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Cision Communications Cloud vs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cision Communications Cloud

    Score8 out of 10
    N/ACIsion Communications Cloud is used for identifying key media and influencers, connecting with audiences, monitoring traditional and social media, and analyzing outcomes.N/A

    Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)

    Score8.1 out of 10
    N/ARadian6 was acquired by Salesforce.com in 2011 and - along with Buddy Media - became Salesforce Social Studio. The product was retired in November of 2024.

    $1,000

    Per Org Per Month

    Pricing
    Cision Communications CloudSalesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Basic
    $1,000.00
    Per Org Per Month
    Pro
    $4,000.00
    Per Org Per Month
    Corporate
    $12,000.00
    Per Org Per Month
    Enterprise
    $40,000.00
    Per Org Per Month
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cision Communications CloudSalesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cision Communications CloudSalesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    Considered Both Products
    Cision
    Chose Cision Communications Cloud
    I was using Vocus and then switched to Cision PR for the ease of use. Since the two platforms have merged the intuitiveness and user friendliness has only improved. Radian6 is not for media list building since the influencer section is very clunky. It's better suited for …
    Incentivized
    Discontinued Products
    Chose Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    Social Studio is most comparable to Meltwater in that they both have very basic analytics capabilities, but pull in mass amounts of data. crimson hexagon, Sprinklr and Cision all have much more advanced social media analytics capabilities, although they are potentially more …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    45 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    86%
    Delivers good value for the price
    32 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    90%
    Happy with the feature set
    44 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    37 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    36 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Cision Communications CloudSalesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    Listening/monitoring
    Comparison of Listening/monitoring features of Cision Communications Cloud and Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    8.8
    11 Ratings
    14% above category average
    Boolean keyword searches00 Ratings8.010 Ratings
    Filtering out noise/spam00 Ratings8.010 Ratings
    Sentiment analysis00 Ratings9.09 Ratings
    Broad channel coverage00 Ratings10.011 Ratings
    Publishing
    Comparison of Publishing features of Cision Communications Cloud and Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    8.0
    11 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Content planning and scheduling00 Ratings8.011 Ratings
    Audience targeting00 Ratings8.010 Ratings
    Content optimization00 Ratings8.09 Ratings
    Workflow management00 Ratings8.011 Ratings
    Engagement
    Comparison of Engagement features of Cision Communications Cloud and Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    9.0
    10 Ratings
    10% above category average
    Automated routing and prioritization00 Ratings9.99 Ratings
    Customer interaction histories00 Ratings7.010 Ratings
    Bulk actions00 Ratings10.010 Ratings
    Marketing
    Comparison of Marketing features of Cision Communications Cloud and Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    8.5
    10 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Lead generation00 Ratings9.09 Ratings
    Content marketing00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
    Paid media management00 Ratings8.08 Ratings
    Campaigns and promotions00 Ratings8.09 Ratings
    Channel coverage/integration
    Comparison of Channel coverage/integration features of Cision Communications Cloud and Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    8.3
    11 Ratings
    0% below category average
    Twitter00 Ratings8.011 Ratings
    Facebook00 Ratings8.011 Ratings
    LinkedIn00 Ratings10.08 Ratings
    Google+00 Ratings6.86 Ratings
    Instagram00 Ratings9.08 Ratings
    Pinterest00 Ratings6.54 Ratings
    YouTube00 Ratings10.07 Ratings
    Reporting/analytics
    Comparison of Reporting/analytics features of Cision Communications Cloud and Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    8.3
    10 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Campaign success analytics00 Ratings8.010 Ratings
    Real-time tracking00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
    Competitor analysis00 Ratings8.08 Ratings
    Account management
    Comparison of Account management features of Cision Communications Cloud and Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    8.5
    10 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Role-based user permissions & privileges00 Ratings8.09 Ratings
    Mobile access00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cision Communications CloudSalesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    Small Businesses
    Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
    Score5 out of 10
    Sendible
    Score7.2 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Critical Mention
    Score8 out of 10
    Emplifi
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Meltwater
    Score7.6 out of 10
    Sprinklr Social
    Score8.8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cision Communications CloudSalesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (280 ratings)
    10.0
    (52 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.0
    (17 ratings)
    8.8
    (38 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (54 ratings)
    8.0
    (10 ratings)
    Availability
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    9.6
    (5 ratings)
    Performance
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    8.4
    (5 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (192 ratings)
    9.0
    (8 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    7.6
    (6 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    9.8
    (6 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cision Communications CloudSalesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cision
    For a small start-up, the cost-benefit to add lift to press releases [and] particular milestone accomplishments is definitely there with the Cision [Communications] Cloud. Much of what we do, by necessity, is done internally without the benefit of outsourced press folks, so the Cision [Communications] Cloud ease of use and reporting is very important.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    If you're tasked with publishing content to social on behalf of your organization then this tool is certainly worth considering. You have quick and easy capability to schedule across multiple platforms with drag-and-drop simplicity. It ties into Salesforce's real strength of its CRM platform so you can quickly tie social activity and leads to those already in your database. And it does a good job at monitoring and analyzing brand and competitor content across multiple media types. Having said that, if you're into deep-dive and full functionality SaaS tools then this might not be for you as it covers three areas adequately, but not in enough detail or strength to make it a star performer
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Cision
    • Their upgraded press release templates and ability [to] pull in an entire, completed release makes the [process] faster and easier, and allows for more graphics, such as company mastheads, [are done well].
    • The media tracking offers the ability to find relevant placements across the entire country.
    • The journalist database streamlines the process of finding relevant reporters to directly connect [to] on news releases that are relevant to their beats.
    • The process of setting up, creating, and distributing a release is seamless, easy to use, and not labor-intensive.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    • The amount of the information that radian6 can pull from multiple social platforms is absolutely phenomenal. Its just not only the pull but the way the information can be presented in dashboards was way good. It helped us understand in various aspects of our social presence.
    • Multiple profiles helped us to break down the Big/Huge social buzz cloud to smaller and more manageable pieces. This helped us concentrate on the lows and helped us to plan better on turning them to highs.
    • Radian6 allowed us to follow thru the crowd trends with the latest information presented in a single view. This also helped us to collect the social opinion on the product releases.
    • The ease of use, one need not be an expert to start using this platform. The interface is easily understandable by anyone.
    • A keyword can be edited quickly to tailor the needs and the results were quick.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cision
    • In the media influencer database, the classic Cision allowed us to do a zip code radius search to really drill down to the neighborhood level. That's because we do localized media advisories and press releases for events at neighborhood schools. One part of a big city like Chicago really doesn't care what's happening in another part of Chicago that's too far away. The zip code radius search was a feature in the classic Cision but not with the current Cision Communications Cloud. We've asked for this to be restored several times, but nothing's happened. In fact, we were told to use DMA — which actually goes wider in a search (bigger than a city), not more narrow as needed. This reflects a basic misunderstanding of what we need.
    • Another missing feature involves a merge field when sending out an email press release through Cision. This is the "select insert field" button in the upper right that's used to personalize a release with the media contact's name and other information. This is key for localization of the release. Many media outlets won't run a release unless it's local. While "county" is a feature in the influencer database when putting together a media list in Cision, "county" is not available to insert into a press release as a merge field. Counties are important because this is how many newspapers and health departments are organized and identify themselves. I've asked for this to be implemented, to no avail. As a workaround, we've had to use "contact city" or "outlet city."
    • After refining a media list in Cision using filters, I've had to download the list and take it offline to see the big picture, screen for duplicates, etc. While there is a button on the bottom left intended to help with this, it doesn't do the trick. That's because there may be multiple contacts with the same email address. In addition, one media contact may represent numerous media outlets, so this same contact could show up several times. It would be nice to have a better way to see the whole list online and eliminate both duplicates as well as those who previously opted out.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    • Instagram Social Listening - it currently does not offer much social listening in terms of Instagram.
    • Instagram Owned - It currently stops pulling once an update is "old" by their standards, even if it receives recent comments. They can force pull, but you have to work with their tech team to do so.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Cision
    While I am happy with the product performance overall, TrendKite's recent merger with Cision is cause for concern. When we first signed on with TrendKite, I spoke with several users and the best response I received was that the company was a startup and we could expect there to be hiccups along the way as the company grew and the platform got more robust. That has certainly been the case. However, now that they have merged with Cision — a company that has grown too fast, has not focused on improving its product and has poor customer service — I have concerns that TrendKite will lose some of the qualities that have made it a great company and great product to work with.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    I spent a lot of time researching the right platform for me and our organisation (thanks to the other reviews on TrustRadius also). Having used other platforms when I found frustrations getting my everyday work done, I knew exactly what I wanted and this is why I chose Social Studio. While there have been a few hiccups, the quarterly update releases and the outstanding tech support have kept me more than happy.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Cision
    The flexibility and customization of Cision Communications Cloud (TrendKite)* is among its most important features. Changing the dashboards, using keywords in the saved searches to pull out the best stories and the integration with marketing automation tools gives me confidence that I will able to continue using this tool well into the future. The future implementation and integration of the media contact database will complete the suite, making list management and email marketing programs much smoother. *This review was written before Cision acquired TrendKite. TrendKite is now part of Cision Communications Cloud.
    Incentivized
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    Discontinued Products
    • Would rate this a 6. The User Interface is pretty intuitive, but the platform was still considered pretty intimidating by our non-technical staff when they first saw it. It took a while to get used to it and feel comfortable. There was quite a lot of setup work in the beginning (for example, we had to build our own reports using a canned report as a template, and this was not simple). Although it took a while to get it setup correctly, it’s quite intuitive once that work has been done.
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    Reliability and Availability
    Cision
    Easily accessible 24/7.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    The platform is rarely down
    Read full review
    Performance
    Cision
    Generally, Cision performs well day to day, but it's got some annoying bugs that slow down usage/require user workarounds which is inefficient. More seriously, a few months ago, as a result of a major system upgrade, certain critical functionality was not working and I was unable to use the service for more than a day when I had time-sensitive work to execute
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    No issues with performance.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Cision
    For Cision TrendKite in particilar, support always responded, but it was sometimes slow. For some of our booleans and search queries, we would need help refining and excluding terms/phrases that weren't relevant to our client or campaign. This sometimes took 1-2 days just to get a response back, which sometimes was too late when a last-minute report was due. This was only with the support staff, not necessarily our customer success manager or sales rep.
    Incentivized
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    Discontinued Products
    As mentioned previously, it can be hard to get through to people who can help you. On occasion when I have spoken to customer service/tech support, they all seem nice and try to be helpful, however instead of admitting the system cannot do certain things, they will persist it saying that it can, which results in many wasted hours overall.
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    Online Training
    Cision
    The online training sessions available for the Cision Communications Cloud are helpful and informative. There's more than one option - initially, I signed up for the live webinar classes on basic functions and that is what I recommend other new users do as well. If I have specific questions or something I want to learn more about, I can search the online database and find article or online training videos to get the information I need.
    Incentivized
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    Discontinued Products
    • We initially received dedicated online training for our team which was delivered by our account rep. This was pretty effective since it happened after our data had been loaded into the system and it had been configured for specific needs our organization. The training was perhaps a bit shallow though, as it was only an hour long. Online videos are available to be taken individually, and these have been useful.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Cision
    There is no implementation at the customer's end so this doesn't really apply to my instance of Cision (possibly to all instances of it).
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    Implementation was pretty simple. Just a matter of giving the account rep a list of our search terms and having him set the system up to pull the data we wanted to see. Once this had been done, we tweaked it with his help. Process was pretty smooth, although there was some back and forth until it worked the way we wanted.
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    Alternatives Considered
    Cision
    It's a similar product. I think Meltwater sells itself as being a bit more niche, but I have not found many significant differences between Meltwater and Cision. Meltwater's sales process is a very high pressure and their prices are inflated.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    Compared to Radian6, I found Meltwater Buzz, Simply Measured, and Sprout Social to be much more user friendly. Meltwater Buzz and Radian6 are very similar products with many of the same functionalities but Buzz presents your analytics in a way that is much easier to understand. I did a two week trial with Sprout Social and absolutely loved the product but our company needed the capability to connect to Salesforce, which is available on R6 and Buzz. Simply Measured is my all time favorite but I have only used the free version so I am not completely sure how it stacks up to Radian6
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Cision
    Easy to use, but still room for improvement.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Cision
    • Cision has a net positive impact on time savings for staff so we can be quicker to market
    • Cision has a positive impact on internal savings as it is used internally across multiple accounts and with the internal PR team
    • Cision is extremely useful when it comes to resourcing and conducting outreach in those DMA's where our agency doesn't have a physical presence
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    • Monitoring social brand awareness is not something you can consider to have a meaninful impact in your business ROI short term, however it's a must for taking care of long term relationships and customer intimacy.
    • Radian6 connects with other analytical tools like webtrends, Google Analytics, etc..however it's not directly linked to a revenue driven platform, you can´t see the immediate ROI generated in the tool.
    • If you bet for social relationships you should consider this tool, no question on that. Social Commerce might be of course impacted postively by the proper use of this tool.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Cision Communications Cloud Screenshots

    Screenshot of Media Monitoring and Analytics are just part of the complete Comms Cloud. It combines deep data dive with a database of journalists and influencers, and a media relationship management tool.Screenshot of Track brand mentions in real time across the millions of online stories on the internet. Monitor millions of stories and breaking news happening daily across the web. Professional services consultants teams are in place to ensure best practices while setting up a monitoring account.Screenshot of Cision’s media and influencer relationship management tools include audience insights, combined with a pitchable database that enables brands to uncover the best media contacts and social influencers to reach their target audience.Screenshot of Identify the social conversations and influencers that are impacting a brand. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube monitoring capabilities track brand mentions across all major social channels. Analyze results for social mentions or campaigns on the fly with its reporting features.