Ensure Quality Measurement by Implementing Quality Control

Do you ever wonder if your measurement reports are completely accurate?  This is a valid concern.  After all, technology has its limitations.  Even if it is performing correctly, a computer can’t think and reason like a human.  When monitoring coverage sometimes distinctions need to be made, for example, for a word that has more than one meaning or an executive who has a common name.  To produce the most accurate analytics, I recommend putting a quality process in place.

Consider the following questions to help you get started:

1.       Who is responsible for quality control?

2.       What steps are needed to check coverage data for accuracy?

3.       What is the process for adding missing coverage/deleting irrelevant coverage?

4.       How will we ensure the articles are tagged correctly?

5.       What routine quality checks do we need to perform?  How often?

Taking the extra time to assign responsibilities regarding quality and checking the coverage for accuracy will pay off in the end.  You don’t want to find out that you are making important PR and strategy decisions based on inaccurate data.  Knowing that your information is accurate will give you peace of mind and confidence that you are making informed decisions and delivering the right information.  Clients and executives will be able to use your reports to get a clear and accurate picture of PR’s progress and to recognize business opportunities.

Another option that is available if you are not able to implement quality control in-house, is to consider using a full-service provider that can cleanse and analyze your data for you.  If you can’t (or don’t want to) commit time to correcting errors, then have someone else do the work.  For more information on this topic, check out my blog later this week.