The CIPR’s Social Media Panel announced today that it has tackled the difficult, yet necessary issues surrounding social media monitoring (SMM). The panel seeks to address the plethora of varied monitoring tools available for free by instituting standards and guidelines for PR practitioners to follow.

Simon Collister, a member of the panel and lecturer at the London College of Communications says, "Social media monitoring is a key issue for PR practitioners at the moment. We have evidence from CIPR member feedback that while many practitioners know social media monitoring is increasingly important to organisations, they don't necessarily know exactly what monitoring entails, which tools and technologies are good for certain tasks and how to integrate it into wider strategies and practices. This was the primary driver for the document.”

The confusing practices that these varied tools presented to communicators will be addressed by an study into the different models available to do SMM, the benefits to the organisation and analytical guides and systems.

These guidelines seek to help a brand determine when and where it has been mentioned on the internet and develop analytics allowing a brand to understand that data.

Monitoring and measurement of online content has become an industry focus in recent years. At the AMEC European Summit in June, members spoke about standardising the practice and reevaluating the way social media monitoring is integrated into existing communications strategies.

For more on measurement and evaluation, see our July/August issue.