Gardening public relations is all about getting the word out about your product or service. Green PR pros are always looking for great people to help them do this.

Bloggers are one of the newest and most powerful media outlets, especially since they have such devout readers. However, measuring the public relations success of a blog hit can be tricky.

How do we deduce how influential specific bloggers are? It's not an exact science, but there are a few tricks.

Keep reading to learn 3 creative ways your gardening business can measure blogger influence. 

Website Metrics

Generally, there are two types of blogs: those hosted by a site (Blogger, Wordpress, Tumblr, etc) and those that exist independently.

Both types are great outlets to explore, but it can be difficult to figure out just how much influence these green bloggers have on your business' PR efforts.

One metric to use is the number of unique monthly visitors (UMV), which allows you to measure the number of people who may have seen the content featuring your garden product. 

Additionally, use the blog post itself to measure engagement. Check the comments section to see what kind of impact the blogger has had on the gardening community that follows them. 

Social Media

Social media outlets provide an opportunity for a unique evaluation of a gardening blogger's following. Blogs are often linked with a Facebook or Twitter page. Check them out!

When using Twitter for measurement, there are a few numbers your gardening business should look at: followers, tweet frequency and re-tweets.

Getting re-tweeted frequently by a big audience speaks to a blogger's influence, just as a blogger who doesn't engage followers frequently might be seen to have slightly less influencing potential.

Facebook can greatly inform your measurement and evaluation of bloggers, too. Take a peek at their friends, wall posts and "likes".

After a blogger shares their post on social media about your product, be sure to monitor the feedback. Check the likes, comments and shares, join the conversation and definitely share it to your followers!

Analyze what you see and use it to make your measurements more informed!

Intangibles

Photo Credit: Costa Farms' Social Summit with Influential Bloggers

Numbers are a HUGE part of measurement, but just like anything else, they don't tell the whole story.

Measuring the quality of a blog is subjective. Quality doesn't show up in page views, and it can't be detected in the number of followers the blog has on Twitter.

Where it does show up, however, is in audience. Scanning lists of subscribers can reveal a lot about the kind of influence a blog has.

It's almost impossible to pinpoint word-of-mouth publicity, but a blogger with a modest, hyper-engaged following in the right channels is extremely valuable.

Measurement is used to judge PR effectiveness, so remember that sometimes the quantitative reach of a message isn't as important as who it's reaching!

Learn Garden Media's Secrets to Wow Bloggers and Create Stellar Media Relations Below!