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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

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

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

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

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.

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!

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!

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.

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?

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.

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.

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!

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?

We've made the case before that your employees make some of the best brand advocates. And what better employee is there to rep your brand than its leader, the CEO? To help the C-suite get inspired to jump on social, we've assembled some of the best CEO social feeds we keep track of. Interested in taking your influencer marketing to the next level? Contact us to schedule a demo of our influencer management platform.

According to current research, only a mere 40% of CEOs are active on social media.

Of the 40% that leverage social media, 70% use LinkedIn only. However, this number is expected to grow significantly in 2019 as people turn to authentic sources of information.

In an era of misinformation and fake news in the media, CEOs and other top business executives have a unique opportunity to be more vocal on social. This can help boost your brand’s reputation and build trust among your users. That’s why we put together a list of 5 top CEOs on social media that are making a splash for themselves and their company.

One CEO that accounted for an incredible 33 of the top 500 Facebook posts of 2018, according to BuzzSumo, is evidence of the power of a CEO’s voice and leadership on social media.

It’s the Founder of the global enterprise Econet Group, Strive Masiyiwa.

Masiyiwa has racked up more than 3.5 million fans to his Page, ranks 437 among all Public Figures in the world, and generated 108+ million engagements to his posts in 2018.

https://www.facebook.com/strivemasiyiwa/photos/a.500176003390233/2402348266506321/?type=3

And the most interesting part is that he’s done all of this through images and captions (not videos). A lot of his high ranking posts are more like micro-blogs, averaging well-over 300 words per caption.

Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors (GM) was the first female CEO of a major global automaker. And that’s just one of many impressive facts about Barra.

GM ranked No. 1 on the 2018 Global Report on Gender Equality – one of two global businesses that have no gender pay gap All thanks to the leadership of Barra as CEO.

Frequently, Barra uses Twitter as a platform to champion social causes like empowering female leaders and emerging nonprofits such as GirlsWhoCode. She also demonstrates that even as the head of a Fortune 500 company, it doesn’t mean that you have to stick to a boring, media-friendly script.

She uses social media as a way to confront potential issues and negative press head on. Instead of hiding in the shadows, Barra steps into the spotlight and speaks transparently on behalf of GM.

In one of the bigger political brand moves of 2018, Salesforce CEO, Marc Benioff, made a pledge to support Prop C – A measure to tax the biggest businesses in San Francisco to raise as much as $300 million for homeless programs:

What’s most interesting about this particular situation, is that Marc Benioff personally lead the charge on social media. Benioff was personally in for $2 million, while Salesforce reported nearly $5.9 million in contributions. 

As a CEO of a massive SaaS brand, this is a perfect example of how effective social media can be in gaining press attention for your business. Instead of framing it as a Salesforce initiative, the Salesforce PR team helped Benioff craft a compelling narrative that eventually lead back to the company.

Former CEO of Burberry and now Senior Vice President of Apple Retail, Angela Ahrendts is a master storyteller both in her personal life and for the major brands that she leads. 

Great brands and great businesses have to be great storytellers. We have to tell authentic, emotive, and compelling stories because we are building lifelong relationships with people. That relationship has to be built on trust.

Authentic Branding for a Global Audience: Angela Ahrendts (Future of StoryTelling 2013)

You can see and feel Angela’s storytelling ability in every one of her posts on social media. Even seemingly small Tweets come across as captivating: 

CEOs need to be great storytellers in order to amass and move a large audience online.

2018 wasn’t Facebook’s proudest year, in fact, Mark Zuckerberg probably wants to forget it ever happened. 

However, that doesn’t mean Zuckerberg is giving up. Quite the opposite – he’s showing CEOs everywhere that even in the hardest times you can still come out as a better person and business. 

To do so, Zuckerberg uses Facebook as a place to open up a conversation around change:

Zuckerberg publicly addresses many of the issues Facebook is up against in 2019 and explicitly states what he is going to do about them.

Social media is the perfect platform to enact change because it’s on public record and it’s a forum where CEOs can interact with key stakeholders – you and me.

These CEOs show that personal social media accounts can be a powerful force for good in customer service, brand building, PR, marketing, and sales.

However, CEOs can only accomplish these goals if they are active and consistent on social media. It’s hard to build an audience and community otherwise. 

Take a stand, confront your company’s biggest challenges, be an advocate for change, and leverage the power of social media as if you’re job depended on it.

Top CEO Social Feeds: How to Keep Your Brand on Top

Although public relations wasn’t officially a profession until relatively recently, the practice has been around for thousands of years.

In 50 B.C., Julius Caesar publicised his military exploits in the first known political campaign biography to convince the Romans that he would make the best head of state—a practice which is still used by political candidates today.

Before the rise of the most powerful PR professionals, there were some ancient personalities that influenced and shaped the PR industry.  

So who are the first PR influencers worth mentioning? 

Ptah-Hotep (2200 BCE) was an Egyptian literary who wrote the book The Maxims of Ptah-Hotep focusing on the importance of communicating with people. 

Socrates (470 BCE - 399 BCE), one of the founders of Western philosophy, was of the opinion that effective communication should be based on the truth. 

Aristotle (384 BCE - 322 BCE) whose work Rhetoric dealt with the art of persuasion and shaping the public opinion. 

In 50 BCE, Julius Caesar (100 BCE- 44 BCE) publicized his military exploits in the first known political campaign biography to convince the public opinion of Romans that he would make the best head of state – a practice which is still used in mass media by political candidates today. This document is regarded as the first public newsletter.

The PR industry wouldn’t be what it is today if it wasn’t for its pioneers and significant events that laid the foundation of public relations as a notable profession. 

But let us start from the beginning, that is in 1440 when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. It caused nothing less than a cultural and social revolution, enabling the sudden widespread of propaganda, journalistic activity, and printed material such as books, pamphlets etc.

Around 140 years later (in 1584), Sir Walter Raleigh decided to do some advertising and sent reports about the beauty of Roanoke Island to England to persuade more settlers. Despite his efforts, his attempt was far from being a success as it turned out that the land was swampy. 

In 1773, Samuel Adams, considered the Master of Propaganda, orchestrated public relations for the Revolutionary War, while 3 years later, Thomas Paine wrote the pamphlet Common Sense encouraging people to fight for an egalitarian government. When Amos Kendall became the press secretary of President Andrew Jackson (1820), he was quickly regarded as the one causing public relations to become a career. 

Basil Clark is regarded as the first PR professional, establishing the first UK PR agency Editorial Services in 1924.

However, PR became a profession when Ivy Lee started working as an advisor of John Rockefeller in 1903. The publicity expert was responsible for Rockefeller’s reputation boost after a crisis caused by a series of strikes in the coal mines. Ivy Lee is also believed to be the author of the first press release. 

One of the most important names is the field of PR is Edward Bernays, the Father of Public Relations and author of the influential book Propaganda. Being the nephew of Sigmund Freud, his PR strategies were greatly influenced by his uncle’s theories on behavioural psychology. Edward Bernays was of the opinion that political propaganda used by the governments during WWII, could also be used by corporations to influence the customer and consumer in a more subtle form. 

Businessman Henry Ford started using PR in the 1930’s to publicize his company and boost sales.

As you can see, only through the effort of numerous people who dared to try new approaches, we can speak of public relations as a meaningful profession.  

PR is a very broad topic, therefore it makes sense to focus on the most important aspects, one of them being inventions enabling the development and progress within the industry. 

History mentions numerous inventions that caused major changes in society, however, we will focus on the ones relevant for public relations. 

Daguerreotype (1839): First commercially successful photographic process

Tesla coils (1897): Electrical resonant transformer circuit. It is used to produce high-voltage, low-current, high frequency alternating-current electricity.

But what affected the modernization of PR? Once again, the answer is innovation.

It started with the birth of the Internet (1969), followed by the phenomena that the world wide web became accessible to the public (1991) and Hotmail was defined as the first web-based email service (1996). 

Soon after, in 1999 to be more precise, first bloggers emerged and were finally able to share their content on Blogger, the first free blog publishing platform. 

5 more years have passed before the world witnessed the explosion of social media platforms with the launch of Facebook and Twitter. They attracted more and more customers each day, advertising became easier and we could go on an on about the impact (positive and negative) the platforms have on society.  

Consumers, as well as technology enthusiasts, could buy their first iPhone in 2007 and the number of Apple customers is still growing, which can be attributed to effective PR including advertising, media relations, well thought through marketing concepts etc. 

People have been using PR (and PR’s sister occupation, content marketing) to capture the public’s attention and spur them into action since the beginning of time. The channels have changed a bit here and there with various inventions such as the printing press, followed by the Internet and social media (can you imagine how the American Revolution would have been different had Twitter existed?), but the basic strategies and principles remained the same.

People have been using PR (and PR’s sister occupation, content marketing) to capture the public’s attention and spur them into action since the beginning of time (yes, we are suggesting that cavemen probably had some sort of PR campaigns). The channels have changed a bit here and there with the invention of the printing press, and now the Internet and of course social media and sophisticated media monitoring tools; but the basic strategies and principles are the same.

Check out this cool infographic from Max Borges Agency to see how public relations has evolved over time:

The History of Public Relations

Brand credibility can provide significant value to businesses, which is why it's a key component of overall brand management and brand equity. Credible brands can enjoy increased chances of building loyal relationships, bouncing back from a crisis, and benefitting from less price-sensitive customers thanks to their favourable brand perception. Sometimes, credibility comes from how long a brand has been around, but for brands who don’t have a century of experience under their belt, here are 4 tips to get started and build on your brand image.

Better Media Analysis Leads to Better Coverage

Positive media coverage in well-respected publications are endorsements for our brand – and as such, they are a sure way of improving brand credibility. Today’s communications programs are about getting the right coverage from the right person (whether that person is a journalist, a blogger or a social media influencer) – and that means that we need to find the folks talking about the right things to the right people. With that in mind, building a media list isn’t about beat or publication anymore, but rather about how that person’s influence can move our brand story forward and enhance our brand perception amongst desired consumers. Figuring that out requires big data media intelligence using media monitoring tools or consumer intelligence platforms that can steer us in the right direction. For example, finding a journalist who’s written positively about our industry is a lot more powerful than finding one that works for X publication but doesn't have an interest in topics relevant to our industry.

In addition to finding influencers that can elevate our brand, we should also look at our competition to see what’s working for them from an earned media standpoint.

Here is an example of a competitive benchmark search analysing mentions of River Island and Topshop in the media. Marketing teams can take the analysis a step further to improve brand credibility by zooming in on the differences in sentiment and key themes via a conversation cloud. We then know what to avoid/ improve on in order to receive positive press.

(You can try a competitive benchmark for yourself using the free search engine on our homepage.)

There are a number of ways in which creating content improves brand credibility and the overall effectiveness of our marketing strategy. For example, content marketing can help position our brand as a thought leader, attract interest from desired publications, improve SEO and offers marketing pros a means of telling their brand story. Because of this, marketing teams should be getting involved in the below forms of content to improve brand credibility:

Event speaking opportunities on topics relevant to the brand

Run a blog or become a guest blogger with a credible PR partner

Use brand advocates and benefit from positive word of mouth via client testimonials and case studies 

TIP: Marketing professionals should work with their corp comms and PR departments to make sure that everyone is aligned on strategy and tells the same brand story. Disjointed messages can do a lot of harm to brand equity as it confuses audiences, so it's wise to take a collaborative approach and build objectives that align.

Honesty really is the best policy, both in life and in marketing. Trust and transparency are critical drivers of brand credibility that we must nurture and respect. One way we can increase brand credibility is by working on consistency. A brand relationship is a promise, and once that promise is broken it’s hard to put right as brand perception is often tarnished forever.

The most obvious case for building trust is truth in advertising: if we guarantee 16 hours of battery life in our advert, well, our battery better deliver that! It's worth bearing in mind that brand trust goes both wider and deeper than doing what you said you'd do, other elements such as what a customer expects from our customer service departments, what array of merchandise we might carry in any given store, or what sort of articles our marketing department is writing on our company blog all play their part in deciding whether we trust a brand or not.

Listening is about inviting engagement – and to do that, our brand needs to be approachable and accessible. Building brand credibility via social media listening can be as simple as showing that we care by acknowledging and replying to comments, or taking feedback on board. All good conversations start with listening: just like in real life, we improve our relationships with consumers when we understand their point of view. Consumers will talk about our brand whether they believe they're being listened to by the company or not, simply people their peers are listening to them - so their post has influence regardless. Brands need to take consumer influencer seriously. If your brand receives a lot of social media engagement, it can be difficult to find relevant conversations. Social intelligence tools can help us make sense of engagement by finding vital conversations about our brand, competitors and industry.

Hopefully, this blog has shed light on a few ways your brand can better engage consumers through enhancing its credibility. Brand perception is multifaceted and it's wise for your marketing team to first understand how your brand is perceived before setting out strategies that build on brand equity. We'd recommend taking both a qualitative and quantitative approach to find this research out.

4 Steps Towards Building Brand Credibility

Digital footprints left behind on social are a hot topic of today. We’ve all heard horror stories about employers following our digital breadcrumbs to find out about the ‘real you’. While many wish for “world peace” on their job applications, photos of an applicant dancing on the bar looking more than worse for wear can communicate a different story. 

But is this the only impact social listening has had on HR?

Social Listening Offers Profiling Opportunities

Social Listening Facilitates Head Hunting

Social Listening Facilitates Employer Branding

Social Listening to Keep an Eye on Competition

When crafted appropriately, a candidate’s online presence can work in their favour. The HR departments are able to gain a more informed impression of a candidate before the interview stage, thus helping with the screening process. For the candidate, social listening and media monitoring provide customer profiling opportunities. For example, companies will be able to see if a candidate has shared industry news, engaged with industry influencers, or published blogs to demonstrate their enthusiasm and knowledge.

Social listening and media monitoring also deliver the added benefit of finding talent for a company. If we set up a keyword search for ‘graduates’, as an example, we can then discover new and fresh talent before our competitors in the industry. The early bird catches the worm, right? Inga Boesecke, Meltwater HR Director Europe explains, “Social listening and engagement allows us to identify potential recruits who are seeking employment but perhaps haven’t considered or heard of Meltwater. We are then able to connect with them directly and give real insight into Meltwater as an employer of choice”.

Now we come to the other side of the coin: not only do companies expect to see more of a candidate, candidates also expect to see more of a company. Social media offers a good opportunity for HR to increase employer branding. Online profiles can show how fun, challenging, and inspiring it is to work for a brand, as well as offering employees the chance to have their voices heard as advocates. By running a keyword such on a brand's name we are able to see both negative and positive comments from employees, thus helping to manage brand reputation. Check out our Meltwater recruitment video on Youtube!

Social listening and online media monitoring have also changed the way companies can keep an eye on the competition through competitor monitoring. A well-established social listening and media monitoring search can help an organisation keep ahead of the curve on developments in the industry and in particular the big players within it. Nowadays we can find all vacancies adverts online; a quick search on a competitor enables us to see:

Where our competitors are recruiting. 
This gives a good indication of their expansion plans

Roles our competitors are recruiting for. 
If we know they are recruiting for a number of R&D jobs we then know new product development is on the way so that we can prepare for this and adapt our strategy accordingly

Hopefully, by now you have a better understanding of how social listening can be used outside of the PR and marketing department. 

4 Ways Social Listening has Influenced HR

Once a concept of sci-fi movies, artificial intelligence (AI) has now become mainstream. Applications of this technology are ever-growing and affecting businesses in different and unexpected ways.

When it comes to Procurement & Supply Chain, for example, organizations are still struggling in embracing the full potential of AI.

How can this technology be used successfully then, without businesses being simply caught up in the ‘complexity’ of it all?

As we see from Deloitte’s CPO Survey in 2018, AI is only fully deployed in 2% of procurement organizations, and is far from making any real impact at scale within the digital ecosystems procurement teams are so eagerly trying to build. To top it off, there’s only 27% percent of procurement leaders considering AI/Cognitive technology, and 55% who haven’t considered it at all. 

Cut to 2019, Deloitte published its newest CPO Survey where they found that 81% of chief procurement officers with fully implemented solutions in the space of Supply Chain Risk & Compliance Management aren’t satisfied with their solutions. 

That’s a whole 25% higher than Donald Trump’s disapproval rate when it reached its peak.

Procurement teams are combating complexity in multiple dimensions, one of which is inherently digital. In other words, they are trying to figure out how in the world they’re going to leverage data, digital platforms, and emerging technologies to become more intelligent – more data-driven – in their strategies and operations. 

Expectations are that Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning should be able to be applied in order to create more cognitive procurement organizations, but ask yourself: has my procurement team yet understood what AI is, or where it’s best applied?

Artificial Intelligence is intelligence displayed by machines, in which learning and action-based capabilities mimic autonomy rather than process-oriented intelligence. The simplest way to understand the potential application of AI is to clearly define its potential value-added.

Introduced by Gartner Analyst, Noha Tohamy, at Gartner’s Supply Chain Executive Conference, AI was broken down into two categories.

Augmentation: AI, which assists humans with their day-to-day tasks, personally or commercially without having complete control of the output. Such Artificial Intelligence is used in Virtual Assistant, Data analysis, software solutions; where they are mainly used to reduce errors due to human bias.

Automation: AI, which works completely autonomously in any field without the need for any human intervention. For example, robots performing key process steps in manufacturing plants”.

Artificial Intelligence is a rather cutting edge technology & is being used consistently within applications from some of the top-tier technology providers that we’re exposed to on a daily basis in our personal lives; Netflix, Google, Amazon, Facebook, among others. Things have developed incredibly fast in the last few years of technological development, and they’re only going to speed up.

Futurist Gerd Leonhard once predicted in a Forbes Magazine article that “Humanity will change more in the next 20 years than the previous 300 years. It’s a big call, and I will happily admit that I’ve had some people snicker at this statement. ‘You’re grandstanding!’ they say, ‘That’s unbelievable!’

“And whilst it may feel like a dramatic statement, I stand by it,” Leonhard adds. “If anything, I consider it to be an understatement when you assess the reality of exponential and combinatorial technological change. When AI (artificial intelligence) meets HI (human intelligence), business, as usual, is dead.”

In reality, machine-kind is becoming smarter than mankind in certain instances, but not without Human Intelligence (HI) being applied in parallel, and certainly not without access to robust data sets. 

So, how can we take the stigma away from these two feared letters, and begin to find practical applications of artificial intelligence that can add real business value fast? Moreover, how can procurement teams do this without breaking the bank, or their brains from thinking too hard?

AI + Data = Supply Chain Risk Management 

Data is plentiful, and therefore content & information is plentiful. 

Forbes published an article back in 2018 that claimed that 90% of the world’s data had been created during the two years previous. 

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