In the dynamic landscape of digital marketing, understanding and measuring the impact of earned media is crucial for businesses seeking to maximize their online presence and brand visibility. Earned Media Value (EMV) is a metric that quantifies the value of the publicity and attention a brand receives through organic channels. To effectively track and analyze EMV, marketers leverage a variety of tools and platforms that provide comprehensive insights into their earned media efforts. In this article, we will delve into the diverse array of tools and platforms available for tracking and analyzing Earned Media Value.
Understanding Earned Media Value
Before delving into the tools and platforms, it’s essential to grasp the concept of Earned Media Value. Earned media encompasses publicity gained through word-of-mouth, social media shares, mentions, and other organic methods, excluding paid advertising and owned media. The value assigned to earned media is not directly purchased or owned by the brand, making it an influential factor in building trust and credibility.
EMV helps quantify the impact of earned media by assigning a monetary value to the organic exposure gained. This metric is invaluable for assessing the effectiveness of marketing strategies, measuring brand awareness, and optimizing campaigns for maximum impact.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a powerhouse in the realm of digital marketing analytics. While it primarily focuses on web traffic and user behavior, it plays a crucial role in tracking and analyzing earned media. By setting up goals and conversion tracking, marketers can attribute website visits and conversions to specific earned media channels.
The platform provides insights into referral traffic, allowing businesses to identify which websites or social media platforms are driving the most traffic. Custom UTM parameters can be employed to track the performance of individual campaigns, enabling a granular analysis of EMV.
Social Mention
Social Mention is a real-time social media search and analysis tool that aggregates user-generated content across various platforms. It monitors mentions, hashtags, and keywords related to a brand, providing a sentiment analysis and an indication of the brand’s reach. By assigning a sentiment score and measuring the frequency of mentions, marketers can gauge the impact of their earned media efforts.
The platform offers a simple interface and allows users to export data for further analysis. Social Mention serves as a valuable tool for understanding how a brand is perceived in the social media landscape.
Brandwatch
Brandwatch is a comprehensive social listening and analytics platform that goes beyond monitoring mentions. It provides sentiment analysis, demographic insights, and competitive benchmarking. By tracking brand mentions and relevant keywords, marketers can quantify the EMV generated through social media and online conversations.
Brandwatch’s customizable dashboards and reports offer a detailed view of earned media performance. The platform’s advanced features include image recognition, enabling businesses to identify instances where their brand logo or products appear in user-generated content.
Talkwalker
Talkwalker is a social media analytics tool that enables businesses to monitor and analyze their brand’s online presence. It tracks mentions across various platforms, including social media, news articles, blogs, and forums. Talkwalker provides sentiment analysis, helping marketers understand the tone of conversations surrounding their brand.
The platform’s image recognition feature allows for the identification of brand logos in visual content, contributing to a more comprehensive assessment of earned media impact. Talkwalker’s real-time alerts ensure that marketers stay informed about relevant conversations and can respond promptly.
Meltwater
Meltwater is a media intelligence platform that goes beyond social media monitoring to encompass online news, print, broadcast, and radio. It provides a holistic view of a brand’s earned media coverage across different channels. Meltwater’s analytics tools allow marketers to measure the reach and impact of their media mentions.
The platform’s media monitoring capabilities extend to competitor analysis, enabling businesses to benchmark their earned media performance against industry peers. Meltwater is particularly useful for brands seeking a 360-degree view of their media presence.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a social media management platform that offers a range of tools for scheduling posts, engaging with audiences, and tracking performance. While its primary focus is on social media management, Hootsuite’s analytics feature provides insights into the impact of earned media on social channels.
Marketers can track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as likes, shares, and comments, attributing them to specific earned media campaigns. Hootsuite’s reporting capabilities assist in summarizing and analyzing the effectiveness of social media efforts.
Mention
Mention is a media monitoring tool designed to track brand mentions across the web. It covers social media, news, blogs, forums, and other online platforms. Mention provides real-time alerts, allowing businesses to respond promptly to emerging conversations and crises.
The platform’s sentiment analysis and engagement metrics contribute to a nuanced understanding of earned media impact. Mention’s user-friendly interface makes it accessible for businesses of all sizes, providing a straightforward solution for tracking and analyzing brand mentions.
Cision
Cision is a comprehensive public relations and earned media platform that offers monitoring, outreach, and analytics solutions. It provides insights into media coverage, journalist contacts, and social media mentions. Cision’s analytics tools enable businesses to quantify the value of their earned media and measure the impact of PR efforts.
The platform’s integration with media databases and influencer identification features enhances its utility for brands seeking to amplify their earned media reach. Cision’s reporting capabilities facilitate the creation of detailed analyses and performance reports.
Critical Mention
Critical Mention is a media monitoring platform specializing in broadcast, online news, and social media coverage. It allows businesses to track mentions across television, radio, podcasts, and online videos. Critical Mention’s real-time alerts and comprehensive coverage make it a valuable tool for assessing the impact of earned media in the broadcast space.
The platform’s analytics features include sentiment analysis, viewership metrics, and the ability to measure the duration of media mentions. Critical Mention is particularly beneficial for brands with a significant presence in broadcast media.
SEMrush
SEMrush is renowned for its SEO and competitive analysis tools, but it also offers features for tracking earned media. The platform’s backlink analysis helps businesses understand the websites linking to their content, contributing to a holistic view of earned media reach.
SEMrush’s content analytics provide insights into the performance of organic content, helping marketers identify top-performing pages and assess the impact of earned media on website traffic. The platform’s integration with Google Analytics enhances its capabilities for comprehensive data analysis.
Customized Analytics Solutions
While the aforementioned tools provide valuable out-of-the-box solutions, some businesses opt for customized analytics solutions tailored to their specific needs. Building a custom analytics dashboard using tools like Google Data Studio or Tableau allows businesses to integrate data from various sources and create a unified view of earned media performance.
Customized analytics solutions enable businesses to define their KPIs, track specific metrics, and visualize data in a way that aligns with their unique objectives. This flexibility is particularly beneficial for enterprises with complex earned media strategies and diverse data sources.
Conclusion
In the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing, tracking and analyzing Earned Media Value is essential for businesses aiming to optimize their online presence and build brand credibility. The tools and platforms mentioned in this article offer diverse capabilities, catering to the varying needs of marketers across industries.
Selecting the right combination of tools depends on factors such as the nature of the business, the target audience, and the channels through which earned media is generated. By leveraging these tools effectively, businesses can gain actionable insights, refine their marketing strategies, and maximize the impact of their earned media efforts in the digital realm. As technology continues to advance,
