media update’s Aisling McCarthy looks at what media monitoring is, and how big brands are using it to stay ahead of their competitors.
What is media monitoring?
Media monitoring is the process of reading, watching or listening to the content of media sources on a continual basis. Although media monitoring is traditionally used to capture editorial content, it can also be used to track the publication of adverts and social media.
As different mediums in the media become more digitised, media monitoring services have had to adapt to the changes and offer both traditional media monitoring, as well as digital and social media monitoring.
Media monitoring offers you the hard data; that is, the number of mentions online, where your adverts have been placed, and when your editorial content has been posted. Using this information, you can analyse the data to find insights about your content, your industry and your brand as a whole.
So now that you know exactly what media monitoring is, let’s look at how your competitors are using it – and how it puts them ahead of the rest.
Your competitors are using media monitoring to:
Manage PR crises
When a PR crisis strikes, it can take many different forms, such as:
- Customers disliking your offering
- Consumers taking offense to your marketing material
- News breaking out about a problem in the company or scandal involving an employee.
Knowing how to communicate to the media and the public about these incidents is vital, but before you can contain a crisis, you actually need to
know that it’s happening.
This is where your competitors are using media monitoring. It can be used to detect a looming crisis by delivering clips that mention your brand. Scanning through these clips will allow you to detect negative coverage as the news breaks and give you a head start on containing the crisis and minimising damage to your brand.
Monitor their competitors
One of the ways that your competitors are using media monitoring is to keep track of you. Just as it is important to keep track of your brand’s performance, it’s import to keep track of your competitors.
Your competitors are using media monitoring to learn your PR tactics. Through media monitoring, they are able to see which campaigns are working for you, and which ones aren’t.
By keeping an eye on news about your brand, they’ll also be more prepared for any major changes that could affect their business. New funding, acquisitions, product updates or partnerships – your competitors will be ready. Will you?
Monitor their industry
Keeping up with a whole industry sounds pretty daunting, but media monitoring makes it simple. Your competitors are using media monitoring to stay at the forefront of the industry. How, you ask?
Your competitors are keeping an eye on which journalists regularly talk about your industry. They’re looking at the stories that are getting attention and are formulating strategies to get the attention of those influential journos. By knowing about each journalist’s beat, your competitors are better equipped to pitch their own stories.
By knowing what’s going on in their industry, your competitors are able to keep track of the latest trends that could impact them, either positively or negatively. For example, in 2017 when Google Chrome started warning users about websites that were not secure, businesses around the world had to quickly update their website’s security features to avoid losing customers.
Finally, your competitors are using media monitoring to stay relevant by speaking the customers’ language. What better way to learn the latest lingo then to stay informed about the latest conversations on topics related to your industry? By keeping an eye on buzzwords that are gaining traction in the media, your competitors know how to design timely marketing campaigns.
Feeling left out? Get ahead of the game and invest in some media monitoring of your own. Find out how to pick the right provider in our article, What to look for in a media intelligence provider.