Tonality Check - Understanding Your Media Coverage
For most companies appearing in 250 press articles in a month would be a great success. It might be seen as a sign that they’re on the right track and whatever communications strategy they are following is working. But, that’s not necessarily the case.
Tonality is a measure of how a topic or brand is actually featured in the media. Was the coverage you received totally positive and if not, what percentage of it was actually neutral or even negative? It can be tempting to parade impressive figures relating to media volume or coverage, but the truth is that all other measures are distorted until tonality has been evaluated.
Things to watch out for:
Objectivity:
Always ensure that Tonality is being assessed in a completely objective manner. It can be tempting for some to put a positive slant on a campaign that didn’t go well. But, if you’re making communications decisions based on shaky data, it will inevitably impact on the end results.
Frequency:
Tonality should be measured on a consistent and regular basis. Doing this will make it much easier to spot a growing trend and plan an appropriate set of actions. By waiting until the end of a quarter or a year to evaluate your coverage you may be needlessly prolonging a negative trend.
Tonality affects us all
No company, brand or campaign is too small for tonality measurement. If you receive press then you should record & evaluate your results. The longer that you do this the more information you will have available to help evaluate past campaigns and assist in future decision making.
Brian McCarthy is the Sales & Marketing Director with Newsaccess, the Irish leader in Media Intelligence. For more information on Media Monitoring or Media Evaluation contact Brian at 01-6799403 or mccarthyb@newsaccess.ie
