Universal Information Services

Before we answer this key question, let’s backup and explain what Alpha Clips are and why this service is a better way to monitor news for your organization or clients. This is the first in a series of four posts that will answer Key Questions for public relations professionals and corporate communicators.

What Are Alpha Clips?

Alpha Clips is a news monitoring service that tracks article origins of shared news stories. Through applied data science, Alpha Clips can identify and summarize news that would commonly be shared across social networks and online. Artificial intelligence (AI) is used for finding, summarizing, clustering, and delivering important news coverage so PR and communications professionals can save time while consuming key information. In other words, the Alpha Clips service locates the first occurrence of a news mention, then integrates any web or social media mentions of that same content so you can find all mentions in one place.

Why is the Alpha Clips software a better way to monitor news?

As a professional communicator, what is it you have too little of? If you’re like most in your industry, that answer is “time”. Of course, “time” is probably right up there with “money”, but unfortunately as good as our team is, we can only make you look better so that you are recognized and may receive a raise. Where we can truly help is in the way we present media monitoring results and support your communication efforts.

1. First, if you are starved for comprehensive media results, or find you get too many false results, then a more accurate method for monitoring your PR efforts is in order.
2. Second, is your media monitoring vendor available and willing to do what it takes to help you when you need it? Are they timely in their support of your efforts? If you answered “no” to either of those questions, then a vendor that includes concierge support as part of their tools is important.

KEY QUESTION: How Do Alpha Clips Improve News Monitoring?

Alpha Clips combine published news articles with the online and social media story equivalents, in a platform designed to streamline news monitoring and allow communications professionals to quickly consume key information. By integrating all text-based media, then summarizing each story into concise bullet points, and finally clustering stories that are the same, we can reduce the time needed to consume your media mentions by up to 75%. So, by searching more media outlets we can deliver a more comprehensive media monitoring service, more accurately, save the user time, and do it all while supporting clients with our concierge service and training.

Key Benefits

• Faster access to breaking news across email, desktop, and mobile app environments
• Streamlined reading that reduces article length by up to 75%, allowing the reader to consume the content much faster
• Clustered articles that are closely related to the Alpha Clip, showing the reach of a story
• Click-through access to see full-text stories and images as published
• Immediate sharing within your organizational family, according to licensing
• Newsletter creation and “pinning” of key stories that should be shown first in a report

To learn more about how media monitoring with Alpha Clips can improve your public relations efforts, or why our clients love working with Universal Information Services, connect via email. You can also find more about our services online at our Services Page.