It may be 98 degrees outside, but winter is coming.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have a passion for period TV, and I really love “Game of Thrones.” In case you’re among the uninitiated, the series chronicles seven noble families fighting for control of Westeros, a mythical land that — among several fascinating traits — features seasons and climates of varying and completely unpredictable lengths and severities.

“Winter is coming” is the foreboding promise and motto of House Stark. The meaning behind the words is one of warning and constant vigilance. In a land where seasons are of an indeterminate length, this mantra reinforces that winter remains on the horizon even if we just wrapped what is the hottest July on record, and it very well could be a blazing-hot, ozone action day in your neck of the woods.

Uncertainty is certain: we know that we can’t definitively predict what our next business and communications “season” will be like — or even how long the one we’re in will last. Variables like the presidential election, European and Chinese economic instabilities, groundbreaking R&D and emerging cultural phenomena can shift communications and business climates overnight. But as communications professionals, we shouldn’t feel powerless in the face of unpredictability, because knowing that change is inevitable can actually center us — just as House Stark’s mantra keeps them focused and prepared.

I’m not the type to bask in the sun and deal with winter once it arrives; in fact, I’ve found that the sun’s warmth is all the more enjoyable knowing there’s a plan in place for my firm’s and our clients’ winters. I’ve found that the following steps have helped us prepare even our fastest-moving clients for the inevitable change in seasons, whenever that may occur: 

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We live in a hyperconnected world that moves forward into new realms every minute — like augmented virtual reality for business uses being explored on Georgia Institute of Technology’s campus in Atlanta, and that means even more consumption of news and data of all kinds, synthesized and scrubbed for your viewing. Hyperconnected is often described as a term for “people who feel they need to communicate virtually — via email, mobile phone or text — 24 hours a day.” Several recent research findings have shown that some hyperconnected individuals may even wake up during the night to check whether or not they have been contacted.  Companies like Ericsson have predicted that connected devices could outnumber connected people by a ratio of six to one by 2020, and the scramble to make sense of that shows up in sociology discussions.

The multi-channel, multi-device approach to communications is accelerating for all of us, and data actually supports predictions that by 2020, the next young adult generation will be wired differently. Jack Loechner’s March 2012 Research Brief from the Center for Media Research looked at “The Impact of Hyperconnectivity,” and discovered that more than 55 percent of those surveyed believe that this statement will be true:

“In 2020, the brains of multitasking teens and young adults are wired differently from those over age 35, and overall, it yields helpful results. They do not suffer notable cognitive shortcomings as they multitask and cycle quickly through personal and work-related tasks. Rather, they are learning more and they are more adept at finding answers to deep questions, in part because they can search effectively and access collective intelligence via the Internet.”

But other experts, such as David Ellis, director of communications studies at York University, disagree. He indicated that he sees the hyperconnectivity experience making them less productive, and adds that most of them do not understand the digital tools, according to the report.

As public relations practitioners, we really do not have time to debate what is upon us.  Statistics in a number of categories prove out this intensity of hyperconnections, from no “real” vacations away from phones and tablet devices, to the mushrooming of new social networks with new learning curves that start with expanding personal networks, such as Pinterest and Google’s Goggles, but will grow into even more important business toolsets as time goes on.

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AMEC’s European Summit introduced a glossary of social media measurement terms and a proposed update to the public relations valid metrics framework. The current public relations valid metrics framework is included in the PRSA Business Case for Public Relations.

Many of the measurement presentations from the Summit, including David Rockland’s presentation “How to Be Compliant with the Barcelona Principles,” are now available on AMEC’s website.

The International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) hosted the fourth European Summit on Measurement, where representatives from more than 30 countries gathered in Dublin, Ireland, on June 13-15 to debate competency standards for PR measurement professionals and for PR practitioners in general.

What do you need to know to be an expert in measurement and what do you need to know about measurement to be good at public relations?  This question stems from the Barcelona Principles.

Here are some of the qualifications under consideration:

• Knows quantitative and qualitative research techniques
• Writes clear goals and objectives
• Selects appropriate metrics for outputs, outcomes and business results
• Measures quality and does not rely on simple quantitative measure, such as clips and impressions, alone
• Understands the benefits of different media measurement techniques
• Has knowledge of different outcome measures
• Can create effective research proposal requests, follow vendor and tool selection best practices and develop research budgets
• Integrates analytics into communications efforts across channels
• Emphasizes transparency in all facets of research
• Measures traditional and social media consistently

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Measurement & ROI online and on-demand training courses are included for free as part of PRSA membership.

While analytics is an old idea, it has a new significance in public relations. In the past 15 years, we’ve evolved from rudimentary clip books to building databases detailing media that we generate. We now have the data to really play in the world of ROI measurement.

In the last 15 years, we have evolved from making clip books with scissors and tape to building datasets about the quality and quantity of tour media placements. We now have the data to make an impact in the world of ROI measurement.

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Join Kathleen Dunleavy for her Digital Impact Conference session, 3D Bubble Mania: Combine Traditional, Social and Mobile PR Outreach. The PRSA 2012 Digital Impact Conference, to be held April 2–3 at the Sentry Center in New York City, offers workshops where public relations professionals will hear from entrepreneurs and others who specialize in technology communications or social and digital media. 

How do you make a video go viral? I am not convinced there is a prescription to follow for making a video go truly viral. However, in my workshop, “3D Bubble Mania: Combine Traditional, Social and Mobile PR Outreach,” we will look at the importance of video in corporate communications by looking in-depth at “3D Bubble Mania” – and find out what worked and what didn’t.

Instead of speaking of viral videos, I recommend that we talk about Internet videos. Multimedia content that both engages the viewer and provides shareable content is a vital component of any comprehensive public relations campaign. And the challenge, as with all PR work, is to get noticed. It’s estimated that 60 hours of video are uploaded every minute to YouTube. That’s a lot of video. So, how do you make your video stand out?

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