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Cision Communications Cloud is the Reporting Tool We've Been Searching For
July 27, 2016

Cision Communications Cloud is the Reporting Tool We've Been Searching For

Andy Ambrosius | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

TrendKite

Overall Satisfaction with Cision Communications Cloud

Tech Image uses Cision Communications Cloud (TrendKite)* in two capacities. The first is to track, analyze and present our media relations efforts to a majority of clients at the agency. The second is to use the reports for new business opportunities, conducting research and showing potential clients how Tech Image utilizes new PR tools.
*[This review was written before Cision acquired TrendKite. TrendKite is now part of Cision Communications Cloud.]
  • Tracking media coverage and share of voice against competitors.
  • The ease of customizing reports to fit the needs of different clients.
  • The presentation capabilities of the reports to senior leadership. They look extremely well polished and easy for non-PR leaders to understand.
  • The on-demand customer service absolutely cannot be beat. The immediate chat function is by far the best in the industry in regard to PR reporting.
  • TrendKite does not automatically pick-up as many placements as a competitor like Meltwater. I feel like their database of publications it scans has room for growth.
  • The auto-filters (e.g. remove all press release mentions) is a nice touch, but it's not comprehensive. Serious Boolean coding must be done to get the searches just right.
  • You cannot edit specific text or metrics within TrendKite once it pulls a media placement into the search/dashboard. For example, publications are sometimes automatically pulled in with the wrong publication name, and users cannot edit them on the spot. Also, in the age of working with digital influencers like YouTube reviewers, you cannot add these placements without seriously screwing up other metrics (e.g. ad equivalency, UVM), because it automatically pulls in YouTube's entire site, not just that channel. Then, you can't edit the metrics if you choose to add them manually.
  • Meltwater
Cision's media monitoring doesn't catch as much as Meltwater (we currently use both to create redundancies at Tech Image), but its reporting interface and customer service is by far superior. I simply add the missing media placements to Cision that Meltwater picks up, and it's a best-of-both-worlds scenario.
Cision Communications Cloud is great for larger-scale clients receiving a lot of coverage, currently engaged in a media relations program. Cision Communications Cloud is not great for smaller clients who only see about 2-3 earned placements a month. It is also not well suited for social media-heavy clients where media relations is not a core component of their program.

Transition from TrendKite to Cision Communications Cloud

Cision's customer service is an 11/10. They are quick to reply and work with you in real-time online to fix any potential issues. I wish customer service existed like this for every vendor we use.

Using Cision Communications Cloud

There are some clunky things to fix, which I mentioned earlier in the "cons" section, but overall, the tool is really useful and important to both our team and our clients. Based on the cadence of new capabilities being introduced, I am confident TrendKite is listening to users and addressing any existing snags in the usability.