Why it’s time to add media monitoring to your social listening strategy

Let’s imagine that your organisation has a social media management tool in place. You’re listening into the conversation on social media to influence decision-making and reach your strategic objectives. So far, so good. You’re likely a top performing comms team. But have you considered going one step further, and adding in media to your social listening strategy? 

We know that some of you reading this may not have a dedicated budget for media tracking. Perhaps you’re using a combination of automated alerts and manual research. Others may have a separate tool for tracking media coverage. However, if you haven’t yet combined media monitoring with your social listening, then there’s a wealth of value just waiting for you to unlock. And there are some very good reasons why now might be the perfect time to add media to your listening strategy.

While social listening involves organisations tapping into the public conversation around a particular topic or organisation, media monitoring extends this work even further. Organisations using Orlo’s media monitoring tool are able to track mentions of their brand across 2.5 million sources including blogs, forums, review sites, and news articles, for example The Guardian, Mumsnet and BBC News.  So by combining social listening with media monitoring, they get a complete picture of their online presence and are able to engage and measure results from one single platform. This is increasingly important in today’s media landscape. 

We know that 92% of UK adults consume some form of local news. 89% access news online and over half use social media for this purpose. And, if we consider younger age groups, as many as nine in ten 16-24 year olds use social media for news. The lines between social and traditional media have well and truly blurred, and all data indicates that this trend will only increase with time.

The changing nature of news consumption makes a clear case for having social listening and media monitoring combined in one platform. We’ve outlined six ways in which public sector teams can use this to their advantage:

In a changing political climate, and with organisations and communities in flux, it’s never been more important to keep your finger on the pulse. Organisations using media monitoring tools not only gain a complete insight into their media coverage, but also the conversations and sentiment surrounding it. This allows teams to work out what communities think and feel, and they can use this insight to refine messaging, shape PR strategies and even influence policies.

For example, let’s imagine that a council is planning to create a new cycle route through the city centre. By tapping into the conversation around related news stories, teams can discover the public’s concerns and use these insights to inform their future PR and advertising campaigns.

We all know that positive local PR coverage can do wonders for the public sector, raising awareness of key initiatives and generating goodwill and trust amongst communities. With media alerts and a community engagement tool combined, teams can easily and quickly identify online conversations happening around a PR story, and engage directly with posts and comments from one single platform. By engaging in real-time, public sector organisations can ensure that they never miss a conversation, nor an opportunity to amplify the impact of their PR work and further extend their organisation’s reach.

Of course, the opposite is also true, and public conversation around an organisation can just as easily spark negative sentiment. If left unchecked, these posts can spiral into a full-blown PR crisis. Media monitoring helps to identify potential PR crises in a timely manner, and offers comms teams an easy way to address concerns or misinformation quickly and effectively. The real-time nature of the online news cycle allows organisations to measure the effectiveness of crisis comms in the moment, and refine their messaging if needed. The upshot of this work is better informed citizens, and limited reputational damage for the organisation in question.

Media monitoring is an indispensable tool for finding local influencers and fostering these relationships. PR teams can use media monitoring to track keywords and conversations surrounding topics of interest, and hone in on key players contributing to the discourse. They can then reach out to engage strategically with these individuals in order to build positive long-term relationships. By using a tool that’s constantly analysing important issues and emerging trends, teams never miss a beat. They can also save hours of time sifting through pages of irrelevant content. 

Keep in mind that influential voices in the community may well extend beyond traditional journalist roles to include groups such as parenting bloggers, local sportspeople, volunteer networks, societies and small business owners. Individuals and groups such as these have a network of people that already respect and trust them, so they can be valuable advocates for public sector organisations. For example, last year Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust successfully partnered with a local basketball team on a campaign to reduce the stigma around men’s mental health.

In 2025, combining your social and media monitoring activities in one platform makes sense for organisations and communities alike. People talk online wherever they choose, toggling between news and social media sites interchangeably. It therefore feels natural to monitor and engage exactly where the conversation is happening. Tools such as Orlo streamline this work, and allow teams to work together more effectively, highlight positive coverage and its impact on public sentiment, and demonstrate engagement results and reach. Ultimately, combining social and media monitoring allows comms teams to demonstrate the true value of their work. By undertaking this transition now, organisations can therefore future proof both their PR and comms strategies.