A bit like a search party looking for clues, media monitoring allows an organization to better determine the media impact of its brand, its products or of a spokesperson or a theme that is important to it. It is also used for several other reasons, which we will explore later.
Measuring these results obviously requires tools. Numerous and varied ones are available and can be applied in different ways to digital media, print, social networks, radio and television.
What is media monitoring and why do it?
Media monitoring (also just called monitoring) refers to the scanning of designated sources of news or commentary to track mentions of a brand, company or institution (either their own or competitors), person, subject or theme, or a particular news event.
There are a variety of reasons why an organization would want to monitor: to learn what competitors are doing (also known as competitive intelligence), to ensure its online reputation is not being harmed, to improve the delivery and reach of a message, to adjust its campaigns and objectives according to trends, to evaluate and change its communication strategies, and so on.
To do this, professionals have access to various media monitoring tools, some paid and others not. Divided into a few categories, these devices and services make it possible to collect and select relevant information, then analyze and distribute it as needed.
Alert tools
Widely used by both companies and individuals, Google Alerts and Google News are services for monitoring a variety of topics and news published on the web. With Google Alerts, notifications containing certain keywords are sent directly to an email address. With Google News, the user receives daily summaries, including a selection of relevant news containing keywords or personalized topics.
Comprehensive media monitoring solutions
One comprehensive media monitoring service is Meltwater, an organization that gathers relevant information on what is said in traditional media and on social networks about a brand, competitors, the sector, customers, the market, etc., according to the needs of the client.
Source: Meltwater
A tool like Meltwater's allows real-time media monitoring, as well as trend analyses and the reception of personalized alerts, in order to always have the right data needed to make informed strategic and tactical decisions.
Another well-known media research service is Cision, primarily a network for the distribution and dissemination of news and press releases. It is also a device for monitoring digital and traditional media and it offers software ranging from social media management and reporting to targeting key influencers.
Media monitoring and press reviews
Some tools focus more on traditional media reviews, one of which is an entirely Quebec company offering technological solutions for both media monitoring and press review. This is Référence Média, whose mission is "to offer a relevant, complete, clear and effective press review."
Another organization, PressReader, distributes the digital versions of more than 7,000 print newspapers and magazines published around the world and makes them available on computers, smart devices or e-readers. Their proprietary technology extracts text and images from publications to allow instant consultation and translation.
Influencer marketing tools and social networks
As for the many tools used for influencer marketing and social networks, they offer a wide range of features that vary according to the tool and the needs of the user. These include Hootsuite, Later and Sprout Social, to name a few.
These services provide several aspects of social media management, ranging from helping with scheduling posts or automatically scheduling posts, monitoring social media (by keywords, trends, etc.) to performance reporting. These platforms even offer a multitude of free and paid training services related to the world of social media, and represent an excellent source of reliable information about the industry.
These systems work with algorithms and intelligent tools to find influencers for specific campaigns, offer metrics to better understand the impact of social media campaigns and posts, analyze data, calculate ROI, determine audience attributes and metrics, and more.
Source: Klear
Media contact tools
Among the services frequently used by communications agencies, media contact tools are a gold mine for public relations professionals.
These include DataBlitz, a media directory that allows accurate searches among nearly 38,000 contacts, the creation of personalized lists and a media monitoring service with keyword search and email alerts. The company also benefits from a partnership with Plik.co to set up a large directory of thousands of Canadian digital influencers.
Finally, the MRP Data platform is equipped with a Media Rating Points (MRP) system, a tool for measuring and analyzing editorial coverage and return on investment for communications campaigns. This system was developed by the Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) and is administered by Fifth Story. CPRS defines the MRP as "a simple, standardized reporting system that can be widely accepted and utilized with ease to measure any type of editorial coverage” and includes a media report template, rating system and tool for obtaining up-to-date accurate reach numbers while also analyzing coverage by tone.
Always be on the lookout and plan your communication and marketing campaigns using tools that will make your job easier and allow you to remain efficient.
Are you interested in one of these tools? Need to be better informed about media monitoring? Capital-Image's experts use most of these tools on a daily basis so our teams are always available to introduce them to you and to show which ones could benefit your organization or business! Don’t hesitate to contact us for more information.