Reputation In Action

Communication and PR Reports: How do I highlight the value of my work? (Part 1)

After a media campaign, or in a periodic evaluation of press management, any head of a communications team usually wonders what results have been obtained during a certain period of time and what should be improved. With this issue in mind, we would like to share with you several guidelines used by our clients to create Communication Reports, which will allow you to familiarise yourself with the current situation of the company and define a future media strategy. In other words, now is the time to analyse whether your media strategy is on the right track, or conversely, whether it needs to be changed for future campaigns. This is the structure we propose:

Global Summary

A good way to begin the communication report is by creating an “Executive Summary”. This summary is to give an overview of the volume of global appearances of your business.  Ideally this summary should compare one time period with the same time period. However, this may vary for each company, since this comparison can be made with data you wish to highlight: yearly, quarterly, or half-yearly.

An effective approach to this opening section is to create a numerical breakdown of appearances by media type: internet, newspaper, magazine, blog, TV, radio, etc.,as the first exercise for studying your strengths and weaknesses, and where to draw from when creating new work guidelines for the future. Did I have fewer appearances in magazines this year? What caused this? Have my appearances in press agencies gone up 300%? What have I done to continue the themes of my work?

Report example: executive summary

Usually these summaries contain a recount of the total appearances in press, including both online and offline, but how you calculate this information depends on your individual tastes. From our point of view, it´s more practical to create a total recount of the number of times that the press has used information related to your business, because that way in this first section we can see in a single viewing, on a global scale, the results obtained after all the work done previously.

Analysis of yearly trends

Now it´s time for your PR report to go into a bit more detail by creating a “Trend Analysis” in which previously mentioned aspects will be examined more closely. For example, if a number “X” has appeared at some point during the quarter, it´s good to look at which months have produced the highest number of appearances and if this has coincided with any event, launch, presentation, if they have any specific cause (stemming from any action by the media), if they have been spontaneous (media or users who talk about your brand). This second category of media appearances shows that your business has gained equally in importance as in reference.

Continuing with this analysis, we should consider that at the present time, even though you may be analysing a trimester, it’s helpful to show the evolution of appearances throughout the year and then concentrate exclusively on this period. This way you will see which data have been chosen, but you also have the option to see your evolution for the rest of the year.

Report example: evolution of appearances

While realising this graph, one good option would be to include a clarification of the reason for these publications. In other words, if our volume of appearances in the media was due to the launch of a product, who mentioned it, or on the other hand, if there was a crisis.

Report example: number of appearances in various types of media

The tone taken during appearances is a characteristic that is extensively analysed by companies. Sandra de los Mozos, our director of Customer Care, has told us that the vast majority of our clients create a favourability report which shows the tone used to talk about them.

It’s good to routinely make a classification of appearances in order not to find yourself in the awkward position of having to create it when the time comes to create the communication report. One of the tools of ComSuite gives you the option of classifying the nature of the appearance as “positive, neutral, or negative” when you log a media appearance, showing you the image you are projecting to consumers in these communication media.

Report example: tone of appearances

This is convenient during crisis cases or simply for negative comments or publications. You already know these will produce negative results, but what is the impact of this information? What types of media are echoing this? It’s a good way to know which type of media you need to take special care of during these moments of “information attack”.

We’re going to close this first entry about the creation of communication reports here. In the second part of our post we will expand these guidelines. If you’re interested, you can tell us your thoughts on which is the most effective format for creating a Communication Report.

Negative comments: From answer to action

While it is the Communication Department that is responsible for managing corporate reputation, the company’s stakeholders (its employees, suppliers, clients, etc.) also play a key role. Said department undertakes to define the message and the brand values to be communicated, but without specific actions by the company which effectively demonstrate these values, all we have are hot air.

One specific example of where the rest of the company should be involved is the management of negative comments online. We are not going to go into how to respond to negative comments, as I think the literature on this matter is more than sufficient. For instance we have the article by Oscar del Salto: “Comentarios Negativos: Qué, cómo y cuando responder” [Negative Comments: What, how and when to respond] where he classifies comments made on his own social media and on other types of website, giving criteria on which types of comments to respond to and how to do so.

But this is merely the tip of the iceberg in managing negative comments. When dealing with a comment from a customer with a justified complaint (or perhaps not so justified but which should be managed anyway), in many cases neither the Community Manager, nor even the Senior Communication nor  Marketing Manager will be able to provide a solution because they have no direct responsibility for the matter in question; e.g. a bad business experience, a faulty product, a delivery that has taken longer than anticipated, being against the company’s environmentally unfriendly production process, negative opinions about a company spokesperson, the HR policy, etc.

As we can see, these comments are not resolved with just a “we hear you and we are working on it”, but rather they should be bound to a response with its associated action. The aim of the communication team, when receiving negative comments should be to rectify or clarify this comment. Here are some tips for doing so:

Rate comments by level of importance

Some monitoring tools rate impacts based on Estimated Publicity Value (for online media and blogs) and influence level (for social network accounts). These values are not 100% reliable, because, as the name of the former explicitly says, it is an estimate not a real value. For the second metric, each monitoring tool has a different type of influence indicator, which can vary according to way in which it is measured. However, it will be our own community or monitoring management policies which will give us the clearest indication of which type of reviews we should take action on most swiftly and give a 100% effective solution to, given that the aforementioned indicators are only there to guide us. This is only applicable to companies which a high level of mentions and where we cannot reply equally quickly to all of them. For companies with an easily manageable number of mentions, our response to all of them should be effective and quick.

When faced with high importance level comments, act quickly

Negative reviews rated as high importance and which can have a negative effect on the company’s reputation, should be acted on swiftly. Comments to do with our company strategy should be addressed in a reputation committee which should be made up of the Senior Communication Manager, the Community Manager and the senior manager directly affected by this comment (HR, Operations, etc.). The communication team should evaluate the risk deriving from the comment and, in conjunction with the Sr. Mgr. of the area involved, determine the best way to resolve this problem and how a final response shall be given. In some cases, this team may include the head of the company’s Legal Department.

Create a work process with Customer Care

For cases of everyday customer problems, create a work flow with the Customer Care Department, whereby it is them that manage the solution of this conflict. Underlining the importance of speed of response in this type of comment is essential: In fact, customers who complain through social media expect as swift a response as customers doing so through traditional channels, the only difference being that a second negative review, after a first complaint online, can bring much greater reputation problems. On this point I would add that as well as creating the flow as we said, it is also important to review social[corporate] customer service policies vis-à-vis new customer care channels -  the social networks.

Criticisms of the company’s internal policies

Let us recall that a company’s reputation is not based on communication messages; our reputation is what we are and what we show to others. Hence, in managing negative reviews, the Communication and Marketing Department performs two roles:

• If we detect negative comments on the company’s internal policies and we have no short-term solution, we can create content with positive information about our company (and/or work with influencers that help us to disseminate this content).

• To analyse whether these comments represent an actual situation that should change within the company and scale up proposals to implement these improvements. If we manage to render this change, it would be a good idea to communicate it.

Create your own news or content

As in the previous point, there will be negative comments that are not manageable (another example are negative comments about the competition). In view of this situation, the best response is to use our own content that we can viralise to help mitigate negative reviews. Engaging the support of the top people in the company is also vital. Some notable examples are: A video of the CEO talking about care in the company’s QA processes, an infograph on the company’s history and operations in different countries and its contribution in the sector, or writing a detailed article on the advantages of our products.

Drafting reputation reports

There is no better way of involving other members of the company than showing the positive or negative effects of our actions, i.e. showing results. By drawing up monthly reputation reports for the company , or at least for the all the department heads, we will show the result of our  swift responses. These reports might include:

• The total number of mentions our brand, spokespersons, products, etc. receive.
• The types of mention (positive, negative, neutral)
• The EPV (Estimated Publicity Value)

Encourage the use of social networks within the company

Lastly, but by no means less important, the company can become involved in the creation of its reputation through its member’s social networks. A negative comment about one of the company’s spokespersons on Twitter, may be better addressed through that same spokesperson’s own Twitter account than through the company account.  A caveat, actively creating corporate reputation through its employee’s social network accounts necessarily involves an education phase and/or the explicit definition of social networking policies.

In conclusion:

Managing negative comments is not something just for the Communication and Marketing Department; building a corporate reputation, collaborating in swiftly responding and acting on complaints expressed on internet is a task involving the whole of the company. The speed but also the effectiveness with which we act is going to make the way we manage our negative comments key for earning our company a better image.