As a standalone tool, media monitoring provides little value if utilized as the only “measurement technique.” Media measurement supported by media monitoring, on the other hand, helps you monitor, benchmark, and analyze your company’s media coverage to ensure that it is fair and accurate, occurs on a regular basis, and is in line with your overall communications strategy. To be able to derive that from your monitored media, it is important to ensure that your measurement roadmap is a) aligned with your business objectives, b) has broad communications goals, c) supported by specific objectives that are realistic and achievable, and occur during a specific timeframe.

Defining your communications goals and objectives is a time- and effort-consuming endeavor, and should take into consideration your overall strategy, your audience, and your desired outcome. At the end of the day, however, it is the specifics of your effort that allow you to see whether or not you have accomplished what you set out to accomplish. If, after completing the full cycle, you realize that your program did not reach those objectives, then you should revisit your goals and objectives and identify the areas that need improvement. Your evaluation effort should be an ongoing and continuous study of your communications programs, and not just a retroactive narrative of your past coverage. The important thing to keep in mind is that your measurement program is not set in stone, but rather, is a living and breathing document that changes as your needs change, and requires a long-term commitment and investment in order to ultimately change perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors.

Lusine Kodagolian is a Media Consultant at Dow Jones

The Power List: Media Coverage of Japan's Top Executives

WSJ.com recently launched a cool, interactive graphic that shows how the media coverage of top Japanese executives wax and wane over time. Powered by Dow Jones Insight and edited by the WSJ team, the graphic links to bios of executives and a list of news stories that are driving the coverage.

Diane Thieke is marketing director at Dow Jones.

For those looking to get beyond the clip book, here are five must-have metrics that will get your measurement programs started, whether you’re benchmarking your program or evaluating a single campaign. But beware: they might just get your CEO asking for more.

Leading Journalists Writing about Energy Firms

1. Media Share of Voice. This metric allows you to benchmark your media relations programs against those of your key competitors and understand how awareness of your brand stacks up. A bedrock of competitive media performance, it is purely quantitative and is determined by the raw number of article mentions for a competitive set of companies. 
2. Volume Trend. This measures the frequency of your company’s mentions in the media over time, enabling you to identify whether specific campaigns or announcements had an impact on your organization’s awareness. Also a quantitative measure, it is calculated by measuring the number of mentions on each day over a specified time period (e.g. a month or a quarter). 
3. Issue Volume Analysis. This metric demonstrates which subjects, issues, products, brands or technologies are driving industry debate and provide a key measure of performance. It can help you test current messaging and positioning strategies, and help determine which trends may influence the market in the future. 
4. Favorability or Sentiment Analysis. This qualitative metric evaluates the frequency of positive, negative and neutral mentions in the media. It can help you assess the level of interest in your brand or campaign and the believability of messaging points.
5. Leading Journalists. This metric ranks the journalists or bloggers who are writing the most frequently about your brand or topic. With it, you can identify both new contacts and focus on those who give you the most press.

Diane Thieke is Marketing Director at Dow Jones.

After years of hearing that this year is the year of mobile PR, 2011 will probably be the year. Here’s why:

According to data from Morgan Stanley, global shipments of desktop PCs will have remained virtually flat from 2005 through 2013. And, while notebook PCs will trend up over this same period, smartphones will have overpowered both categories in terms of worldwide shipments by 2013. In fact, it is estimated that next year, global shipments of smartphones will outstrip notebook PCs for the first time. And in countries with savvy technology users, such as Japan, mobile page views are dramatically eclipsing desktop page views.

This is essentially an Internet land grab by mobile devices, especially Apple products like iPhones, iTouchs and iPads, which are ramping up aggressively. Whenever there are major share shifts in technology, there are always big winners — and big losers. Indeed, this should prompt PR professionals to look inward and question whether they are leading or lagging. Are PR pros asleep at the switch? We know the PR industry is still grappling with the shift from traditional media to social media. Making matters more complicated, in comes a whiplash swing to mobile. And unlike their marketing brethren, public relations practitioners have yet to fully exploit mobile’s opportunities. But why is this so if mobile is how people are increasingly consuming media?

Sometimes PR is about how to influence stakeholders without the use of media. Still, according to the findings of a PR Week / CC Group survey, respondent data shows that using mobile to reach these influencers can be a complicated business. And significantly, 61% of the 28 tech and business media journalists surveyed said that they prefer desktop tools to mobile ones when it comes to reviewing PR material.

But this may be changing, as there is a growing body of research to support that journalists leverage the blogosphere and social media sites for research and story ideas.

Brevity is bountiful: To be more mobile and global going forward, PR pros need to structure their releases so that they’re shorter, more concise, and with bullet points rather than a release of corporate gobbledygook loaded with every key message. And according to The Hodges Partnership co-founder Jon Newman, marrying “PR with apps … and making sure your Website is optimized for mobile and increasing brand exposure on SM platforms will help you crack mobile devices.”    

Almost as important as the message itself is the channel that is being used to push it out. The message is important, but if it doesn’t get out via a medium that will reach your end user and in a format that will be relevant, then the message really doesn’t matter, now does it? If money follows eyeballs in marketing, then influence follows mobile in PR.

Brian Panton is a report writer and quality assurance specialist based in Washington, D.C.

But what might be a surprise is that renewable energy didn’t benefit much from this crisis in terms of an increase of discussions in the media. What was also rather unexpected is the fact that some media – especially in the Middle East – still spoke rather positively about nuclear energy after the recent crisis.

The Power Of Newswires: Understanding The Media Landscape

Another interesting aspect of our study: Newswires have been the most reliable original traditional media source during Japan’s nuclear crisis.

The Tepco Case – Jeopardizing Japan’s Food Industry

As far as the operator of the Fukushima power plants, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), are concerned, traditional media are paying the most attention, although there are also many discussions taking place in blogs and forums. For a crisis of this extent, it should be expected that the disaster-ridden news coverage about Tepco has been almost entirely negative.

However, the unfavourable press is not limited to (nuclear) power generation and distribution. In fact, Tepco seems have become connected to major industrial issues in Japan and worldwide; from food and goods contamination to the dive of Japan’s whole export-drive economy. This is certainly a warning signal to any company to consider crisis scenarios beyond their direct line of business.

Holistic Crisis Management – To Be Prepared Is Everything

As said by Shakespeare: To be prepared is everything. For communicators, this means that crisis scenario planing should be done with the utmost holistic approach.

Georg Ackermann is the team leader of the Dow Jones Media Lab in Singapore. Lars Voedisch is a media consultant covering the Asia-Pacific region.

How effective are the region’s leading public relations firms at promoting and managing their own brands? Using the Dow Jones Insight media analysis tool, Dow Jones measured the media coverage of the world’s public relations firms, compiling a list of the large firms that generated the most media attention in Asia Pacific for the past 12 month of April 2010 to March 2011. Of the firms examined in the region, Burson-Marsteller, Hill & Knowlton and Ogilvy PR drew top media coverage volumes. This analysis measured large PR firms’ coverage in traditional media outlets.

Interestingly, out of these top three only Ogilvy got awarded by The Holmes Report’s recent Agency-of-the-Year ranking - in the “Digital Consultancy of the Year” category.

 Asia Top Three: Burson Marsteller, Hill & Knowlton and Ogilvy

Dow Jones designated firms with more than $50 million in annual fee income as large. For this first-of-its-kind analysis, Dow Jones Insight compared English media coverage for the key Asia Pacific markets Australia, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, India, Singapore, Malaysia in the past 12 months. Solely negative, issue-related media coverage was excluded.

Lars Voedisch is a media consultant based in Singapore.

The buzz around the royal wedding is in full force, with traditional and social media outlets around the world writing, posting, blogging and tweeting all the latest news about William and Kate. We wanted to see exactly what the coverage looks like, so our Media Consultants used Dow Jones Insight to take an in-depth look into the media  around the prestigious event.  Click here to read the Official Royal Wedding Report: Part One brought to you by Dow Jones Insight. For a quick view, we put together some interesting charts for our loyal readers below. Be sure to circle back post-wedding for Part Two to see what captured the most interest during the wedding and what issues pop up next for the royal couple.

Thoughts focus on the royal family and attendees, and where to tune in for coverage on the wedding.

While the media has steadily reported on the royal family over the last several weeks, the absence of Princess Diana has clearly attracted increased attention and will likely continue to be an overwhelming topic post-wedding as comparisons of Kate’s future to Diana’s past will be on the minds of many observers.

Mentions of YouTube as it relates to the royal wedding jumped nearly 1200% in a week, with reports on the BBC providing a feed of the wedding on YouTube, and T-Mobile’s royal wedding spoof ad going viral. YouTube, Facebook and CNN were also among the most active topics to pop up in the last week as reports provided updates on where to go for the latest wedding information and day-of-the-event coverage.

With the recent release of the guest list, scrutiny over the attendants and the absent gained traction, with Elton John and David Beckham generating 600% more coverage from the previous week, and Prime Minister David Cameron increasing by 76%. Rowan Atkinson was a surprise guest for many in the media, spiking up by over 1500%.

Analysis by Emi Nakatsugawa, Media Consultant at Dow Jones. emi.nakatsugawa@dowjones.com

Social networks sites were not only helpful for retrieving news, but also served as a form of community bulletin board to find loved ones after the earthquake. As telephone lines were jammed or no longer in service, those affected were able to use sites such as Skype, Twitter, Facebook and Mixi to inform others of their whereabouts and status. Within an hour of the earthquake, 1,200 tweets per minute were coming from Tokyo alone. By day’s end over 246,000 messages were published under the topic “Earthquake in Japan”. And in one day, 4.5 million people changed their status to include “earthquake”, “Japan”, or “tsunami”.   

Social networks also supported the efforts of Kameda Medical Center in Chiba. The medical center agreed to treat victims of the earthquake, but soon found itself running out of food and medical supplies, and no truck or ambulance would come close from fear of radiation at the nearby Fukushima reactors. Hospital director Nobuo Hiwatashi issued an appeal through the Mainichi Japan newspaper with little response. Finally, the hospital posted two urgent pleas for help on the Twitter stream of US Ambassador John Roos, instantly contacting Roos through his mobile. An hour or so later, evacuation of the patients were organized byJapan’s Ground Self-Defense Forces.

Local governments and agencies started using social media as a tool, including the local government in Mitaka city in western Tokyo, which put information on Twitter to inform local citizens about electricity blackouts in real-time. The US Government also posted advisories and updates to its citizens residing in Japan through Twitter and Facebook.

Blogger “konnichiwa-japan” explained in a nutshell why Twitter became so popular: “as the days progressed, I found the Tweet feed from people actually on the ground in affected areas to be the best source of news. Links from Twitter showed me NHK News’ English Upstream live feed, real-time reporting of radiation levels, Upstream of Geiger counters, and a variety of other useful sites that I never would have gotten from traditional TV or newspaper media.”

The natural disaster in Japan demonstrated how social networks have significantly impacted the ways in which we communicate and connect with each other. It was a life saver to many that had no ways of reaching other channels for help. As an instrument for change, individuals were able to not only trigger action and connect with friends but have their stories shared with millions across the globe.

The first step in managing risk is to assess the maturity level of each issue. After all, with a constantly expanding universe of risks in social media, no one organization could (or should) react to every issue that crosses their transom. Rather, executives must categorize issues/risks according to how real of a threat they are to the brand, reputation, and bottom line. Common categories include:

• Latent: Comments by/conversations among non-influencers that are untrue, insignificant, unsubstantiated, and/or unconnected. These issues should be watched passively and are not likely to become critical.
• Emerging: Comments by/conversations among influencers and non-influencers alike that contain potentially damaging themes, but that have not yet reached critical mass. These claims, while not always entirely true, have an element of credibility that is cause for concern, and should therefore be watched actively.
• Critical: Comments by/conversations among influencers that have a consistent theme, present credible evidence, and/or express legitimate concerns. These issues have the highest potential of becoming full-blown crises and should therefore be addressed immediately.

To fully understand the role discovery plays in the new social media process, consider the financial industry’s experiences with online platforms. The effects of widespread malfeasance and a massive economic downturn have obliterated consumers’ trust in financial institutions, forcing many of them to begin rebuilding relationships with their stakeholders in the most unlikely places: social media platforms.

Social media has certainly given consumers amply opportunities to voice their discontent with financial institutions, and these companies are just beginning to engage in online conversations to rebuild the brand equity that had been demolished by a coalescence of factors. That’s not to say adoption is widespread: According to Wetpaint and Altimeter Group’s July 2009 “ENGAGEMENTdb” report, the financial industry is one of the least engaged in social media. Being hindered by government regulations is certainly a factor, but more and more companies are finding ways to engage and play by the rules at the same time. Among the most “social” financial brands:

• Wells Fargo: Manages multiple blogs for different target audiences. One in particular, the Wells Wachovia blog, was launched after Wells Fargo beat out Citigroup for control of Wachovia. It became a resource for joint customers, as well as a place where they could voice concerns about the transition.
• H&R Block: One of the first financial brands to begin leveraging Twitter as a customer service tool, first by monitoring the platform for issues and then responding directly to the individuals who had expressed concerns/frustrations.
• Citi Cards: Leveraged social media during the launch of its Citi Forward product, specifically intended to help young consumers manage their credit; effort included blogger outreach, a Twitter presence and a YouTube channel.

Download the ebook to learn more about managing issues.

Diane Thieke is Marketing Director at Dow Jones.

However, this is first and foremost an internal problem. What’s more crucial, and to a certain extent even scary, is that our brands’ employees, customers, and general stakeholders are getting more and more demanding. So how should we deal with growing expectations in a diverse and ever-evolving (social) media landscape?

At a recent interview with Mercy Su for the Digital Media Across Asia Wiki of the Singapore Management University, I had a take at these questions in general and specifically tackled where Greater China and in particular, Hong Kong and Taiwan, are moving in the social media space.

Did you know that though both territories’ social media users are very outspoken, the majority of online comments is still rather positive?

While it might not be a surprise that the main discussions evolve around politics, daily-life, celebrities or brands, it’s important to see how especially mainland China’s social media platform rather significantly grow their influence in the Hong Kong and Taiwan markets.

Lars Voedisch is a media consultant based in Singapore.