Media Analysis

Media AnalysisKommunikation verstehen & bessere Entscheidungen treffen

Take your communication to the next level! With IMWF’s media analyses, you know exactly how your organization is perceived by the public and how you can achieve your goals more quickly.

  • With us you do not get standard analyses according to a template. Our scientific media analyses are customized for your company and your goals.
  • We will not leave you alone with the data. Together, we interpret the analysis results and offer you concrete recommendations for action.
  • We use artificial intelligence to evaluate more than 438 million data sources and make high-quality media analysis affordable.

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The most frequently asked questions about media analysis

What is a media analysis?

Media analysis (also called communication analysis) is a term from communication and media science. It examines reports in various media (for example, online texts, print or YouTube videos) and analyzes them according to various criteria and in line with a specific topic or issue. For example, you can check the tone in which your organization or company is being reported on, or how your reputation or image values are developing. This means you not only receive information about how much is being said about your company, but also about what and in which contexts.

This gives you the following advantages:

  • You can analyze PR measures according to media science standards and better understand how to become more successful.
  • You can measure how a campaign or a new product is received by customers and improve your communication in a targeted manner.
  • You can analyze your organization in specific contexts and establish yourself as an opinion leader on selected topics.
  • They can recognize crises and initiate crisis communication and appropriate measures at an early stage.
  • You can identify the best media channels for your company and optimize your budget planning.
  • You can analyze competitors and compare your public image with that of your competitors.
  • etc. (see also: “What can I use a media analysis for?”)

The findings are summarized in a report at the end. Data and results (also called “hits”) can be prepared in graphics such as charts and diagrams, and data interpretation can be simplified with supplementary explanations.

‍What makes the IMWF media analysis so special?

Most providers offer you standard solutions. With such tools, you can only adjust the parameters minimally and basically always get the same analysis – no matter what question you want to answer with your media monitoring and communication analysis. The IMWF takes a different approach: We provide you with customized analyses based on media science standards for your questions with concrete recommendations for action.

‍That’s why our media analyses always start with a simple question:
What do you actually want to know?

‍Do you want to analyze your brand image? Do you want to measure a campaign success? Do you want to analyze your communication in the context of a specific event? Or something completely different? Media analyses can vary widely depending on the question being asked. Therefore, instead of looking for the right standard analysis, our first step is always to comprehensively understand your goals. We then design precisely tailored methods and content analyses according to media science quality criteria. This is the only way we can offer you valuable insights and recommend measures that actually fit your goals.

‍For whom is a media analysis suitable?

‍Whetherit’s a startup, an established SME, or a global corporation, any organization can take a look at its own communications to make PR measures measurable and optimize media relations. For example, do you want to check how a PR campaign is received by your target group? Then you need a communication analysis that collects data and evaluates it in terms of content. This not only tells you who reported what, when, where, how and on which topic – you can also answer questions about context and tone.

  • What messages were picked up?
  • Was the coverage positive, neutral or negative?
  • In what context does your organization appear?
  • How was the reporting received by the target group?
  • What image does your company have with the target group?
  • How does your image compare to the competition?
  • How successful is your media work?

You can answer that and more with a media analysis. Whether for the press department, for the marketing team or for product development, such a scientific view provides your organization with all the important data to make communication successes measurable and to improve them in a targeted manner.

How is it different from the press review?

‍Scientificmedia analysis is a PR success measurement. It goes a step further than the press review because it not only collects reports, but also analyzes their content. In contrast to the press review, the media analysis also derives correlations and suggests trends. This gives you a better overview, more control over your communication and clear recommendations for action. Accordingly, good media or content analysis often leads to a real competitive advantage. You can improve your corporate communications in a targeted manner and achieve individual goals more quickly.

‍By the way, media analysis is known by many terms. Under certain circumstances, one also speaks of a market analysis, communication analysis, media resonance analysis or content analysis.

‍What can I use a media analysis for?

Analyze status quo


‍The
situation analysis often takes place before the actual media analysis. Here, the status quo is determined and it is analyzed how successful which measures have been so far. This makes it possible to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and risks of one’s own communication – also in comparison to competitors.

Evaluate complete media presence


‍A
scientific media analysis can capture your organization’s entire media presence. You can do this by compiling all public mentions in a given time period. This will give you an overview of how strongly your organization is represented in the media and the basic tone of your company mentions. You can also evaluate your media presence in comparison to a competitor.

Analyze reputation


‍A
good reputation is crucial for corporate success. After all, a bad reputation discourages customers from buying, investors from investing, and scares away qualified specialists. It is not only the actual performance that counts, but also the perception of the respective stakeholders. Their statements can be evaluated on the Internet using artificial intelligence. In a media analysis, you can see, among other things, in which reputation dimensions you are active and how you stand there in comparison to the competition.

Analyze brand image


What does the public think about your company? A scientific media analysis can provide you with valuable insights into your image and help you to shape your external presentation specifically according to your wishes. Such content analyses are particularly useful at regular intervals: For example, every three months you can check how your image is developing and – if necessary – take appropriate action. Or keep an eye on your image with a regular end-of-year review.

Measure campaign success

How is your current media campaign being received by the target group? A media analysis can answer this question in real time and evaluate campaigns according to certain success factors. For example, you can find out in how many posts and with what coverage your campaign is reported. Or which key messages are most prominent in media and what the general response to your campaign is. Furthermore, when viewed over a period of time, you can identify trends – for example, whether interest in your product/service is decreasing or increasing over time.

Master crises

‍Whatpublicity do you receive during a crisis? Recognize whether your company is emerging in the context of explosive issues and initiate appropriate action as needed. With the right data, you can also analyze how certain topics develop and which opinion leaders position themselves with which arguments. This enables you to identify crises at an early stage and adapt your measures with foresight.

Analyze events

How is your company reported in the context of a particular event? Whether it’s a sporting event, cultural festival or political event, you can answer this question with a media analysis. For example, a brand for soccer shoes might be interested in how its media presence was during the European soccer championship. Or a car manufacturer wants to analyze its presence during Formula 1. There are many possibilities!

Analyze opinion leaders


Do you want to position yourself as an opinion leader on a particular topic? Identify and analyze current opinion leaders, media formats, and content-rich articles, as well as key trending terms, keywords, and content opportunities. This allows you to design a customized strategy and place targeted content and messages that make you an opinion leader.

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‍How do qualitative and quantitative media analyses differ?

‍Quantitativeand qualitative media analysis answer different questions. Therefore, they differ already in their fundamental
‍Methodology and the nature of their data analysis:

Quantitative media analysis


How often is your company/organization talked about in the media? This question can be answered with a quantitative approach. For this purpose, key figures are collected – for example, the number of relevant texts, images or clips, the volume of these texts, the form of presentation, the circulation or the media reach. For example, you can find out how many customers they reach and in which media they are particularly present. At the same time, you create the basis for more in-depth analyses.

Qualitative media analysis


How is your company/organization talked about in the media? Instead of collecting key figures, the qualitative survey analyzes the various contents. For example, you can find out whether media report positively or negatively about you. You can analyze the context in which target groups talk about your company or how your brand image is perceived compared to competitors. Qualitative media analysis offers valuable approaches to steer your measures and image in the desired direction.

‍By the way, the term media analysis originally comes from communication and media science and encompasses a variety of different forms. In media science, for example, a distinction is made between presence analysis, topic analysis or tonality analysis. Likewise, there is input-output analysis, actor analysis, issue analysis, benchmark analysis, or reputation analysis. In the vast majority of cases, several forms of analysis are combined.

What makes a good media analysis?

Merely collecting media contributions is no longer enough. If you want to target your communications, you have to go beyond mere media monitoring – and understand the messages behind the coverage and the respective dynamics. A good media analysis therefore combines quantitative and qualitative methodology and examines as broad a panel as possible according to various criteria. The criteria and metrics may differ depending on the analysis. From reach (local, regional, national) and media channels to number of posts, tone and resonance, and topics and topic contexts. Previously coded criteria such as competitors, brand, products or target media can also be important.

A good media analysis should then fulfill the following points in particular:

  • Current analyses in real time
  • Easy to understand result evaluation
  • Clear options for action for the company
  • Preparation of the results in charts, graphs and text

The most important point: The survey should always be individually adapted to your company and your goals. Standard solutions are nonsense because they cannot be used to answer individual questions. At the IMWF, we therefore not only provide you with customized analyses according to media science standards, we also derive concrete recommendations for action for you from our analyses.

‍What role do social media channels play in the analysis?

‍Media analysesusually also include social media channels. The importance of these social media analyses varies depending on the company: While communication at a young hipster startup often runs primarily via social media, Facebook, Instagram & Co. probably play a rather minor role at companies with older target groups. Nevertheless, the survey should take social media into account even in such a case. It can also be interesting to learn how the reporting of journalistic online media and social media differs. A comparative analysis is suitable for this purpose.

‍What does a media analysis cost?

‍Theprice of a media or content analysis according to media science standards should depend on your budget: The larger the budget, the more in-depth and comprehensive the analysis. Many of our customers invest around 7 percent of their budget in success measurement – and often save twice that amount, because media analysis allows them to spend their money only where the greatest added value can be expected. Feel free to contact us and let us advise free of charge.

‍Tip: An important factor when setting your budget is the environment. Those who operate in crisis-prone subject areas may want to invest a little more to identify and avert crises at an early stage. This quickly results in a real competitive advantage.

Can't I do a media analysis myself?

‍Theoretically, press offices and departments can create their own media or content analysis. The problem? A comprehensive survey is enormously time-consuming and costly:

  • Just tapping all relevant sources is already so expensive in most cases that it is hardly economical for any organization. At IMWF, for example, we collect more than 438 million Internet sources for our content analyses. Depending on the company, data from radio, print or television is added.
  • Nowadays, content analysis is mostly done by artificial intelligence. You can acquire this artificial intelligence yourself – but do you have the resources to train the AI with thousands or tens of thousands of training sets? This is important for the quality of AI analysis to approach that of human analysts.

This is why outsourcing the survey is worthwhile for the vast majority of companies. Since 2013, we have been providing media analytics to companies and organizations across a wide range of industries – replacing the labor of hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of employees with artificial intelligence (AI). This saves you valuable resources and enables the highest-quality media analyses at affordable prices.

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