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Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Guide

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

Media monitoring helps organizations stay informed about what’s being said across online news, print, broadcast, podcasts, and other media channels. Whether you're tracking brand mentions, measuring PR performance, monitoring competitors, or identifying emerging trends, our expert guides, best practices, and industry insights will help you build a smarter media monitoring strategy and make more informed communications decisions.

Discover expert media monitoring guides, best practices, and industry insights to track brand mentions, monitor competitors, and stay ahead of the news.

Media Monitoring: Guides, Best Practices & Industry Insights

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

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

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

From media coverage and social conversations to audience insights and campaign performance, communications teams have access to more data than ever before. But collecting information is only the beginning. The real challenge is knowing what it means, what matters most, and how to respond with confidence.

Data-driven communications turns scattered signals into actionable insights. By using data to understand audiences, identify trends, measure impact, and guide decisions, communications teams can create more relevant strategies and demonstrate their value across the organization.

Learn how data-driven communications helps teams understand audiences, measure impact, identify trends, and turn media, social, and AI signals into action.

Data-Driven Communications: Insights & Strategies | Meltwater

Kim Cattrall takes the lead in a campaign celebrating the intelligence behind confident brand decisions.

Intelligence is always in style: Kim Cattrall stars in Meltwater’s new campaign

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

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

Media coverage can set a brand up for success. It might only take one headline to spark a buzz, build credibility, and put your company in front of the right audience. But to get this coverage, your public relations team first needs to build up their media relations strategy.

What others say about your brand often carries more weight than what you say yourself. Trust is hard to earn, but positive, intentional press helps you break down barriers. The right media mentions can build authority and awareness and shape your story in an authentic way.

It all starts with media relations and knowing how and when to pitch journalists. Take a closer look at the strategies that work.

Media Relations definition: The practice of building relationships with journalists, influencers, and media outlets with the goal of securing positive press coverage for a business or brand.

In a communications strategy, media relations amplifies your message through trusted third-party sources. This earned coverage builds credibility in ways that internal communications or paid advertising cannot.

Typically, PR professionals handle media relations, though smaller teams may hand this task to marketing. Larger organizations may have dedicated media relations managers, while smaller companies often rely on PR agencies or marketing staff to own this function.

Brands are pumping out more content than ever. We’ve reached the point where people are skeptical about self-promotion. Media coverage brings back some of the credibility and trust that the everyone-is-a-publisher mentality has lost.

High credibility of earned media: Coverage from a respected journalist or outlet comes from an independent source, making audiences more likely to trust and engage with it.

Press coverage for reputation and visibility: A positive story in the right outlet can raise awareness, attract customers, and position your brand as a leader in your industry.

Declining trust in branded content: Third-party validation turns messaging into stories that resonate because they come from trusted voices.

“Earned” doesn’t have to mean “a lack of control.” Intentional outreach allows you to choose where your brand shows up, so you can get the benefits of earned coverage without the chaos.

TIP: PR pros are increasingly asked to do more with less, which is where AI can be a huge help! Download our Simple Guide to AI in PR and Comms to see how different AI tools can make your media pitching process smarter and more efficient.

Media relations is a subset of public relations. PR sets the strategy, and media relations executes one of its most visible tactics: securing third-party coverage that validates the brand.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of PR and media relations to show how they work together.

<table class="table-primary alternate-color">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th></th>
      <th>Public Relations</th>
      <th>Media Relations</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <th>Scope</th>
      <td>Broad discipline covering all brand communications and reputation management</td>
      <td>Narrower focus on interactions with journalists and media outlets</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th>Focus</th>
      <td>Shapes overall brand image with multiple audiences: customers, employees, investors, community media</td>
      <td>Secures coverage, builds press relationships, and manages media inquiries</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th>Activities</th>
      <td>Crisis comms, corporate messaging, internal comms, CSR, event management, thought leadership</td>
      <td>Pitching stories, writing press releases, coordinating interviews, and monitoring coverage</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th>Audience</th>
      <td>All stakeholders (internal and external)</td>
      <td>Journalists, editors, reporters, and influencers</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th>Role in Campaigns</th>
      <td>Provides overarching strategy, aligning communications with business goals</td>
      <td>Operates within PR campaigns to amplify messages through earned media</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>


Media relations can make an impact on real campaigns. These examples show how smart media outreach can turn into measurable wins.

A tech company unveiling its latest wearable device can use media relations to drum up interest before the launch. Coverage in trusted publications establishes credibility with early adopters and drives massive interest come launch day.

Apple does this with every iteration of its iPhone (and the rest of its product range). Journalists line up to cover the latest Apple tech. You’ll usually find out about new products in top-tier tech outlets like Wired and TechCrunch before the product becomes available to the public.

Food brands are no strangers to recalls. But even with the most careful processes and commitment to quality, a recall can threaten reputations and bottom lines.

Media relations gives food companies an outlet to share transparent updates and interviews from executives. Companies can turn potential backlash into stories about responsibility and consumer safety. They also have opportunities to respond to bad situations in a positive manner, which can help reestablish credibility and trust during critical moments.

TIP: Don't miss our guide Mastering Media Relations for Crisis Comms for a full breakdown of how to build a crisis comms playbook that you can use for media outreach when a crisis hits!

Startups can leverage media interviews, quotes, and op-eds to build its CEO’s reputation in industry-related press. Over time, executives become go-to sources for commentary, which can boost personal brands and organizational authority.

Through each of these use cases, media relations tools like Meltwater can quantify their impact. Meltwater supports outreach with the largest media database of different outlets and journalists. PR pros can build media lists, track which outlets publish coverage, and measure the impact of each mention through metrics like reach, impressions, and earned media value.

Media relations begins with a pitch. But it’s the lasting relationships with journalists and media outlets that matter most. They’ll be more likely to cover you in the future if you present yourself as a trustworthy, respected source.

Here’s how to strengthen those connections:

Before you send a media pitch, do your homework. Make sure the media outlet is a good fit for your brand and shares your target audience. 

When you’re ready to pitch, send it directly to the journalist. Personalize the message by addressing them by name and mentioning some of their work you’ve enjoyed. Learning about a journalist’s beat, recent articles, and preferred angles makes your pitch feel more personalized and less like a mass email. 

Media relations tools like Meltwater centralize your outreach and tracking, making it easier to manage the workload. Meltwater’s extensive journalist database combines with social listening and media monitoring so you can see where coverage is happening at all times.

You can also keep track of who’s writing about your industry. This bird’s eye view makes it easier to match the right story with the right reporter.

See how the AI-powered Meltwater Platform can supercharge your media relations efforts! Click here and fill out the form below to request a demo.

Respect journalist timelines and preferences

Reporters tend to juggle multiple stories and deadlines, so timing is everything. Keep your pitches concise and aligned with their preferences (if known). 

When you show you respect their time and that you’ve done your homework, you stand to make a stronger first impression.

Stick to proper etiquette when following up

Don’t panic if you don’t hear back right away. It’s completely acceptable to send a polite follow-up, and doing so can make the difference between a missed email and a story. 

Wait a few days before checking in, keep it brief, and don’t overdo it. Persistence should never feel like pressure.

TIP: Want more information on creating intentional pitches for the media that matters most to your organization? Download our guide Craft Winning Pitches for Media Relations to learn everything you need to know!

Building and maintaining these relationships is more manageable and practical with the right tools. Media relations platforms streamline communication and help you stay on top of who’s covering your brand and how the public responds.

PR CRM tools: Platforms like Meltwater act as PR CRMs, giving you journalist databases, contact management, and outreach tools all in one place.

Press release distribution services: Services like PR Newswire or Business Wire send your announcements to multiple news outlets quickly and at scale.

Coverage monitoring and sentiment analysis: Monitoring tools track mentions across online, print, and broadcast outlets, while sentiment analysis highlights whether coverage is positive, neutral, or negative.

Together, these tools give you a clear picture of your press coverage and its reach, tone, and overall impact.

What are some examples of media relations?

Examples of media relations include pitching story ideas to journalists, securing product reviews, and arranging interviews with company leaders. Media relations can also involve responding to press inquiries and providing expert commentary.

Is media relations earned or owned media?

Media relations falls under earned media because coverage comes from relationships and credibility, not paid placements. Unlike owned channels, such as blogs or social media, third parties ultimately control the output.

How do you measure success in media relations?

You can measure media relations success by tracking metrics like share of voice, sentiment, impressions, and coverage quality. These metrics show how effectively your press efforts build visibility and strengthen reputation.

Media relations delivers something money can’t buy — third-party credibility that’s authentic, engaging, and meaningful. When you build strong relationships with journalists and track coverage with the right tools, you can gain the full picture of your impact. 

Meltwater helps you turn press mentions into long-term value. Our platform combines journalist databases, media monitoring, social listening, and sentiment analysis to help you gain coverage and understand its impact.

Learn more about how Meltwater can elevate your media relations strategy when you request a demo by filling out the form below!

What Is Media Relations? Definition, Tips & Examples

Hashtags used to be simple: Just add a pound sign in front of a keyword and hope it trends. But times have changed, and their role and importance has evolved. Marketers need to use them more strategically, which is why hashtag analytics is a non-negotiable.

Today, hashtags fuel discoverability, engagement, and virality. The right hashtag can boost reach, find your audience, and ride trending waves. But the wrong one leads you to dead air — no clicks, no ROI. 

Hashtag analytics via social listening cuts through the noise so you can focus on what actually works. Here’s how you can find the best hashtags that get traction. 

Key Metrics to Track in Hashtag Analytics

How to Use Hashtag Insights Strategically

Hashtag analytics: The process of tracking and analyzing data related to hashtag performance on social media platforms.

General social media analytics focus on a broad range of metrics (think follower growth, post engagement rates, etc.). It’s a closer look at the bigger picture.

Hashtag analytics are different. They collect metrics like reach, engagement and how often they’re used. This gives marketers a bird’s eye view of how certain hashtags perform. 

Without this specific data, you could be missing chances to grow, connect, and convert.

Hashtags are still one of the fastest ways to get discovered on social media. Users click on hashtags to see similar content using those same hashtags, which signals high interest and intent.

Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are flooded with content, and users have shorter attention spans than ever. Hashtag analytics helps you hook the right users by pinpointing which tags actually drive engagement, not just impressions.

For marketers, a hashtag tracker equals real-world results. Monitor campaign hashtags to:

Find words or phrases that spark the most interaction

Hashtag data turns guesswork into game plans. They aren’t there to decorate your posts, but rather to help you get discovered and engage your audience. This is only possible when you use the right hashtags, and without data, you’re just throwing spaghetti at the algorithm.

TIP: Check out our blog on the Best TikTok Hashtags for more views, including our Hashtag Hero AI assistant to help you generate the best hashtags for your posts!

Whether you’re using Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, or Instagram hashtag analytics, there are a few key metrics to pay attention to:

Reach: Number of unique users who saw the hashtag

Impressions: Total number of times the hashtag was seen

Engagement rate: The total number of likes, shares, comments, or clicks on posts using the hashtag

Sentiment analysis: The tone or connotation associated with the hashtag

Audience demographics: The type of user who interacts with the hashtag (e.g., age, gender, location, interests)

Trend time: How long the hashtag has been popular (or how its popularity has changed)

Together, these metrics give you a comprehensive idea of what’s working on social media and help you choose better hashtags for your campaigns.

Whether you’re tracking a single hashtag on Instagram or trying to find a collection of hashtags to use across multiple channels, the process looks similar.

Here’s a quick breakdown of how to analyze hashtag performance:

If you already have some hashtags in mind, start with those.

Or, you can check out competitors’ content to see what hashtags they’re using. Do the same for influencers in your niche. 

Plug those into an Instagram hashtag analytics tool or something similar to start generating data.

Look at specific metrics for each hashtag, such as reach, impressions, engagement, and frequency of use. Timeliness is key here, as you don’t want to use hashtags that are no longer relevant or popular.

Not all hashtag meanings are straightforward. Case in point: the infamous #WhyIStayed hashtag used by DiGiorno.

The pizza brand used this hashtag to promote pizza, not knowing it represented domestic violence victims.

Check to see who else is using the hashtag and how they’re using it. For example, is it crowded with irrelevant content? Dominated by big accounts? Being used in a completely different way than it sounds?

Ideally, the hashtag should match your audience and niche.

TIP: For information on how to leverage trending hashtags without any unfortunate mix-ups, check out our Ultimate Guide to Trendjacking!

Hashtags can be A/B tested. See how your content performs with different hashtags. If posts using one hashtag consistently get more saves and shares than other posts with different hashtags, that’s a signal.

Keep tracking your hashtag analytics to find better performers and drop the ones that aren’t pulling their weight. Regular testing will help you get ahead (and hopefully stay there).

Setting measurable goals can help you find those golden nuggets more easily. For example, do you want to drive more clicks to your link in bio? Increase reach by 20%? Clear benchmarks help you act on the data, rather than just collect it.

You could analyze hashtags the old-fashioned way, manually tracking likes, comments, and shares. Or, you can use a dedicated Instagram hashtag tracker or similar tool to do it for you.

Manual methods might work for small campaigns. But if you’re managing multiple hashtags across platforms, you need something more heavy duty.

Here are some of the top tools for the job.

Tip: Learn more about hashtag tracking tools.

Meltwater is built to provide your organization with digital media intelligence at scale, and its hashtag tracking is robust. It gives you access to real-time and historical data across multiple news sources and social platforms, including hashtags analytics on Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Facebook, and others. You can track volume, reach, sentiment, and influencer engagement tied to specific hashtags. 

AI-driven insights help surface trends before they go mainstream. The platform includes built-in features like sentiment analysis, share of voice, and social listening so you can see how your audience is using hashtags.

Want to see the power of Meltwater's social listening and analytics solution in action? Click here and fill out the form below for a demo!

Brand24 is a helpful analytics tool for smaller teams or agencies who want serious data. Its hashtag tracking feature lets you track the number of mentions, analyze sentiment, and identify key conversations around your hashtag.

The platform automatically tracks brand mentions and related hashtags your audience uses. You can also manually search for hashtags and track performance across multiple channels, like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. 

See who’s using the hashtag, which may help you find influencers, fans, or even critics who are shaping the conversation.

Sprout Social pairs a simple user interface with hashtag analytics, giving you a clear idea of which hashtags perform the best. It tracks hashtags on Twitter and Instagram to find frequently used hashtags and gives context into how they’re being used.

Sprout Social’s platform also includes an inbound hashtag analytics option. When users engage with you and use a hashtag in their response, you can tag the post to learn how they’re using hashtags in relation to your brand.

Tip: Take a look at other Sprout Social alternatives.

Keyhole brings hashtag analytics across multiple platforms to a single dashboard. It visualizes hashtag data so you can make sense of engagement metrics, demographics, and influencers faster and easier.

The platform delivers side-by-side analysis so you can optimize your content strategy across platforms. It also includes machine learning to predict which hashtags will help you hit the mark.

Whether you’re strictly using Twitter analytics or need hashtag data for broader campaign uses, your next priority is to act on that information. Here’s how you can put your insights to work:

Spot trending hashtags early. Look for spikes in usage and engagement so you can ride the wave before it becomes oversaturated.

Refine campaign targeting and timing. Use the data to time posts and maximize reach.

Track branded hashtags for real-time feedback. This helps you catch user-generated content and customer feedback you can amplify or respond to.

Keep an eye on competitors. See which competitor tags are gaining attention and how their audience is responding, which can help you find gaps and new trends.

Even with a good hashtag analytics tool, your hashtag strategy can still flop if you’re not careful. Here are some of the most common (and costly) mistakes to avoid:

Overloading posts with irrelevant hashtags: Doing this can give off spammy vibes and tank engagement.

Ignoring context and sentiment: Without checking the context, you risk hijacking a serious or controversial conversation and damaging your brand’s reputation.

Chasing vanity metrics: Don’t fall into the trap of using popular hashtags that boost views but lead to zero clicks, shares, or conversions.

Consult our FAQs below or our Hashtags Handbook for more insights into using hashtags.

Hashtag analytics is the process of tracking and measuring hashtag performance across various social media platforms.

Why is hashtag analytics important for social media marketing?

Hashtag Analytics: Boost Engagement with Smarter Hashtags

Generative AI content creation has turned content marketing on its head, giving marketers new ways to compete and get ahead. But it hasn’t been without its challenges. The idea that “content can create itself” is something of a fallacy, as generative AI tools require a great deal of human creativity and skill to return the greatest benefits.

Content creation using AI involves more than research and prompting. The outputs are rarely perfect; they often require extensive editing to match your tone and style while meeting reader expectations. 

The Meltwater Blog

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Hashtag Analytics: Boost Engagement with Smarter Hashtags

Generative AI Content Creation: The Future of Creativity

How PR Can Tackle the Growing Disinformation Challenge

10 Brand Awareness Metrics to Measure Your Performance

Building a Strong Corporate Identity: Key Elements and Strategies

Brand Loyalty: Strategies to Build and Retain Customers

Social Media’s Favorite Insurance Mascot

AI-Generated Content Examples: Unlocking Creative Potential

Customer Journey Analytics: Full Guide

How Brands Are Leveraging the Substack Boom

AI in Marketing: Examples and Use Cases