In this article we:
- Help you understand the needs of your C-suite and identify their priorities.
- Teach you how to craft an effective media monitoring report by outlining specific steps and providing you with a free downloadable guide.
- Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of maintaining an in-house monitoring team vs. working with a service provider.
In today’s interconnected business landscape, staying informed and responsive to shifting market dynamics is paramount for effective decision-making at the highest levels of an organisation. If you are a PR professional or work in any position where your role is to help your executives navigate the tumultuous seas of public perception, industry trends, and emerging crises, then you know how important media intelligence is.
However, if you have never created media monitoring reports, you might wonder where to start and what exactly you should include.
As seasoned Media Intelligence experts, we at A Data Pro can help you get started!
Understanding the Needs of the C-suite
The C-suite needs accurate, timely and actionable information to make critical choices that will shape the company’s future. If you are familiar with the 4 PR success metrics that resonate with the C-suite, then you understand that your executives expect your insights to be concise and supported by data. Media intelligence reports need to be designed with communication measurement in mind because C-level executives do not have time to care about who said what, but they need to know how those conversations impact your business and how that translates in numbers and percentages.
Tailoring the Media Monitoring Report to Address the C-suite’s Priorities
Media monitoring offers a panoramic view of an organisation’s public presence, enabling the C-suite to gauge sentiment, identify opportunities, and mitigate potential risks. While tracking everything that happens in the media is important, you need to know what to look for otherwise you will get lost in the abyss of data and you will not be able to tailor the report to your executives’ needs.
Here are three important steps you should begin with:
Define priorities
Receive feedback from your executives on what their priorities are. To them define their priorities, ask them do they want to:
- Identify trends and opportunities to grow;
- Learn how your competitors are doing through a competitor analysis;
- Monitor adverse coverage and get real-time alerts;
- Analyse your market share and compare it to previous periods;
- Find which social media platforms your target audience frequents;
- Grow engagement with your content to drive sales;
- Increase brand awareness;
- Change the public’s perception of your organisation, etc.
Choose a social listening tool
Decide how you will collect the necessary data. This step is very important because every social listening tool operates on specific parameters and capabilities that can influence the depth and accuracy of insights you gain.
There are countless tools on the market, including Brandwatch, Talkwalker, Synthesio, Sprout Social, Hootsuite, Crimson Hexagon, Rival IQ, etc. Each of these tools may offer unique features and cater to different business needs, so it is important to research and evaluate them based on your specific requirements before making a decision. The tool you choose should cover your desired scope of analysis and align seamlessly with your objectives so it can provide a solid foundation for generating actionable insights from the vast landscape of media data.
Decide who will do the monitoring
Will you be doing it or will you train/hire another person to do it? Depending on the size of your organisation and the complexity of the analysis, doing media monitoring in-house might not be feasible due to resource limitations or volumes. In such cases, working with a specialised agency could be a more practical and efficient solution, but we will revisit the advantages and disadvantages of in-house monitoring a bit later in this article.
Defining Metrics and KPIs
From the frequency of media mentions to reach and engagement, metrics provide a tangible basis for evaluating a company’s media exposure. But the true value emerges when these metrics are tied to KPIs—key performance indicators that reflect the organisation’s overarching goals.
Again, selecting relevant metrics starts with a deep understanding of your executives’ priorities. If, for example, their focus is on brand awareness, metrics like media reach, share of voice (SOV), and sentiment analysis take centre stage. If your C-suite is focused on expanding into new markets, KPIs might include increasing the percentage of media coverage in target regions or identifying key market influencers.
Effective media monitoring involves gathering data from various sources, including news articles, social media platforms, blogs, industry reports, podcasts, radio, and more. After that, you must analyse the sentiment of data coming from these sources so you can effectively gauge the public’s feelings and attitudes towards your organisation.
Crafting the Media Monitoring Report
The design of your media report will be highly dependent on the format that your executives prefer. Some of A Data Pro’s clients like receiving PowerPoint presentations and others prefer A4 format PDF files. Reports can be expanded and formatted like e-books or they can be condensed into infographics. They can be designed to include your organisation’s logo and enriched with visuals, or can be presented in a clean format that focuses on text only. That is why our reports are highly customisable.
The important part is that your report has easy-to-follow logic and concise yet information-rich insights that get straight to the point.
We have developed a report template for you that is free to download and that can teach you how to plan your media monitoring report.
Our free template shows you:
- How to structure media insights following the pyramid principle approach;
- What timelines to include and how to analyse peaks;
- How to present highlights and identify trends so you can spot significant media mentions and behavioural shifts;
- How to perform a competitor analysis by benchmarking against industry peers;
- How to write insights and actionable recommendations so you can connect data to strategic decisions;
- How to utilise data visualisation tools for clear and concise representation: Infographics, charts, screenshots and graphs;
- How to write compelling executive summaries;
- The importance of developing detailed and accurate research methodologies;
- And much more!
Ensuring Clarity and Relevance
Simplifying complex technical jargon into easily digestible language that resonates with non-technical executives should always be at the forefront of your mind. This ensures that the insights and findings presented are comprehensible and actionable, promoting a deeper understanding of media trends and their potential impact on the organisation. Additionally, the inclusion of contextual links within the report proves invaluable in providing a deeper layer of understanding. These links allow C-suite members to explore further details or background information, enriching their grasp of the data presented.
Measuring and Adapting
The journey of crafting an effective media monitoring report for the C-suite does not end with its creation. You will constantly need to update it, adapt it, improve it, and even change directions as company priorities change.
Over time you will come to see which metrics and report formats work best for your organisation. Getting feedback from your executives will prove invaluable as it will serve as a compass for adjusting metrics and report formats to better cater to evolving business needs.
This brings us to our next point:
Advantages and Disadvantages of In-house Media Monitoring
Companies that lean towards in-house media monitoring usually do so because they feel they can have:
- direct control over the processes, customisation, and decision-making;
- faster response times to emerging media situations;
- an intimate understanding of your company’s culture, brand, and industry;
- confidentiality or better protection of sensitive data and information.
However, setting up and maintaining an in-house media monitoring team requires substantial investments in terms of staffing, technology, and ongoing training. Building and retaining a team with the necessary expertise in media analysis, digital platforms, and trend identification can be challenging. As media data volume grows, in-house systems might struggle to handle the influx efficiently, potentially leading to delays, gaps, or inaccurate monitoring.
Maintaining 24/7 monitoring coverage, especially during weekends, holidays, or major events, can be difficult for in-house teams and allocating extra resources to cover these gaps can divert resources away from core business activities. Also, the specialised nature of media monitoring can lead to high turnover rates within in-house teams, disrupting continuity. Navigating huge amounts of media data is not easy, especially if your company operates in multiple markets in different languages.
Let A Data Pro Take Care of Your Media Intelligence Needs
As a Media Intelligence service provider, we enable you to customise everything according to your needs and possess the expertise to advise you on how to optimise your media monitoring strategy for maximum impact. We have an in-depth understanding of industry trends, data analysis techniques, and emerging technologies and can give you valuable guidance on refining your approach. We put together specialised teams that collaborate closely with you, delving into your organisation’s nuances and values to tailor our services precisely to your requirements.
Whether it is real-time updates or comprehensive insights in multiple languages, we stand ready to empower your decision-making process and enhance your competitive edge. Let us help you keep your C-suite well-equipped with the insights they need to lead confidently in today’s fast-paced business environment.
