Do you get daily or weekly media monitoring reports? If you are lucky enough to receive these kinds of intel reports are you leveraging them for maximum benefit?
Since most of us are wearing multiple hats these days and running from one Zoom meeting to another, the answer is usually a resounding – NO! No worries, you are not alone, but there are simple ways you can generate and maximize your media monitoring.
From the Beginning
Whether you use paid media monitoring services, such as Cision or MeltWater, or you simply use Google Alerts, it all starts with search terms. Are you using the most relevant search terms? Have you reviewed and updated your search terms recently? Are you using too many search terms? Do you add search terms to supplement short term press operations?
The more focused your search terms, the better your monitoring results. And we DO NOT need or want unnecessary media monitoring results. We need more focused and relevant media monitoring results.
The Report is NOT the Thing
We see many elaborate media monitoring reports. And many feel that the report is the thing. It’s not. Some feel the media monitoring report should be big and offer elaborate charts and graphs. Yes, dashboards that show metrics such as: total mentions, reach, ad equivalent values, sentiment, tone, share by media type, etc. are interesting. But if we cannot translate the media monitoring report into strategic action, it’s useless and costly.
Pan for Gold
When reviewing your next media monitoring report, try to determine:
- How can my client be featured in that publication?
- Why is our competitor being mentioned in that story and not us?
- Our competitor’s spokesperson is being quoted more than ours. What can we be doing better?
- Industry coverage features our competitors more than us. How can we change this?
- This publication covers my industry each year. Am I planning to be included this year?
Your media monitoring reports are simply information. And if we do not analyze this information it yields no value. We must take our media monitoring work to the next level and find the rich veins of gold hidden in the data.
Media Monitoring Sets the Bar
Media monitoring and media monitoring reports may be relegated to junior staffers, but the data in these reports are viewed and reviewed by the c-suite. If we spend a little more time analyzing these reports, we will discover that they become extremely important for corporate and strategic PR planning. As PR pros we must apply the data in the media monitoring report as a key tool to set strategies and goals.
If we are simply searching for client mentions, we can use our monitoring reports to:
- Increase the number of client mentions versus previous year
- Increase the number of client mentions in a certain media type (e.g., mainstream, business, trade, broadcast, etc.) versus previous year
- Increase the number of quotes by CEO or key spokesperson versus previous year
If we are monitoring more complex metrics, we could be using our reports to:
- Increase the number of stories with positive sentiment/tone versus previous year
- Increase share of voice through more mainstream coverage versus previous year
- Increase mindshare, impact, or prominence over a time period versus previous year
Plan, Measure, Revise
Organizations should have a media monitoring strategic plan. As the year progresses, the media monitoring plan should be evaluated. A review of a media monitoring analytics dashboard provides a snapshot of PR performance over time. These metrics also reveal PR activities that generate results versus those that do not. Ongoing analysis of the media monitoring plan usually reveals strengths and weaknesses. As we move forward, we can revise our media monitoring plan to exploit opportunities and avoid barriers.
If you have any media monitoring or social listening needs, please reach out to us for a free assessment and recommendations.