Vocus' Little Book of Big Ideas: 15 Tips for Vocus PR Users

BIG Ideaslittle book of

15 Vocus tricks that you NEED to know

Little Book of Big Ideas_Pattern.indd 1 6/3/11 1:44 PM

tons of BIG Ideas this way!



1

what’s the BIG Idea?

steps:

Here’s a quick way to get everything tagged and categorized. Just type -EMPTY- into a news, media contact or media outlet search – and you’ll get everything that has yet to be categorized in your results. And don’t underestimate the importance of categorization – it helps you find everything you’re looking for faster and brings you more accurate analytics.

search field -EMPTY-

-EMPTY-


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steps:

<>

Use these arrows the next time you search – it means “not equal to.” So if you’re interested in seeing every mention except for those on Twitter, just type <>Twitter – it’s that quick and it’s that easy.

search field <>


3


steps:

There are literally tons of ways to refine your search behind this little box. So check it, and make searching for contacts, outlets and news a whole lot quicker and simpler.

media contacts/media outlets/news advanced search show all search options

show all search options


4


steps:

Journalists and bloggers don’t just write stories and blog posts anymore – they tweet and Facebook, too. In fact – most stories are broken on social outlets and some stories are never even printed. With this feature, you can find journalists on social networks and see what they’re saying.

media contacts advanced search show all search options

news origin is social media → “yes”

is social media: yes


5


steps:

Think your presence on Twitter is strong? You can find out with this feature and see every tweet or retweet that you’re looking for, in minutes. Quick tip: this doesn’t end with Twitter. You can see how strong you are on Facebook, WordPress, YouTube and more.

news advanced search type “twitter”

Type: =TwitterAdd New News Type

Name

Twitter

Video/Photo - Other


6


steps:

This feature is awesome – if your first search nets thousands of various mentions and coverage, you can narrow it down. Refine your search by date, outlet, type, origin or company.

news news results page filter

Filter


7


steps:

This is Vocus’ latest feature – you can “share” information on Twitter and Facebook from anywhere in the Vocus system. You can add as many Facebook and Twitter accounts as you want – and can engage quickly and directly with consumers and prospects, share content or post a mention without having to open a different window.

any page share button

share button


8


steps:

When searching, there are some things that you just know you don’t need to see. For example, if Warren Buffet wanted to see his company’s (Berkshire Hathaway, Inc.) mentions, he’d be wise to include NOT “Anne Hathaway” in his search. This can really make your search results a lot easier to manage.

admin media monitoring searches add

“your search term” “NOT” field

any of these unwanted words/phrases: NOT

Example: iTunes


9


steps:

Broad searches are going to bring broad results – here’s a way to drill down on what you’re really looking for. With this feature, you can exclude some of the subjects (i.e. - crime, obituary, financial, government) that you know you won’t be looking for.

admin media monitoring searches add

“your search term” “subjects” field

any of these subjects:Subject

Alumni & Formerly Employed

Birth & Obituary Announcements

Crime

Language:

Country:


10


steps:

- word clouds

With word clouds, you can see what phrases, terms or words are coming up the most in your online chatter. You’ll see how people are talking about your company – which can help you craft your message and speak the same language as your audience.

analytics homePage designer (same folder icon shown on page #13)

add panel news word cloud


11


steps:

Say you conduct a search for a media contact and your results come back with 1,000 different contacts – you want to put a tag or category on 300 of them. It would be painful to go through one-by-one – but with this feature, you don’t have to. You can take action in batches. You can change a group of search results at once – and put all of the contacts you want in the right category, subject or type.

news/media contacts “your search term”

select or de-select whichever results you want tools batch change

News Projects Newsroom AnalyticsNew News | Refresh Results | Reports | Save | Tools

Batch Block OutletsBatch ChangeChange Results Columns


12


steps:

Say you want to see your positive – and only your positive – coverage. Or negative or neutral coverage, for that matter. You can refine your search to pinpoint the journalists or outlets that are giving you the most love – and would be likely candidates to give you love again. Quick tip: if you read a mention that we label as positive, but you think is negative, you can change it. Just go to the batch change page.

news advanced search “rating”

Rating:

Ad Value:

Viewed By:

List:

Rating

NEG

NEU

POS


13


steps:

customized homepage

You can set up your Vocus dashboard just the way you want it. You can move and re-size panels – and can add charts, search options and lists, too. This will get you through the system faster – because you’ll know exactly where everything is. Quick tip: when you’re finished, don’t forget to hit save.

home tab folder icon


14


steps:

You can see your coverage, mentions and sentiment on social media, blogs and traditional media – side-by-side. It’s a great way to compare what’s being said in each forum – or to simply see how you’re doing in a particular forum.

analytics top right drop-down menu change options “origin”

Origin: Social Media

[All]NewsBlogsSocial Media


15


steps:

This is all about prioritization and categorization. You set the criteria here for feature’s and briefs here – as you can define how many mentions per X amount of words as a feature story or brief. This way, your search results are catered to you. And you’ll know when a feature story about you is actually, well, a feature story.

admin support files news types automatic news typing “yes”

Enable Automatic Typing: Yes No


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Vocus' Little Book of Big Ideas: 15 Tips for Vocus PR Users