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Cision Communications Cloud is trendy and will truly help you measure the weight of your PR results!
August 16, 2016

Cision Communications Cloud is trendy and will truly help you measure the weight of your PR results!

Kevin Allen | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

TrendKite

Overall Satisfaction with Cision Communications Cloud

We use Cision Communications Cloud (TrendKite)* to actively monitor the digital stories published in various motorcycle, 4-wheel, outdoor industry and PWC segments. We generate reporting on the basis of the value of coverage, share of voice and in comparison to our competition. We also use this tool to identify key media contacts, to solicit their interest in generating content for Kawasaki and in order to understand trending topics in the industry.
*[This review was written before Cision acquired TrendKite. TrendKite is now part of Cision Communications Cloud.]
  • Media tracking: The capability of tracking thousands of sites and generating daily emails and dashboards summarizing the coverage received by our brand and products. This information can be shared, saved or turned into reports that are helpful for measuring PR results.
  • Reporting: The reporting tool is the strongest feature of Cision Communications Cloud and one that we use regularly to interactively showcase the PR results for Kawasaki and its products. The reporting is quick, easy to modify and easy to share.
  • Media Database: Cision has partnered with Anewstip to provide a media database whereby the user can search for stories and contact information of journalists publishing articles on individual products, within a timeframe and for a specific publication.
  • Customer Service: We have found the team at Cision to be above and beyond the industry standard in terms of customer service, transparency, flexibility and pricing. We are very happy with our account team.
  • Print Publications: Cision does not actively monitor print publications. Although many of these articles are now available also in digital form, we often-times miss the newspaper and enthusiast coverage in the print-only format.
  • Media Database Integration: Although Cision has partnered with Anewstip for media relations database, the two packages are not well-integrated to the point that searches are run independently and you cannot drill down to a media contact within each article and see their contact with our brand. However, this has been promised as a feature going forward.
  • It would be nice to have Alexa or SimilarWeb data integrated into the website information, so that you can compare website traffic to article views, and even integration with YouTube (as part of Google Analytics) to evaluate concurrently the video views of a review produced as part of an article.
We evaluated the newer version of Meltwater, Mention and Cision/Vocus (pre-TrendKite acquisition) for our PR monitoring tools. Considering that we had come from several years of Meltwater, we were looking for a tool which had similar capabilities with even more digital marketing integrated. We were also interested the shareability of reports and strong customers focus from the vendor. While our incumbent had a newer version, the equivalent advertising value was still inaccurate, the support staff the same and no real focus on our industry and business needs.
Cision Communications Cloud (TrendKite) is most appropriate at seeing the digital coverage of our brand and products, specifically through searches that can be turned into reporting on the topic or segment. Competitive evaluations can also be made by running a similar search with the competitor brand and product. These can be shared and exported for media event recaps that are necessary for our executive management and for evaluating the budgetary allocation for future events. It is very good at tracking key influencers, especially those active with social media. However, it is lacking in some business intelligence tools, specifically for identifying areas or segments for which we are not the strongest brand.

Transition from TrendKite to Cision Communications Cloud

The sales and aftersales support staff at Cision is absolute. I don't feel like at any stage in the process from familiarization, evaluation, implementation, to customization have we felt left hanging or waiting for support. Cision team members completed the necessary follow-up and technical support to get us up and running quickly and with little to no business interruption.

Using Cision Communications Cloud

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.