Media coverage is increasingly difficult to keep up with in our vast – and growing – digital landscape.

With attention spans becoming shorter and the news cycle on turbo speed, combatting crises and developing thoughtful, effective public relations strategies in a condensed timeframe can seem like a daunting task. However, implementing consistent and targeted media monitoring can help make those tough communications decisions easier and give you solid data on where to focus your crisis planning.

But how? What is media monitoring, really? And how do public relations professionals use it to their advantage?

Media Monitoring 101m

The term “media monitoring” refers to any action taken to track mentions of your organization, industry, or relevant subjects. This tracking can be achieved across various channels — broadcasts, digital and print news, social media, review sites — and the list goes on.

Expertise in media monitoring allows public relations teams to assess the quantity, quality, type, tone, and reach of media mentions. In unprecedented situations and planned campaigns, media monitoring provides in-depth knowledge of who is talking about your organization, what they’re saying and how and when they’re saying it.

Experienced public relations counselors analyze key components of coverage to predict what’s coming next—recognizing patterns to inform crisis management responses and public relations strategies.

Media Monitoring in Crisis PR

In a public relations crisis, media monitoring provides a window into public perception of an issue. Tracking mentions of your organization can show how key audiences are responding to messaging and anticipate possible escalations of complaints or industry controversies.

For example, consistent tracking establishes a baseline of expected “buzz”. When that regular cadence of mentions suddenly changes or grows exponentially, it’s a sign that a crisis may be brewing and require action and tactful communication.

But identifying a problem is only the first step. How you respond to a crisis is crucial to protecting and maintaining or recovering from damage to your reputation in the eyes of your stakeholders.

Media monitoring allows a crisis management team to prioritize outreach to key audiences. Maybe a well-known local personality has been vocally denigrating your organization. Media monitoring can allow you to identify what kind of messaging and themes that person is sharing, view feedback or public interaction with those ideas and help inform your communications strategy. Could the situation negatively impact your reputation capital or trust with stakeholders? Could it cause confusion or distraction from your mission and work? Could it incite frustration if not addressed? If you answered yes to any of these questions, a crisis response strategy could help mitigate further issues.

While every situation presents its own challenges, social media is a powerful tool for media monitoring in crisis communications. By following relevant hashtags and influential accounts, crisis PR professionals can see and learn from online conversations about their organization, partners and industry as they happen. That knowledge informs crisis communications strategies, including when and how best to communicate with your audiences and where any potential for escalation lies.

Media Monitoring for Public Relations

For a PR and media relations agency, media monitoring strengthens media relations, thought leadership strategies and pitching by identifying industry trends, key outlets and notable brand advocates and detractors. Media monitoring within local communities and industry networks helps communication agencies locate target audiences and capitalize on recent trends.

As technology continues to advance and change at breakneck speed, media monitoring provides a roadmap to finding the best channel for a story. Broadcast TV, bylined articles and Instagram posts serve very different purposes and reach very different audiences. When you know your media landscape well, you can tailor your public relations strategy accordingly.

And after a successful placement, post or other message, monitoring can serve as a performance metric for a variety of outcomes, such as:

• Quantifiable interactions with social content
• Value of earned media reach
• Sentiment of audience feedback
• Engagement proportional to demographic and geographic areas

Media monitoring allows a public relations firm to go above and beyond when strategizing—whether the goal is to elevate, repair or defend a reputation. Most importantly, in both public relations and crisis communication strategy, media monitoring is a vital tool for informed decision-making.

Authentic, concise and clear messaging is key to effective PR. The other side of the coin is knowing the media landscape, both to avoid minefields and plant your flag as a capable communicator.

To learn more about how AKCG’s media monitoring elevates public relations and crisis communication, click here.