Media Monitoring Searches

Monitoring Searches within your Cision account's library are essential, as they contain the words and phrases that are used to automatically bring relevant articles and mentions into your account on an ongoing basis . Monitoring searches are responsible for all of the content you see in your system, whether in a list view of earned coverage, analytics dashboard, or report.  Further, the data displayed in each a analytics dashboard or  widget is a direct function of the monitoring search attached to that widget. All Monitoring Searches are saved on the Search Listing Page of your account.

To access the Monitoring Search Listing Page in your account:

Select the Coverage tab and click on the Saved Searches option.
This page will show all of the Searches that have been created in your Cision account and provides the option to create a new search.

Search Listing Page:

The Search Listing page is where you can find the following: 

1. All Searches: Displays all saved searches you have access to, including searches that you have created or your team has created and shared.
2. My Searches: Displays all saved searches you have created.
3. Searches Shared with Me: Displays all saved searches created by your team and shared.
4. Archived Searches: Displays searches that are no longer active.
5. You also have the option of displaying different search Categories and Campaigns you have created or were shared with you by others. 
6. If the saved search is connected to any Dashboards or Campaigns, they will display when clicking on the Connections link.
   • Best Practice: Share searches with your team prior to adding them to any dashboards you will share with your team, to avoid creating a duplicate search.
7. If there is an active Spike Alert for the saved search, a green dot will display to the left of the search name and a window displaying Spike Alert Active will display when hovering over the green dot.
8. If a saved search is shared with all members of your team, a People Icon will display.
9. If a Chart Color has been applied, the color and color code will display in the Chart Color column. (NOTE: This is a great way to brand your dashboards and reports, as this color will display for the search's data in all charts. The platform will assign a color if none is selected).
10. In addition, this page is also where you can create New searches.
11. You can search through all searches on the Search Listing Page using the Magnifying Glass icon and typing in your search terms.

Search Result Order:

Creating Your First Search from an Empty Search Listing Page

Before you start searching or receiving shared searches, the Search Listing page will be empty. Pressing the "Create Basic Search" button will enable you to start a new "Simple Earned Search."

Creating Additional Monitoring Searches:

The section below will describe how you can create a new Monitoring Search. Before creating a Search, we recommend referencing our reference guides for things to consider when identifying and compiling your monitoring search terms:

• Concepts for Creating Effective Monitoring Searches
• Introduction to Simple Boolean Operators
• Boolean Filters and Operators Cheat Sheet

You can create a Monitoring Search as a Simple or Advanced Search. If you are looking for all of the coverage for a particular brand, competitor, or event the Simple search option can be used. If you are need to create a Search that finds targeted coverage such as only articles from specific publications, articles that mention multiple terms, or articles originating from a specific location, you will want to leverage the Advanced Search option. 

Finding The Search Listing Page:

Users can find the Search Listing page in the Coverage tab of the navigation menu. 

1. Click on the Coverage tab.

2. Select Saved Searches.

3. In the upper-right-hand corner, select New Search > Simple Earned Search.

Building the Search:

Searches are built on the Simple Earned Search page, using a feature called the Must/Might/Not Builder. 

1. First, enter a Name for your Search.

2. Fill in key terms and phrases in the Must/Might/Not Builder.

The Must/Might/Not Builder consists of 3 sections:   

A. MUST – AND String terms/phrases. Type in all words/phrases that must all appear at least once in each article/clip. 

• The MUST Box is a required field that must have at least one 4 letter word to be valid & saved. 

B. AND* ANY (MIGHT) – OR String terms/phrases. Enter words/phrases, in which one must appear at least once in each article/clip. 

• Note: The MUST & MIGHT Boxes are joined together by an AND string (see “AND ANY of these terms” text within the Might Box).

C. NOT – NOT String terms/phrases. Enter words/phrases that you do not want to appear in any of the articles/clips.

Simply enter the words and phrases of your search, and press Enter. Your search term/phrase will then be turned into a colored pill. Inclusive pills (included in the search) will be green and Exclusive pills (excluded from the search) will be red. 

After creating your search, click on the Preview Results button.

Best Practices

The Must/Might/Not Builder will:

• Automatically put quotes around words/phrases once user hits “Enter”, turning them into a pill within the Builder 
• Automatically insert the AND/OR/NOT operators within each pill, depending on which part of the Builder the terms/phrases are added to.  
• The Must Box will create an AND String 
• The Might Box will create an OR String 
• The NOT Box will create an OR String 
• The Must & Might Boxes are joined together by an AND String 
• Create a phrase out of a set of words included in one pill separated by user hitting ‘Enter’ on their keyboard. 

For example:  

• LA Lakers ENTER Lebron James ENTER would create two pills: “LA Lakers” AND “Lebron James” 
• LA Lakers Lebron James ENTER would create one pill: “LA Lakers Lebron James” 

The Must/Might/Not Builder will NOT:

• Automatically include or pull in the possessive & plural forms of terms 
• Automatically include or pull in variants of a term. Example: “i phone” & “iphone” would both need to be included in the search to pull in both types of mentions. 
• Automatically save 
• Automatically include the Master Exclusive filter in the NOT String  

Building an Advanced Search:

We recommend using the Advanced Search for only those users who are familiar and comfortable with Advanced Boolean Syntax.

1. Click on the New Search button in the Search Listing Page. 2. Select Advanced Earned Search.

1. Type in the name for your search.
2. Enter the boolean syntax for your search. Click here for Tips to Build an Effective Search
3. Add additional filters for Language and/or Location. Note: If you include language or locations filters as part of your boolean syntax for the search, you will see an error message.
4. Click on the Update Results button. 
5. Click the Create Search button if you are happy with the coverage in the Results section. 
   • You will see the option to share your search become available. Best Practice: We recommend sharing your searches when creating them, especially if you plan to use them in Dashboards that you will share with your team. This workflow will help avoid creating a duplicate search. Click here to learn more about sharing searches!

6. If you included a tag in your search that doesn't exist or hasn't been shared by the colleague who created it, you will receive an error message. 

To access the tag that isn't shared, follow these instructions to review the tag and reach out to the colleague who created the tag to share it with you.

To create a new tag that doesn't exist to include in your search:

1. Delete the old tag from your boolean search. (if applicable)

2. Click on the Update Results button. (if you needed to remove an old tag)

3. Hover over an article in the results.

4. Click on the tag icon and create a new tag. 

5. Enter in the boolean for you new tag. For example tag:"bananas"

6. Click the Update Results button.

7. If you are happy with your results, click on the Save Search button.

To Review/Edit/Duplicate the Search Parameters for an Existing Search:

1. Click on the Ellipses button for the search you would like to review, edit or duplicate.
2. Select View Search or Duplicate Search.

1. Edit the name for your search.
2. Edit the boolean syntax for your search. Click here for Tips to Build an Effective Search
3. Add additional filters for Language and/or Location. Note: If you include language or locations filters as part of your boolean syntax for the search, you will see an error message.
4. Click on the Update Results button. 
5. Click the Save Search button if you are happy with the coverage in the Results section.
   • You will see the option to share your search become available. Best Practice: We recommend sharing your searches before adding them to a Dashboard that you will share with your team. This workflow will help avoid creating a duplicate search. Click here to learn more about sharing searches!

Organizing Searches

Search Categories both help organize your searches and serve as the foundation for single-click, on-demand dashboards.  

To Assign a Relevant Category to your Search:

1.  Select the Coverage tab.
2. Click the Saved Searches option.
3. Click on the arrow in the Category column for the search you want to organize
4. Choose the option that indicates the purpose of the search from the drop down list. For example, if the search contains all of the ways your company is mentioned, the search is going to bring in Company coverage. See a list of category descriptions below.
5. Once a Category has been applied, the updated choice will show in the Category column.
6. You will be able to filter searches by the Categories you've assigned.

When you browse coverage using the Earned Media option or create Analytics Dashboard charts, you will see your searches organized by Category which will make them easier to find. Below, you will find a list of Category descriptions. 

List of Search Categories

• Company: “My company”: Your overall company search.
• Industry Topic: A topic of interest like “big data” or “online shopping”.
• Industry Event: A conference, expo, fashion show, awards show etc. 
• Competitor: A company that you compete with.
• Product: A product, like “iPhone 7”, “Fire HD 8”, or “Xanax”.
• Product Family: A collection of products, like “iPhone” or “Amazon Fire”.
• Product Category: A classification of a set of products, like “smartphones”, “nail care”, or “women’s running sneakers”. 
• Campaign: A purpose-driven set of PR activities to promote a person, product, brand, etc. Think Nike’s “Unlimited You”, Dove’s “Real Beauty”, or AirBNB’s “#LIVETHERE.
• Crisis: A PR emergency, like a product recall or a shooting on campus.
• Executive: An employee of a company, generally in upper-management, like CEOs, CTOs, VPs, etc.
• Public Figure: A celebrity, spokesperson, or endorser of a company, like The Weeknd for H&M, 50 Cent for Vitamin Water, Anthony Bourdain for Balvenie scotch, or LeBron James for Nike.
• On-brand Messaging: A collection of all wording that fits the company’s ideal brand image, like “fuel-efficient”, “long-range”, “sustainable”, and “safe” for Tesla. Save these all together as an OR statement.
• SEO Keyword: A word or phrase you want to rank highly on within a search engine. Save these each as unique searches.
• Target Publications: A list of the top publications you want to track or be featured in.
• Blacklisted Publications: A list of publications you never want to see coverage from...never ever.
• Custom: A search that does not meet any of the categories above.

Sharing Searches

If you build a search that your colleagues could make use of, it is as easy as a single click to share it with all of the users in your  Cision account. When you initially share the search, you will be presented with two options: Full-Access and View-Only.

We recommend sharing with Full-Access so that any adjustments you or your team members make to the search will be reflected in each of your users and dashboards. You can easily switch this permission after you share your search by clicking “View Only” or “Full Access” on the search row. Do keep in mind that you cannot unshare your search once you have shared it. Also note that if you delete a shared search, it will be deleted from all the users in your account.

• Best Practice: We recommend sharing your searches before adding them to a Dashboard that you will share with your team. This workflow will help avoid creating a duplicate search.

To Share a Monitoring Search:

1. Select the Coverage tab.
2. Select the Saved Searches option.
3. If you have many Searches, you can quickly locate a specific Search typing in a term to locate it from the list.
4. Click the Elipses button.
5. Select Share Search.
6. Choose how you want to Share the Search:
   • View Only: Your team will not have editing capabilities but will have the option to use the search to create analytics dashboards, charts, and alerts.
   • Full Access: Your team will have full access to edit the search and its terms. Any changes made by any team member will be reflected across all dashboards and alerts related to the search.
7. Click the Share button.