Visibrain’s research claims that brands are now 13% more likely to suffer a marketing or PR crisis than they were three years ago. According to new research carried out by media monitoring platform Visibrain, 78% of PR crises are instigated by communications or marketing errors rather than external disruptions or attacks. Alongside this research, Visibrain published a guide about the best media monitoring practices.

This guide highlights the key mistakes made by brands and how to avoid them, aimed at improving their flawed communications strategies. This emphasises the importance of effective media monitoring endorsement, especially in a time where information is so volatile and easily able to become viral.

Visibrain’s ‘Media Monitoring Best Practices Guide’ flags some obvious errors and solutions, such as hiring trained staff or using appropriate tools for monitoring. However, the key aspect emphasised is preparation for the unexpected, thus the guide also raises question to factors which may not be so apparent.

For example, many brands merely focus on monitoring their own brand, forgetting about any competing brands, or only look for known issues rather than other potential risk, which Visibrain suggests to be a fault in media monitoring. Despite mainly stressing issues surrounding monitoring, the guide also concerns itself with the need for response protocols in order for a rapid reaction for when either positive or negative information is received.

CEO of Visibrain, Nicolas Huguenin says, “If such disasters were typically being caused by external factors, marketers would have far fewer opportunities to pre-emptively manage and address them. Instead, brands simply need to take greater care in considering all possible outcomes to their communications approach.”