It is common for clients to have questions about the services they're considering to pay for. Without obtaining the answers to the queries that plague their minds, they are less likely to utilise the solution. And, let's face it, no one is going to pay for something that they don't know anything about.

Additionally, the more you know about the service that you are paying for, the more extensively you can make use of it. Once you know about all its nooks and crannies, as well as the solutions and the terminology available, you'll be able to steer your business towards a world of success.

This is especially true with media monitoring because the knowledge you gain will allow you to pick and choose only the most important solutions to implement into your strategy. Essentially, you'll be able to cover nearly every single aspect of your business plan, particularly regarding marketing and public relations.

Now, without further ado ...

Here are 10 of the most frequently asked questions about media monitoring, answered by Newsclip:

1. I'm not exactly sure what media monitoring is. Can you explain the process to me?

Media monitoring is the process of reading, watching or listening to the editorial content of media sources on a continual basis. Although this solution is traditionally used to capture editorial content, it can also be used to track the publication of adverts and social media.

Media monitoring helps brands, agencies, businesses and organisations find brand mentions available in the media today. At Newsclip, our keyword matching system automatically tracks clients' mentions or requested topics within the media, collate the data and then delivers it directly to them.

2. What makes media monitoring special? Why can't I just do a Google search or use traditional press clipping services?

Media monitoring identifies mentions in content created by the brand, as well as content created about them by others. It would be difficult to find these mentions manually, as the world is not limited to print editorial.

With our highly tech-influenced and digital society, many people publish content about businesses online, and the editorial coverage available on the web is fairly abundant (think Big Data). It would be unrealistic to find every search manually via Google, or via traditional press clipping services, as your brand would be limited to the content found in those spaces.

For example, when searching your brand mentions via Google manually, only the mentions that have been optimised for SEO will appear, which leaves mentions left in the dark (or on the second page of Google). In order to cover all your bases, it's best to utilise a media monitoring service in order to track all of your mentions within the media.

3. How will media monitoring help my marketing or PR business?

Media monitoring allows clients in the marketing and PR industries to keep their finger on the pulse when it comes to their media spend and brand conversations.

We provide these professionals with the tools they need to succeed, as well as meaningful and measurable insights. For example, with media monitoring, PR pros are able to maintain their own reputation, as well as that of their clients' brands, as they're the first ones to see when and where a crisis has struck.

Additionally, this solution allows practitioners to prove their return on investment to their clients, as they're able to provide them with an overview of the media coverage that has been generated for their client’s brand, whether it was a campaign launch or an event.

Marketers and PR pros are also able to continuously re-evaluate their strategies. This is because this solution enables them to benchmark themselves against their competitors, giving them insights into their strategies and what might be working, and what isn't.

4. Which types of media do you monitor?

Our solutions address every brand tracking and media monitoring need — from print, broadcast and online monitoring to advert tracking, media analysis and social media monitoring.

Monitoring the complete media landscape, Newsclip has a comprehensive vision of the media across all channels, as well as an expanding African and international media portfolio.

5. To monitor my media coverage, I know I will need to provide keywords to track. How do I choose the right keywords? Can I change them after they've been selected?

As long the keywords pertain to a specific brand, campaign, event or entity there is no limit to the number of keywords. Keywords can be adjusted as and when required during the monitoring period.

At Newsclip, we do not charge per keyword, but rather according to the number of clips allocated on a monthly basis.

6. Are you able to monitor keywords that aren't in English? How does that work?

Yes. We are currently able to monitor several languages of media titles. Currently, this includes English, Afrikaans, multiple African languages, French, German and Portuguese. For print and online media coverage, we load the keyword logic based on the media title's language.

All our broadcast synopses are translated and captured by our broadcast scanners directly into English; therefore, only English keywords are loaded for broadcast monitoring. We do, however, provide the broadcast audio in the original language for reference.

7. Are you able to monitor coverage that is behind a paywall?

Websites that have a paywall do restrict the user's access. Newsclip is only able to provide clients with 250 characters regarding their mention, along with the meta-data of the clip.

We also provide clients with a full screenshot of the online article, as proof that the article was published. Should clients wish to view the full article on a particular website, they will need to subscribe to the website.

8. How accurate will my results be once you have monitored my media coverage?

Our technology uses a specific keyword logic and clients may not be familiar with this; therefore, it is the responsibility of the sales consultant to do research in order to determine the most suitable keywords that will yield the most accurate and relevant coverage according to the client's specifications.

9. What types of analysis do you have to offer?

The analysis functions are adaptable to clients' requirements and provide instantaneous media intelligence with actionable insights. We provide the platform and metadata, while you choose the methodology most suitable for your measurement and reporting requirements.

Coding Buttons are an interactive analysis feature on our online platform, Gate5, which lets the user take control of their data analysis by evaluating their clips according to the favourability, solicitation, proportional value, and weighting. The results are available in statistical reports, following the ratings, to provide the client with an accurate interpretation of their data.

Newsclip also offers clients third-party analysis, where a third party rates clips using the Coding Buttons feature.

We have additionally partnered with brand and media intelligence agency, Focal Points, to bring our clients in-depth media intelligence and accurate insights into their communication efforts.

10. What if my media monitoring requirements are extremely specific? Do you offer customised solutions?

Our in-house IT development team focuses on continuously improving our service offering to clients. We are able to deliver on customised client requests and align with industry trends. As a leader in the industry, we are at the forefront of innovation, providing meaningful insights, targeted media intelligence and enriched data.

Additionally, we partner with a variety of companies that are made to ensure all aspects of your brand are covered when it comes to monitoring.

Focal Points provides both qualitative and quantitative reporting solutions, aligned to the client’s specific requirements. The narrative and statistical analysis reports are compiled in an easy-to-read, yet comprehensive report format. Because the reporting solutions are tailored to the client’s exact needs, the client’s actionable insights align with their communication objectives allowing the client to improve their business strategies.

amaSocial, a content management platform, also has a variety of extensive quantitative analysis reports which can be customised according to the client's requirements. The in-depth reports show the results of the client's social media activity on-demand.

Are there any questions you've been itching to ask about media monitoring? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Now that you have all your questions about media monitoring answered, it’s time to discover the Four benefits of social media monitoring.