Cision Communications Cloud vs. Mention

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cision Communications Cloud
Score 7.6 out of 10
N/A
CIsion Communications Cloud is used for identifying key media and influencers, connecting with audiences, monitoring traditional and social media, and analyzing outcomes.N/A
Mention
Score 9.4 out of 10
N/A
Mention is a social media monitoring tool. Users can create alerts for their company name, product or competitors. The vendor aims to help companies get updated in real-time by tracking the most relevant mentions over the web and social web. The vendor’s value proposition is that Mention enables companies to react, get statistics, and collaborate with their team, all on the go! According to the vendor, over 650,000 companies use Mention.
$29
per month
Pricing
Cision Communications CloudMention
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Solo
$29.00
per month
Starter
$99.00
per month
Company
Custom
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cision Communications CloudMention
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Best Alternatives
Cision Communications CloudMention
Small Businesses
Newswire
Newswire
Score 8.3 out of 10
Simplify360
Simplify360
Score 7.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Newswire
Newswire
Score 8.3 out of 10
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Meltwater
Meltwater
Score 6.6 out of 10
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Score 9.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cision Communications CloudMention
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(279 ratings)
10.0
(22 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.0
(17 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.0
(53 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(2 ratings)
9.2
(3 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(192 ratings)
9.3
(8 ratings)
Online Training
8.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
9.4
(3 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 CloudMention
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.
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Mention
I would ask if they have ever used a software like Mention before, if not, I would totally suggest they start with it. It's easy to use, easy to set up and while it may be confusing at first, it's probably the cheapest and most effective. My suggestion to a new marketer or first-time user of this kind of software would be Mention.
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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.
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Mention
  • Mention has nice support and implementation function. They will do some of the harder work for you (e.g. refining your alerts).
  • It helps us to easily track and rank influencers, which improves the effectiveness of our Public Relations (PR).
  • You can filter and refine alerts e.g. by language. This is useful if you want to break into new markets.
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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.
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Mention
  • Yes, I just said it is clean and easy to use, but there is always room for improvement in even the most perfect software. I would personally love to see the ability to custom message options a bit more or just customize the look and feel of your dashboard.
  • Bugs. Mention works great 95% of the time. The other 5%, you may run into major crashes or see mentions that you cleared coming back, etc., but nothing that is a deal breaker or unexpected with a tool like this. Worth noting nonetheless!
  • Better plans. This is a small issue, but I wish the lower plans has some basic reporting.
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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.
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Mention
No answers on this topic
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.
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Mention
No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
Cision
Easily accessible 24/7.
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Mention
No answers on this topic
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
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Mention
Mention works quickly and its user interface is easy to use. Alerts update regularly and I've never noticed any lag. It integrates with our CRM via Zapier, but this is not something which we use yet. The only thing I would say is that it takes time for Mention to reach its full potential. It only starts to rank influences from when you set up the alert, so it can take a few weeks to build a map of your influencers.
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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.
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Mention
Mention always responded promptly and gave excellent support. Any problem we had with the software, from login trouble to broken features were addressed quickly. There was once a problem with our quota, where we were unable to see results we should have been able to see. We sent an email, and within an hour, the situation was resolved!
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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.
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Mention
No answers on this topic
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).
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Mention
No answers on this topic
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.
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Mention
Currently, there are no other tools available with the features that Mention has possible according to our knowledge and experience. We firmly believe that Mention has placed themselves in a category all of their own. In the ten years, our company has been around. We have yet to come across any other companies like Mention. Pretty sure there may be another company or competition. None like Mention in our opinion are available, however.
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Scalability
Cision
Easy to use, but still room for improvement.
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Mention
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
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Mention
  • Mention has had a positive impact on my business because it gives people the impression that I was following them, even if I might not have been. It makes me appear active on all social media platforms, even if I ONLY look at my mentions each day!
  • Because I have only used the free plan but have benefitted greatly, I would say that my ROI is fantastic!
  • The only negative impact that Mention has is that I do get a daily email in my inbox, and it is one more thing to check. However, it is worth the time.
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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.

Mention Screenshots

Screenshot of Mention FeedScreenshot of Sentiment AnalysisScreenshot of Insights CenterScreenshot of Custom ReportsScreenshot of Influencers DetectionScreenshot of Influencer Profile