Public relations media monitoring software has come a long way in the 20-plus years I’ve been in the business. But it’s not perfect, and that’s okay. Set your expectations appropriately, and you’ll find a system—or combination of systems—that works best for you and your clients.

What is media monitoring software?

Media monitoring software is a tool for PR professionals to track mentions of their clients in the news or social media.

Popular systems include Meltwater, Cision, Nexis News desk, TV Eyes, Critical Mention, and many more.

I can only speak to the systems I’ve used (those named above), and here are my tips for deciding which is best.

Side note: Google Alerts are fantastic and free, and you should have one set up for every client you work with – monitor their company name, brand names, names of key executives, etc. But Google Alerts are not all-encompassing (no social media, yikes!). A monitoring tool stores all those hits in one easy-to-find place, and it helps gather additional information like estimated reach and tracking TV and print coverage.

Tip #1: Ask for a coverage list

Every system monitors different outlets. Ask for a list of which publications, online sites, social media platforms, television stations, or radio stations the system monitors. Provide the vendor with a list of publications where your client frequently appears.

Know if a vendor’s monitoring covers the entire online article and the print publication (if there is one). With so much online content behind firewalls, different monitoring systems have paid for varying access levels to content. For example, some systems can only monitor the lead paragraph, not the article’s entire text. And not every system monitors the print versions of publications at all.

Agreements between vendors and publishers change frequently, so it is helpful to periodically reevaluate media monitoring providers to ensure you are getting the coverage you need.

Tip #2: Know your limits

Searches are not unlimited with every platform. Users are not infinite on every platform. The number of newsletters or reports you can create and send is not absolute.
Almost everything in your system is limited, so ask many questions.

PR monitoring software vendors have paid to have access to the intellectual property owned by media companies. The fee you pay partially covers these licensing and royalty charges. The more content you want, or the more people you want to have access to the content, the more it will cost you.

There are limits on how long a system will hold onto media coverage if you haven’t taken a specific action, like saving it into a clips folder. This is especially important with broadcast coverage. Ensure you know how long you can access a clip and if it can be saved within the system or downloaded for private storage.

Other important questions to ask your vendor:

• How far back does the vendor archive media coverage? Does the system have stories or posts from a year ago? Two years ago? Five years ago? Archival can be an essential consideration in creating coverage comparisons over time.
• Does the system monitor content included in photos, videos, or comments on articles? What about forums?

Tip #3: Understand that closed captioning isn’t perfect

Broadcast monitoring services work by scanning the closed captioning notes of a television broadcast, looking for matching keywords. If closed captioning is unavailable, some systems use voice recognition software employing speech-to-text technology.

But what happens when your client’s name is spelled wrong in the closed captioning or the voice recognition software doesn’t translate your client’s name correctly? The hit won’t appear in your monitoring system. You won’t know about it unless you or someone else sees or hears the story.

Options to remedy missed coverage depend on the vendor. With TV Eyes, for example, you can do a date/time search for a particular market or station, find the footage you want, and create a clip. With Meltwater doing my broadcast coverage, I didn’t have this level of access because broadcast coverage is fed into their platform by a third-party vendor. You will need to contact your Meltwater rep, who will have to contact the broadcast monitoring service to see if they are willing to find the missing clip and add it to your system. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it doesn’t.

Tools for monitoring broadcasts for your client’s ads and logos are also available. Artificial intelligence and machine learning make this possible. The tools cost extra, of course.

Sidenote: Setting up keyword searches is an art in and of itself. Most vendors provide a customer service representative to assist you once you purchase a system. Please make time to sit down with the customer service rep for assistance setting up the keywords you want to monitor. Every system is a little different in how its search functionality works.

Tip #4: Find out if you can add media hits/adjust sentiment

What can you do if a media hit is missed in your system because it is from an outlet that the vendor does not monitor?

Find out if the vendor allows you to add media coverage to the system manually. Some vendors also allow you to pull in RSS feeds from publications for supplemental monitoring. The problem with manually added coverage is that it does not appear in the system’s built-in reporting and analytics. The added clip also won’t have information like audience reach or estimated ad value.

Ensure the vendor allows manual adjustment of the sentiment analysis it assigns to clips and social posts. Sentiment analysis is highly subjective, and only you, the PR professional, know if this story was beneficial or detrimental to your client’s needs and goals.

Tip #5: Budget time for a monitoring and reporting guru

Monitoring software helps capture mentions about your clients, research media outlets, and possible contacts. But like everything in life, it isn’t perfect. It isn’t one size fits all and needs an experienced person to manage it.

For my clients, I currently use three different media monitoring systems, plus Google Alerts and manual searching on social media platforms, to create a complete picture of their public perception. I prefer Microsoft Excel for compiling reports because I can use pivot tables to slice and dice the data practically any way I want.

Don’t expect media monitoring software to magically make tracking and reporting media coverage seamless and something you never have to consider. Media monitoring software is a tool, like a CRM or email marketing provider, that automates some of media mentions collection and reporting. Behind the curtain, there must still be a person who makes the magic happen.

What tips and tricks do you use to make media monitoring and reporting easier? What tools do you love? I’d love to hear more.

If you want to outsource your organization’s media monitoring and reporting, please contact me at kglenn@fatcatcommunications.com for assistance.