How will web scraping help a PR agency?

Creating strong portfolios for an organization

The main idea of a PR agency has always been spreading positive message about a particular organization. Tracking competition, keeping an eye on what other agencies are doing from the information that is available on competitors’ websites, such as case studies, campaigns, clients, capacity building programmes, network, partnerships etc. always helps to be on the edge. An agency may also consider relooking at their website design and content after examining what is available on net or what other agencies have to offer.

To be abreast on groups, organizations, awards, people servicing the PR domain

The enthusiasm about social media among public relation professionals is rampant, and encouraging. Wanting to be at the center of a new way to communicate to customers and prospects is a worthy objective.

An approach to social media begins with preparing an online promotion strategy for a business. Then, it’s important to track and analyze the current situation of a brand’s owned channel against its competitors and also its feedback by the target audiences across the key social networking sites and company websites, microsites. Webscraping can be possible to extract great content uploaded on the social media sites, interactive forums such as blogs, digital and creative material including videos and info graphics and more.  

Webscraping plays an important role in indentifying key social media sites, organizations, awards and events, groups and peoples in the related field or line of business. This way any pr agency can actively participate and increase its presence on web, and getting more traffic to their website. Also, it will also help in attracting new clients and talent for growing business and to add to brand salience and credibility in the market and avail maximum from opportunities on the web.

Tracking news

Webscraping helps in tracking news coverage. Using this service you can get your daily, weekly or monthly dose of what is happening in your industry, media and your clients.

You can classify all this information and create a knowledge bank so that it can come in handy at the time of developing PR plans, planning an event or review of any activity or campaign.

Market Research

Providing vital information or database for clients to assist them with thorough market research is also a part of webscraping services that can be provided by a PR agency. Tracking client competition on certain parameters best known to them. It could be advertising campaigns, coverage, marketing campaigns, contact database, details on target audience, websites related information, global presence, etc.

Database

Database directories on media, celebrities, clients, and people can help any PR agency with an exhaustive and useful knowledge bank that can be used for practical day to day functioning, thus adding value to PR plans and gaining expertise in the domain. The knowledge bank could also consist of articles or blogs or templates on any particular topic available on the web for key learning. It necessarily need not be linked with news coverage but something more generic that is available on World Wide Web and come to your advantage.

Webscraping service is a boon to any public relations agency (PR agency) or corporate communications division of any company for adding value to its portfolio, maximize returns and to help clients with data for research and analysis.

Word of mouth, regular newspaper reading or web search is time consuming, sometimes inaccurate and certainly not a professional way to get your dose of daily information you can rely on for making important business decisions. Almost all business enterprises today in the world rely on web or internal applications in order to gather data which play an important role in decision making processes.

Many a times, to get the information on feedback for a company’s product, service or campaign, it is commonly seen that business owners or marketing heads outsource research and analysis job to renowned and trustworthy market research agencies but that is high cost, one time results and good to use when the information needed is centric to company. Say, when a company, a bank, a website or an agency is rolling out a new scheme or product in the market and therefore gauging market feedback for it but not so much to track competition.

How frequently can I get data?

The frequency is a function of two things: one, your requirement and two, the number and complexity involved in the list of sources or websites from where data needs to be extracted.