Bram van Dijk is a key member of our media monitoring team, which provides clients with valuable analysis of what the media is saying about their organisation. The in-depth daily insights from our team help us advise our clients on how their company’s reputation is viewed externally, acting like a radar to identify risks and opportunities.

As Bram explains, no two days are the same. Media monitoring and analysis is fast-moving and can be demanding, requiring a specific skill set and eye for detail.

What’s a typical day like for you?

I’m up at the crack of dawn and start by scanning our monitoring system for coverage, reading the morning papers and manually checking specific outlets for our clients. Then I package everything up in morning coverage reports, so our clients have a full overview of relevant news at their desks by the time they take their first sip of coffee.

After the morning rush, I have time to work on weekly or monthly reports and to dive a little deeper into the day’s news. This is also the time for ad hoc requests. I might do some analysis for a potential client, research a specific subject or journalist, or collect articles for a media briefing.

In the afternoon, the US stock market opens and our American clients are waking up. We wrap up our mid-day reports so they can read them with their morning coffee. Then I do a final check of the afternoon news, and hand over to one of my monitoring colleagues for the next shift.

In today’s world we have 24/7 news cycles. How do you stay on top of it all?

We have tools and systems in place that help us get a head start. Our monitoring system is essential – it scours thousands of news sources, delivering a list of articles at regular intervals during the day.

Monitoring tools pick up thousands of hits. That’s where we come in – we mine for the gems, uncovering news that matters to our clients. We do this well, based on our deep understanding of their business, sector and goals.

Our team members specialise in different topics, for example energy transition, financial services and technology. This way we can dive deep and become experts, which translates to higher quality media analysis for clients.

“No PR strategy is effective without hitting the target. Communications teams often need to show results and media monitoring reports help tell this story.“

Bram van Dijk

What can you do that AI can’t?

Automatic coverage reports are unintelligent and often irrelevant, generating hits for every mention of the key word. It’s basically spam. The more generic your key words are the worse the report, especially if you are a big multinational, or if your brand name is a common name.

Standardised reports give an overall score and try to indicate sentiment, but don’t understand the material. For example, if an article is about poor sustainability performance among companies the system would mark it as a negative, even if our client is mentioned as an example of best practice in the industry. The human touch is irreplaceable when it comes to reading between the lines.

Why is media monitoring crucial to public relations?

We do a lot of the groundwork, giving our PR teams valuable insights they can use to advise our clients. Before pitching interviews or sending press releases out, you need to understand the issues and opportunities at those platforms and regional specificities. How does a particular media source view the client? What’s important to their readers? What’s been written about the subject before?

It’s also about nuance. Media analysis is media intelligence: what are the hot topics, who are the key journalists to contact, which publications are more receptive to opinion pieces on a given topic? It’s about understanding the conversations going on in different sectors and finding opportunities to join these conversations. Our PR teams already have a deep knowledge of the media, so our analysis is key to boosting that intelligence.

No PR strategy is effective without hitting the target. Clients need to know if their stories are landing and impactful – are our PR efforts paying off? Are we getting coverage? Sometimes it’s very simple: have outlets picked up clients’ press releases? Communications teams often need to show results and media monitoring reports help tell this story.

Media monitoring is intrinsic to any PR effort. We believe that it’s ideal for clients to outsource multiple communications tasks to us, which delivers higher quality and better results. Monitoring and analysis shouldn’t be an afterthought.

What skills do you think make for a good media analyst?

Curiosity and the ability to work well under pressure. You need to be able to process information fast, to get to the essence of a story. I’ve honed this skill and can quickly scan articles and recognise whether they’re relevant for our clients. I read so much that I know what the hot topics are and can spot the ‘news’ a mile away. Good media analysts have a sharp radar – it’s like an extra sense that we’ve developed. 

Be a sponge – you need to absorb as much news as you can. The more you know about the world, the economy, and the broader your interests are, the bigger your frame of reference. That will help you recognise what’s relevant.

Being service-orientated is also a plus. We’re highly responsive and here when our clients need us: whether it’s fielding ad hoc questions, long days monitoring special events or critical news, early-bird and night-owl hours.

“Good media analysts have a sharp radar – it’s like an extra sense that we’ve developed. ”

Bram van Dijk

What’s your favourite part of the job?

Sometimes I can’t believe that I get paid to read the news! I love being on top of the latest news all day and staying up to date in so many fields.

It’s also quite exciting – I never know how my day is going to go. We always start with a plan, but the news of the day dictates how the day unfolds.

Stampa offers media monitoring and analysis to clients as part of our wider PR offering. Reports are tailored to our client’s preferences and include global around the clock monitoring in times of crisis, translated to Dutch or English. Contact us to find out more about what we can do for you.