It’s often been said that a company’s corporate culture is one of the most valuable assets that a company can own. But as a company grows, how does growth affect its corporate culture?

Recently awarded a Bronze for Fastest Growing Bootstrap at Exploriem.org’s Bootstrap Awards, it’s no doubt that MediaMiser has been growing rapidly over the past few years. The award provoked a thought about the relationship between MediaMiser’s ‘bootstrap’ roots and its affect on our corporate culture.

Beginning as a ‘bootstrap’ organization, the idea of “getting up on your own” has made itself a part of our culture, by empowering employees to develop innovative approaches to media analysis.

By definition, “bootstrap” refers to a group of metaphors that share a common meaning: a self-sustaining process that proceeds without external help.”

The smaller nature of bootstrap organizations enables colleagues to work closely both professionally and socially, which may play a major role in the development of corporate culture.

Boosting morale, teamwork and efficiency, a positive corporate culture is key to recruiting the most suitable candidates for a growing company.

As the media landscape changes so quickly, MediaMiser’s culture of synergism and innovation has become a central part of our growth and success.

Because bootstrap organizations start out smaller, is it possible that they have a stronger sense of teamwork and interconnectivity which carries through as the company grows?

What do you think?

Perspectives is a blogging series written, researched and compiled by teams of MediaMiser staff from Client Services, Sales, and R&D. This post was contributed by Shirley Schiavo, Jayna Hart, and David Kalec.

It’s no secret that technology rapidly changes. While this may be frustrating to some people on the consumer level, it poses many benefits in the business world. These benefits are especially true for media monitoring and analysis.

To illustrate this point, Tammy Mazerolle, Public Affairs Counsel with Atlantic Lottery, explains how the advancement of technology has benefited them with regard to their media monitoring process.

1) Better on the environment – monitoring has gone virtually paperless

“…before, all media clips were faxed to us in a clipping package that contained the actual, clipped and scanned news article. We then had to photocopy the package page by page and then manually distribute the photocopied package to senior management,” says Mazerolle.

In recent years most print sources have been made available online through news aggregator services, eliminating the need to purchase individual newspapers, and in turn producing less paper waste.

2) Quicker dissemination – everyone can receive the daily monitoring clips at the click of a button

“Today, with the new tools available to us, we simply distribute the daily media clipping package in electronic format to our core team,” says Mazerolle.

Rather than having to deliver paper copies of reports to everyone on a team or within an organization, the process has been made much simpler. With the tools and technologies available today the necessary information can be sent instantly to a much larger number of people than before; geography and number of people is no longer an issue.

3) Personalization – easy to ensure people only get the information they need

“[Through MediaMiser] we also have the ability to customize our clippings package so that the core team get a clipping package with full articles every morning, and then a summaries-only version is sent to others…,” says Mazerolle.

With the advent of tools made available for media monitoring, it is now possible to do things the photocopier never could.

These days the wheel is rarely wooden, light sources are rarely candles, and media monitoring is rarely photocopied.

How can these changes benefit you and your media monitoring?

Perspectives is a blogging series written, researched and compiled by teams of MediaMiser staff from Client Services, Sales, and R&D. This post was contributed by Samantha Ingram, Mark Durand and Lindsay Polak.

In the age of the information society, with the development of Web 2.0 and 3.0, there have been radical changes in the ways through which people communicate and obtain news. The lives and capabilities of individuals and institutions have forever been altered. Governments and corporations have had to adapt to the internet in order to foster participation and communication, but it is perhaps the news industries that have seen the most radical transformations associated with the emergence of the net.

Throughout history, the tools used for journalistic production rested in the hands of a select few who had the means and capital to engage in such a process. The ability to gather and report information, to document events through photographs and video footage, and to disseminate the package to a mass audience was only achieved by media industries with professionally educated journalists. All of this has now changed.

As technology evolves at an alarming pace, the capabilities of average citizens continue to escalate as the costs for equipment such as cameras, camcorders, and computers spirals downwards. In the contemporary state of society, just about everyone has access to the tools of production and distribution with which they can disseminate almost any type of information they please to the masses. As a result of Web 2.0, defined by interactive social networking sites such as weblogs, Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace, the exclusivity of information broadcasting that journalists held for so long has diminished. However, there are many implications – both positive and negative – which the internet and what is known as citizen journalism have brought about.

Perhaps the greatest ramification that the internet has had on news and journalism is that corporate and mainstream media have lost their stranglehold on citizens as the only outlet for obtaining daily news and information. The mass media rely heavily on the concepts of framing and agenda setting in order to perpetuate and propagate information which often furthers their interests. Through the selective construction and manipulation of news stories, audiences are told what to think about and from what perspective. Often, relevant parts of a story are omitted or an important event may not be covered in a newscast at all. It has been said that the news shapes the pictures in our heads. With the rise of citizen journalism, we now have the ability to paint our mental canvas with whatever pictures we want.

Citizen journalism can be loosely defined as the ability of an ordinary citizen to collect, report, analyze and disseminate news and information. This provides alternative views to what the mainstream media feeds the public. This has had profound effects not only in democratic societies but in dictatorial, state-media controlled ones too. The barriers to the free flow of information in the public sphere have been knocked down. The model of news from a one-way flow of information has now become a two-way flow. Also, because alternative media is not profit driven, there exists an unprecedented amount of consumer sovereignty and cultural citizenship.

The democratization of the media has brought reason for celebration; but there is reason for concern as well. As the mainstream media has lost control over its tools of the trade, and is no longer the only focal point of societal and political influence, can the online communities of citizen journalists be trusted to provide accurate reporting? Maybe some stories are not written with the rhetoric and professional linguistic styling of some reporters, but we are exposed to news and information which we would never have access to if we relied solely on the mainstream media. For instance, independent media brought the attention of the world to the brutal, dictatorial happenings in Burma and other places throughout the globe where citizens use cell phones to record footage and then disseminate it on the internet. Furthermore, can we actually rely on the mainstream media to provide us with accurate accounts of events – or real events at all?

Jayson Blaire, a once well known and renowned journalist for the New York Times, resigned in 2003 after he was caught and admitted to fabricating and plagiarizing news stories. How about the events leading up to the Iraq war? The spin and packing of political news used to regulate the flow of information is highly unsettling. Embedded journalism, press-releases, and staged press events all function to control the opinion and behaviour of the masses. The Bush administration created fabrications related to weapons of mass destruction in Iraq which were never found, yet resulted in a war that is present to this date. Before the rise of Web 2.0, and what can be called journalism 2.0, society had no control over the flow of information. Now, if you don’t like the press – become the press.

There are many websites that have established themselves as credible, alternative news sources to mainstream, corporate media. A few examples of these are:

• Independent Media Centre
• Rebel News
• Canadian Alternative News Media

Blogs have made mainstream media more accountable. As these alternative news sources now exist, media industries must adapt to the new model of journalism. Most media outlets now provide online versions of their stories where a forum is provided for discussion. The public can give their viewpoints and insight…sort of. These discussion boards are moderated and therefore only acceptable arguments are posted. This illustrates that media industries are trying to appear transparent, but continually strive to control the flow of information.

So as society has been conditioned for so long not to question authority through critical thinking, web and journalism 2.0 has provided us with new tools to break free from this. Without a doubt there exists information on the internet that lacks substance or credibility, but the same goes for traditional media. What is required is a higher level of education and media literacy in order to be able to distinguish between bona fide and debatable information. So remember: If you don’t like the media, become the media.

Perspectives is a blogging series written, researched and compiled by teams of MediaMiser staff from Client Services, Sales, and R&D. This post was contributed by Paul Koziara, Paul Williamson, Stephanie Luedee and Eric Maciejewski.

If you’re new to analysis, terms like qualitative and quantitative analysis may be just a little confusing. To look at the differences between, and benefits of, the two systems of measurement, a working definition is needed first.

According to WikiAnswers, qualitative analysis focuses on non-numerical data, such as words, pictures, or artefacts. Conversely, quantitative analysis focuses on numerical data.

Boiling it down, quantitative analysis will tell you what topics people are following, as in trending topics on Twitter.

The strength of each form of analysis can be seen in a recent report by MediaMiser’s own Samantha Ingram about media coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

This chart, taken from the Olympic report, used quantitative analysis (counting the number of times each paper ran a story) to show the papers that contained the most coverage on the popular Olympic mittens.

Using quantitative analysis lets us see which areas are producing a lot of coverage, and which aren’t. Without this measurement, we wouldn’t have known that some of the top coverage was coming from outside Canada, although the mittens were only available here.

While quantitative analysis looks at what people are talking about and how much they have to say, qualitative analysis is more interested in why people are talking, and the contents of their conversations.

The above graph, also from the Olympic Snapshots report, looks at the overall tone of one of the Olympic coverage issues. Using a simple three-point positive/neutral/negative system (and rated by people, not computers), a large amount of articles can be sifted for some basic information.

Though it looks like quantitative analysis on the surface, the tone graph isn’t simply counting who said what. Instead, tone is focused on how people feel about a topic, and the broader content outside of basic keyword analysis.

Qualitative analysis is also used in open-ended surveys, looking at the reasons behind people’s concern rather than just the concerns themselves.

While each will give effective information on their own, without qualitative measurement, pure quantitative analysis can lead to number overload. Knowing how much people are talking is good, but knowing how they feel about a topic makes the information much more valuable.

Likewise, knowing people’s, perhaps customers’, concerns is important, but the information is far more useful if you can also look at which problems are getting the most attention.

Perspectives is a blogging series written, researched and compiled by teams of MediaMiser staff from Client Services, Sales, and R&D. This post was contributed by Jen Hogan, Sophie Jodouin and Daniel Enright.

Today there are far more “influencers” than ever before. An influencer is simply someone with an audience who can influence the buying behaviour of that audience. The ultimate example is Oprah—when she endorses a product or service, millions flock to it.

As magical as that would be for any business, it’s definitely not easy to be endorsed by Oprah. The good news, however, is influence isn’t just for celebrities anymore. There are hundreds and likely even thousands of influencers blogging and on social networks who can get the word out about your product or service and in a beneficial way. Think of it as an extension of media relations.

However, it’s not exactly like media relations—influencers usually aren’t journalists, and many don’t take nicely to an unsolicited pitch. So how can you reach influencers and get a positive return? Here’s a few pointers:

• Make sure it’s the right influence: Don’t be fooled by numbers—these days people can build up large numbers of Twitter followers, but still not carry a lot of influence. Influence involves a lot more than big numbers. Google the person, find out what others say about him or her and most importantly make sure his/her audience is relevant to what you do!

• Forget pitching, build real relationships: If the influencers you’re targeting are involved in your industry, you should have no problem finding common ground. Invite them for coffee, seek them out at trade shows, stop pitching and take the time to really get to know them first!

• Create a spark: When people talk about products they really love—it’s obvious and that passion is what attracts others to follow suit. So instead of asking an influencer to talk about your product, consider giving him/her access and guidance. Hopefully she/he will fall in love and want to talk about it. Also, look to your existing user base for influencers, if they’re already there and in love, approach them about making the love more public and offer to help.
  

• Be weary of paying for influence: Many do, and I’m not saying it can’t be a successful strategy, but know what you’re getting into first. Last year, the FTC passed a law stating that bloggers are required to disclose payment or other perks received from companies. The reason for this is because readers are less likely to trust an endorsement if money is involved (and probably rightly so). If you do choose to go the pay route, make sure you know the law and won’t get yourself (or your target influencers) in trouble. Also be sure to measure the impact and ROI of paying for influence and make sure it’s worth your investment.

• Measure your success: While it’s important to measure the buzz generated from an influencer’s endorsement, make sure you can trace it back to your bottom line as well. A great way to do this, is to offer a discount to the influencer’s readers and provide a unique discount code. Or simply ask the person to use a custom URL to measure traffic and how it converts.

Adapted from our April 2010 Newsletter. Want to be the first to know? Sign up here…

We’d all love to “set it and forget it” as they say on that cheesy infomercial… But the truth is things change. All the time. In front of our eyes.

Since spring is the time for renewal, now is an ideal time to re-examine your measurement program. Of course, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to measurement, so we’ve compiled a list of five tips to get you on the right track:

Five tips to clean up your measurement program

Tips courtesy of MediaMiser’s account manager, Stephanie Luedee.

Fortunately you don’t need the rubber gloves and mop for this one, but you will need to apply a bit of critical thinking. What you’ll need to evaluate here will of course depend on what you are already measuring and what your goals are. Here are a few factors to look at for your own measurement spring cleaning:

1. Toolkit tune-up
Are you equipped with the right tools? Is each achieving what you need from it? One example: have you started monitoring social media? Are you measuring the right social media? Take a look at the tools you’re using and make sure you’ve got the complete set.

2. Keyword Cleanse
The likely scenario is you set up a set of keywords one day and let your software take care of the rest! The reality is the only constant in business  is change. So it’s very likely your media monitoring keywords change over time. Think about if any of the following have changed:

• Competitors – any new ones on the scene? Perhaps one has fizzled out or changed focus?
• Issues – issues that affect your organization may change over time, make sure you include all the latest.
• Buzzwords – buzzwords come and go all the time, yesterday’s ‘eco-friendly’ is today’s ‘green’ you may be missing key coverage if they’re not up-to-date.

3. Rejuvenate your rolodex
Is your media contact list up-to-date? What about your monitoring distribution list? The longer you put off updating contact lists, then save yourself the hassle later and update now.

4. Polish up parameters
Does your toning scale still make sense? Are ad values and circulation numbers accurate? Look at the values you’re using to measure and make sure they still fit with your overall goals.

5. Prune your process
Have you allocated the proper resources? Are your reports getting out in a timely matter? Take a minute to examine your process and so that your measurement is happening in an efficient and effective manner.

The Altimeter Group and Web Analytics Demystified have joined forces to produce an ‘Open Research’ (read: free!) report about social media analytics and building a measurement strategy. From Jeremiah’s blog post:

Industry Challenge:  ”I can’t measure social media ROI”
Marketers around the globe are ranging from toe dipping to jumping all the way into the social marketing space –yet most lack a measurement yardstick.  While experiments can fly under the radar for a short term, without having a measurement strategy, you run the risk of not improving what you’re doing, justifying investments, and the appearance of being aloof to upper management.  To be successful, all programs (even new media) must have a measurement strategy, and we’ve done just that.

Last month, our PR and social media measurement newsletter, MediaPulse, was all about building a measurement strategy… If you loved the idea, but aren’t sure where to start, then this report is for you!

Read Jeremiah Owyang’s blog post for more info about the report, or skip straight to SlideShare to read the full report: Social Media Analytics, A new framework for measuring results in social media.

During the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, we monitored Canadian English-language online newspapers, news websites, and online magazines to determine the nature and extent of coverage of our medal-winning athletes.  Specifically, we analyzed coverage the day before, the day of, and the day after their wins.

The two athletes with the highest number of mentions were Alexandre Bilodeau (Feb. 14-16) and Joannie Rochette (Feb. 26-28). Rochette, who won a figure skating bronze, came out on top, garnering around 23 per cent more coverage than Bilodeau’s with his gold in moguls.

Rochette’s number one status is less driven by the colour of her medal and more by the human-interest angle. She was set to perform on Feb. 27, however, two days before her competition her mother passed away hours after arriving in Vancouver.  Rochette earned public and media admiration for bravely choosing to stay in the competition and skate in her mother’s honour.

While part of Bilodeau’s media popularity can be traced to his being the first Canadian to win gold on Canadian soil, his story too had a strong human-interest component – one that focused on his brother Frédéric, who has Cerebral Palsy (CP).   Throughout the games, Bilodeau credited Frédéric for his success, calling him “his inspiration.”

This emotional story also affected the amount of coverage about CP.  We found an increase of 943 per cent in online mentions between the week before Bilodeau’s gold medal win (Feb. 7-13) with the week after (Feb. 14-20).

The brothers’ story raised awareness of CP in two ways. First, because Alexandre’s gold medal win was so high-profile, and second, Frédéric brought a touching element to the story making it that much more special for the media and audience alike. This  provided a unique opportunity for audiences to get educated on cerebral palsy, and to broaden the awareness of various charitable organizations dedicated to CP.

See: Bilodeau’s esteem for brother sparks greater awareness of cerebral palsy

To further the human interest element of the story, Alexandre Bilodeau put his money where his heart is, donating his $25,000 cheque for winning gold to the Canadian Association of Paediatric Health Centres in support of research into CP, making the story that much more appealing and genuine to the media.

Has this heightened awareness of CP through Alexandre’s and Frédéric’s story translated into greater donations? We hope so, and if you do too, consider clicking here.

Media monitoring and analysis is an emerging communication sub-field that can feed intelligence and insights into a communications plan. It also can provide a measurement structure for a media relations department. Media analysis can be used to drive marketing campaigns or to form a social media strategy around. It’s diverse and necessary to any organization, especially one that’s issues are often addressed in media or that participates in media itself.

However, there’s not much information out there about media monitoring and analysis and what it entails. Furthermore definitions of terms can mean different things to different people. And for that reason, we’ve decided to publish a Media Monitoring & Analysis Glossary on our web site.

The glossary contains some often used keywords around media analysis, and also a few others that we’ve coined ourselves.

Do you believe it’s important to define an industry? What other glossaries would be helpful?

Please let us know what you think about the glossary by leaving a comment here Alternately, if you want to privately provide feedback, you can email me at kelly@mediamiser.com.

Undoubtedly if you’ve been following the Olympics (or you know, not living under a rock) you’ve heard about the red mittens. The absolute must-have accessory for the 2010 Vancouver games that have been selling out across the country since they were released…

Last week, MediaMiser released a report that looked at some of the fun aspects of the pre-Olympics media coverage. One such topic was those red mittens. While it was no surprise they received a good amount of media coverage, we were shocked to learn they aren’t just being talked about in Canada, but in fact, the top-three news outlets talking about the mittens were all US-based.

While we’re working on a follow-up report (watch for its release first week of March), using our Twitter Analysis tool, I noticed that chatter about the mittens skyrocketed on Feb. 13 and again on the 16th. While the spike on the 13th likely had to do with timing – the first full day of the Olympics, everyone was wearing the mittens, etc., I set out find what triggered the second spike on the 16th…

The top mentioned link about the mittens on Twitter that day was an article in USA Today. Yep, another major US publication. In fact, none of the top links were by Canadian mass media-the majority were (Canadian) blogs hosting mitten giveaways, actually. The USA Today article even mentions the mittens are the “gotta-have souvenir” of the games and features a photo of Vice-President Joe Biden sporting a pair.

According to the article, mitten retailer, the Bay, had originally projected selling 1-million pairs of the mittens, and now anticipates 3.4-million total.

Pretty neat, eh?

 

 

Download our preliminary Olympics Report

How the Media Sees It: A fun look at the 2010 Olympics. MediaMiser analyzes the fun side of the pre-Olympic Coverage. Download now!