Thoughts on PR & Social Media Software

It's a testament to how good Meltwater is that it dominates most aspects of a PR and Social Media Manager's toolkit..or does it show how badly we need alternatives in 2024?

I'm inclined to think it's the latter.

Look, I used Meltwater for many years in my roles in PR and Social. In fact, I relied on the software to do my job well every day.

G2 name them as the top Public Relations and Influencer Marketing software across nearly every vertical (https://www.g2.com/categories/public-relations-pr).

Need to find a journalist contact? Just search and most of the time it provided an email address and phone number.

Reports and data at a click? Every week, my manager would ask for reports and Meltwater would help me deliver.

Finding creators? I'd use their 'Klear' solution to research and contact campaign creators and influencers.

But it's not perfect—far from it. Its database is far from comprehensive, and I believe Cision and Muck Rack are better media databases.

AI prompting and changing user behavior is making its search and filtering functions obsolete.

The Meltwater offering is now hugely bloated also, just take a look at their website (as aesthetically pleasing as it is).

They even spend customer money on throwing lavish events and celebrities like Ryan Reynolds (am a big fan Ryan, no offense eh).

Finally, their people, while friendly, are notoriously sales orientated when we mostly want a better product.

It's another case of a great business being bought from a founder by private equity and now in desperate need of a new vision.

What do you think?

• is Meltwater still the best tool for PR and Social Media Managers?

• is PR and Social Media software in need of a reset?

• will AI render them less effective moving forward?

Leave a comment if you're a Meltwater user or are using another tool.