analyzing the media landscape

8/14/2019 Analyzing the Media Landscape

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/analyzing-the-media-landscape 1/5

Analyzing the Media Landscape orStrategic Advantage

Vocus White Paper



1Vocus White PaperAnalyzing the Media Landscape or Strategic Advantage

Analyzing the Media Landscape or Strategic AdvantageEver have a reporter tell you they loved the in ormation you sent, which is why they posted the news earlier that day? Watch

your product director get blindsided by a new product rom your biggest competitor? Seen the look o surprise rom your C

when he realized the company’s reputation among key in uencers has slipped? Been there when the CFO missed hearinabout investors looking or companies in your industry?

Scanning the headlines and reading industry articles has always been an integral part o everyday public relations. In ait has been engrained in most PR pro essionals rom the day they began their career to “read your publications,” “track yindustry” and “look or trends.” While the traditional value o news monitoring is clear--identi y new opportunities, incoverage and know your reporters--the value to the company is much greater.

While traditionally media monitoring has been used to track the company’s news coverage, including how many mentionshas received and how much buzz has been generated, when used correctly, today’s media landscape provides the means ora much more power ul assessment. The in ormation gathered through the news, such as new products on the market, emessages with consumers and the organization’s ranking within the industry, can prove to be invaluable in other areas o tbusiness as well.

So how can news monitoring be used to gain a competitive advantage or the company? Monitoring the news and curreheadlines keeps the company in-tune with the industry, the big players and the current trends. Through media monitoriPR pro essionals can uncover new trends or product directors, gather market and competitive activity or the executivediscover customer satis action blogs and messages or the head o customer service and demonstrate a value to the busibeyond their traditional role.

This whitepaper will o er tips and techniques to analyze the media landscape and how to apply it not just to public relaticampaigns but to gain a strategic advantage or the company.

The Growing Media LandscapeAs media has moved online, PR pro essionals are not only monitoring what traditional journalists have to say but are agetting eedback directly rom their consumers.

With company perceptions owing onto the Internet, it is now possible to get insight into all aspects o the organizatthrough monitoring both online and o ine media. PR pro essionals can not only track their own reputation but also ththeir competition. The rise in consumer-generated media in blogs and other social media orums has led to added insiginto customer service problems and other corporate image issues and with no lead time and 24/7 availability, this onlinemove o ers access to the in ormation be ore it reaches the mainstream media. As consumers post entries on everythingcustomer service to new product announcements to general observations, savvy PR pro essionals are able to take that valuain ormation and distribute it throughout their organization to not only gauge the industries’ latest announcements but to l

rom the reactions.

While PR pro essionals are learning to maneuver the new media landscape and manage their online reputation, recent studishow that more understanding o the benefts o this new online in ormation source may be necessary:

72% o PR pro essionals say they have NO ormal system or monitoring buzz in the blogosphere, only 19% say th•

(Kent State/BurrellesLuce survey)53% agree that measuring and monitoring their reputation is a strategic priority in 2008 (Reputation Management •

New Media Survey, Paul Dunay, 2008)58% do not have a strategic plan in place to manage its online reputation (Reputation Management or New Med•

Survey, Paul Dunay, 2008)

The in ormation that can be gleaned rom the Internet as well as traditional media is invaluable to the company and its positing. As companies put solid media monitoring strategies in place, they will fnd the in ormation necessary to help gauge thcurrent strategies as well as develop a plan or their uture approach.



page article spells disaster? The prominence and tone o your coverage makes all the di erence. Companies need to only track where and how o ten their news appears in an article but assign a value based on the importance o the outto the organization and determine i the stories are positive, negative or neutral to get an accurate read or the companWhether using technology to identi y and evaluate articles based on set criteria or having individuals si t througharticles to determine their value, it is important to take the tone and prominence into consideration when deciding on ultimate impact.

Analyzing the Opportunity and Refning your ProgramOnce all the in ormation is gathered, how can it be used to both improve your public relations program and gain controver the media landscape? News monitoring is an integral component to determine where your message has penetratedDetermining which coverage has had the greatest impact and in uence shows where e orts are working. By then tracand comparing the activity and e orts against results, you can gauge what activities are most e ective in helping land messages in stories. Gathering this in ormation allows you to adjust your strategies to mimic the results and maximize yimpact. By looking at the outlets and Designated Market Areas (DMA), you can see where they have succeeded and, moimportantly, where they need to ocus.

As PR continues to grow and change, media monitoring will o er you new opportunities with outlets or journalists. Adally, recognizing emerging trends identifes new avenues to pursue to increase your coverage.

Sharing Business InsightDistributing a comprehensive report that not only highlights thecoverage but puts it in prospective allows the company to trulyreap the benefts o media monitoring.

One size does not ft all -• Just as with preparing apitch, it is important to understand your audience’s needswhen distributing your reports. Consider what is most im-portant or each audience—PR, sales, product managersand executives—and customize your reporting or whatis relevant to each o them. The reports should take intoconsideration what impacts each business area and o er

them insight on doing their job better. While the PR teamwill be interested in specifcs o the coverage, it is less likelythat your CEO will be as interested in where the articleappears as what it means to the business. It is important tonote, reporting not only demonstrates your value but alsohighlights your understanding o the business.Put it in Perspective -• Packaging and sharing yourresults correctly will help the di erent departments within your organization gain insight into their individual gWhile it may be easier to simply orward articles, providing commentary adds context or the news and gives othersunderstanding o the media landscape allowing them to put the news in perspective.Quick re erence graph and charts -• A picture is worth a thousand words and saves a lot o time. Using charts whpossible to illustrate your points in the report will provide a quick re erence or the results. Graphs and charts also opower ul rein orcement to the text you provide.

How o ten to send -• The news will dictate the requency. In other words, send the in ormation as necessary. Baserequency on both your audience’s needs and the in ormation’s impact. Daily reports are great and will o er insighare not always necessary. In act, deluging your audience with emails can have a negative e ect and lead people begin ignoring valuable content.

Getting Started with Today’s Tools

Today’s environment o ers PR pro essionals a variety o options or e ective media monitoring ranging in cost and b

Google and Online News Feeds -1. Google and other online services provide ree tools that will help you moni your online news. These services o er you the ability to receive email updates based on your choice o query or to




The service will automatically email you the latest relevant web and news results based on your search terms. These services o er an a ordable way to keep up with online news throughout the day.Pro essional Service Agencies -2. Hiring an agency to monitor your news or you o ers a very hands-on appro

or companies. Typically, these companies per orm ongoing searches to track the news you have requested. While ninexpensive, these companies provide a human element to news monitoring. A very thorough method o media moning, in many cases, they are able to o er human analysis to look at the tone and prominence o each clip.PR Management Systems -3. Combining elements o the ree services and the agencies, today’s leading PR magement solutions enable PR pro essionals to monitor news or the current landscape. PR management systems immediate, personalized news results delivered straight to your in-box. With Vocus, or example, you can monitor al

your news rom Vocus as well as 3rd party sources such as Google, to get a complete and comprehensive view o tmedia landscape in one place. These systems also allows PR pro essionals to easily produce customized reports complwith charts and graphs that dissect news coverage to create a comprehensive picture o the organization’s place withthe industry.

ConclusionWhile monitoring the news can seem like a daunting task, when applied to other areas o the business, it can not only boo

your public relations campaign but actually help the organization gain an understanding o the position o the busineMonitoring the di erent mediums using the available tools provides companies with the in ormation they need to stan

rom the competition and stay in-tune with the industry, the big players and the current trends.

PR pro essionals are able to use the in ormation they fnd to paint a complete picture o the industry and their place withBy sharing that in ormation among other departments, they are able to help give the organization a strategic advantage in i

uture planning to stay ahead o the competition.

About VocusFounded in 1992 by two entrepreneurs and best riends, Vocus (NASDAQ: VOCS) has grown into one o the world’s largand astest growing public so tware companies. More than 30,000 organizations around the world, ranging rom Fortu500 companies to one-person start-ups, use Vocus products and services to generate publicity and grow their businesseVocus so tware was awarded the prestigious SIIA’s CODiE or “Best Business Productivity So tware” and has been eat

The Wall Street Journal and Fortune. We deliver our solutions over the Internet using a secure and scalable plat orm that alloour customers to eliminate expensive up- ront hardware and so tware.


analyzing the media landscape

Documents