Media Monitoring

Everything you need to know about media monitoring, and how it can help you boost your reputation, avert crisis, and outstrip the competition.

Media monitoring has a bad reputation for being expensive, fragmented, inaccurate and slow. But armed with the right questions and knowledge, companies can ensure they get the most value out of their monitoring service.

Media monitoring is a tool to measure communications and marketing strategies, track target audiences, and glean the sentiment around your brand – and a great deal more. Here are five reasons why you need media monitoring as part of your communications strategy.

A crisis communications plan can be the difference between a few days of negative reporting before the news cycle rolls on, and significant, lasting damage to the brand – and your bottom line. In crisis management, one of the most powerful tools at PR professionals’ disposal is media monitoring.

If your media monitoring solution encompasses these seven elements, then it’s worth the investment. If not, it’s time to upgrade.

While media monitoring contracts are often set up to run for 12 months it is rare for the client’s monitoring requirements to remain the same over this period. A great media monitoring service is one that embraces these changes and is set up to iterate in line with the naturally evolving needs of the client.

While the vast majority of Communications teams will have some form of media monitoring in place, their actual customer experience is often poor. The service has variously attracted a bad reputation for being expensive, fragmented, inaccurate and slow.

Today’s technologically advanced media monitoring solutions can play a central role in creating effective PR campaigns and protecting your brand. So how does media monitoring work, and what should you look for in a media monitoring tool?

We’ve recently discussed the lack of accountability in delivering a consistent, reliable media monitoring service by the traditional providers and how this can cost time and money for busy Communications professionals. Our next target is the general passivity of the industry and how it is set up for the benefit of the big traditional players, rather than the clients they are meant to be serving.

Media monitoring is the Communications equivalent of a utility – it’s an essential part of the team’s day-to-day existence, with many hours dictated by developments in the morning cuts or the real-time alerts. It is the electricity of Comms.

alva investigates the benefits of media monitoring pricing being fixed and why variable pricing is no longer best for your company.

The explosion of digital media means it is very easy to become overloaded with content. If left unchecked, this can eat into more and more of the Communications team’s time and energy.

It is important for numerous different job functions to receive brand insights and be aware of what is being said about their company and its rivals. However, the frequency, timing and content of the messages they require will differ by function and seniority.

Real-time media monitoring alerts have become a staple of Communications’ crisis tool kit, enabling the department to respond swiftly to any emerging issues before they escalate.

The advent of digital media has caused an exponential increase in the number of channels to monitor. Alongside print and broadcast outlets, organisations now have to take online and social media sources into consideration.