- The Creation of Media Monitoring
Even though digital media monitoring seems popular for only a decade or so, the creation of media monitoring itself dates back to the 1800s. It already existed in the beginning era of printed media. The term ‘monitoring’ was called ‘press-clipping’ back in the day and only focused on printed media. In 1881, Henry Romeike founded a press clipping agency in London and later in the United States. Romeike provided service for famous people who were looking for any mention of their names in the newspaper. After that, many agencies are providing the same services. Since then, the business of media monitoring has begun to really grow.
- The 20th Century
The rapid growth of technology in the 20th century also affected the services of press clipping agencies. With the introduction of TV and Radio as mass media, these agencies cannot focus their ‘monitoring’ solely on newspapers. Back then, media analysts also did not rely on an algorithm like nowadays. They listened to the radio or watched TV broadcasts to know whether they were talking about their client. The popularity of audio recorders in the 50s helped media analysts to do their work. They didn’t have to watch the live broadcast all the time. In the 80s, the internet became a new media and got used more frequently. In the 90s—1998 to be exact—WebClipping became the first digital media monitoring that helped analysts track down any mention on the internet.
- Digital Media Monitoring in the Present
Today, digital media monitoring has become more advanced with many features. There are many tools that you can choose that come with a variety of prices. You can also use a free tool, but of course it has limited features. Some features are very essential in media monitoring, namely:
- Natural Language Processing (NLP)
- Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA)
- Competitor Analysis
Features like NLP and LSA will help you cope with recent technology like voice search. Voice search or voice assistant usage is increasing steadily nowadays. According to GlobalWebIndex in 2018, 27% of the global population used voice search on their mobile device. Other than voice search, you might also want to “learn” from your competitor. It is vital to stay updated on your competitor’s next strategy/campaign in order to stay ahead and be the top-of-mind of your industry.
- The Future of Digital Media Monitoring
Since the 1800s, media monitoring has developed into more than just a tool to track names on newspapers. It grows essentially as a tool to define a business’ strategy, insights, and even sales. Digital media monitoring will read the algorithm of a certain platform, analyze competitor data, then help with whatever metrics you desire. In the future, it will also be equipped with more advanced machine learning, tools to read the algorithm, and organic responses from the audience. Currently, features like NLP and LSA are the most advanced technology on the market. These tools will continue to be enhanced to give you a better understanding of your audience and meet your brand’s achievement.
So, that was how digital media monitoring got developed from time to time. We can see that this tool is no longer just a supporting element, but an important tool to help brands acquire their target.
