How to Measure a Content-Driven Approach to PR
On Friday, adtech veteran and former PubMatic chief commercial officer Jeff Hirsch posted on LinkedIn, “I am noticing more and more OGs posting their opinions about things going on in the adtech industry with less concern than in the past about the repercussions of doing so. Is the suit against Google stimulating this activity? … Have you noticed this, and [why is this]?”
Jeff is likely alluding to fellow adtech veterans like Viant founder/CEO Tim Vanderhook and Lotame founder/CEO Andy Monfried publishing unvarnished critiques on social channels of market leaders such as Google and The Trade Desk. But what’s motivating them, I’d wager, is not primarily the Google antitrust trial (though it probably doesn’t hurt to see the DOJ validating concerns about Google). It’s the realization — from seeing it work for folks such as Ari Paparo and Matt Barash and companies such as Adalytics — that posting controversial but substantive takes on social channels is a way to do the work of B2B marketing successfully: that is, to orchestrate attention, which in turn enables you to differentiate from competitors, build credibility, and drive urgency.
This approach is still rare in our industry, but Tim and Andy’s recent posts are evidence of its efficacy. People (myself included) have been talking about and paying attention to Viant and (as of Andy’s post last week) Lotame — more attention, I would wager, than they were paying in the weeks and months leading up to their controversial social media posts. That is marketing success in action. When it works, it’s obvious. And 150 reactions to a LinkedIn post (in Andy’s case) or 600 (in Tim’s) doesn’t hurt as evidence for the nonbelievers.
However, I would bet that most marketers would have counseled Tim and Andy not to publish these posts in their original form. They would’ve discouraged their publication or watered down the posts. Moreover, those same marketers will ask after such posts, “How do we know they’re having an impact on the business? Are these really worth doing? How will we tie them to revenue?” Part of this skepticism has to do with excessive risk aversion. But the other part of it is confusion about how to measure the impact of such activities. And there are some marketers who consider tactics worthless unless they can be easily measured in their CRM instance.
However, it’s simple to measure the impact of a content-driven approach to marketing and communications. There are three ways.
The first is leading indicators. Part of the beauty of social content is that you can see in real time who’s paying attention. (This worked well for Viant’s recent product launch on LinkedIn, essentially validating the product as worthy of brands and agencies’ attention in real-time.) Are you reaching your customers and those who influence them? If it really matters to you, track how many of those people you’re reaching. Moreover, see if any of those individuals end up becoming customers — or reach out and strike up relationships with them via your marketing or sales teams (without selling to them immediately).
The second way to measure the impact of a content-driven approach to PR is its correlation to pipeline or revenue. Are you generating more sales opportunities as a result of your content? Of course, this can be hard to measure due to the inability to isolate the impact of social content on pipeline, which is also affected by many other factors. So, instead of examining the correlation, you might want to manually track which of your prospects has seen your social content, though this approach would likely only capture some, not all, of content’s impact.
The third (my personal favorite) is the anecdotal / perceptive “I’ve been seeing you everywhere” effect. Are the people who matter, your customers and those who influence them, paying attention? Are you more top of mind for them? Do they know what differentiates you from competitors? Do they understand how what you do can help them? This is the north star of marketing. When it’s working, it tends to be obvious. If you have your finger on the pulse of the industry, you know when you’re toiling in obscurity, and you know when people are paying more attention.
Adtech OGs are posting more provocative takes on social channels for precisely this reason — it’s a form of marketing that actually drives incremental attention. And attention not only makes them more top of mind (which is a form of marketing success in and of itself) but also provides them the opportunity to differentiate from competitors, build credibility, and drive urgency around their solutions.
B2B marketing is not rocket science. Don’t let anyone convince you that you can’t do social content because it can’t be easily measured via their Hubspot instance. Just get in front of your audience more often, and say stuff they actually care about. That’s the path to marketing success. It’s simple, and it should be.
