Researching and understanding a Contacts’s background is crucial to developing a mutually beneficial, working relationship with any member of the media. That’s why you should always check out a Contact’s record before reaching out to them. Let’s take a look at how you can access a Contact Record.
Finding a Media Contact Record by Name
Follow these steps to search the database for a specific individual:
- Click on Influencers tab in the Next Gen Cision Communications Cloud
- Select Search Media Contacts. This will open up the Cision Media Contacts Database.
- Select the Influencers tab from the Cision Media Contacts Database.
- Choose the Search page.
- Make sure the criteria box is set to Contact Name and begin typing the Media Contact’s name. Notice that the Cision Communications Cloud will show any Media Contacts whose name match what you type. The platform will also show the Media Outlet with which each Media Contact is associated.
- Click the desired Contact Name from the results list.
Click Search with the desired contact’s information in the search box.
The Contact’s Record Page will be displayed as a result of the search.
Understanding the Media Contact Record Page
The Contact Record page contains all of the information regarding an individual. Each Media Contact Record will have a similar layout containing the following components:
- In the left-hand panel, you’ll see all general details about the Media Contact inclusive of the Contact’s Twitter avatar, Title, other Media Outlets with which the Contact is associated, the Subjects or Beats on which the Contact reports, DMA (Designated Coverage Area), Type, Contact Information, and Social Channel Pages.
- Within the left-hand panel, you will see the ability to add the Media Contact to a Media List.
- The Pitching Profile gives you details about how best to pitch the Media Contact.
- Notes can be added highlighting pitching notes or other information you have learned about the Contact. Notes are shared among Cision users within an organization and can be a valuable collaboration tool.
- The Insights panel will show you charts describing the Media Contact’s Twitter audience. The Media Contact must have an associated Twitter handle within the profile to show this information.
- The History panel will show a log of your interactions and communications (called Activities in this platform) with the Media Contact as well as mentions of recent News articles authored by the Media Contact.
- The Media Contacts’s Twitter profile will appear on the right-hand side of the profile. You will also see their recent posts on Twitter if you have a connected a Twitter Account to the Cision Communications Cloud. If you do not have accounts connected for these channels, you will see a reminder to connect them.
- The You May Also Like panel, will recommend additional Contacts to you that are considered similar to the Media Contact.
Identifying General Details about the Media Contact
In the upper left-hand corner, you will see the Media Contact’s Twitter Profile picture. In order to see the Contact’s picture, you will need to link your Twitter account in the Settings area. If you do not have a connected Twitter account or the Media Contact does not have a Twitter account, you will see the outline of a person as a placeholder.
You will also see the Media Contact’s Name, Title, Associated Outlet, Lists that the Media Contact is a part of, and Subjects on which they report or cover. If the Media Contact is associated with more than one Media Outlet, you will be able to see and browse their profiles at each outlet.
To see additional profiles for the Media Contact:
- Click the upside-down triangle next to the “Show Other Outlet” button.
- Select the Outlet for which you would like to see the Media Contact’s profile.
- You repeat this process to easily toggle amongst various profiles for the Media Contact.
Ability to Add a Media Contact to a List
Next, you’ll find the Lists associated with this Contact, if any. To manage what Lists are associated with the Contact:
Adding a Media Contact to an Existing List
- Click the Edit List button.
- A drop-down will populate with your lists. You can scroll through the existing lists to find the one to which you want to add the Media Contact.
- Or, you can use the dialog box at the top to search for a list by name.
- To add the Media Contact to an existing list, click the checkbox by the desired list’s name.
Adding a Media Contact to a New Media Contact List
- Click the Edit List button.
- A drop-down will populate with the names of your existing lists. To create a new Media Contact List, begin typing the name of the new list in the Search box.
- When the “Create New list” prompt appears, click it which will create a new list with your specific name.
Three Ellipses Button for Adding Private Information, Requesting Updates, Manual Opt-Out, Request Opt-In
Under the list of subjects or beats that the Media Contact covers, you will find their contact information. Under the Three Ellipses button, you will find additional options available.
- Edit Private Info: If you have additional information for the Media Contact that you would like to add to this section, you can use the Three Ellipses button is access the Edit Private Info option to incorporate this information. If Private Email information is added, it is important to note that the Private Email address will be used when an email distribution is sent from your Cision Communications Cloud account.
- Request Updates: If you find that any of the information inside the profile needs to be updated you can reach use this button to reach out to our research team
- Opt-Out from email: Use this option if you want to manually opt out a contact so that they no longer get email distributions from you. A manual opt-out applies to all email addresses associated with the media contact, both the system and privately added.
- Request to Opt Back In: If the media contact has previously opted themselves out or been manually opted out, you will see the option to send an invitation to the media contact requesting that they opt back on to email distributions.
At the bottom of this section, you may see an Opt-Out label if the Media Contact has Opted Out of your email distributions.
Submit an Update to Our Research Team
Rounding out the left-hand panel of the Contact Record, you’ll next find links to the Contact’s Social Media pages which you can click on to be taken to that platform.
You will also see a link that you can use to report out of date contact information directly to our research team. While our research team reaches out to each Media Contact several times a year to verify and update their information, we certainly want to know about any out of date information you find so that we can quickly update it!
Media Contact Pitching Profile
- In the top center, you’ll find the Pitching Profile. Here you’ll find information about educational history, career stops, and awards they have won. Most importantly, you’ll find valuable pitching advice direct from the Contact. Pay attention to this area, because Media Contacts will often indicate when and how they prefer to be pitched.
Adding and Viewing Notes About the Media Contact
To the right of the Pitching Profile, you will see your ability to record Notes about the Media Contact. In this section, you will also see any Notes about the Media Contact authored by other Cision users within your organization. Finally, this section consolidates all Notes about the Media Contact recorded in the Cision Communications Cloud. This means that if the Media Contact has multiple profiles within our system, as a result of being associated with multiple outlets, you will see all Notes from their various profiles in this single location.
Activities and News Related to a Media Contact
To the right of the Audience Insights and Influence panel, you will find the History panel. This panel will show a log of your interactions and communications (called Activities in this platform) with the Media Contact as well as links to any News they have authored. To learn more about creating Activities, click here.
- Activities generated on the Campaigns tab such as Email Distributions, Phone Calls, Interviews will be logged in chronological order. You can also log a new activity directly from this panel using the Plus Sign button. You can see more about any listed Activity or edit it by clicking on the Activity title.
- News that the Media Contact has authored will show on the News tab. If the News items are presented as links, you can click on the News item to read the article. If any of the News the Contact has authored meets your News monitoring criteria, you will see those mentions on the My Coverage tab.
Emails logged on the History Panel will have one of two indicator messages. A sent email message indicates that an email was sent to the media contact. An opened message indicates that the email was received and opened by the media contact.
Media Contact’s Social Profiles Panel
The contact’s Twitter profile will appear on the right-hand side of the profile. You will also see their recent posts if you have connected a Twitter account to the Cision Communications Cloud. If you do not have a Twitter account connected, you will see a reminder to connect it.
NOTE: If the Media Contact has recently reTweeted a post, you will see the label RT in front of the post along with the name of the post’s original author in the Streams panel.
You May Also Like
The You May Also Like section will appear at the bottom of the Media Contact Record. In this section, you will find Media Contacts that the Cision Communications Cloud considers to be like the Contact you are examining. The likenesses are drawn from what the Media Contacts write about in Social Media or in the News.
