Now you might be wondering how to track engagement. Well, there are three key metrics to track:
Click-through rates: This metric measures how many times people clicked on a link within your press release email. It shows how many people were interested in reading the entire story.
Open rates: This refers to how many people opened your email to read the press release. Low open rates may suggest the need to improve your subject line.
Social shares: These are important because they show how far your press release content has travelled. When people share your press release on social media platforms like Facebook or X, it creates exposure for your brand.
Analytics Tools for Monitoring Press Release Engagement
To track press release engagement, you need an analytics tool. Some of the best tools to use are JournoLink Reach, Google Analytics, BuzzSumo, and Hootsuite. Reach tracks the interactions with your press release and press room, Google Analytics tracks click-through rates by hyperlinks, BuzzSumo tracks interactions such as shares, likes, and comments, and Hootsuite tracks social engagement metrics, including mentions, retweets, and hashtag usage.
Free tools for monitoring online coverage
Google alerts will send you an email when keywords in a press release is mentioned. Talk Walker is another free tool that works in the same way. Remember to create several alerts with keywords used in the headline, first paragraph and quotes to maximise the effectiveness of these tools.
Another effective method is conducting a direct search using search engines. Set aside time to thoroughly search for coverage by using relevant keywords from the headline and first paragraphs of your press release. To refine your search, take advantage of search engine tools like date filters and verbatim searches. Keep in mind that some publications may have a longer publishing cycle, so it's important to allow for sufficient time when searching for coverage.
What’s Next?
Interpreting metrics is the crucial next step. Understanding how your audience interacts with your press releases is the key to improving your future communications. With the right analytics you see what is working or not in your PR campaigns.
Tracking print is difficult, as we mentioned in our previous blog, it is more complicated. But for Digital PR, there is some hope. If you have followed our blogs, you would have seen that monitoring starts with the content. After distribution, check the email’s Reach, online interactions and use tracking tools to make your job a little easier.