Cision Communications Cloud is one of the most beneficial tools for public relations pros, but if you don't know how to navigate the platform it can be overwhelming. Here are five go-to features you need to know.
It's hard to narrow down the great features that Cision provides, but when considering your agency's public relations strategies for clients, there are a handful that are most relevant to building the foundation of a successful media relations plan, including:
Here's a bit more about each of these tools:
- Influencers Search: The influencers search feature allows you to search for media contacts or outlets. You have the ability to add filters to your search from specific keyword or combination of keywords to specific locations such as "within a five mile radius of Los Angeles."
- My Lists: The "my lists" tab is one of the most important features on Cision. This is where you will be able to create unique lists that coincide with your media playbook or for specific announcements or campaigns. In addition to being able to have specific media lists, there is an added "you might like" feature; this is where Cision will suggest media contacts or reporters for your list based on your current criteria.
- Editorial Calendars: If I had a dime for the countless hours I have spent being Nancy Drew to research and find editorial calendars, I would be retired. Kidding, but really, it takes time to hunt down all your desired ed cals. Luckily for you, Cision has an editorial calendar search function. This provides the ability to search for a target publication by name, identify future opportunities and plan accordingly.
- Talking About Search: This feature allows you to search for media contacts based on what they have recently Tweeted about (within the last 90 days) and recent online articles they have published (within the last 60 days). Having all this information on one dashboard cuts down research time and will provide valuable insight on to what topics are the best fit as well as how to best position clients to our target media contacts.
- Finding News Coverage: This is an efficient and effective way to monitor media coverage. You are able to filter by news, articles and social media as well as keywords for mentions such as "artificial intelligence" to as specific as company and product names. By monitoring company names, not only can you monitor coverage for your client, but competitor news as well.
If you want to learn more about Cision, here are additional resources:
- The Cision product webinar held by the product team that contains great insight on the platform.
- Support portal product videos to demonstrate functionality.
- The Cision platform overview video to get you started on becoming a Cision expert.