United States

AI adoption is no longer the challenge—trusted context is. Most organizations have AI tools, but many still rely on disconnected, stale, or unverified data, limiting the quality and trustworthiness of AI-generated outputs. Meltwater MCP brings trusted, real-time intelligence into AI assistants.

Your Best Context is Already in the Room

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics?
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.
Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.
Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

You run social for a B2B brand. Your team launches a new feature, you schedule the posts, and you wait for traction. Surprisingly, the real lift doesn’t come from your own channels. 

It comes when a trusted industry expert on LinkedIn breaks down why that feature matters, when someone posts “we tried this, here’s what changed,” and a niche creator includes your update in their newsletter.

B2B influencer marketing helps you tap into the voices your buyers already trust, including the operators, consultants, analysts, and creators who explain problems clearly and share what actually works. 

Learn what B2B influencer marketing really is, why it works so well for long sales cycles, and how your team can build a strategy that connects with your target persona, drives brand awareness, builds authority in the industry, and generates demand for your product. 

Why Do Brands Use B2B Influencer Marketing?

Who Are B2B Influencers? (and How to Find the Right Ones)

How to Build a B2B Influencer Marketing Strategy That Delivers

What to Look for in a B2B Influencer Marketing Tool

The Future of B2B Influencing: How AI Is Redefining Relationships

B2B influencer marketing involves partnering with industry experts, analysts, practitioners, and industry leaders who already have your target buyers’ trust. You can leverage their authority to shape consumer awareness, perception, and purchase decisions.

Unlike B2C influencer marketing, which often relies on lifestyle appeal or entertainment value, B2B influencer marketing educates buyers. Influencers break down complex topics, explain how a solution fits into workflows, and de-risk decisions by showing real examples and outcomes.

These are the people your customers follow to stay ahead: cybersecurity analysts, RevOps leaders, fintech founders, marketing strategists, supply-chain consultants, and data scientists.

For instance, if you run a cybersecurity company, your audience won’t trust a celebrity or macro-creator.

The security engineer on LinkedIn who breaks down new breaches

The CISO who shares lessons from real incidents

The YouTuber who explains zero-trust architecture in plain English

These industry experts influence your buyers long before sales come into play.

Here’s how the two influencer marketing models differ in practice:

<table class="table-primary alternate-color">
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Aspect</td>
      <td>B2B Influencer Marketing</td>
      <td>B2C Influencer Marketing</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Influencer Type</td>
      <td>Industry experts, practitioners, analysts, consultants, and founders</td>
      <td>Creators, celebrities, and lifestyle influencers</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Audience</td>
      <td>Decision-makers, buyers, executives, and operators</td>
      <td>Mass consumers</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Goal</td>
      <td>Education, trust-building, reducing risk, and thought leadership</td>
      <td>Awareness, aspiration, entertainment, and impulse buying</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Content Format</td>
      <td>Webinars, whitepapers, LinkedIn posts, product walkthroughs, conference talks, and case studies</td>
      <td>Reels, unboxings, aesthetic content, and lifestyle imagery</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Sales Cycle</td>
      <td>Long, multi-stakeholder</td>
      <td>Short, emotional, and individual</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Impact Measurement</td>
      <td>Pipeline influence, lead quality, share of voice, analyst mentions, and category perception</td>
      <td>Engagement, reach, clicks, and conversions</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Platforms</td>
      <td>LinkedIn, X, YouTube, podcasts, webinars, and newsletters</td>
      <td>Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

According to Sprout Social, 67% of B2B brands use influencer marketing to increase brand awareness, and 54% use it to build brand credibility and trust. Simply put, brands use B2B influencer marketing to reach buyers through people they already trust. 

Decision-makers rarely learn about new products from ads anymore. Instead, they turn to practitioners, consultants, analysts, and niche creators who share honest, experience-based opinions. This established trust is the main reason B2B companies invest in influencer partnerships. 

Instead of broadcasting to everyone, B2B influencers give brands access to specific professional circles, including:

Private LinkedIn communities of engineers, operators, or CMOs

Tight networks around analysts, consultants, and independent experts

Slack and Discord groups where teams trade advice

Take the Top of the Funnel Slack community. Thousands of B2B marketers and RevOps leaders share tactics, compare tools, and often ask questions like, “Which product are you using for X?” or “Is anyone else seeing this?” 

Slack message discussing sudden keyword drops with attached Ahrefs keyword graphs (Source)

In these moments, a reply from a trusted practitioner influences how the community views SEO tools, Google updates, or content tactics. 

Authority is another major reason brands rely on B2B influencers. When an expert introduces your product or idea, your brand immediately inherits their credibility. This is critical in long, high-risk buying cycles, where buyers want reassurance before committing. 

Brands also benefit from content co-creation. For internal teams that struggle to produce content that feels fresh, practical, and grounded in real-world use, influencers fill that gap by creating authentic, peer-to-peer content that professionals respond to. 

Here are some content formats brands can benefit from:

Teardown posts (“here’s what this tool actually fixes”)

Side-by-side comparisons or honest pros/cons

These formats perform exceptionally well on channels like LinkedIn, YouTube, podcasts, and industry communities that matter most to B2B.

B2B influencers are people your buyers already listen to. They’re the practitioners, consultants, analysts, and niche creators who make complicated topics easier to understand and share their real-world experiences. 

B2B influencer marketing isn’t one-size-fits-all. Think of it as a spectrum featuring the following influencer types:

Practitioners: These include engineers, PMs, data analysts, marketers, RevOps managers, and security professionals. Buyers trust the people who face the same problems they do.

Consultants and advisors: These are independent experts who have seen patterns across many companies. Their opinions often shape industry best practices.

Analysts and researchers: Think of Gartner, Forrester, IDC, or independent analysts on LinkedIn and YouTube. Their reports and category evaluations matter because many enterprise teams won’t even consider a vendor unless it appears in key analyst reports such as the Gartner Magic Quadrant or the Forrester Wave Report.

Niche creators: YouTubers, newsletter writers, podcasters, and LinkedIn creators who explain tools, trends, and workflows. For example, Corey Quinn, a cloud-cost expert, regularly posts breakdowns and AWS commentary on Twitter, YouTube, and podcasts, influencing how engineering teams think about cloud spending.

Halloween is here, and I&#39;m reflecting on the real monsters in our industry 🎃

You know what&#39;s truly terrifying?

Getting your AWS bill and realizing you&#39;ve been charged $47,000 for data transfer… | Corey Quinn

Founders and operators: People operating in the space who openly share what they’re testing or struggling with. “Operator-to-operator” advice carries enormous weight in technical and startup markets.

Community leaders: Members everyone tags in Slack groups, forums, Discords, subreddits, or industry communities. One comment from them can quietly shift the perception of a tool or tactic. 

Not every creator with followers can influence a B2B buying decision. To evaluate whether someone is a good fit, look for the following: 

Relevance: Do they talk about the exact problems your buyers deal with? Someone who posts daily about cloud cost issues offers more value to AWS-heavy teams than someone with 100k general followers.

Credibility: Do people trust their experience? Look for thoughtful comments, peer tags asking questions, and posts that pertain to real work.

Quality of engagement (not quantity): Are people asking for advice? Are there honest conversations happening in replies? High-signal comments matter more than likes.

Clarity of content: Can they explain complex things simply? Corey Quinn is a perfect example of this, turning something as highly specialized as AWS billing into clear, relatable posts. 

Tone and brand fit: Ensure their communication style aligns with how you want your product represented.

As effective as B2B influencer marketing is, most B2B influencers aren’t on flashy consumer platforms. You’ll find them where professionals learn, troubleshoot, and trade advice. 

Here are some reliable places to find experts and build your influencer marketing strategy:

LinkedIn: Search by topic (SOC 2, RevOps, cloud cost, demand gen). Look for creators who consistently attract comments from practitioners, not random engagement.

YouTube: Target technical explainers covering topics like cloud, cybersecurity, data, finance, RevOps, and engineering. Niche creators wield strong influence here.

Industry communities: Monitor Slack and Discord groups like Top of the Funnel, Superpath, RevOps Co-op, Analytics Engineers, etc. These spaces reveal the experts people go to for help.

Podcasts and newsletters: Hosts covering specific topics (e.g., product, AI, cybersecurity, marketing, cloud, etc.) often shape how teams think. For example, podcast host Lenny Rachitsky regularly discusses product decisions, tool choices, and workflows with product leaders and growth experts. Since many PMs and founders follow these conversations, hosts like him influence what teams try next.

Lenny’s Podcast page showing a playlist of recent episodes, including their cover art (Source)

Influencer marketing tools: Modern influencer marketing platforms like Meltwater’s influencer marketing suite simplify discovery. Find the right B2B influencers by searching for creators by topic, analyzing their audience makeup, and checking engagement quality to assess whether they’re a good fit. Instead of manually hunting across platforms, you can filter by expertise, review real audience data, and shortlist credible creators. 

Meltwater’s influencer search interface showing creator profiles filtered by the topic yoga (Source)

A good B2B influencer program doesn’t start with “Who should we work with?” It starts with “What do we want to achieve?” Here’s a simple way to build an effective influencer marketing strategy that drives results.

Before contacting anyone, decide what your team needs the influencer marketing program to do. 

Here are some goals companies frequently have:

Brand awareness: Get in front of the people you want to sell to, whether they’re product managers, security leads, RevOps managers, or founders. If they’ve never heard of you, influencer content helps put your brand in their daily feed and community spaces.

Trust and credibility: Gain validation from people your buyers respect. Have a practitioner or expert validate your approach, explain how your product works, or share why it solved a real problem for them.

Demand generation: Drive specific actions such as webinars and trial signups, newsletter subscriptions, and demo requests. Influencers who create helpful walkthroughs or share honest experiences usually bring in higher-quality interest because their audience trusts their recommendations. 

Thought leadership: Shape market perception of you and your product by co-creating explainers, frameworks, teardown posts, or practical insights with experts. This helps your brand become known as “the one that teaches,” not “the one that sells.”

For example, Notion often partners with well-known creators like Marie Poulin to break down real workflows, templates, and productivity systems. These videos and guides teach people how to work better, positioning Notion as the default tool people think of when they need to organize their work.

Using the PARA method with Notion

Don’t choose influencers based on follower count. In B2B, a big audience means nothing if the people you want to reach aren’t following. Verify that the influencers’ followers look like your buyers—PMs, security leads, data teams, and RevOps managers—instead of students or general tech enthusiasts. 

Credibility matters just as much. The best B2B influencers are trusted because they’ve actually done the work. You can verify this in how people respond to them. Look for tags asking for advice, posts sparking real conversations, and opinions showing up in Slack threads and LinkedIn discussions. These signals outweigh follower count.

Relevance: Do they discuss the problems your buyers face? For example, if you sell a security product, you need someone who regularly posts about breaches, audits, or SOC 2, not a general tech creator.

Expertise: Are they practitioners (engineers, PMs, analysts), consultants, or operators who’ve actually done the work?

Engagement quality: Are people asking them questions, tagging them for advice, or debating ideas in their comments? A creator with 2,000 engaged practitioners can outperform one with 20,000 passive followers.

Audience match: Who follows them? If their audience consists of students or general tech enthusiasts, they aren’t influencing enterprise buyers. If their followers are PMs, CMOs, RevOps leads, or security teams, that’s a strong signal.

Consistency: Do they show up regularly and share useful insights? Buyers follow people who reliably teach, troubleshoot, and explain—not sporadic posters.

Simplify the vetting process with tools like Meltwater’s influencer marketing suite to identify influencers your audience already trusts. 

Instead of manually vetting profiles, you can identify which experts appear in conversations about your category, analyze their audience, and measure content engagement across platforms and industry news. 

It basically takes the guesswork out of identifying credible voices in your niche and helps you avoid choosing someone just because they’re loud or popular.

B2B Influencer Marketing: What it is and Why it Works

In 2025, the global trade war saw major escalation, driven by new and revised tariffs instituted by the US and President Donald Trump. The first half of the year was marked by contentious negotiations and back and forth retaliatory tariffs that left consumers and businesses alike reeling. 

The question at the heart of the confusion — what do changing tariffs mean for brands and buyers — has no definitive answer. However, the global discussion so far offers some valuable insights for marketers as they prepare for the months ahead.

We used GenAI Lens, Meltwater’s industry-first, LLM-monitoring solution, to understand how tariff discussions in 2025 have impacted how AI tools represent major global brands. For marketers, the public narrative around tariffs can have huge impacts on messaging, pricing, product development, and more. 

But first, let’s take a look at what the overall tariff conversation has looked like, as well as which industries are showing up in the discussion most.

 ​​<iframe width="507" height="314" seamless frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vS_Yl6AQJ7ENWppgRYMfGMUiH-WugllXa_75UFDrlZMF11bB7in91n5CgQ2GNjptaCkeXN5B1Qw0-yp/pubchart?oid=32080635&amp;format=interactive"></iframe>

According to our social listening analysis of traditional, digital, and social media sources, there were over 1.13 million mentions of tariffs related to the luxury goods, food and beverage (F&B), fashion, and beauty industries from January 1 to December 2, 2025. About half of those came from news sources, while X and Reddit mentions comprised about 20% each. 

Mentions and engagement peaked in April, driven by President Trump’s Executive Order. This imposition of a 10% reciprocal baseline tariff, plus added rates for imports from over 80 countries, escalated the global trade war and sparked significant public outcry. 

The piece of content that generated the highest engagement that month was a reaction from MrBeast. Just days after the Executive Order was announced, the YouTube superstar commented that it was now cheaper to manufacture his Feastables brand chocolate bars overseas rather than in the US. 

The second most engaging post came from a fan account of US fast food chain In-N-Out Burger, which used the new tariffs as an opportunity to highlight that none of its ingredients are imported and so its prices would not change. Responses to the X post praised the company for using domestically produced goods and remaining affordable. 

In the future, as policy announcements continue to fuel consumer conversations about tariffs, select brands can use those moments to highlight favorable aspects of their business to their fans. 

Which industries dominate tariff conversations?

Our social listening analysis looking at tariff mentions related to the F&B, fashion, beauty, and luxury sectors found that the F&B industry comes out on top in share of voice (SOV) of tariff discussions. Of the four sectors we analyzed using Meltwater’s AI-powered content classification, F&B comprised 87% of mentions and 78% of engagement. F&B’s prominence in tariff discussions reflect its prominence in consumers’ everyday lives. As a result, these products are top of mind for social media users talking about tariffs and their potential impacts on daily life. 

Notably, discussion of tariffs’ impacts across industries varied by source. F&B mentions were prominent on X and Reddit, while those about fashion dominated Instagram, reflecting the platform’s visual-first and trend-driven nature. 

To better understand how location influences tariff discussions, we analyzed geolocated posts from the US, Canada, and the UK, revealing which countries were mentioned most often in each market. Tariff mentions in the US focused on its biggest trade partners: Canada, China, and Mexico. However, posts in Canada overwhelmingly focused on itself, reflecting the rise and prominence of the Buy Canadian movement and national pride. 

Similarly, tariff mentions in the UK mentioned itself more than any other country, but interestingly over 30% of luxury and fashion mentions were linked to China. This was likely driven both by longstanding consumer buzz about global supply chains as well as a wave of viral social media videos earlier this year claiming to “expose” luxury brands that allegedly manufacture their goods in China but label them as European-made. As Business of Fashion reported in April, top luxury brands largely ignored the buzz.

For brands, tailoring messaging around tariff-related issues like price and sourcing requires digging into audience conversations by topic, geography, and more. Media and social intelligence assistants like Mira enables brands to uncover those talking points and perceptions at scale to ensure resonance with audiences and alignment with their preferences and concerns. 

How LLMs surface brands in tariff narratives

Unlike social listening data, which reflect consumer conversations, LLMs are largely informed by media coverage and the long-standing associations therein. LLMs’ growing role in customer journeys and purchase decisions means brands need greater vigilance over how they show up in these models in order to remain competitive.

Learn more about how to build an AI brand monitoring strategy.

To better understand how narratives around tariffs are impacting brands, we used GenAI Lens to track how major AI assistants and LLMs answer this prompt: “What brands are most frequently mentioned alongside tariffs?”. 

Apple, Nike, and Walmart, all US-based brands whose supply hubs are largely based in Asia, dominated those results from November 22 to December 6, 2025. Walmart in particular stands out as the US’s biggest importer, with 60% of its imported items coming from China, according to Reuters. 

Because of their status as leading US consumer goods importers, Walmart, Apple, and Nike are prominent in news coverage about tariffs and their impacts. This earned media partially explains their prevalence in the LLM answers we tracked. 

What marketers can learn from global tariff discussions

Our analysis of four key sectors revealed just how multi-faceted and complex the global conversations around tariffs really is. Notably, tariff perception and discussion is highly market-specific:

U.S. consumers focus on Canada and Mexico

UK audiences link tariffs to China in discussions about luxury and fashion

The nuances of tariffs discussions around the world underscores just how much this topic is driven by digital and social media narratives over company-driven ones. 

For brands looking to remain competitive, social media alone doesn’t cut it anymore. LLM tracking capabilities combined with GEO earned media strategies are now non-negotiable. GenAI Lens is the industry-first tool designed to help brands stay ahead of these consumer trust signals as LLMs continue to rapidly evolve. 

Want a look at how a major brand uses GenAI Lens to transform their communications and reputation management strategies? Read our HEINEKEN case study.

Learn more about how Meltwater can give you a competitive edge in the GenAI age. Fill out the form below for a free demo.

What role do AI and LLMs play in brand perception?

Large language models (LLMs) increasingly shape how consumers discover brands and interpret news. Brands that appear frequently in AI responses gain visibility even if they are not the focus of consumer discussions. Monitoring these narratives with tools like Meltwater’s GenAI Lens helps marketers understand potential gaps between public perception and AI-driven brand representation.

How can marketers track the impact of tariffs on their brand?

Marketers can use solutions like Meltwater’s Explore+ and GenAI Lens to gain insight into how and where their brands are being mentioned alongside tariffs, as well as how these conversations differ across platforms and geographies.

Which industries are most affected by tariff discussions?

Meltwater’s social listening analysis shows the food and beverage industry dominates global tariff conversations, accounting for the majority of mentions and engagement. Fashion and consumer electronics also appear frequently, particularly on visual or trend-driven platforms like Instagram.

Why is there a disconnect between consumer conversations and LLM outputs when it comes to discussions of tariffs?

Consumer discussions often reflect immediate concerns like product pricing and sourcing. LLMs, on the other hand, are heavily influenced by news coverage and historical associations, which tend to highlight large importers or well-known global brands. This divergence underscores the importance of monitoring all channels with AI-powered solutions like Meltwater’s Explore+ and GenAI Lens.

How can marketers monitor how LLMs talk about their brand?

GenAI Lens, Meltwater’s industry-first LLM monitoring solution, lets marketers track how AI assistants and LLMs reference their brands in real time, revealing visibility, public perception, and potential gaps between social media conversations and AI model outputs. These insights help marketers make informed decisions around messaging, campaigns, and strategic planning.

Global Trade War: How Tariff Discussions Impact Brands and LLM Answers

Media monitoring is how marketers understand what’s happening around their brand. It captures every mention, conversation, review, or offhand comment that could influence how customers see you. And now that AI systems are constantly crawling content, those mentions have a much longer shelf life.

Marketers used to track press hits and social media comments mainly for PR wins or to spot crises. Now, there are bigger stakes: knowing how your brand shows up in the data that AI learns from. If models like ChatGPT or Perplexity pick up inaccurate information about your company, it could carry that narrative in its responses to users.

The opposite paints a brighter picture. When your best content or strongest reviews get surfaced by AI, it can contribute to more traffic, greater trust, and conversions you didn’t have to pay for.

Here’s why media monitoring is taking on new importance as AI tools grow and how to improve your media monitoring strategy.

Media monitoring is the process of tracking and analyzing a brand’s presence in the media (e.g., websites, blogs, social media, forums, review sites). 

Media monitoring gives marketers real-time insights into the conversations around a brand. Instead of guessing what people think, media monitoring tools show which stories are spreading, which comments carry weight, and how people feel about what’s being said.

Media monitoring vs. social listening: What are the differences?

Media monitoring and social listening share some overlap. The main difference is that social listening focuses specifically on digital social media conversations. It analyzes hashtags, comments, reactions, and behaviors to see how people think and feel in real time.

Media monitoring is much broader. It covers:

This gives you a larger view of how the public is talking about a brand or topic.

Without media monitoring, marketers are shooting in the dark when it comes to understanding how people are talking about a brand. These insights can help to get ahead of crises, erase negativity, and capitalize on positive sentiment. Here’s how it supports core marketing strategies:

Instead of reacting after people form perceptions, marketers can use media monitoring to get real-time insights. See how people talk about a brand across news outlets and other sources. By doing so, you can spot emerging themes and address misinformation quickly.

Tip: Learn more about brand reputation management.

Most crises start as small signals. It might be a negative tweet, a bad online review, or an untimely photo. Media monitoring flags these instances so you can respond before they escalate.

The same media monitoring tools you use to track your own brand can also track your competitors. Learn the moves they’re making, what people are saying, and how they might have an edge on you so you can adjust accordingly.

The Meltwater Blog

B2B Influencer Marketing: What it is and Why it Works

Global Trade War: How Tariff Discussions Impact Brands and LLM Answers

AI Media Monitoring: Definition, Tools & Strategy

AI Visibility: How to Track Your Brand Across Generative AI

The Top 22 Social Media Monitoring Tools 2026

How to Build an AI Brand Monitoring Strategy

How Does AI in Social Listening and Media Monitoring Work?

AI in Social Media Marketing

From Micro Creators to Mega Stars: The Marketing Value of Stranger Things Influencer Partnerships

How Spotify Wrapped 2025 Went Viral: Listening Age Insights and Global Trends

How Gen Z Consumes Content

Top Influencer Management Platforms & Tools 2026