But before we dive into the nitty gritty of why you need media intelligence, let’s clear up any confusion of what this term
actually entails.
Media intelligence is the analysis of data gathered from the industry's landscape in order to gain insight into your businesses performance, competitors and consumer sentiment.
This data is derived from
editorial content like online aggregation sites, news articles, investigative features, opinion columns, letters to the editor, TV broadcasts and radio broadcasts.
Additionally, it collects data from other digital media platforms like non-news websites, blogs and social networks.
The insights gathered from media intelligence give businesses an understanding of the
who,
when and
why of conversations surrounding their brand.
Now that we know what this form of analysis entails, why should
your brand be using a media intelligence service?
Let’s find out:
1. You’d like to know what your customers think of you
Easily the biggest benefit of media analysis is that it helps you get into the mind of the consumer.
How so?
Well, sentiment or favourability analysis notifies you of
exactly how your brand is being portrayed in both traditional
and social media. This report focuses on sentiment and breaks down the media coverage according to four polarities;
neutral,
positive,
negative, and
mixed.
If there are any favourable (or unfavourable) messaging surrounding your brand, media analysis can offer you an overview of this, as well as a means of
tracking influencers or reputation ‘drivers’.
Having insight into the public perception of your company can benefit your brand in many ways. Not only does media analysis enable you to refine your brand according to what your clients want, but it can help streamline communication efforts.
2. You want to hear what the media is saying about you
As important as it is to know what consumers are saying about your brand, it is equally crucial to know how your business is being perceived in the media.
Using an analysis tool to peer into the media coverage of your brand will help you gauge the sentiment surrounding campaigns, product launches or events.
Quantitative (
numbers and stats) and
qualitative (
narrative) analysis can help you see whether your efforts are a hit or a miss, allowing you to know where you can improve in the future.
Additionally, media intelligence can help you pick up when brand mentions are peaking, allowing you to accelerate any promotional efforts at the most opportune time.
For example, if you note a current campaign is receiving a lot of mentions at a specific time, you can plan to send out a press release to capitalise on the traction you are getting.
3. You’re eager to see where your PR crisis originated from
If there’s any way to prevent or save your brand from a crisis, it's with the help of media analysis.
In the digital age, people are not afraid to be vocal with their opinions — be it on social media or in more traditional formats, like blogs. This means that if a consumer is offended by something your brand has done, they will not be shy to share it with their peers.
Receiving bad publicity or having a PR crisis ensue because of it can cause long term damage to a brand’s image. For this reason, it is crucial that businesses use a media analysis tool to catch emerging issues before it spreads.
This tool gives you insight into the media and consumers’ perception of your brand. It will show you when your company was mentioned, who is saying what and why they said it (
thanks, sentiment analysis!)
Having this information enables your business to respond rapidly to any mentions and put effective crisis management in place before the ‘fire’ spreads.
4. You’re curious to know what your competitors are up to
Understanding what your competitors are up to can help your brand pinpoint where it needs to kick it up a notch.
Media intelligence services can help you take a peek into what competitors are up to by essentially giving you a summary of their communications strategies.
Analysis offers insight on everything from your competitor’s
messaging efforts, activities and its positioning on important issues — giving you a holistic view of how the public perceives your competition.
This knowledge is
vital to your brand’s success as it can help you see how you measure up to your biggest challengers, as well as enabling you to identify their weaknesses to find a gap in the market.
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