Guest blog by Sara McKinniss

Today’s uncertain economic landscape means that everyone must maximize the money they spend on communication. Many new, free tools are available to monitor media coverage and help maximize the return on investment (ROI). Google provides many applications that can help monitor media more efficiently and effectively.

Google Analytics is a free resource that measures website traffic by analyzing the number of visitors that visit a webpage, the average time spent on the website, graphs peak site usage over a time period and geographically determines where people are visiting from. This information is useful because it allows the site to be tailored to market and advertise online to specific audiences. It also can help determine the most effective ways of sharing messages through websites. 

Another useful tool to monitor media coverage is through the use of Google Alerts. Google Alerts is a free e-mail-based application that enables a user to receive alerts in their inbox containing a search string of keywords. Each time something is mentioned about a business, whether in a blog or a news article, an e-mail will alert the user with a link to the mention. Alerts can be customized to notify the user either daily or weekly, depending on what they desire. Monitoring coverage on different news outlets and social media becomes easier when alerts are sent directly to one source.

Lastly, a newer Google tool that is useful for media monitoring is Google Blog Search. Google Blog Search is another free application that searches only blogs when the user provides keywords. The blogosphere is such a powerful player in today’s communication efforts, it is important not to discount their role and influence in obtaining coverage. Google Blog Search provides an opportunity for businesses to interact with this often untapped market for coverage.

Using Google applications to monitor media coverage is a great inexpensive way to help determine a return on investment and a great way for a to help maximize messaging potential.