight, but others can cause an explosion of controversy. Something as simple as an angry tweet can become headline news in this day and age, and PR professionals need to be prepared to respond to these fires that can ignite at any moment.
At the same time, public relations departments have access to more information than ever before at their fingertips. This information allows them to not only stay on top of eminent threats but also predict them and figure out how to best respond. Data can also give PR staff the tools to influence opinion in positive ways, cultivating a set of halo values around a brand, organization or cause.
All PR professionals need is a way to capture data and process it to make sense for their goals. Here are some of the ways they are accomplishing these tasks:
Making Qualitative Decisions Upon a Quantitative Foundation
PR as a business is concerned with qualitative data, and firms often set goals to ensure that a certain number of people share a qualitative opinion. These qualities are no doubt essential, but they can lead to infinite shades of grey. Sometimes, a PR staffer needs an issue presented in black and white to know the best way to move forward.
That’s where data comes in. By building a foundation based on quantitative data, PR staff knows the lay of the land and how to proceed from there. For example, a car company may gasp when they realize that 44% of people over 50 years old have never heard of their flagship two-seater sports car. On the other hand, if 50% of the population over 50 is women and data can prove that the majority of women in those cohorts do not care about two-seater cars, then perhaps the brand can breathe easier.
In other words, data can define what is possible or likely in order for a company to make changes and set more realistic goals while describing an audience more accurately. If a company doesn’t use the data properly, then it will end up targeting the wrong audience.
Finding Influencers and Targets
Squeaky wheels can generate a lot of attention online, for better or for worse. Armed with data, PR staff has the tools to anticipate the reactions of vocal influencers, while determining strategies to handle any blowback. Ideally, a firm will find a way to quantify the demographics of people most likely to post about their client’s activities. Then, they can use these audience profiles to hone the creative of their message in a way that resonates powerfully.
For example, a charity that has noticed cynical blowback against the environmental sustainability of fundraisers can get out ahead of complaints by creating a campaign to tout how green their events are. Aimed correctly, such campaigns can turn complainers into evangelizers, helping clients gain traction where they would normally slip. Building these sorts of audience relationships has become what PR in 2016 is all about.
Real-Time Monitoring and Response
Predictive analytics can only get us so far, which means that we must also use data to keep tabs on how people are reacting to campaigns in the moment. Firms can use this data to adjust creative, messaging and placement in real time throughout the course of the campaign. These micro-adjustments can maximize impact and ensure that initial spend and labor efforts were not in vain.
At the same time, data experts caution about studying data too closely without the critical human element to guide decision-making. Nate Silver of the famous FiveThirtyEight blog warns that “as you record more events, relationships between events increase exponentially. Understanding them all becomes even harder, and this is where biases or assumptions are likely to creep in.”
To avoid the problem of data distortion or bias creep, Silver suggests that PR firms should always have a neutral, data-focused individual to help them run the till, point out flaws in models and help PR teams maintain perspective even as the data compels them to obsess over minutia. Using human logic and creativity in this fashion can make PR firms a whole lot smarter and more effective through data without losing their human touch along the way.