A feature article by Moreover’s Senior Product Manager, Brian Mackie, appears in the latest issue of IntranetsToday explaining how companies can find and exploit opportunities within the challenges of Big Data.
His article, “Actionable Media Intelligence: Delivering a Competitive Edge”, argues that companies should be using the proper tools to turn unwieldy “mass media” into actionable “meaningful media”.
Great companies make decisions driven by data, not by gut feelings alone. The problem is that available “big data” is increasing very quickly. How does an organization make sense of it all and get it to the relevant people?
Employees are going to talk- to each other and to people outside the company. Are they informed? They should be reading targeted and relevant news every day without spending too much time seeking it out. Do you know how to get them there?
In the feature, Mr. Mackie gives a checklist of points to consider while evaluating tools for internal communication to solve these problems.
What media sources does the service cover, does it match your particular industry needs, and can new ones be added on request?
Check the news filtering options to make sure they will support the precisely tuned results you need (test with real-life news requirements)
Look for flexible media distribution options: A user portal, newsletters, RSS feeds, possibly an API to integrate news search directly into an intranet
Ensure it includes editorial control features to manage the content that flows out to the organization (e.g. the ability to quickly remove articles from an RSS feed on the intranet)
Confirm whether customer service includes editorial support for building out searches
Ask about their software development processes and how often they roll out new features (ideally at least monthly)
Know the pricing – avoid ballooning content licensing costs, and beware the sweet entry level deal that is followed by a sudden not-quite-explained price hike in year two!
Lastly, always run a trial and push the vendor to prove, not just promise, targeted business news that demonstrates value. If they can’t provide this during a trial, it’s probably because they can’t provide it full stop.
Companies can leverage their internal communication to gain an advantage in the marketplace. It is difficult, but there is opportunity in this challenge to rise above the competition:
Turning mass media it into meaningful media intelligence is a fascinating challenge – it is for vendors, publishers, and especially for the companies chasing productivity gains and competitive advantage. And therein lies the good business news: It is not too late to be an early mover and gain that edge.
We are proud to be featured in this month’s edition of Communicate Magazine, with a piece that we think perfectly describes the imperative for distributing media intelligence across the organization to all employees.
In the article, we argue the following key points:
Evidence shows that business decisions based on data as well as intuition increases productivity by 5-6% on average
Sharing media intelligence across the organization can be a key driver for making more informed business decisions and raising productivity
The free, consumer-focused search engines have proven to be time-consuming, cumbersome tools when it comes to distilling pertinent business news
Providing a centralized media intelligence service to the company, with all business news available in one search engine and one interface, is more effective than delivering content in a fragmented way or expecting employees to go it alone
Tools such as Moreover’s Newsdesk service offer librarians, marketing and communications teams the opportunity to turn external mass media into competitive advantage by filtering and sharing highly targeted business news directly within people’s day-to-day workflow
Media intelligence continues to trend as a hot topic, with new services and publisher arrangements opening up exciting possibilities for turning mass media into valuable business insight.
If you would like to find out more about Moreover’s media intelligence offerings, including the 3x award-winning Newsdesk service, then visit our website or drop us a line - we’ll be glad to explore your requirements with you.
Today’s companies operate in a world of Internet-driven mass media with the power to shape our perceptions and blindside company reputations. At Moreover, our job is to help you turn this media maelstrom intomedia intelligence for competitive advantage.
In this series of posts, we’ll be going through the multiple aspects of a successful media intelligence strategy, and offer concrete advice and insight for turning global news and social media into a powerful strategic asset.
Part 1 – Encourage employee engagement and corporate identity by sharing external media
News forms opinions, and everyone is exposed to it. External commentary about a company can inform employee perceptions, in part precisely because it is external – an independent voice as opposed to perceived corporate spin.
Organizations may take a laissez-faire approach and let events play out, or they may choose to engage proactively and use external media perspectives to positively reinforce internal communications objectives.
For example, an effective media intelligence solution can ensure that upbeat articles about the company or sector are consistently shared across the organization, helping to buoy morale amongst staff, while a negative story can be assuaged by internal commentary explaining the situation.
Sharing targeted media coverage is a way to showcase any area that the company is involved in, from the success of a marketing campaign to the impact of a corporate social responsibility initiative, invigorating team spirit and a sense of pride.
Ultimately, external media perspectives hold up a mirror to the company. In a world where information is free, instant, and shared, honesty and openness become quintessential qualities of successful media intelligence campaign.
Establish media distribution channels across a company. This gives corporate communications teams access to employees’ media consumption and a measure of influence over it. Delivering news through the intranet using RSS feeds and making it part of an employee’s day-to-day workflow is a typical aspect of such an approach. It offers an unintrusive “FYI” user experience and removes the issues around ad-hoc company emails such as whether to send and who to include.
Full editorial control over RSS feeds. You need the option to manually add and remove individual stories from RSS feeds without having to go through an IT department, for example to remove an unwanted story. It must be easy to edit the search terms of feeds so you can cater for evolving topics and sudden events. You might also want full editorial control so you only publish articles that have been handpicked from a wider set of results.
The ability to add the company’s view to news events. As a corporate communications team you should be able to add commentary to news articles, for example to explain the company position or to flag the importance of a particular article. A media intelligence tool should make this a quick and easy process.
Today’s media intelligence services such as Moreover’s Newsdesk service offer a great opportunity to turn mass media into a powerful instrument for achieving key corporate communications goals.
If you’d like to learn more about how the award-winning Newsdesk service helps corporate communications and information professionals achieve results, then contact us or visit our website for details.
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