What is media monitoring?
Media monitoring is making sure you know everything that is being written about you and read by others.
Until recently, media tracking was really only employed by big companies who wanted to know which print and broadcast outlets were mentioning them. With the explosion of the internet, much smaller companies began generating greater coverage via websites and blogs, so online monitoring became commonplace.
Social media means that even the Vacant Video Store by my house is being talked about online (see, that was a media mention right there). So even small, local businesses now have an interest in tracking their brand.
Why should I track my media coverage?
The first thing we need to get squared away is that a one-size-fits-all approach is not going to work here.
Every company, from Krispy Kreme to Vacant Video, must sit down and evaluate their individual needs, resources and objectives. Don’t worry, don’t worry! I’m going to tell you how to do that, too. Jeez.
There are lots of strategies for using media coverage from passive to proactive.
Under-the-radar B-to-Bs may want to:
-Keep track of competitor press releases/coverage.
-Monitor industry developments and technology.
-Follow relevant regulatory action and legislation.
-Quickly identify emerging issues.
Companies looking for growth can:
-Analyze reporter/publication trends to target pitches.
-Place/track public relations message tags.
-Use media monitoring to find/target market segments.
Businesses ready to engage will:
-Thank customers for mentions/recommendations.
-Reach out to solve problems and provide support.
-Connect with potential customers to form pre-sale relationships.
-Become thought leaders in their industry.
The main reason to track media coverage is control. You will be aware of what reporters/customers/competitors/analysts are saying about your company and it’s products. You will know if you have an existing, or developing, reputation problem and will have as much time as possible to formulate a response.
If appropriate, you can also use your coverage as a basis for outreach initiatives: to increase brand awareness, expand or grow markets, and improve customer service.
What media are we monitoring exactly?
It depends.
Generally, the bigger the company, the more traditional media mentions (print and broadcast) it gets. So, your Fortune 500ers will have plenty of newspapers and tv shows talking about them, whereas my beauty salon – The Chop Shop – will not.
It works out well because monitoring traditional media costs $$$ while monitoring online media is cheap or free.
Depending on where you are getting mentioned (and where you’re trying to be mentioned!), you can track:
1. Print media
Is the Wall Street Journal constantly trashing your debt buyback programs? If so, you may be interested in monitoring your print mentions. This and broadcast coverage can actually be quite costly, especially if you want to distribute the information to all your friends on the Fed.
2. Broadcast media
The other pricey content. There are many broadcast monitoring companies that offer transcript and audio/video clip options. You can pay per clip or per month, so you’ll want to start out by determining the frequency of your mentions.
3. Online media
These are websites that are run by media organizations online – newspaper and magazine websites, and web-based news services. This content is either free (DIY or through free service) or can cost up to a few hundred a month to buy a coded feed to your monitoring software (this lets you sort and organize easily).
4. Blogs
Same deal as the online media. You can get your blog coverage free or pay for more data flexibility.
5. Social Media
Aren’t blogs really social media? Is there such a thing as social media?
Questions for another day, kids. We separate them because aggregators and content providers tend to do the same.
Social media such as Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and others are often the most important platforms to monitor because it’s where a lot of customers hang out to spread their opinions of your products and services. Even the smallest of business can be talked about (and get heard) on social networks.
Like the other forms of online content, social media mentions can be mined by hand, by free service or by paid service.
Do I need media monitoring?
I don’t know.
Is the media talking about you? Do you want them to be talking about you? Then yes.
The best thing about media monitoring is that it’s very scalable. You can start out with some keyword searches and automated emails. When you get more media success or decide to start a publicity/PR/outreach initiative, your media monitoring efforts can grow with your program.
If you have an advertising budget that could be someone’s salary or your company has a known reputation issue and you’re not tracking your media, you need to call the ImpactWatch emergency hotline. Stat!
What should I be monitoring?
No idea.
This is the most customized part of media analysis. Basically, you need to determine what you want information about. Who/what might be the target of a media discussion that you want to know about?
Some common themes:
1. Your company: who is talking about your company and products?
2. Your competitors: what coverage are your competitors achieving?
3. Your industry: what are the trade pubs talking about?
4. Your efforts: are your PR/outreach efforts reflected in your coverage?
How much is this going to cost me?
Another good question…that I don’t have the answer to.
I would say the two most important variables in cost are quantity of coverage and level of analysis.
If your company is getting a few dozen mentions a month and you just need to read and respond, your investment can be easily limited to time spent. If you’re Krispy Kreme and you get 500k mentions per month (made that up), it might cost you $50k per month (made that up, too).
My point is that monitoring budgets are all over the place. You can get the Pinto (Google Alerts) or you can get the Ferrari (custom software solution). And guess who has to figure out what model you need? It is you! You’re going to be good at this.
Media tracking costs depend on:
1. Time: More mentions + more analysis = more time expenditure.
2. Staff: Do you have a large family or lots of idle interns? If not, you may need to shift resources or hire help.
3. Data: Copyright for print, transcripts/clips for broadcast and quality of data for online are potential costs.
4. Software: How organized do you need to be? Do you want to send coverage emails or generate reports? Do you want graphs or a searchable archive? There are more than 150 media monitoring software products in the market to suit every need and budget.
How do I get started?
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, you need a plan.
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PHOTO CREDIT: annnna
