An Introduction to Media Monitoring
Date Created: 28/09/2020

Can anyone live without being able to memorize information and make decisions based on them?
Paralleling a human being with a company; we could argue that media monitoring is as vital for a company as what memory is for a human being in a way.
Memory is the main source of creativity which has acquired a specific connotation the last few years.
Any idea, no matter how serious or playful it is, is a product of creative imagination. It’s only possible to produce new ideas through recollecting experiences.
What does all this have to do with media monitoring and its advantages, though?
Well, no strategic plan can be complete without comprehensive media monitoring, similarly to how no creative idea can be enriched without fertile memory.
Media monitoring is essential not only for understanding a company’s presence, but also for planning ahead.
Defining media monitoring
Media monitoring is the process of reading, watching or listening to editorial content sources on a continuing basis, and then, identifying, saving and analyzing content that contains specific keywords or topics.

It is used as a tool by most companies, government agencies, non-profit organizations and self-employed individuals such as influencers or other professionals whose work depends on publicity.
The reason it is used is quite simple.
Assessing productivity and success, and finding useful data about competitors is obviously essential. By monitoring, intelligence can be gathered, and contribute towards a corporate communications enhancement.
History
It all began in the middle of the 19th century when media monitoring started through press clipping services. The approach was pretty straightforward and linear. Readers were employed to scan articles in printed news publications and searched for their clients’ keywords. Then they highlighted the keywords in those articles, used razor blades to cut out the marked content, put the content in folders and delivered it to their clients via mail.
Studies conducted in the 1980s indicated that through press clipping about 30-40% of articles containing clients’ key words were missed. It was almost impossible to read whole articles word for word. As a result, the readers did it all by quick scanning.
Types of media monitoring
The most widespread type of monitoring is "news monitoring". It is about finding and analyzing editorial content of news outlets such as newspapers, magazines, and TV and radio news.
At the same time, through the rise of social media, it is becoming more and more common to monitor word of mouth mentions regarding companies on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Blogs or Forums.

Despite how different it may look, today’s approach isn’t far different from press clipping. The big difference is that the growth of the Internet in the 1990s has given rise to online media monitoring services.
Those services use specialized software such as robots, bots or spiders that operate on high-powered computers to quickly assemble the new editorial content of online news sources and social media and, then, to index all the words in those articles and postings. Once the software has assembled the content, it connects with all news articles or social media posts that contain the used keywords, and delivers those posts to each client.
Today’s monitoring services mostly offer a comprehensive method through integrating news and social media monitoring services.
Choosing media monitoring services correctly
Comprehensive media monitoring is necessary both for demonstrating the success of a company’s public relations and social media programs, but also for being used as a media intelligence service.
When it comes to value-for-money ,a cheap online software can only be inexpensive on the surface. In the long term, services that are most accurate or most comprehensive should be preferable. Price should not always be the decisive factor.
Having mentioned traditional press clipping, it doesn’t take much research or thought to understand that online news monitoring is complicated. It is required to be more comprehensive, more accurate, timelier, and less costly labor-wise.
Your specific objectives and requirements should always determine how you choose media monitoring services.
What should you be keeping your eyes open for?
Focus on monitoring your company’s name, your services, and some of your key executives’ names. Do an in-depth research on negative and positive aspects. Look for serious issues, complaints, compliments or questions about your company. It is also advised to keep an eye on patterns or trends about existing or emerging trends.

Furthermore, after having a holistic view about your own work, you can expand and pay attention to competitors and other industry-related topics. Don’t forget to also research social media conversations.
Summary
Nothing can be concrete when it comes to understanding how media monitoring should be used. If solutions aren’t perfect, this is not a drawback, but the norm.
As OneTeam, our work includes working with diverse and disparate companies and identifying their strengths and weaknesses. Through our research methods, we, thereby, construct plans based on the relevancy of our clients’ objectives and provide content to support their reputation.
We always pay attention to detail and shed light to ultimately enhance our clients’ work.