The votes have been counted and the final results are in. Congratulations are in order. Your candidate won! Yet, just as the last of the red, white and blue confetti falls, it’s time to pivot and make plans to govern.
As the winning campaign, you and your candidate will spend the next couple of months in transition, preparing for the start of the elected term. It’s time to hire new staff and put effective tools and processes in place.
One tool that can help new public affairs officials stay close to the electorate is broadcast media monitoring. To govern well, your administration must develop a good handle on the news, issues and community groups that have an impact on your local municipality, district or state.
A comprehensive broadcast media monitoring program will enable you to respond more effectively to news coverage and issues aired on national, regional and local television. Here are four ways it can help you develop greater insight about your community, as well as better manage the news cycle.
Gather Community Insights
One significant advantage of broadcast media monitoring is that it’s fast and efficient to use. You won’t need to spend hours scanning recorded news segments for mention of your community. Rather, simply enter a keyword or two to find relevant segments.
Not only does this save time, but it also provides you with important insight into community happenings that you may otherwise overlook. Thus, you can search for key issues and identify relevant community organizations. It alerts you to rising voices in the community, helping you to reach out in a timely way and build relationships that will move your agenda forward.
Check Facts
When news about your administration needs to be communicated, you can monitor news broadcasts to ensure accuracy. If the media delivers your message in a way that’s unclear or incomplete – or if the public doesn’t seem to be absorbing it in the way you want - you can take quick action to correct it.
Build rapport with journalists
Broadcast media monitoring can help you build strong working relationships with television and radio news reporters and hosts. Because of the nature of their jobs, most broadcast reporters don’t develop deep expertise about every topic they cover. By reviewing their past news reports, you can assess how much they know and take steps to provide additional education on the details. This research will also help you to build rapport, making your daily interactions more productive and easier.
Crisis Management
When a crisis hits, broadcast media monitoring may be one of your most important tools. The ability to search and review relevant segments is essential for maintaining order in fast-moving situations. It’s the only way to track misinformation, correct it immediately, and keep things under control.
It’s also invaluable for tracking crises that occur in other states or regions, which may or may not affect you directly. By following these situations as they unfold, you can learn valuable lessons about how to handle a similar crisis.
As you put your processes and tools in place, broadcast media monitoring plays a pivotal role in building and defining the community and media relationships that you need to govern. And because it allows you to be more efficient, you can spend more time focusing on creating an impact.
Learn more about using broadcast media monitoring for your candidate by requesting a free trial.
