Public Relations · Published November 15, 2018

Executive Vice President, Digital & Social

Media KPIs PR professionals should know

public relations kpi examples and how to measure them

Social Media has become a staple for PR professionals. Through social media, PR teams can engage with audiences and respond to crisis in real time, drive consumer spending, and build a loyal follower base. While social media has changed the landscape of PR with its impressive capabilities, the question now arises - how do we measure your digital efforts to understand ROI? This is important to understand if the efforts you’re putting into social media is influencing the community, as well to demonstrate this information to the C-suite. Measuring how your online activity influences your reach, engagement and profitability is essential to proving the value of social media and ensuring your team’s efforts aren’t going to waste. Here are some social media KPI every PR professional should be measuring:

Followers

This is the simplest way to measure your reach. Knowing how many followers you have will help you understand how many people see your content - a great way to figure out your target audience’s demographic.

Traffic

Traffic is the number of people who visit your website or social media page. The main thing to consider is whether or not traffic is converting into likes/follows. If not, then it’s time to get back to the drawing board.

Likes/Comments

Measuring likes and comments will demonstrate how your audience engages with your connect online and how it is received. It will tell you what content works and what doesn’t. Comments also provides companies will real time feedback.

Another measurement of engagement is shares - content that is shared at a high rate is content that gets the word out there much faster. Looking into the people who share your content will also tell you what audience to engage with to build brand loyalty.

Mentions

Mentions are an important metric to measure as it lets you know what conversations are taking place about your brand outside of your own website or social media pages. By measuring mentions, we can get a feel of the sentiment around your brand. It helps ensure there isn’t negative reviews on platforms you’re not active on.

Click-throughs

Click-throughs refers to the number of followers or page-viewers who clicked on the link to your website. The goal is to convert click-throughs into customers.

Hashtags

Ask customers to use a unique hashtag when posting about your product and service to measure campaign success.

Special Codes

Using special codes can be a tangible metric to prove how your social media efforts result in paying customers. Use social media to tell your followers about special discount codes at checkout and track the use of these codes. This will give you a good idea if your social media campaign is translating into sales.

Surveys

You can find out if your social media activity resulted in website visits and/or sales by just simply asking them. Use simple and quick survey questions such as ‘how did you find out about us?’ or ‘do you follow us on Instagram?’.

Written by

Lauren McGuire

Lauren McGuire is a seasoned digital marketing and operations leader with over a decade of experience driving growth, innovation, and integration across diverse industries. She's had great success leading national digital operations spanning Paid Media, Influencer, and Social channels to deliver scalable, high-impact solutions. Known for her ability to design and implement systems that streamline workflows, foster cross-functional collaboration, and enhance performance, Lauren has played a pivotal role in shaping digital strategy for major brands in corporate, consumer, travel, healthcare, and lifestyle sectors. She is a trusted partner to senior leadership, guiding new business development, integrating emerging technologies like AI, and ensuring readiness for rapid market shifts. Lauren's career includes leadership roles in the agency world where she consistently delivered measurable results in media performance, team development, and revenue growth. With expertise in digital strategy, operational excellence, and advanced marketing techniques, she thrives on turning complex challenges into clear, actionable plans that drive sustainable success. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a specialization in Public Relations/Advertising from Loyola University Maryland, along with a Business Administration minor from the AACSB-accredited Sellinger School of Business.

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