What is a Media Impression?

Media Impression Basics

One term that you’ve probably heard but may not have a deep understanding of is media impressions. Keep reading to discover what media impressions are, and what role they play in your public relations.

A media impression, or simply impression as they are often called, refers to any interaction a person has with your company. The exact definition will vary depending on the medium. For television commercials, it is the number of people that see your ad; for a billboard, it is the number of people that drive by; and in online marketing it is the number of people who encounter or scroll by your ad or content on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and similar platforms.

Typically, media impressions are calculated over a specific time period to cross-reference with conversions over the same time frame.

Are Media Impressions Important?

Since media impressions don’t necessarily mean engagement or sales, it can be easy to dismiss them as unimportant, but that would be a mistake. It’s true that a media impression is just the first step in a process that ultimately leads to a sale, but without it, no one would engage with your company or become a customer or client.

And deciding where those all-important media impressions are going to occur is more science than speculation. Whether it’s a television or radio ad or online, you need to reach the right audience at the right time to make an impact. Your brands success ultimately depends on the quality of your impression.

How Reach & Impressions are Different Online

Since the internet is so prevalent in all we do in modern society, and particularly marketing; it’s important to distinguish between media impressions and reach because there is a difference.

Basically, an impression is the number of times your content is displayed, and reach is the number of people who actually see it. Taking it one step further, engagement refers to people interacting with your content in the form of comments, likes, shares, etc.

As an example, if you have 1,000 Facebook followers and created a post and every one of your followers sees the post, both the reach and impression is 1,000. If you created two posts that were seen by all 1,000 followers, your reach is still 1,000, but the number of impressions has risen to 2,000.

Your Brands Impression Share

According to the Public Relations Society of America, PR and reach aren’t only about managing the flow of info between your organization and the public. It is a complete discipline that has real and measurable effect on achieving key organizational goals. When it comes to industries like fashion, beauty, lifestyle or technology, great PR is a must in order to ensure your brand doesn’t run out of budget before reaching the impact tipping point of impression share.

The terms “public relations” and “publicity” are often used interchangeably, but publicity is just one small subset of the overall scope of public relations. In fact, a successful PR firm uses a variety of different tools and techniques to help make you an authority in your industry.

Finding the Right PR Firm

The key to maximizing your ROI when it comes to public relations is finding a PR Firm that is experienced in your industry: whether it is fashion, beauty, tech, or entertainment. The New York or LA firm should have proven itself in all the key metrics like keeping an eye on the competition, forming crucial relationships, creating brand awareness, reaching your target market and finding appropriate endorsements all go into a successful PR campaign.

If you’d like to learn more about media impressions, or need a Public Relations team to help take your company to the next level, Contact Us at AMP3 PR today. We have more than a decade of experience in the field and we’ve helped global brands make their mark.