Meltwater - Detailed Review
Content Tools
Meltwater - Product Overview
Meltwater Overview
Meltwater is a comprehensive platform that falls squarely within the Content Tools AI-driven product category, offering a suite of tools to help businesses manage and optimize their social media, content marketing, and consumer intelligence strategies.Primary Function
Meltwater’s primary function is to streamline and enhance various aspects of a company’s online presence and customer engagement. It helps in creating, managing, and tracking social media activities, as well as providing deep insights into consumer behavior and preferences.Target Audience
The target audience for Meltwater includes a wide range of businesses, from small to large enterprises, particularly those in the marketing, public relations, and consumer intelligence sectors. Companies with 20-49 employees, 100-249 employees, and 1,000-4,999 employees are among the most common users.Key Features
Social Media Management
Meltwater allows users to manage their social media activities in one place, including scheduling posts, creating compelling content with AI-powered assistants, and organizing media assets. It also facilitates engagement by providing a unified inbox for managing conversations across different social profiles.Audience Segmentation
The platform offers advanced audience segmentation capabilities, enabling businesses to divide their target audience into smaller, specific groups based on characteristics such as geographic location, age, lifestyle preferences, values, job title, interests, and personality traits. This is achieved through the use of technology like CRM systems, ERPs, and Meltwater’s consumer intelligence solution.Consumer Intelligence
Meltwater’s consumer intelligence suite uses AI and social data to provide actionable insights into customer behaviors, preferences, and needs. It transforms unstructured data into structured insights, helping businesses make informed decisions and improve their marketing efficiency.Content Marketing
For content marketing, Meltwater helps teams learn what their audience needs and wants by analyzing millions of topics across multiple channels. This data-driven approach informs content creation strategies, ensuring that the content resonates with the target audience.Analytics and Reporting
The platform automatically generates stakeholder-ready reports across owned, paid, and influencer campaigns, providing a clear picture of how the social media strategy is driving brand growth. This eliminates the need for manual data collection and analysis from each channel.Conclusion
In summary, Meltwater is a versatile tool that integrates social media management, audience segmentation, consumer intelligence, and content marketing, all powered by AI and social data, to help businesses engage more effectively with their audiences and make data-driven decisions. Meltwater - User Interface and Experience
User-Friendly Interface
Meltwater’s interface is generally praised for its ease of use. Users can effortlessly schedule and publish content across multiple social media channels, and the platform provides real-time insights that are easily accessible. The interface allows for streamlined management of social media campaigns, including content scheduling, monitoring inquiries, and engaging with the audience. The content calendar feature, for example, relieves the headache of post scheduling and ensures media is in the right format for each platform.
Key Features and Organization
Meltwater organizes its tools into several categories, such as Explore & Monitor, Engage, Analyze & Report, and Distribute & Alert. This categorization helps users find specific functions easily. For instance, the “Engage” feature is paramount for managing social media content calendars, scheduling, and monitoring inquiries.
Real-Time Insights and Reporting
The platform offers daily, weekly, or monthly reports that are automatically generated, making it easy to track performance and adjust strategies accordingly. The reporting dashboards are stakeholder-ready, providing a clear view of how the social media strategy is driving brand growth.
Social Listening and Alerts
Meltwater’s social listening capabilities allow users to capture every brand mention in real-time, helping to stay on top of trends and customer sentiment. The platform also provides real-time alerts for chosen topics, ensuring users are always informed about relevant conversations.
Collaboration and Integration
The interface facilitates seamless collaboration among teams, including PR, customer experience, and external agencies. It also supports integration with third-party applications and business intelligence tools via the Meltwater API, enhancing the overall efficiency of social media management.
Learning Curve
While the interface is user-friendly, there is a learning curve to fully utilize all the advanced features. Users may need some time to get accustomed to the various tools and functionalities available. However, the platform offers extensive support, including Meltwater Academy, live chat, email support, and step-by-step product tutorials to help users maximize its potential.
Customer Support
Meltwater is known for its exceptional customer service. The support team is quick to respond and offers thoughtful, helpful solutions, which is crucial for resolving any issues that may arise and for maximizing the platform’s potential.
Conclusion
In summary, Meltwater’s user interface is designed to be intuitive and efficient, making it easier for users to manage their social media activities, track performance, and engage with their audience effectively. While there may be a learning curve, the platform’s support resources and user-friendly design help users to quickly adapt and make the most out of its features.
Meltwater - Key Features and Functionality
Meltwater’s AI-Driven Content Tools
Meltwater’s Content Tools, driven by AI, offer a range of innovative features that enhance efficiency, accuracy, and engagement in content creation, media monitoring, and social media management. Here are the key features and how they work:AI-Powered Platform Assistant
This AI-driven tool helps users complete tasks more efficiently across the Meltwater platform. Users can ask the assistant how to perform tasks, and it will provide quick and accurate guidance, streamlining workflows and enhancing productivity.AI Journalist Search
This feature uses AI to find the most relevant journalists for a given story. It goes beyond keyword searches by analyzing the meaning and messaging of content to recommend the best-fit contacts, saving time and ensuring targeted outreach.AI Search Assistant
The AI Search Assistant is an AI-powered chatbot that simplifies the process of writing complex Boolean searches. It helps generate brand and industry searches, expand or narrow searches, repair Boolean errors, and even translate searches to other languages. This tool makes search query writing faster and more accurate for users of all levels.AI Writing Assistant
This feature leverages generative AI to boost productivity and facilitate creativity in content creation. It helps marketers generate content more efficiently and improves the quality of the content produced.Insight Assistant
The Insight Assistant uncovers significant consumer and market information and patterns, helping marketing teams stay ahead. It simplifies the task of analyzing and identifying the drivers of conversations with high accuracy and relevance.Video Analysis
Meltwater’s video analysis uses advanced computer vision to capture insights from video content on social platforms. This allows customers to gain a comprehensive understanding of their online brand, aiding in crisis management and content ideation.Brand Analytics Tabs
These tabs automate the task of analyzing and deriving brand insights from thousands of conversations and news stories. They deliver quick insights into a brand’s volume, narrative, sentiment, and engagement, providing valuable analytics without manual effort.Updates to the Engage Solution
The Engage solution has been enhanced to improve collaboration and visibility across teams when creating and managing brand-approved social posts. Features include multi-tier approvals for streamlined collaboration and a new video editor within the platform, which saves time and empowers teams to produce polished social content faster.Data Integration and API Access
Meltwater offers API access to integrate its data into customers’ own or third-party software platforms. This integration enables centralized reporting, unifies social media and PR activities with business outcomes, and allows customization of workflows, sentiment models, and algorithms. It also connects to BI tools like Looker Studio and Power BI without requiring a developer.Content Filters and Influencer Analysis
Content Filters help users see the key topic areas an influencer posts about most, allowing them to evaluate the influencer’s expertise, quality, and engagement. Extended metrics include reach, engagement rate, and EMV (Earned Media Value) per channel, making it easier to vet audience engagement and excitement for specific content.AI-Powered Insights
This feature provides a synopsis of the top posts and content driving specific metrics in a fraction of the time it would take a human. It appears via the Filtered Mentions slide-out in Explore and offers a sampled synopsis using the top 20-25 documents by reach and/or engagement.AI Press Release Generator
Meltwater’s AI Press Release Generator uses generative AI to help users create press releases efficiently. This tool is part of the broader suite of gen-AI capabilities that simplify content creation tasks. These features collectively leverage AI to eliminate guesswork, save time, access actionable data, and produce more personalized content, making Meltwater a powerful tool for marketers and communication professionals. Meltwater - Performance and Accuracy
Evaluating the Performance and Accuracy of Meltwater
Evaluating the performance and accuracy of Meltwater in the Content Tools AI-driven product category involves examining several key aspects of its functionality and user feedback.
Performance
Meltwater is praised for its ability to centralize and simplify the process of measuring and monitoring brand performance. It allows users to create custom searches to track media exposure, sentiment, and potential reach, all presented through clear and centralized dashboards and presentation-ready reports.
The platform’s AI-powered innovations, such as the Platform Assistant, Brand Analytics Tabs, and AI Journalist Search, are designed to save time and provide strategic insights. These tools automate tasks like analyzing brand insights from thousands of conversations and news stories, and help users find the most relevant journalists for outreach.
Meltwater also excels in campaign tracking, enabling users to monitor and analyze campaign performance in real-time, which is crucial for demonstrating ROI and adapting strategic thinking.
Accuracy
While Meltwater offers a wealth of data and insights, there are some concerns regarding accuracy. Users have reported issues with data accuracy, particularly with social media reporting, which can be affected by the restrictive APIs of social platforms. This can lead to errors in social media metrics and make social scheduling challenging.
Some users have also noted that the platform’s data can sometimes be inconsistent or incomplete, especially when dealing with niche publications or specific media lists. For instance, a medical non-profit reported that many niche publications were not included in Meltwater’s database, requiring manual updates.
Limitations and Areas for Improvement
Data Accuracy and Completeness
There are issues with data accuracy, particularly with social media data, due to restrictions from social platform APIs. This can result in incomplete or inaccurate reporting.
Search and Filtering
Users have expressed a desire for better search filtering capabilities to gain more precise snapshots of individual outreach performance and to create news searches based on specific media lists.
Contract and Billing
Some users have criticized Meltwater’s contract policies, particularly the autorenewal clause, which can lead to unexpected charges if not managed properly.
User Interface and Data Presentation
While the interface is generally user-friendly, some users find the dashboards can be complex, making it difficult to identify key information amidst the large amount of data collected.
Engagement
Meltwater is effective in engaging users through its real-time alert tools and listening capabilities, which help monitor sentiment around product offers and gain insights into product reception and issues. The platform also supports influencer marketing by allowing users to scrutinize influencer accounts and track statistics in real-time.
Conclusion
Meltwater is a powerful tool for media intelligence, offering significant benefits in brand performance monitoring, campaign tracking, and consumer insights. However, it faces challenges related to data accuracy, completeness, and the user interface. Addressing these limitations could further enhance its performance and user satisfaction. Overall, Meltwater remains a valuable resource for PR, communications, and marketing professionals, despite some areas needing improvement.
Meltwater - Pricing and Plans
Pricing Structure
Meltwater’s pricing structure for its AI-driven content tools and PR platform is not publicly disclosed on their website, which can make it challenging to get a clear picture without engaging with their sales team. Here’s a breakdown of what is known based on available research:Pricing Tiers
Meltwater has a tiered pricing system, which includes:- Essentials: This is the basic package, suitable for starting out with general brand and market monitoring. It includes training resources to help users get started.
- Advanced: This tier offers deeper analysis tools and unlimited search features, making it best for businesses that need detailed media monitoring insights.
- Suite: This tier provides access to the full suite of Meltwater’s tools, including integrated tools across multiple products, advanced analytics, and a unified approach to managing insights.
- Enterprise: This is the premium option, which includes everything Meltwater offers, such as advanced AI features, specialized services, and tools to help make strategic PR decisions.
Features and Costs
Each tier comes with different levels of access to tools and features:- Media Monitoring: Available in the Essentials and Advanced tiers, with more advanced features in higher tiers.
- Advanced Analytics: Included in the Advanced, Suite, and Enterprise tiers.
- Influencer Engagement: Part of the higher-tier plans.
- Customization and Training: Additional costs can apply for personalized reporting, influencer identification, and media training.
Pricing Estimates
The costs are not publicly disclosed, but here are some estimates based on research:- The average cost per user per year is reportedly around $12,000, with some estimates ranging from $6,000 to $25,000 per year.
- Monthly costs can be estimated at around $1,000 per user per month.
Contract and Commitment
Meltwater requires users to commit to annual contracts; there is no option for a monthly subscription. This means users must make a significant upfront payment, which can be challenging for smaller teams or those preferring more flexibility.Free Trial and Demo
Meltwater does not offer a free trial. Instead, users can request a custom demo from the sales team to get a better understanding of the product.Additional Costs
The final cost of a Meltwater contract can increase based on the number of users, the amount of customization, and additional features required. These extra costs can add up substantially. Given the lack of transparency in Meltwater’s pricing, it is recommended to contact their sales team directly for a custom quote to get the most accurate and detailed information. Meltwater - Integration and Compatibility
Data & API Integration
Meltwater provides API access, allowing users to integrate its data into their own or third-party software platforms. This integration enables automated and centralized reporting, which can be crucial for businesses needing a single source of truth for their data. Users can unify their social media and PR activities with business outcomes, connect to preferred Business Intelligence (BI) tools like Looker Studio and Power BI, and automate data retrieval without manual downloading.BI Connectors
Meltwater offers connectors for popular BI tools, making it easy to bring data into these platforms without requiring developer expertise. This feature ensures that reports are consumed by all stakeholders, enhancing the centralization and accessibility of reporting.Platform Compatibility
Meltwater’s tools are compatible with a range of platforms, including Microsoft environments. The newly introduced Meltwater Copilot, developed in collaboration with Microsoft, allows users to surface real-time insights such as brand mentions, sentiment analysis, and competitive benchmarking directly within Microsoft Teams. This integration leverages Microsoft’s technology stack, including Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Microsoft 365.AI-Powered Tools
Meltwater’s AI-driven tools, such as the AI writing assistant, discovery AI-based insight assistant, and video analysis tool, are integrated into the platform. These tools use OpenAI models and advanced algorithms to enhance efficiency and save time through accelerated content creation and insight surfacing. These features are accessible across the Meltwater Suite, ensuring that users can generate insights and content seamlessly.Cross-Device Accessibility
While specific details on cross-device compatibility are not extensively outlined, the integration with cloud-based services like Microsoft 365 and the availability of API access suggest that Meltwater’s tools can be accessed from various devices, including desktops, laptops, and potentially mobile devices, as long as they have the necessary software and internet connectivity.Conclusion
In summary, Meltwater’s integration capabilities and compatibility with various platforms and tools make it a versatile solution for businesses looking to centralize their data, enhance reporting, and leverage AI-driven insights across different devices and environments. Meltwater - Customer Support and Resources
Meltwater’s Comprehensive Suite of Tools
Meltwater offers a comprehensive suite of tools and resources to support its customers, particularly in the context of its AI-driven content tools and social media management solutions.Customer Support Options
Integrated Software Solutions
Integrated Software Solutions: Meltwater provides seamless integration between its social media management tools, such as Meltwater Engage, and customer service platforms like Salesforce. This integration ensures that customer service teams and social media staff can collaborate effectively to deliver consistent customer experiences.
Social Listening and Analytics
Social Listening and Analytics: Tools like Meltwater Explore help in identifying brand mentions across various social media channels, even if the company is not directly tagged. This allows for prompt responses to customer queries and complaints.
AI-Powered Insights
AI-Powered Insights: Meltwater’s AI engine and tools, such as the Insight Assistant and Video Analysis capabilities, help customers capture insights from video content, identify key shifts in brand mentions, and generate content. These features streamline workflows and provide deeper, more accurate insights.
Additional Resources
Training and Collaboration Tools
Training and Collaboration Tools: Meltwater Engage is built for cross-team collaboration with features like customizable workflows, role-based dashboards, and a unified inbox. This ensures all customer engagements are identified and handled efficiently by the team.
Automated Reporting and Alerts
Automated Reporting and Alerts: The platform offers automated reporting and alerts to warn users when brand mentions suddenly spike, enabling early identification of problems and quick reactions.
Consumer Intelligence
Consumer Intelligence: Meltwater’s consumer insights platform, Radarly, provides enterprise-level insights into how customers discuss the brand and products in digital spaces. This helps in understanding audience segments and comparing brand performance against competitors.
AI-Driven Content Generation
AI-Driven Content Generation: Tools like the AI Press Release Generator and AI Search Assistant help in creating complex social listening searches and generating content, which can be particularly useful for content strategy and crisis management.
Workshops and Summits
Workshops and Summits: Meltwater hosts events such as the Meltwater Summit, where new product launches and AI-powered enhancements are revealed, providing customers with the latest insights and strategies.
Analytics and Reporting
360° Reporting
360° Reporting: Meltwater offers comprehensive reporting that provides a full view of the strategy’s effectiveness. This includes sentiment analysis, spike detection, and comparative reports to benchmark brand performance.
Customizable Insights
Customizable Insights: Features like custom scoring and AI overviews allow users to quickly grasp relevant news and insights, making it easier to measure success and identify areas for improvement.
By leveraging these resources, customers can enhance their social media customer service, improve engagement, and make data-driven decisions to drive their business forward.
Meltwater - Pros and Cons
Advantages of Meltwater
Meltwater offers several significant advantages that make it a valuable tool for PR, communications, and marketing professionals:Powerful Media Monitoring
Meltwater is highly praised for its comprehensive media monitoring capabilities, allowing users to track unlimited keywords across social media, TV, radio, global news, print, and podcasts. This feature provides real-time alerts and deep insights, including sentiment analysis, volume spike detection, and custom mention scoring.Thorough Reporting and Analytics
The platform offers custom PR reporting and interactive dashboards, which are crucial for measuring PR KPIs. Users can also hire a team of analysts for more complex reporting needs.All-in-One PR Platform
Meltwater’s full-suite plan acts as an all-in-one PR platform, enabling users to manage media monitoring, journalist outreach, social media management, influencer marketing, and more from a single interface.AI Integrations
The platform leverages AI to enhance its tools, providing features like social listening, data visualization, and data analysis. These AI integrations help users stay ahead with future-focused tools.Comprehensive Data Access
Meltwater provides access to a robust dataset across media, social, and consumer trends, which can be turned into actionable insights using their AI tools.User-Friendly Dashboards
Despite the steep learning curve, many users find the dashboards user-friendly once they become familiar with the platform.Disadvantages of Meltwater
While Meltwater offers many benefits, there are also several drawbacks to consider:Steep Learning Curve
The platform is known for its steep learning curve, which can make it challenging for new users to get started. Setting up searches and using advanced features often require significant time and effort.Complex Interface
The variety of tools and solutions within Meltwater can make the interface overwhelming and hard to navigate, which can slow down PR work.Hidden Pricing
Meltwater’s pricing is not publicly available, and users must contact the company for a quote. This lack of transparency can be frustrating, and the prices are generally reported to be very high, starting at around $12,000 per year.Irrelevant Data and Delays
Some users report issues with irrelevant social listening data and delays in data processing, which can hinder rapid responses to social media activity or crises.Limited Customization and New Channel Adoption
The platform is slow to incorporate new social media channels and their full range of features, and it offers few possibilities for customization. New market additions often come at an additional cost.Contract Commitments
Meltwater’s annual contracts can be inflexible, making it difficult for companies to adjust their subscriptions if needed. This can be particularly problematic if the platform does not meet the expected ROI. Overall, Meltwater is a powerful tool for media monitoring and PR management, but its high cost, steep learning curve, and some operational limitations need to be carefully considered before making a decision. Meltwater - Comparison with Competitors
When comparing Meltwater to its competitors in the AI-driven content tools category, several key points and alternatives stand out:
Unique Features of Meltwater
Meltwater has recently introduced several AI-powered innovations that set it apart. These include:- AI-Powered Platform Assistant: This feature helps teams complete tasks more efficiently by providing guidance on how to perform common tasks within the platform.
- Brand Analytics Tabs: These automate the analysis of brand insights from numerous conversations and news stories, offering detailed analytics on volume, narrative, sentiment, and engagement.
- AI Journalist Search: This tool analyzes content meaning and messaging to recommend the most relevant journalists for outreach, saving time and ensuring targeted contacts.
- AI Content Creation: Meltwater features tools like an AI Press Release Generator and an AI Search Assistant, which aid in creating complex social listening searches and generating insights for content strategy.
Competitors and Alternatives
Prezly
Prezly is a modern, relationship-driven PR software that offers a better user experience and lower pricing compared to Meltwater. Key features include:- Journalist Outreach Tools: Prezly integrates with nearly any media monitoring solution, including Meltwater, and offers tools for multimedia press releases and site & newsroom creation.
- CRM and Media Monitoring: While Prezly does not have its own media monitoring features, it excels in CRM and can integrate with other media monitoring solutions.
Muck Rack
Muck Rack is an all-in-one PR tool with a user-friendly interface and extensive journalist network. It offers:- Media Database and Press Release Distribution: Similar to Meltwater, but with better customer support and a more intuitive interface.
- Real-time Media Monitoring: However, Muck Rack has limited global reach and higher, often hidden pricing.
Brandwatch
Brandwatch is an enterprise solution for large agencies and brands, offering:- Social Media Management and Consumer Intelligence: Brandwatch outperforms Meltwater in most feature categories, including social media management and consumer intelligence, with better support and more powerful features.
- Influencer Marketing: It also includes tools for influencer discovery and campaign management, making it a comprehensive alternative.
Talkwalker
Talkwalker specializes in media monitoring and social listening, providing:- Full Media Coverage and AI-Powered Sentiment Analysis: It offers insights from online, print, TV, and other media channels, with AI-driven sentiment analysis and actionable insights.
- Audience Insights: However, it is more suited for large organizations needing to understand brand mentions and social analytics, and it comes with premium pricing and a complex setup.
Cision
Cision is a more expensive but feature-rich PR suite compared to Meltwater. It includes:- Extensive Media Database and Press Release Distribution: Cision offers a broader media database but is more expensive than both Meltwater and Prezly.
- Real-time Media Monitoring: It provides comprehensive tools but may be less user-friendly and more costly.
Key Considerations
When choosing an alternative to Meltwater, consider the following:- Real-Time Accuracy: If real-time precision is crucial, alternatives like Brandwatch might offer better performance.
- User Experience: For a more intuitive interface, Muck Rack or Prezly could be better options.
- Customization and Integration: If advanced customization and seamless integration with existing tools are necessary, Brandwatch or Talkwalker might be more suitable.
- Pricing: Prezly and Talkwalker offer different pricing models, with Prezly being more affordable and Talkwalker being more expensive but with comprehensive features.
Meltwater - Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some frequently asked questions about Meltwater’s AI-driven content tools, along with detailed responses:
How does Meltwater use AI for content creation?
Meltwater leverages AI to simplify and enhance content creation. For instance, their AI Press Release Generator can create press releases, and the AI Search Assistant helps in setting up complex social listening searches quickly. Additionally, AI-powered assistants can aid in creating compelling copy and eye-catching images for social media posts.Can Meltwater help with social media management?
Yes, Meltwater offers a comprehensive social media management tool. This tool allows users to create, manage, and track their social media activities in one place. It includes features like a content calendar for scheduling posts, an integrated asset library for organizing media, and automated reporting to analyze cross-platform performance.How does Meltwater’s Consumer Insights platform work?
Meltwater’s Consumer Insights platform uses AI and human market research expertise to analyze vast amounts of social data. It structures the data intelligently to provide meaningful insights into consumer behavior, interests, demographics, and other relevant metrics. This helps marketers understand how different groups talk about their brand or topics online.What kind of media channels does Meltwater monitor?
Meltwater monitors a wide range of media channels, including print media (newspapers, magazines), online media (blogs, websites, social media), and broadcast media (television, radio news). This comprehensive coverage helps users track brand mentions and relevant content across various platforms.Can Meltwater help identify and collaborate with influencers?
Yes, Meltwater offers features for influencer identification and collaboration. It allows users to segment influencers based on specific brand initiatives, engage and collaborate with them, and maintain records of past partnerships and communications. Additionally, it helps in managing user-generated content and automating the approval process for influencer contributions.How does Meltwater’s AI engine enhance user productivity?
Meltwater’s AI engine, integrated with OpenAI models like ChatGPT, streamlines workflows and boosts efficiency. It simplifies tasks such as setting up Boolean search queries, generating concise content summaries, and automating tags for news and social content. This reduces the time needed to gain strategic insights and unblocks creative barriers for users.Can Meltwater help with sentiment analysis and social measurement?
Yes, Meltwater provides features for sentiment analysis and social measurement. It analyzes media and influencer contacts, measures the effectiveness of actions, and offers insights into how audiences perceive the brand. This helps in understanding public sentiment and adjusting strategies accordingly.How does Meltwater’s content calendar feature work?
Meltwater’s content calendar allows users to visualize and manage all scheduled social campaigns and content in a timeline or calendar format. This feature ensures that media is in the right format for each platform and relieves the headache of post scheduling across multiple social profiles.Can Meltwater help in crisis management and content ideation?
Yes, Meltwater’s AI-powered tools, such as advanced computer vision, help in capturing insights from video content on social platforms. This feature identifies logos, celebrities, scenes, and objects, enabling users to gain a comprehensive understanding of their online brand presence, which is useful for crisis management and content ideation.How does Meltwater facilitate team collaboration and content approval?
Meltwater offers features like shared inboxes, approval workflows, and user permissions to facilitate team collaboration. The shared inbox collects messages from multiple social channels, while approval workflows automate the content approval process to ensure social posts are approved by managers or clients before publishing.