Media Monitoring Cheat Code: Utilizing AI to Streamline Earned Media Measurement
August 8, 2024
So your destination gets a top hit in a coveted publication. Now what? Understanding the true impact of your media coverage is crucial. Accurate and reliable media measurement is a cornerstone of strategic communication planning and evaluation. At Madden Media, we believe measurement should be rooted in your key business objectives (KBOs) and that measuring your articles shouldn’t be a cumbersome task. That’s why we echo Destinations International’s recommendation for destinations to not only utilize the Barcelona Principles, but also our AI assistant tool to leverage your media placements with actionable insights and comprehensive analysis.
What are the Barcelona Principles and Why use them?
Current media monitoring tactics such as Unique Visitors per Month (UVM) and Advertising Value Equivalents (AVE) are increasingly viewed as outdated due to their inability to provide a comprehensive and accurate picture of public relations impact. As the communication landscape evolves, these traditional metrics fall short of offering the nuanced, multi-dimensional insights necessary for effective strategic planning and decision-making in modern public relations.
The Barcelona Principles are a set of seven guidelines established to bring transparency, consistency, and integrity to public relations measurement and evaluation. Updated in 2020 to reflect the evolving communication landscape, these principles emphasize setting measurable goals, evaluating outcomes, and rejecting flawed metrics like Advertising Value Equivalents.
The Media Measurement Tool
Current measurement of Barcelona Principles is a manual effort and often leaves room for human bias. Utilizing AI, we’ve been able to create a ChatGPT measurement tool to automate your media evaluation.
We’ve created a basic framework of a scorecard that you can insert any placement into, offering a deeper understanding of the true value.
This scorecard evaluates various aspects of media articles, providing a total score out of 100. Here’s a breakdown of the scoring criteria:
Measure 1: Audience Reach (25 Points)
- National Recognition: Articles from nationally recognized outlets with high readership and SEO impact score the highest.
- Regional Media: Mid-level points for regional coverage.
- Local Media: Lower points for local outlets.
- Domain Authority: Adjusted scores based on the outlet’s domain authority when it does not fit the other categories.
Measure 2: Travel-related Message (25 Points)
- Mentions of Activities: Scores based on the number of tourism-related activities, lodgings, or events mentioned in the article.
Measure 3: Prominence (25 Points)
- Feature Stories: Highest points for feature stories focused on the destination.
- Mentions: Mid-level points for brief mentions within a broader context.
- Lists: Lower points for inclusion in lists with minimal detail.
Measure 4: Assets (25 Points)
- Engagement Assets: Scores based on the inclusion of photos, videos, links, calls to action, and mentions of the DMO or its partners.
Bonus Points:
- Quotes from DMO Staff: Additional points for quotes from DMO representatives.
- Diverse and Inclusive Messaging: Points for highlighting the destination’s appeal to diverse audiences, including race, LGBTQ+, and accessibility.
- Sustainability Practices: Points for mentioning sustainable and environmentally friendly practices.
- Sentiment: Positive sentiment adds points, while negative sentiment deducts points.
How It Works
You can utilize our AI scoring tool to help easily determine the value of your earned media by following these four steps:
- Access the Tool: Click here to open Madden Media’s AI scoring tool
- Input Article: Provide the article link or upload a PDF.
- Evaluation: The tool evaluates the article based on the above criteria.
- Scorecard Output: Receive a detailed scorecard with explanations for each score.
Following the Barcelona Principles provides insight into how earned media placements are working toward your DMO’s key business objectives, while integrating our AI tool allows scoring to be free from bias. We work closely with clients to tailor this scorecard to their destination’s specific needs and KBOs. If you’d like to a curated scorecard personalized for your destination’s goals, feel free to reach out to the author, Brianna Francis.
