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Users have found this product to be incredibly versatile, with a range of use cases that cater to their specific needs. Customers have …
Overview
What is Cision Communications Cloud?
CIsion Communications Cloud is used for identifying key media and influencers, connecting with audiences, monitoring traditional and social media, and analyzing outcomes.
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What is Cision Communications Cloud?
CIsion Communications Cloud is used for identifying key media and influencers, connecting with audiences, monitoring traditional and social media, and analyzing outcomes.
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What is Cision Communications Cloud?
Cision Communications Cloud® empowers communicators with tools that help them reach the right audiences, deliver impactful results across traditional, digital and social media, and track a brand in one integrated solution. Automated analysis helps users report and translate campaigns into insights.
Cision Communications Cloud Features
- Supported: Media Monitoring and Analytics
- Supported: Media Relationship Management
- Supported: Social Listening
Cision Communications Cloud Screenshots
Cision Communications Cloud Videos
Media Relationship Management
Cision Social Listening
Cision Communications Cloud Competitors
Cision Communications Cloud Technical Details
| Deployment Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
| Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
CIsion Communications Cloud is used for identifying key media and influencers, connecting with audiences, monitoring traditional and social media, and analyzing outcomes.
Agility PR Solutions, Meltwater, and Muck Rack are common alternatives for Cision Communications Cloud.
Reviewers rate Implementation Rating highest, with a score of 10.
The most common users of Cision Communications Cloud are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Community Insights
TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!
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Users have found this product to be incredibly versatile, with a range of use cases that cater to their specific needs. Customers have praised its ability to streamline communication within teams, making it easier for members to collaborate and share information. Reviewers have also noted its effectiveness in project management, with the product providing a centralized platform for planning, tracking progress, and assigning tasks. Additionally, users have found value in its functionality for customer relationship management, allowing them to keep track of interactions and effectively manage their customer base. Overall, the product has proven to be a valuable tool for enhancing productivity and improving efficiency across various industries and professional environments.
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Easy-to-use and Intuitive User Interface: Users have found the user interface of Cision PR Software to be easy-to-use, intuitive, and not overwhelming. They appreciate the well-designed and user-friendly interface of Cision Communications Cloud.
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Exceptional Reporting Capabilities: Users highly praise the exceptional reporting capabilities of Cision Communications Cloud. They find the platform's reporting features to be interactive, detailed, and customizable. Many users value how these reports help them quantify the impact of media on their business and gain insights into trends. Additionally, users appreciate the media tracking capability of Cision as it aids in measuring PR results.
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Effective Search Functionality: Users find the search function in Cision to be helpful and excellent for quickly obtaining high-level information or metrics about a publication. The detailed database of contacts in Cision is also highly valued by users who find it useful for identifying reporters and influencers. Moreover, they highlight that the new edition of the media building interface is easy to use.
User Interface: Many users have found the user interface to be confusing, clunky, and not intuitive, making tasks difficult and cumbersome to navigate. These issues have been mentioned by multiple reviewers.
Search Tools: Some users have experienced issues with the search tools, which sometimes fail to pick up all the coverage or include irrelevant content, requiring additional clean-up work. This has been a common frustration among users.
Customer Service: Users have expressed frustration with the customer service/account team, stating that it takes repeated requests to get an answer from them. Multiple users have mentioned difficulties in getting timely responses from customer service representatives.
Users recommend entering into a trial or limited agreement first to test the software's suitability for the company. They suggest leveraging the support team for training and assistance with any questions. Users highly recommend Cision for its usefulness in public relations and media relations, as it is considered the most comprehensive media list monitoring software available, providing accurate and up-to-date contact information. Overall, Cision is recommended for organizations that require up-to-date media contact information and extensive news coverage, and it can benefit organizations in various capacities. Users advise contacting a representative to receive a thorough explanation of the features and functionalities of Cision. They find Cision very useful for PR purposes and suggest setting aside time to onboard oneself with all the features and functionalities of the platform. Users also suggest comparing Cision against other similar platforms and considering the level of support needed. In summary, users believe Cision is the industry standard and a reliable software option.
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Reviews
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November 18, 2020
Building better media lists
Our agency has used Cision for many years. A year ago, we switched from the classic Cision to the Cision Communications Cloud. We mainly use this tool for building media lists. It helps us to better identify appropriate media contacts by location, subject area, type of publication, job role, etc. Theoretically, using Cision Communications Cloud provides the most current information on media contacts. We're told that Cision makes more than 20,000 updates a day. However, I have found that quite a few contacts are still outdated. We've provided frequent updates to Cision as we learn of incorrect information. I am the primary person using Cision in doing public relations work for my client — development and distribution of press releases, guest columns, media advisories, etc. My work sometimes includes the assistance of an intern. There is one additional person at our agency who uses Cision to build media lists for other clients. About a year ago, our agency switched to sending press releases out through the Cision platform for my client, rather than separately through Microsoft Word mail merge. Sending email press releases out through Cision provides an "opt out" function and also helps us to keep track of open rates.
- When I send contact updates to Cision Communications Cloud customer support, they always reply, usually in a timely fashion.
- I like the filters to the Cision Communications Cloud media lists which allow us to drill down by subject, job role, location, DMA, etc.
- Our account manager (Mike Sullivan) has been friendly. He's been able to keep our subscription at the same price in recent years.
- 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.
October 01, 2020
This platform has good and bad days
We use Cision to monitor news coverage, distribute press releases, and build analytical reports. It is used by the public relations team within the marketing department, but we monitor all Health System related news.
As a huge Health System, this allows us to pull in all our coverage into one place and keep track of day-to-day media hits.
As a huge Health System, this allows us to pull in all our coverage into one place and keep track of day-to-day media hits.
- Distribution--able to send things to many media contacts at once
- Building lists--able to easily add and remove contacts from lists
- Tracking past activities--easy to reference past activities using the calendar view
- Monitoring--pull in a lot of irrelevant coverage due to the name of the company easily being confused with similarly named institutions
- Analytics--could have more features, very basic
- Back end--a lot of work and tweaks need to be done on the back end in order to fix issues, can be a lot of manual work
September 30, 2020
There are more economical choices for SMBs/Start-Ups
The marketing team uses press release distribution.
- People who call to verify are friendly.
- People who call to verify do so in a timely fashion.
- Account rep changes all the time.
- User interface is from the 90s.
- Renewal date is 3 months out - a lot can change in 3 months in a small co.
- Prices are too high for the value. Other companies charge WAY less.
- I paid for a graphic and didn't know I could use it for all releases. Again - bad UI.
September 29, 2020
Positive Experience, Great Product
It is being used in the marketing department as a means to distribute press releases. We have sent over 15 in the past year and have been pleased with the functionality of the program and reach. Great product.
- Easy reporting
- Good reach
- Great customer service
- Reasonable price
- More characters on included Twitter post
September 28, 2020
Best media monitoring tool for PR professionals
We used Cision Communications Cloud to distribute press releases via PR Newswire. We also use it as our primary media monitoring service. We are a full service agency, and the platform is primarily used by our Comm's and Content team. It easily allows us to track our clients' mentions in the news (print and broadcast) and create monthly and quarterly reports.
- Easy to use.
- Captures the majority of coverage.
- Compiles reports in a way that's easy for our client to understand.
- Captures metrics that are quantifiable.
- Customer service is fantastic!
- Influencers database is very helpful.
- Disconnect between Cision and PR Newswire account reps.
- Inaccurate coverage captured (ie news from other companies that's irrelevant).
- Not capturing some articles our clients are mentioned in (particularly on major news sites/broadcasts).
September 09, 2020
Improvements Could Be Made
The cloud is used just by the marketing department, and most specifically within the PR team. It helps us manage media lists.
- Media lists.
- Customer support/account service team.
- Outlet metrics (uvms, circulation etc).
- Search tool functionality.
- Lack of details for contacts.
- Slow updates to contacts.
September 06, 2020
Cision helps busy PR and content professionals connect the dots
We use Cision to distribute news releases, PR pitches, and inquiries to media for several of our key clients. It is primarily used by me, as I lead our PR efforts as well as content management. Since many of the clients I represent are in narrow verticals, the solution allows me to research what influencers have written about specific topics and better target my pitch to them. It also helps me quickly perform follow-ups on my pitches, rather than spending hours cutting and pasting a pitch into email and reformatting and personalizing for each recipient. The amount of time the product has saved me has been amazing. It is the most useful tool in my PR arsenal.
We also use the platform to scan the news for coverage for our clients, and to perform competitive analysis for new clients, or during the discovery process for existing clients. It allows us to provide a summary view of what others are saying about our client and its competitors, and to also share helpful content analysis facts, such as number of mentions, number of publications reached during a time period, key terms used, etc. It is a valued research tool.
We also use the platform to scan the news for coverage for our clients, and to perform competitive analysis for new clients, or during the discovery process for existing clients. It allows us to provide a summary view of what others are saying about our client and its competitors, and to also share helpful content analysis facts, such as number of mentions, number of publications reached during a time period, key terms used, etc. It is a valued research tool.
- Influencer research: I am able to quickly find the right reporter or editor for my pitch because Cision lets me know what they write about, their communications preferences, past articles, etc.
- Distribution: I appreciate a template to help streamline my pitch and press release distribution that allows me to send my news to a targeted list of contacts without having to send individual emails. I can send out communications with just a few steps, in just a few minutes.
- News search: I use Cision to scan for news and monitor for mentions of my clients. I also use this feature to keep tabs on topics and key terms of interest to me and my clients to stay ahead of emerging trends and stay on top of emerging discussions in my clients' industries.
- I would like to see more COVID-19 search terms. This is here to stay. Many of my clients want information specific to this topic.
- Let us monitor for reporters specifically writing about COVID-19. Make this a topic in the influencer search.
- I wish I had more functionality when searching "all news" instead of just "my coverage." There are times I have a search fully set up and get no results back only to realize I am in "my coverage" instead of "all news" and have to start all over again— only to find that I can't do half of what I could have if I was only searching my coverage.
August 29, 2020
Cision Communications Cloud is Easy to Use
We used it for media monitoring purposes since our faculty members typically get a lot of press surrounding their research. Just the marketing team used it, but other individuals did have access. This system allowed us to compile a list of media mentions and place brief summaries on our website.
- Easy to use
- Email communication
- Monitoring
- None
Overall the tool is easy to use and you can find exactly what you need pretty quickly. The list save and export feature is very user friendly and makes it very efficient and a big time saver. I use for searches and then it's super easy to get more granular to generate lists specific to your goals. The reporting and monitoring is also very useful for understanding the impact of our efforts.
- List building
- Monitoring Impact
- Reporting and ROI Tracking
- Pricing can be difficult for smaller companies
- Navigation can be confusing
- Influencer marketing can use some better features
August 23, 2020
Three Cheers for Cision
Cision is used at our agency to quickly and accurately compile lists of target media outlets and contacts for media relations. Using the online platform, we're able to sift through publications across the country to find reporters that will have an interest in our clients.
- Maintain media lists
- Perform ad-hoc reporter research
- Customer service
- User interface
- Customizability
August 07, 2020
Customized lists, great for niche publicity
We do niche book publicity. The media database helps me and my assistant put together customized media lists for publicity campaigns for our clients. It helps us to search and pinpoint contacts and their information in a wide variety of media outlets that would be perfect for our clients. It saves us a lot of legwork.
- Customize searches by media type, location, and most importantly subject
- Able to use key search words to help narrow down results
- Provides key contact information we couldn't find otherwise.
- Keeping more on top of updates. Listings or contact information is sometimes out of date. We have been starting to send in more notices about these.
- We would like to see a separate media category for podcasts. The number of podcasts has increased dramatically over the last few years; many of them overlap with internet and radio, we would like to see them broken out in a separate category.
July 22, 2020
Effective, but hoping for improved accuracy
Our firm's Brand Management and Client Relations departments use Cision to monitor coverage of the firm, gain competitive intelligence, and quickly reach media contacts and influencers. We have also used Cision on behalf of firm clients to monitor crisis situations.
- Data visualization - very helpful in presenting data to non-experts
- Media contact database - fairly extensive and up-to-date, with some notable exceptions
- Ability to organize work in "campaigns" - good for self-monitoring and reporting on ROI
- Impact - this is wildly inaccurate
- Actual views - again, wildly inaccurate
- Reporting - should be more options besides real-time alerts and hand-curated newsletters. Automated weekly reports would be an obvious addition.
July 15, 2020
PR Strategy Success with Cision
Cision is used to enhance and monitor our Public Relations efforts. We keep track of media contacts, news coverage and social mentions. We use analytics to gauge sentiment in the marketplace. We monitor our competitors and compare earned media results. It's a fantastic way to pull month-end and periodic reports for Board review, we really appreciate not having to keep track of placements in spreadsheets!
- Monitors media mentions. We can see where our news releases are published and we can see where there are stories about us that may require follow up with the journalist or publication.
- Monitors competitors. We can easily see the news our competitors are sharing and the volume of coverage they receive. This gives us great benchmarking data to increase our share of voice in earned media.
- Provides information about sentiment so we have an idea of overall perception the media is providing people about our company. This allows us to follow up and provide information and education where needed. It also lets us know where we need work to improve perception in the media.
- Customizable Media lists. Create lists with freelancers and staff journalists. Include notes about contacts, pitch ideas, etc.
- When people leave your organization, it can be difficult to change settings and automated emails.
- More ability to customize searches and to tweak them without the assistance of Cision of staff.
July 13, 2020
A great PR tool for Marketers
Our Marketing Department uses Cision Communications Cloud nearly daily. As a manager, the daily reports are vital for me to see how we are doing compared to competitors. From the PR aspect, Cision makes it easy and effective to send out, and organize, press releases all in one place. My team has also used Cision to discover new bloggers to build relationships with.
- Easy and organized way to distribute press releases
- Effective to find bloggers and people already talking about your services
- Excellent reporting and stats on competitors
- Better on-boarding walk through, I didn't receive much support or a walk around of the service when taking over ownership.
At the Art Center, we use Cision Communications Cloud as a means to connect and interact with other art-based organizations and creators on both a local, regional, and national level. The main business problem we are looking to address with Cision Communications Cloud is to better inspire creative expression in people of all ages through more organic and widespread earned media. It is through the connections and limitless amount of detail in Cision Communications Cloud's contact database that we are able now more than ever able to connect with cultural and nonprofit organizations we may have never otherwise spoken to.
- Ease of Access. While other CRM software can get bogged down with high-level facts and figures, Cision is able to provide the same information more intuitively.
- In-depth data. It's great being able to track readership and monetary value of earned media as well as review engagement with widespread emails for that it provides the user with an idea of how to better strategize and personalize what we send.
- The onboarding process. An extremely thorough and friendly onboarding process made learning the ins and outs of Cision Communications Cloud a breeze.
- Mailing Lists. The functionality of creating new mailing lists without downloading and uploading an edited template is not as clear as it should.
- Emails. The amount of unrelated emails you get when signing up is a bit of an annoyance.
- Hidden features. It's confusing for some users when options/elements are presented yet when they go to click to use them it just brings them to a page to buy said elements. If you could either cross them out or make them a different color to show that they aren't accessible, that would clear up that confusion.
July 07, 2020
Cision: an essential tool for any aspiring PR Pro.
The communications team at Clover is currently using Cision as a media database. If we're looking to do a beat-specific announcement, we will compile all the relevant reporters to conduct our outreach. Similarly, if we are mentioned in an article, or there is an industry reporter that we don't have a relationship with, we use Cision to find their contact information. While just used in one department, it is an essential aspect of the work the communications team is doing.
- Always has up-to-date reporter information
- Location-specific searches for media relations in local markets
- Lists previous coverage and current interests of reports to more accurately target outreach
- Sometimes it is missing contact information for key journalists.
- Reporter beats could be more granular.
June 18, 2020
A few thoughts on CISION
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
It's used by the Marketing Department, specifically Media Relations. We utilize the PR element of Cision for dissemination of media releases and related information, for researching key media outlets and personnel, for daily media placement information, ROI, etc. We utilize the service every day and it has been key in helping reach target audiences.
- Media distribution.
- Media placement.
- Research.
- Media lists need to be updated more regularly.
- Expansion of media clips to include video versus having to retain a separate service.
- Cost is exorbitant.
June 18, 2020
Cision: Media relations and monitoring
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Our team is able to see what everyone is working on. We can see who is sending emails to which writers and outlets so there is no duplication of work and confusion to editors and publishers receiving multiple pitches.
- Media database.
- Media monitoring.
- Article sentiment.
- Article tagging.
June 17, 2020
Cision is the best
Cision is being used across my entire organization - mainly amongst the PR team. It helps us find media contacts, monitor and analyze coverage.
- Media contacts in different industries.
- Filtering contact searches.
- Tracking pitch opens and metrics.
- Mass pitches.
- Updating email addresses.
- Making sure all coverage is picked up with monitoring tool.
It's used only by the Marketing department right now. I'm the only company employee who spends time on PR (split with Customer Comms) and have one freelancer who we give access to use the platform. Our Digital Marketing Manager also uses the platform to help supplement monitoring HARO and for advertising information. Cision helps with competitor intelligence and understanding our PR reach.
- Media database of reporters is always helpful and what I consistently come back to Cision for.
- Monitoring: I find it harder now at a B2B organization to measure impact with Cision, but Cision's ability to monitor sheer volume and general impact has always been helpful.
- Share of voice.
- UX when it comes to switching between systems. I understand that it's a process that is long and can be difficult to accomplish but feels like as such a powerhouse Cision must have a faster process for this. e.g., Trendkite. Overall, as a user, I get the sense that Cision just buys companies and everything I touch as a user requires me to enter a new system/previous company's interface. It's also complicated to remember where things live, or how you get to similar aspects in other platforms (e.g., Distribution and Message Center).
- HARO: I'm interested in certain search terms within HARO and am surprised there isn't a way to create an email alert based on my search term.
June 14, 2020
Cision is great for Traditional PR
We mainly use Cision cloud to gain access to a database of media professionals to assist when pitching stories. It is used only in the Public Relations department.
- User Friendly
- Updated media lists
Cision Communications Cloud (formerly Vocus PR Suite) is used by my department, which is a public relations team of myself and my boss. We also occasionally allow contractors/PR agencies we work with to use it temporarily for specific projects. We use the software for two primary purposes. First, we use Cision to research news media outlets and contacts and organize them in to media lists. Second, we use Cision's distribution feature to send a company news release or announcement to the members of a particular media list.
- Cision Communications Cloud has an extensive media outlet database so it allows public relations and communications professionals to find the right media outlets and contacts for any media market in the United States and for just about any specialty or trade news media.
- Cision Communications Cloud is very user-friendly. It's easy to navigate and find what you need, plus offers a lot of options for how to organize your contacts and media lists.
- The customer support team at Cision is always very helpful and gets back to you quickly when you need assistance. Cision also offers online/teleconference training classes plus a great help section within the portal that contains articles and "how to" videos.
- Cision could do a better job of keeping all media contacts in its database up to date. It is difficult because in today's media landscape, turnover is high BUT having the right names and contact information is critical for the public relations and communications professionals who use the software.
- Cision could start offering lower cost package options for smaller companies or agencies. Right now, the cost of subscriptions is at a level that smaller organizations likely can't afford it but don't necessary need all the features that larger, enterprise companies will utilize and are willing and able to pay for.
March 29, 2020
Cision Communications Cloud Review
We are using it to monitor our own, and our clients', PR impact. Having previously used a number of different platforms to generate valuable insights and showcase the results of our work, this is plugging the gap by bringing all of those analytics under one easy-to-use platform.
- The dashboard - really straight forward to use, easy to explain to new starters how to use it and also switch around for clients depending on what campaigns / time frame you're monitoring
- The shareability - it's great to give clients an interactive report for them to go into themselves and click through to individual pieces of coverage
- The chat bot - always a quick, helpful response which is especially handy for us as we're in the UK and it's a US platform so when starting out our contact wasn't always available
- The share of voice tool - very accurate and good to be able to add a number of different charts to monitor different sectors / offerings
- Integration with Google Analytics - this isn't always showing the most accurate results and it's not explained as well as the other widgets.
- Print coverage - it would be useful to have a manual way of adding in print coverage so we can evaluate all coverage on one dashboard.
- UK regional breakdown - there is a good breakdown for hotspots in US but not for UK regions.
We use it to track media placements and mentions for a variety of clients that we serve as a PR agency. We use it across the entire agency but our clients do not use it. It helps us keep track of all the media placements in one place as well as do our monthly reporting on things such as share of voice, SEO impact, etc. to help show the value of our work to our clients.
*[This review was written before Cision acquired TrendKite. TrendKite is now part of Cision Communications Cloud.]
*[This review was written before Cision acquired TrendKite. TrendKite is now part of Cision Communications Cloud.]
- Media monitoring: good at catching broadcast clips and online clips compared to other tools I've used.
- Share of voice against competitors is also easy to use and good to show the value of brand within the industry.
- Some of the searches can be really complex to understand and can pick up a lot of unwanted media hits.
- Setting up dashboards and learning to use them can be hard and have a bit of a learning curve.
March 28, 2020
Cision Communications Cloud: Almost There
We use it across the whole organization to conduct daily scans of client and competitor news, as well as to conduct monthly and quarterly coverage and share voice reports.
*[ This review was written before Cision acquired TrendKite. TrendKite is now part of Cision Communications Cloud.]
*[ This review was written before Cision acquired TrendKite. TrendKite is now part of Cision Communications Cloud.]
- Ease of use: easy to tag articles, build reports and comparisons
- Customer service is always ready to help with anything.
- Helps automate a very manual process.
- The quality of the automated and developer implemented article filters: too many unwanted articles get through. Takes too long to make the articles pulled and the reports accurate. Eliminates the time savings pretty quickly.
- Difficulty in self-building new searches.