Meltwater Suite (UK)
MeltwaterReviews from AWS customer
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Incredible, Professional Tool. Translates Real Coverage into Usable Data
What do you like best about the product?
I like the ease of searching for contacts in new markets and with specific beats. I also find the daily digests of coverage extremely useful. They are timely, I like to be able to see the coverage or mentions BEFORE my colleagues do. It's nice not to have to go to the native sites to find mentions.
What do you dislike about the product?
Merging contacts in the Meltwater system with my manually-made contact lists has been a struggle. I live/work in Tahoe (many influential contacts are not included in Meltwater lists) so I'd like to more seamlessly add contacts simply by adding their email, rather than making a full journalistic profile.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
We are finding new markets to connect with and distribute content.
Recommendations to others considering the product:
Make sure you get a platform tour! I learned so much by being walked through every button and feature. It's challenging to navigate as a new user and is constantly improving, so it's best to have a pro show you the ins and outs :)
Not Bad But Don't Know That It is a Must
What do you like best about the product?
The database and search aggregators are useful, overpriced, everything comes in a separate module so you have to buy a ton of products for all features
What do you dislike about the product?
the articles that it pulls are not as comprehensive as I would like (articles behind paywalls don't get pulled, for example) and it is not quite as user friendly as desired
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
finding articles about the company or related to our interests for social media, media database for press releases,
Recommendations to others considering the product:
it is an expensive product but if you have a plan for how to make the most of it, it is worth it.
It's useful, but know it's limitations before you sign (and meet the much detested auto-renewal)
What do you like best about the product?
Daily alerts, monthly newsletter creation save time and alert you to any 'big picture' activity each morning.
What do you dislike about the product?
Journalist content information is wholly unreliable. You will need to access another platform (for me, that's FeaturesExec from DWP). Any changes that you suggest to Meltwater are unlikely to ever appear, in short, just don't rely on the contact information at all. Your list entries are not updated against live versions, therefore you have to recreate each list at least once a year manually - or ask your account manager to do this for you.
Worst feature (as is detailed so much in the reviews ) is their very poor sales model. My biggest issue is not actually the 60 day auto renewal, it's the fact that they delight in first selling the service to PRs/Consultants; then once your Client data is loaded, they offer clients direct a monitoring package, often with greater service levels (countries covered) and at a cheaper price still than the bargain bucket price that you think you have negotiated. This has caught me so many times. The client ends up with a service they don't really need or know how to use and us PRs are unable to provide a clipping service as it is now entirely at our own cost.
Also note, one of the senior directors at Meltwater was involed in a bitter legal challenge with the NLA in the UK in 2013 over the rights to forward clippings. He then went on to run the NLA (Newspaper Licensing Authority). It could be a remarkable co-incidence, but after that happened all the PRs on the system were then hit with annual NLA Licence costs for forwarding clippings onward!
Worst feature (as is detailed so much in the reviews ) is their very poor sales model. My biggest issue is not actually the 60 day auto renewal, it's the fact that they delight in first selling the service to PRs/Consultants; then once your Client data is loaded, they offer clients direct a monitoring package, often with greater service levels (countries covered) and at a cheaper price still than the bargain bucket price that you think you have negotiated. This has caught me so many times. The client ends up with a service they don't really need or know how to use and us PRs are unable to provide a clipping service as it is now entirely at our own cost.
Also note, one of the senior directors at Meltwater was involed in a bitter legal challenge with the NLA in the UK in 2013 over the rights to forward clippings. He then went on to run the NLA (Newspaper Licensing Authority). It could be a remarkable co-incidence, but after that happened all the PRs on the system were then hit with annual NLA Licence costs for forwarding clippings onward!
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Daily notifications and a quick and easy way of forwarding a newsletter to clients each month vs Excle based coverage reports
Recommendations to others considering the product:
Just be aware of the business implications and consider the tool as a daily delivery aid not a method of outbound comms to journalists
Good way to get media contacts quickly.
What do you like best about the product?
I like how quick it is to find contacts.
What do you dislike about the product?
I don't think it is updated as often as it should be - I often times still have to research contacts on my own.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Quick contacts for media.
Meltwater
What do you like best about the product?
I like the excellent customer service as well as the various dashboards we can set up under one account.
What do you dislike about the product?
I don't like that it is not the easiest system to use when building a newsletter. You have to do the same thing multiple times in some scenarios. I also dislike that in the media database, it can't just pull assignment desk/general news emails as opposed to listing many people at the same outlet.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
See above. I also wish Meltwater could pull in more stories that are behind a paywall.
Sysomos is OK
What do you like best about the product?
It worked very well for pushing out content to social networks on a large scale. It could work well for an agency model managing multiple account. The reporting was satisfactory as well.
What do you dislike about the product?
It was very difficult to customize store information on a large scale. Also, I think the in-platform customer engagement tools need some updating.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Being a larger company with over 100 stores, we were able to mange social pages through a single hub, provide analytics, and get real-time updates. This helped us realize the direction we wanted in which we needed to move.
Recommendations to others considering the product:
Just make sure they have everything you need. It's a good product, but not a good fit for everyone. My company grew out of the software and needed a more advanced platform.
It Works...Mostly
What do you like best about the product?
The media release/outreach interface has been updated FINALLY to where you can simply cut and paste from Word docs. It's relatively easy to save articles from your content stream and email them to other team members. Honestly, that's about the only thing I really love about Meltwater. I guess I could say the interface is sleek and well-designed in looks but not functionality.
What do you dislike about the product?
The search feature sucks. I usually end up turning to Google to find what I need. The contact database also doesn't seem to be updated too often. Lots of out-of-date info on there. Also, adding your own contacts is super time consuming and there aren't even separate fields for company name and role/title of individual. No matter how many times I set it, my personal dashboard settings are always overridden by the default training dashboard the company built when they "trained" us. That sucks as I have different parameters based on my team role. The "trending themes" widget is worthless, just pretty to look at. Also, influencer lists--if you need to resave under a different name and you haven't scrolled down all the way, guess what? Only whatever was actually showing on your screen gets resaved, thus causing you to lose contacts. Ugh.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Media monitoring
Easy but not always accurate
What do you like best about the product?
Real-time media monitoring. User-friendly customization.
What do you dislike about the product?
Often times, articles published in top tier outlets are not included in the reporting.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Meltwater creates reports that help show PR metrics. However, often times, key outlets are not included in the reporting including WSJ, NY Times and Bankrate.
Recommendations to others considering the product:
Be weary ... Cision may be expensive but it's much more accurate.
Meltwater - doubt it
What do you like best about the product?
Best feature is ability to search media by beat type
What do you dislike about the product?
1-you cannot search media by outlet
2-contacts in their database often seem outdated
3-customer service is poor
2-contacts in their database often seem outdated
3-customer service is poor
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
List building, press release distribution
Recommendations to others considering the product:
Seems to be an inferior product.
Meltwater deceptive business practices
What do you like best about the product?
Didn't find the solution particularly easy to use
What do you dislike about the product?
Meltwater has a 60 day auto-renewal that they do not include in your order confirmation but bury in online terms of service (which are normally reserved for things like don't post hate content or abuse user accounts, not the business/financial terms of your contract). Their sales reps do not notify you of this, and in fact send you emails about whether you're planning to renew that imply otherwise. Once you are one day past the 60 days, they hold on like grim death and force you into an auto-renewal regardless of whether you want to continue the service or not. Companies with good products don't have to rely on fine print to force people to do business with them; the Meltwater products are not good enough to justify the hassle of their business practices. If you do decide to buy from them, pay by check so they don't have access to your credit card information in case they decide you owe them money whether you agree or not.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
None
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