The document outlines key communication metrics tailored to various sectors, including earned media, content marketing, internal communications, events, higher education, public affairs, and nonprofits. It emphasizes the importance of measuring factors like engagement, conversions, and employee satisfaction through various analytics tools. The document also suggests tracking share of voice and total engagement over time as critical indicators of success.

2. 7 Communications Challenges
Standard metrics don’t fit the myriad challenges that today’s communicators may
face, so to make your measurement job simpler, we’ve picked the best metrics for
some of the typical (and not so typical) challenges that relate to:
1) Earned Media (both traditional and social)
2) Content Marketing
3) Internal/Employee Communications
4) Events
5) Higher Education
6) Public Affairs
7) Nonprofits
www.painepublishing.com 2

3. Share of Desirable
Voice over time
(Google News or
clip counts)
Reduction in
share of
undesirable
voice over time
Total Engagement
in social media
over time
(Facebook/Twitter/
LinkedIn/YouTube
analytics)
Increase in
conversions
from
earned/social
sources
Earned Media
(both traditional & social)
www.painepublishing.com 3
No Brainer Metrics for:

4. Increase in unique
sessions viewing
content (Google
Analytics)
Total Engagement
in content
(Facebook/Twitter/
YouTube analytics)
Increase in
conversions or
sales leads from
content (Omniture,
Salesforce, Google
Analytics)
Content Marketing
www.painepublishing.com 4
No Brainer Metrics for:

5. Increase in
opens of
emails
(Banana
Tag)
Increase in
ratio of
positive to
negative
comments on
internal social
channels and
Glass Door
Increase in
Employee
Engagement.
Employees
willing to
recommend
as a place to
work
Reduction in
turnover,
reduction in
recruitment
costs, increase
in promotable
employees
Internal/Employee Communications
www.painepublishing.com 5
No Brainer Metrics for:

6. Share of
Desirable
Voice over
time (Google
News or clip
counts)
Total online
Engagement
around event
(Facebook/Twit
ter/YouTube
analytics)
Traffic to the
Registration
Page (Google
Analytics)
Increased trust in
the organization
or qualified leads
from the event
(or other desired
outcome)
Events
www.painepublishing.com 6
No Brainer Metrics for:

7. Share of
Desirable
Voice over
time (Google
News or clip
counts)
Total Engagement
in social media
over time
(Facebook/Twitter
/YouTube
analytics)
Traffic to the
Application
Page (Google
Analytics)
New Qualified
Applicants from
Earned Media
(Admissions)
Higher Education
www.painepublishing.com 7
No Brainer Metrics for:

8. Share of
Desirable
Voice over
Time
(Google
News or clip
counts)
Total Engagement
in social media
over time
(Facebook/Twitter/
YouTube analytics)
Petition
signatures
(Petition app)
Legislation
passed/killed
(Legislative
tracking
service)
Public Affairs
www.painepublishing.com 8
No Brainer Metrics for:

9. Share of
Desirable
Voice over
time (Google
News or clip
counts)
Total Engagement
in social media
over time
(Facebook/Twitter/
YouTube analytics)
Traffic to the
Volunteer or
Donate Page
(Google
Analytics)
New
volunteers,
donors, or
increase in
donations
Nonprofits
www.painepublishing.com 9
No Brainer Metrics for:

10. Thank You!
• Find more articles about simple measurement (and all things
measurement-related) on the homepage of The Measurement
Advisor
• For any questions, email me: measurementqueen@gmail.com
• Find me on Twitter: @queenofmetrics
• Follow Paine Publishing on Facebook and LinkedIn for more great
news and content
• When in doubt, visit Paine Publishing online (That’s another no brainer)
10
www.painepublishing.com 10