As the volume of news becomes a waterfall, Ceisler’s media monitoring skills cut through clutter and find what’s most important.
Even prior to onset of COVID-19, Americans were inundated by a 24-hour global news cycle providing more information than most people could reasonably process. Since the onset of the pandemic, however, we’ve been faced with an unprecedented deluge of news coming from all directions, through countless platforms and channels, with narratives changing by the hour, and disputes over which information should be trusted and which should be summarily dismissed.
From a business perspective, sifting through the multitude of headlines to focus on issues most important to you and your organization can be daunting. But with a little insight, you can be on your way to establishing a media monitoring plan.
At Ceisler Media, we work with clients to monitor media sources across multiple platforms. Each search is tailored to suit the client’s interests, and we work in tandem to build the monitoring framework, fleshing out the issues to identify needs and goals for each effort.
In doing so, we’re able to keep our clients up-to-the-minute on trends and breaking news. If there’s pending legislation affecting your sector, we’re following it. If there’s a critical industry development, the team at Ceisler Media is keeping an eye on it.
Our clients may want us to gather information on one focused topic, or check the media for issue-specific mentions. They may be following coverage of advocates or opponents of their cause. Or they may want to be kept abreast on earned media placements of their business.
We’ve refined our ability to accomplish all those goals – learning which websites or outlets to monitor, along with the frequency and depth needed for each search. It goes well beyond a few daily clicks on Google News.
When COVID-19 started spreading across Pennsylvania, Independence Blue Cross asked us to help identify key stories related to the situation, health providers and proposed policies. Breaking the needs down helped us to target key local and regional interests, as well as state and national priorities. Since then, we’ve been able to provide Independence Blue Cross with additional eyes and ears on the ground, stay on top of the news cycle, and track key issues, thus allowing them to focus on their core mission of enhancing the health and well-being of the people and communities they serve.
Approaches to media monitoring vary depending on the needs of the client. What all monitoring plans have in common is a solid list of search terms relevant to an organization or specific topic. When pulling clips for the Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance, for example, we’re looking for issues related to child abuse and prevention within the state, as well as major national stories. By working with the Alliance and spending time reviewing their key issues, we’ve developed an effective list of search terms. Taking time to refine phrases and keywords is valuable and will produce results that more accurately reflect the purpose of the search.
Generating a report of relevant coverage for Ceisler Media’s clients includes reviewing alerts and conducting searches to ensure we provide the timeliest information. Scanning articles and posts for key issues helps us quickly hone in on what to include, which is why understanding an organization’s issues is essential.
We provide media monitoring services for the Rehabilitation and Community Providers Association, one of the largest and most diverse state health and human services trade associations in the country. Their daily media needs are as diverse as their interests, so it’s imperative to quickly review and synthesize the information to determine whether or not to include a clip. In the end, it’s a bit of art mixed in with skill.
When there are critical issues in front of city council or state committees, our clients may lack the time or resources to be at hearings or meetings. But that doesn’t reduce their need to know what happened. So when we at Ceisler Media covered a recent NewDEAL forum focused on broadband, we shared the information with key Comcast representatives. They, in turn, forwarded the report to others who benefitted from the insights. With us there taking notes and providing a report, everyone was able to benefit from the key points and insights.
The need to share information during this pandemic cannot be understated. Businesses, government agencies, and organizations are diligently working to ensure information is being pushed out to their respective audiences. That’s no small undertaking. Taking the time to develop a media monitoring plan can save you time while providing critical articles and insights. And when developing and implementing a plan is a task you just don’t have time for, the good news is there are professionals like the team at Ceisler Media here to help.
