Behind the Numbers: Tips for Interpreting Media Monitoring Analytics

Professional communicators are expected to be a jack of all trades—social media experts, skilled copywriters, graphic designers, and informed spokespeople. Key expertise lies in crafting compelling narratives and mastering the art of language to effectively inform audiences. But to quantitatively measure if messaging is cutting through the noise, communicators have to become adept data analysts too.

Often, we find ourselves inundated with a sea of numbers, struggling to pull meaningful insights from the different metrics being thrown our way. Share of voice, potential audience reach, volume, sentiment; as numbers become a vital part of the PR toolkit, the challenge arises in deciphering the meaning behind the metrics.

In this blog we aim to demystify the complexities surrounding media monitoring data, providing a clear understanding of how our analysts approach these numbers to extract valuable insights.

Why is Media Analysis Important

• Media Analysis helps comms professionals make more informed decisions on their strategies and how current campaigns, statements or responses are being received by the general public in the media. 
• Analysing a brand’s media coverage can help further understand a brand’s reach, influence and impact.
• Keeping a finger on the pulse of industry movements, major announcements, and issues, whilst also tracking your share of voice in the media against your direct competitors.
• Crisis management – media analytics can be used in a variety of ways to monitor any statements, communications or key messaging for crisis management. 

What Does Streem Recommend?

Within Streem’s Instant Insights function, there are a myriad of metrics that will help you and your team further understand your brand’s media coverage, how it is received and provide you with the tools to further evolve and improve your media & comms strategy.

1. Share of voice – to analyse the share of voice of a particular brand, topic or issue has compared to its competitors.
2. Key Message Analysis – input the Key Messages you aim to convey as part of this issue/campaign and determine how they are represented in the media – is the message you are trying to get across actually reaching the eyes and ears of the public?
3. Potential Audience Reach – gain an understanding of the size of the audience you are potentially reaching with your messages, and understand which mediums are gaining more traction, by splitting this out by Online, Print, Radio & TV media.
4. Sentiment – to gauge the perception or tone of the event, issue or campaign, and to further understand whether any statements or announcements are received in a positive or negative light.
5. Geographic Spread – where are your communication efforts hitting? Which states, cities or regions are the most exposed to media coverage of your brand? Are
6. Risk Score – a preemptive measure that allows you to weigh the “risk” of an article, based on the aftermath of coverage that could ensue. Analysing against potential harmfulness, controversy and emotion, the Risk Score enables your team to prepare for any adverse reactions to your brand’s media coverage. 

Tips and Tricks for Getting the Most Out of Media Analytics

1. Layering Metrics:

Understanding the meaning behind the numbers is more helpful with multiple metrics to tell an overall story.

What are some common metric pairs we recommend?

Leading Publications and Potential Audience Reach 

• Learn where your brand’s media coverage was picked up the most and in which media type, and then further understand the potential size of the audience you may have reached. 
• Why? Great to understand where your media coverage is landing, especially if its an announcement or campaign, and how many potential readers were exposed to this. Need something more? Add on Geographic Spread to see where these hits landed.

Share of Voice and Themes

• Further understanding the media coverage your competitors are gaining, to identify white space opportunities for your brand. 
• Why? If your competitor is leading in the share of media coverage for the month, for example, layer this with the Themes word cloud to understand what were the keywords/phrases used within their media exposure. Is this a space where you could do further proactive media engagement? Are there opportunities for you to line up more interviews on a topic no one else is talking about? Understanding a competitor’s media coverage is not only great for seeing where you sit within your industry, but also for finding if there is research, announcements, initiatives or issues that you could proactively push out.

2. Ad-hoc Reporting:

Reporting against one particular issue, campaign or announcement is a great way to understand the cut of coverage against your brand’s regularly earned coverage. By isolating and analysing coverage related to a particular facet of your brand, you gain a nuanced perspective on how it stands out from your regular earned coverage. 

This focused approach allows for a deeper understanding of the nuances surrounding the issue or campaign, enabling more targeted insights into its visibility, sentiment, and overall reception. Ultimately, a strategic reporting framework becomes instrumental in refining your brand’s communication strategies and adapting them to ensure you make the most out of your media activity. 

3. Industry and Sector Coverage Monitoring

Beyond tracking your company’s mentions, it’s equally crucial to keep a keen eye on industry news in realtime. This proactive approach enables you to swiftly respond to significant events, gaining a valuable head start in shaping your brand’s narrative. 

Monitoring industry news allows you to be the first to know about significant developments, some of the most crucial to monitor are: 

• Competitor scandals: Stay informed about any controversies or issues involving your competitors, providing an opportunity to adjust your brand strategy accordingly.
• Policy announcements: Keep a close watch on regulatory changes and policy announcements that could impact your industry, allowing for proactive adaptation and communication.
• Market trends: Track emerging trends in your industry to stay ahead of the curve and align your brand with evolving consumer preferences.
• Technological advances: Stay informed about new technologies or innovations that could impact your industry, enabling you to adapt and incorporate advancements into your brand strategy.
• Public perception shifts: Monitor shifts in public sentiment towards your industry, allowing for proactive reputation management and communication strategies.

Streem’s Instant Insights, for Realtime Reporting

Streem’s cutting-edge Instant Insights function revolutionises real-time media monitoring, providing communicators with a suite of powerful tools. From coverage volume or share of voice  to potential audience reach and geographic spread, Streem equips brands with unparalleled capabilities for swift, accurate, and actionable reporting, ensuring they find the mentions that matter, to stay ahead of the media curve and make informed decisions.