News monitoring is a critical task for businesses of all sizes. By keeping tabs on the latest brand mentions in the media, you can stay up to date on your industry, identify new opportunities, and protect your brand. Here are the essentials for monitoring news, as well as several hacks that will make the process a little easier.
What is news monitoring and why does it matter?
News monitoring involves tracking mentions of your brand in the media. Here are three ways in which the use of a good news monitoring tool benefits a business:
- It allows your brand to stay on top of the conversation and see what people are saying about it in real time.
- It enables you to identify opportunities or threats that you might not be aware of otherwise.
- It can help a business to build relationships with key influencers and reporters.
In short, tracking online media for mentions is an essential tool for any business that wants to stay ahead of the curve.
9 rules and hacks for effective news monitoring
Whether you’re a small business or a large corporation, it’s important to keep track of what’s being said about your company in the news. But with the vast amount of information available online, it can be difficult to know where to start. Here are 10 rules to help your business succeed!
1. Use google alerts and specialised tools
If you want to be sure you’re seeing all the news that’s relevant to your business, it’s a good idea to set up Google Alerts accordingly. You can do this for free, and the settings are easy to manage. You can, among all else, choose how often you want to receive alerts and where you want them sent.
In addition to Google Alerts, there are many specialised tracking tools available. These tools often come with a cost, but they can be worth it if you need more comprehensive coverage. Some of them allow you to track specific topics, sources, or even individual writers. Others offer features like automated clipping and translation services.
2. Go behind the headlines
In today’s fast-paced world, it’s easy to skim the headlines and move on. However, when it comes to tracking mentions of your business in the news, it’s important to go beyond the headlines. A headline can often be misleading or present only one side of the story.
By taking the time to read the entire article, you’ll get a more well-rounded understanding of what is being said about your company. This will help you to effectively respond to any negative publicity, and also take advantage of any positive media coverage.
3. Scan social media
To ensure you’re getting the most out of your efforts, you should go beyond traditional news sources and monitor social media. Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are becoming go-to sources for breaking news. And because people tend to share articles and stories that interest them on social media, you’re more likely to promptly get relevant information that pertains to your business.
In addition, monitoring social media can help you get a pulse on public opinion and see how people are reacting to current events including those related to your business. You can use a brand monitoring tool to keep track of your presence on social media platforms and ensure your brand’s reputation is ongoingly analysed.
4. Set up keyword searches
By identifying the key terms and phrases that are relevant to your business, you won’t miss any important stories. In addition to your company name, there may be other keywords relevant to your business. For example, if you sell cosmetic products, you may want to set up a search for ‘makeup’ or ‘beauty.’ This will help you catch mentions of your company that might otherwise be missed.
Overall, the smart use of keyword searches allows you to track how your business is being talked about in the media. This can be a valuable way to gauge public opinion and identify any potential PR problems.
5. Monitor the competition
To be effective in tracking news about your business, you should keep an eye on the competition. By knowing what your competition is up to, you can better tailor your tracking strategy. Are they releasing new products? What are their marketing campaigns? What do their customers have to say about them? All of this information can be useful when making decisions about your own business.
In addition, by keeping an eye on the competitors, you can be the first to react if they make a move that could impact your business. In this manner, being prepared and knowing what your competition is up to helps you to stay one step ahead of other market players.
6. Identify positive and negative sentiments
To most effectively monitor the news for your business, you should take note of both positive and negative sentiments. This way, you can recognise potential threats as well as opportunities as they come up.
In contrast to this, by only tracking one type of sentiment, you risk missing some important clues. Thus, positive sentiment can turn negative just as easily as criticism can turn into praise. This is why to get the most accurate picture possible, it’s important to track both types of sentiment and prepare your business for whatever comes up.
7. Take advantage of news alerts
Another great strategy is to take advantage of news alerts. Many organisations offer email or RSS feeds that deliver breaking news stories directly to your inbox or RSS reader. By subscribing to a few key sources, you can be sure that you’ll always be among the first to know when something important happens.
In addition, many alert services offer customisable options, so you can choose to receive only the information that is relevant to your business. With a little effort, you can easily create an effective news monitoring system that will help your business to stay competitive.
8. Use RSS feeds from industry blogs
In addition to traditional news sources, many blogs focus on specific industries. These can be a great way to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and developments in your field. Most bloggers offer RSS feeds that deliver new posts directly to your reader, making it easy to keep up with the conversation.
By subscribing to RSS feeds from key industry blogs, you can ensure that you’re always getting the latest information as it’s published. This can be a huge time-saver, as you don’t have to constantly check different sites for new content—it all comes to you in one place. Plus, many RSS readers allow you to skim headlines and quickly see which articles are worth reading in full.
9. Get creative with your searches
Finally, by setting up searches for key terms related to your business, you can get alerted any time there’s a new mention in the media. However, simply using keyword searches can often result in a lot of false positives and irrelevant results. To ensure you’re getting the most relevant results, it’s important to get creative with your searches. This means thinking beyond the obvious search terms and including synonyms, related terms, and different word orderings in your searches.
4 brand monitoring tips to benefit your business
Before you leave, here are four helpful tips to make the most of brand monitoring:
- Make sure you’re monitoring all the right channels. This means more than just monitoring your website and social media accounts. Assign someone on your team to do a daily Google search for your brand name and key terms, and set up Google Alerts for key phrases. You should also be scanning review sites relevant to your industry.
- Respond quickly to negative reviews or comments. The faster you respond, the less damage will be done. Have a plan in place for how you will handle negative reviews, and make sure all customer-facing employees are aware of it.
- Take the conversation offline whenever possible. If someone leaves a negative comment on your Facebook page, try to reach out to them privately to resolve the issue. This shows other customers that you’re willing to listen and take complaints seriously.
- Be proactive about promoting positive reviews and comments. Share positive reviews and testimonials on your website and social media accounts, and encourage happy customers to leave feedback on review sites.
Final thoughts
Although news monitoring might seem like an extremely daunting task, it can have a considerable positive impact on your business if done correctly. By staying up to date with the latest brand mentions in the media, you can be one step ahead of the competition and make sure that your company is always relevant.
Featured image: Storyset/Freepik
Comments