CHICAGO: Media intelligence company Cision is introducing new features to its Public Relations Edition platform that unite the technologies of several companies it acquired last year.
"We are finally starting to bring together some of the acquisitions we’ve worked on over the last 15 months," said Cision CEO Peter Granat told PRWeek. "We are still working on some of the engagement pieces."
The upgrade comes five months after Cision brought together the technology of Vocus and Viralheat to create Cision Public Relations Edition and Cision Social Edition. The most recent update aims to expand users’ influencer marketing and insights capabilities, Granat explained.
Gorkana’s premium profiles and media updates, which provide insights and tips to help users cultivate meaningful engagement with media, have been added to the platform. Additionally, influencer profile pages have been enhanced, and users can now view real-time insights on what contacts are writing about and who they interact with on social media. The ability to search for influencers has also been added.
The upgraded platform enables users to engage press contacts directly, as well as share and send original content to build deeper relationships with the media and expand their social networks.
Also included in the update are global media insights, which combine social media and traditional media analytics and insights in a series of dashboards.
The company added the ability for users to download an app for the Cision PR Edition platform to access a stream of their brand’s most important news coverage, with options to curate and share news with internal stakeholders or social followers.
"We are seeing more of a push toward integrated marketing and working more closely together," Granat said. "A lot of our clients are using up to 10 different tools at once, so we are working hard to bring those capabilities together through one single platform so you can get analytics on your campaigns."
Cision PR Edition starts at $10,000 annually.
Earlier this month, Cision implemented fresh branding elements, including a new logo, that portray "strength, success, and evolution," according to a statement.
Since last fall, Cision has been on an acquisition spree, snapping up companies such as Viralheat, Visible Technologies, and media intelligence and data insight specialist Gorkana Group.
Cision and Vocus officially combined under the former’s brand last October.
When asked about the possibility of future acquisitions for Cision, Granat declined to comment.
"It has been our policy not to comment on [potential] acquisitions," he said. "However, it is an interesting time in this space and there are a lot of unique businesses we think are very relevant for our customers; we will continue to look at all opportunities."
Last month, Reuters reported that Cision is putting together a bid to acquire PR Newswire from UBM, which wants $700 million for the press-release-distribution service, according to the publication. Cision also runs the similar Help a Reporter Out service.
Headquartered in Chicago, Cision has more than 100,000 customers worldwide and maintains offices in Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, and China.
