Some PR technology vendors have made pandemic-related announcements, but there’s a bit of “business as usual” too
On the first Tuesday of the month, I publish a summary of news from the vendors building PR technology tool (PR tech sum). Typically, this includes product or business announcements, but as we all know, these are not typical times.
In pursuing the vendor news and blogs, I noted a lot of them have made Coronavirus or COVID-19 related announcements (the keyword choice is interesting since the virus causes the illness). It seems fitting then, that this month the summary will focus on who is doing what during this pandemic.
If your fun meter for virus-related news is tapped out, there is a bit of “business as usual” news and notes near the end.
Here we go…
(click images for higher resolution)
1. Free PR tech tools for health care organizations
Falcon.io, which is owned by Cision, said it’s helping by providing free tech tools to United Nations and government health care organizations (alongside a program by Facebook). The tools can be used to publish information about the response quickly, assist in answers FAQs, and measure the reach and engagement of government health communications across social platforms.
PRgloo is offering to build a free microsite for members of the National Health Service (in the UK) or emergency series, the company said a blog post. The company promises to “build and deliver your site within 30 mins.” The company is also offering email distribution and access to its media database.
Both Falcon.io and PRgloo are headquartered in Europe and I was surprised I didn’t see any similar announcements from US companies. If you see any that I’ve missed, please send me a DM on Twitter or an email using the contact form.
2. Free monitoring of the pandemic for everyone
Muck Rack has made its new Trends tool available to everyone, the company announced in a blog post. You don’t need an account to use it. The tool has been likened to Google Trends for news coverage. The tool has several utilities including identifying “the top authors and outlets who have published the most articles about a topic or set of topics.” I used the tool to compare mentions of “Coronavirus” versus “COVID-19 for this post and the image nearby depicts the results.
Signal AI is using the Coronavirus to train its artificial intelligence (AI) to understand the “first-ever ‘disease topic’” according to a press release. The company uses AI to power its media monitoring technology. Experts often note AI systems require a massive amount of data points to “learn” the nuances of the analysis you want it to perform. The announcement was published in the first half of March 2020, and by that point in time, “there were 1,059,776 stories published globally about COVID–19 in the last 24 hours and 11,757,371 in the last 30 days.” The company is providing email updates on the Coronavirus for those interested.
Meltwater is using its social media monitoring technology to aggregate tweets about COVID-19 on its website. Currently, it’s broken into four categories of news from health organizations, politicians, scientists, and news outlets. It’s also syndicating data and dashboard information about infections from John Hopkins University. The company has set up an email distribution for a “daily briefing” of the results its system is tracking.
3. Notes from the wire services
Business Wire put a link to a search for COVID-19 related press releases distributed through its website on the home page.
PR Newswire, also owned by Cision, cinched down on press releases aimed at “newsjacking” or profiteering from the pandemic.
4. What the vendors are saying
Several vendors have tapped their networks or technologies to curate or process data information about the state of things in the media landscape. Here are a few of the pieces that I thought provided perspective worth your while.
a. State of PR Around the Globe via Business Wire & Sandra Fathi
This post samples views from around the world – China, India, Singapore, UK, and the US – from a network of agencies around the globe.
b. COVID-19 Comms: Lead with Empathy via Cision & Sarah Parker
“Be prepared for reentry: Just because you didn’t close down during this time doesn’t mean you aren’t ‘reopening’.”
c. The fight against COVID-19 is a war – how companies are adopting military skills via Bulldog Reporter and Chad Storlie
“Military principles that emphasize teamwork, protecting personnel, innovation, creativity, incorporate new technology, and build coalitions are what will see us through the COVID-19 war.”
d. PR Changes As Covid19 Shifts Media Habits via Universal Information Systems & Todd Murphy
“More people are paying attention to news generated by professional journalists than before.”
e. Consciously communicating COVID-19 via Signal AI & Paul Wilke
“People have short and inaccurate memories. Perception outplays reality. As much as I hate the term fake news, the reality is it isn’t new, nor is it always a devious deep-state plot. Misinformation has a funny way of spreading organically.
There’s a great quote, ‘A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.’ Here’s the best part about that quote: It’s often attributed to Mark Twain saying it in 1919, but he was dead by then, so even a quote about facts is wrong!”
f. The Importance of Building Trust Within Your Company Amid Coronavirus via SocialChorus & Chuck Gose & Tamara Rodman
“…five to 10 years ago, social media turns turned really to peer-to-peer influence now that those institutions have essentially become mistrusted. Really who we trust now globally tends to be the people around us. And trust is really gone global.”
g. Critical Mention Media Trends: Top Netflix Mentions via Critical Mention & Priscilla Osorio
Critical Mention looks at what Netflix shows are the most talked about on social media (and presumably the most-watched). Tiger King, as you might expect, takes the top spot. That’s followed by Ozark, Self Made and Uncorked.
5. Business as usual: Intrado integrates with Adobe
Intrado has integrated its suite of products with the Adobe cloud. The company will feed PR data into products like Marketo, a marketing automation tool acquired by Adobe.
“The ability to bring PR campaign data into Marketo Engage will ultimately lead to better audience engagement and customer experience…,” said Cody Crnkovich, Head of Platform Partners and Strategy at Adobe, in a press release.
6. Business as usual: Picks from the trades and blogs
a. 6 considerations when choosing a media monitoring platform via PR Daily & Eric Schwartzman
“…spent the last eight weeks analyzing the state of social and traditional media monitoring software and for my 2020 Media Monitoring Buyer’s Guide and here are the top takeaways.”
[I plan to read this study for a possible separate post later]
b. New Muck Rack survey: How journalists find their news, use social media and work with PR teams in 2020 via Muck Rack & Justin Joffe
“Most journalists still go to online outlets (60%) or Twitter (22%) for their news and 85% find Twitter the most valuable social network.”
[I’ll dig into this survey in a separate post later too]
c. Understanding Your Audience in the Digital Age: Influencer and Social Media Marketing Strategies via James Coleman and Meltwater
“…a finding that 82% of Gen Z believe companies need to produce content relative to them personally, while half think that most content is of little value. The content you create internally remains a bedrock in establishing credibility.”
d. 10 PR Tricks to Increase News Release Visibility via Dara Quackenbush & Business Wire
“Releases with some sort of multimedia – whether it’s a photo, video or graphic – almost double their visibility. Reporters need your multimedia assets to cover your story.”
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Have an interesting announcement from a PR technology vendor? Tweet me up or use the contact form.
Do you work for a PR technology vendor? Here’s the list of companies I’m monitoring or and this page tells you how to get listed.
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Image credits: Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash and respective businesses
