How to turn data into influence

One of the major roles an internal communicator plays is that of translator of information for leadership. In short, if you can’t express what you’re seeing to your leaders, you will have a tough time getting them to take your advice. That’s where comms data and measurement come in handy.

At Ragan’s Employee Culture and Communications Conference next month, Elizabeth Clements, vice president for university communications at DePaul University, will discuss how comms pros can turn raw data and numbers for much-needed influence with leaders and how that can impact the organization’s function.

“Tracking and understanding data empowers communicators to make informed and strategic decisions about messaging, timing and channel effectiveness,” Clements told Ragan. “We’ve integrated measurement into our daily communications operation at DePaul, allowing us to clearly demonstrate to leadership the value and effectiveness of our strategies.”

Getting leaders on board

Internal comms content is more than just a message in a given channel. It’s a conduit to culture-building and cohesion in any organization, Clements said. But for that message to have a real impact, you need to get leadership to understand what you’re doing.

But Clements added a caveat, telling Ragan that measurement is needed to determine the road forward with any type of content. This is also useful to help display trends and successes to relevant leaders.

“Without measurement, it’s impossible to know what’s working and what needs improvement,” she said.

Clements told Ragan that packaging metrics in easy-to-understand formats will help leaders know what communicators are seeing. The clearer the better.

“At a recent leadership event with approximately 200 faculty and staff in attendance, we received 163 pieces of feedback,” she said. “That’s a really strong response rate and we can then package those and share the highlights with leaders to give them a taste about not just what people are thinking and saying, but how many are taking these actions as well.”

Knowing your KPIs inside and out

Clements shared that in her role DePaul, KPIs help her department understand what kinds of content resonate with the students, faculty and larger community and what isn’t hitting the mark. She encouraged communicators to go past the surface-level insights in data collection and look at the reasons behind the numbers and stats.

“For example, when analyzing newsletter performance we don’t just track opens,” she said. “We look at how far down readers scroll and where they click on links. If we see strong engagement at the bottom of the newsletter we know that our audience is actively consuming the full message — not just opening and moving on.”

Clements said that employee events are another great source of KPI collection for internal comms pros to mine and report back to their leaders.

“Is your communication about the event driving strong registration numbers?” Clements asked. “Go the extra step and consider soliciting input at the event through a short survey which will allow you to measure the response rate and evaluate sentiment.”

Data is critical to understanding the ’why’

Having a team of well-versed data experts who can explain not just the numbers but also their impact on the company to leaders is critical to gaining the needed influence.

“Data is everything,” Clements said. “For instance, I provide leadership with weekly snapshots that offer a high-level visual overview of key metrics.”

Some of the overviews Clements gives leadership include:

• Social media chatter charts that show how much a particular topic is being discussed. These include comparisons to other trending terms for context.
• Media coverage analysis, tracking the number of hits and the estimated audience reach.
• Engagement with leadership messages, revealing whether key communications are landing effectively.
• Participation rates at leadership events, highlighting trends in employee involvement.

“By presenting these insights in a clear and digestible format, I’m able to demonstrate communication successes and recommend solutions,” she said. “This helps position communications as an essential strategic function, rather than a support role.”

Clements added that when they’re at their best, comms pros’ ability to translate the data makes them a trusted partner for leaders.

“Whether it’s A/B testing newsletters, tracking engagement trends or assessing employee sentiment our ability to demonstrate impact is what elevates internal communications from an operational necessity to a strategic leadership asset,” she said.

Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications. In his spare time he enjoys Philly sports and hosting trivia.