PR Tips: How to Best Track Client Coverage

Critical Mention, HootSuite, TweetReach, LexisNexis … and the list goes on. Each of these brand names, along with many others, play a crucial role in the arsenal of tools used by PR professionals. Depending on the client’s needs, all tools can help monitor client coverage and perception from different sides of the media.

Below are five popular tracking tools that ECPR recommends using to track TV, radio, print and social media coverage.

  • Critical Mention is used for tracking TV, radio and online news coverage nation-wide as well as in Canada, United Kingdom and the Middle East. The user-friendly platform provides real-time coverage of 2,000 sources with publicity values and allows users to set up daily alerts of client coverage. TV and radio coverage is viewable minute-by-minute and the system’s wordplay editing tool allows users to manually clip videos that generate links for clients to view. Additionally, numerous clips may be combined to create reports. Critical Mention has a variety of features that are useful to clients who are featured in the TV and radio markets frequently.
  • HootSuite features an easily navigable interface of tabs, enabling the user to monitor numerous social media networks simultaneously and stay in the know about what people are saying about each client.
  • LexisNexis tracks print coverage across the country. It is useful when pitching to various cities in which your firm does not have print or online subscriptions for viewing articles. Users are able to manually search for stories as well as set up alerts with keywords.
  • TweetReach monitors how far tweets travel. By imputing a hashtag, phrase or username, TweetReach then analyzes the tweets and creates an in-depth report on the metrics for each tweet.
  • Google Alerts track when a client’s name appears online. The service will automatically send an email when specified keywords are found online.

Other tools worth considering include Bit.ly, Mention and Radian6. Overall, it’s important to have multiple members of a firm’s staff familiar with some of these tools in order keep up with the ever-changing world of media monitoring, and provide the most accurate depiction of coverage for a client.

-Gabby Salinas
Account Associate, Elizabeth Christian Public Relations

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