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The following is an excerpt from a paper entitled “Reputation Management, Measurement and Monitoring.” It was written as part of the PR program at Ryerson University. If you would like to read the rest of it, you can find it here. Please feel free to comment and discuss below.

Reputation measurement

Reputation is best managed by an organization through interaction with stakeholders and understanding the interactions that surround it. The previous sections have demonstrated how an organization should interact with its stakeholders to foster a positive reputation, and how the public relations practitioner plays a role. Effective interactions are one half of managing a positive reputation; the other half is understanding the interaction of that reputation with the organization and its stakeholders. The only way to gain understanding of these interactions is through measurement.

Measurement is critically important to public relations. It adds credibility to the profession and demonstrates how effective public relations can be. If PR is to be considered a management function, it has to earn its right to it. The principal way it can do that is through measurement, by demonstrating its direct contribution to an organization’s goals and by using verifiable evidence to base its decisions upon. Measurement is equally important to reputation management. It can demonstrate the importance and impact of an organization’s interactions with its stakeholders, while examining the effect that reputation has on the organization itself. Furthermore, measurement is essential to understanding the interactions that surround an organization and monitoring the influence they have on the organization’s reputation.

Through measuring the impact of reputation on the organization and monitoring reputation among stakeholders, public relations practitioners can effectively understand the interactions that surround their organization and use this knowledge to manage reputation.

Distinction needs to be drawn between objectives measuring and monitoring. Measurement is frequently done by practitioners when it is related to a specific communication goal. This is certainly a constructive time to use measurement, and measurement is always easier when there are specific goals and targets in mind. Tailoring measurement specifically to objectives and particular stakeholders that are targeted in a communication plan is useful to determine the outcomes of that plan (Grunig & Hon, 1999, p. 25). It is essential to evaluate public relations efforts to show its effects, validate its importance and demonstrate its return on investment. However, reputation management requires a different type of measurement. It requires an ongoing commitment to measuring stakeholder opinions and expectations. Monitoring is an ongoing necessity to successfully manage reputation.

Reputation and its effects are cyclical in nature. Influence flows to and from an organization perpetually. A practitioner can certainly influence the interactions coming from the organization. Monitoring is a practitioner’s tool to understand the ongoing and latent issues that will direct influence towards the organization, which will have an effect on reputation.

Media impact

When considering potential influences on reputation, special consideration has to be made for the media. Public relations practitioners have frequently been characterized as only media relations officers, limited to producing press releases. Certainly PR practitioners are much more than that, but one can’t overlook the importance of the media in favour of broader perspectives. The potential impact of the media on stakeholders is huge. The influence and audiences that the media can have make it an important stakeholder to consider when monitoring reputation. It can illuminate or even create issues for an organization, and it has the loudest voice of any stakeholder right now.

Through effective monitoring and direct interaction with stakeholders, the reactionary model of media monitoring can be reversed. By monitoring public opinion directly, one can understand stakeholders’ perceptions and use this to begin communicating and interacting directly. By understanding and creating conversations and building interactions, the media can then have a tactical role in validating what has already been said (Budd, 1994, p.13). In doing so, the media reinforces those attitudes, strengthening the organization’s reputation. Budd (1994, p.13) advocates communicating to and through community leaders and everyday citizens. Never has this been easier than today. Social media makes monitoring and direct communication with stakeholders more accessible and more immediate than ever before. Practitioners can engage stakeholders with ease, and potentially validate those conversations through the media. The multi-directional dialogue that collectively combines to form a reputation extends into many different forms of media, both online and off, none of which should be overlooked when monitoring reputation.