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Alerts (for Journalists)

Set up alerts to monitor keywords of interest and whenever you or your industry colleagues get published

Sara Sorenson avatar
Written by Sara Sorenson
Updated over 3 weeks ago
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The information in this article applies to Journalists listed in Muck Rack's database. For information on getting started with Muck Rack as a PR Professional, check out our article on how to Create a New Alert.

Alerts (for Journalists)

Muck Rack Alerts help you easily monitor media. You can monitor specific content related to your coverage areas, keywords of interest, and industry colleagues. You can even be alerted when your own work is published!

Exclusive to Verified Journalists

The Alerts feature is only available to Muck Rack-verified journalists.

NOTE: Email alerts are restricted to 100 results per email. If you anticipate receiving more than 100 results, we suggest adjusting your Alert frequency within the alert settings to receive alerts more often. This will reduce the number of results included in each email.


Create an Alert From Scratch

  1. Go to Tools > Alerts.

    Shows the Tools menu expanded with 'Alerts' circled in red


    ​​

  2. Select the Create Alert button. The most common alert type is Email. An Email Digest combines multiple alerts into one email.

    Shows the 'Create Alert' button circled in red on the Alerts landing page with the dropdown options displayed


  3. Configure your Alert. You can add email subscribers to receive the alerts and what frequency they will receive them.

    Shows the Alert details page where you can configure your settings

    Shows the Frequency dropdown options: Once per day, Twice per day, Three times per day, or As Published



  4. When configuring your Alerts, add keywords to monitor. This is the same as setting up a search in Muck Rack.

    Shows the 'Content to Monitor' section of the Alert Details page with example keywords in the text field


  5. Filter your search as needed.

    Closeup of the available Alert filters


  6. Select Save at the bottom of the page when you are done.

    Closeup of the Save button


Create an Alert From Your Search Results

Alerts can also be created when running an Article Search search in Muck Rack by selecting the Create Alert button from the action bar that appears above your results:

Shows a close up of the 'Create Alert' dropdown expanded to show 'Email' and 'Email Digest' on the search results page


Create an Alert for a Media List

Filter any Alert by your Media Lists to receive results only from the journalists on a Media List. For example, suppose you’ve built a Media List of people attending or covering an event in your city. In that case, you can receive an email anytime they mention a specific topic or keyword.

  1. Go to Tools > Media List.

    Shows the Tools menu expanded with 'Alerts' circled in red

  2. From the Media List page, select a Media List, then select Create Alert.


  3. Fill out the Alert configuration settings, then select Save at the bottom.

    Shows the Alert details page where you can configure your settings



Create an Alert for An Individual Journalist

If you have a list of top journalists you want to monitor, Muck Rack allows you to set up Alerts for individual journalists proactively. This lets you receive a notification in your inbox whenever they write a new article.

NOTE: You can follow these steps to set up an alert for your own profile, too, and get notified whenever your coverage gets published!

  1. Select any person's profile page in Muck Rack

    Shows a journalist profile page

  2. Select Create Alert below their bio.

    Highlights the 'Create Alert' button at the top of a journalist profile page


  3. Fill out the Alert configuration settings, then select Save at the bottom.

    Shows the Alert details page where you can configure your settings



Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Question

Answer

Can a user without a paid Muck Rack account receive alerts?

Free users can receive email alerts and digests (not Slack), however, they must be a verified user to access the Alerts tool.

For more information on Journalist Verification (and the tools available to verified vs. not verified journalist users) please see our Journalist Verification article.

I didn't receive my email alert. What should I do?

  • Search your Spam/Junk folders:

Your email client may be automatically sorting these emails elsewhere in your inbox -- try searching the subject line "Muck Rack Alert" in your spam and junk folders.

We recommend saving the email address alerts@muckrack.com as a contact in your email to better prevent these emails from automatically sorting into undesired folders.

  • Verify your keywords are properly formatted:

If the keywords entered in the settings of your Alert are not formatted properly (misuse of a Boolean operator, missing a quotation mark in a phrase, etc.). In that case, Muck Rack may not be able to recognize the appropriate article links to pull and, therefore not trigger an Alert email to you.

If you go to the settings of your Alert, you can review the keyword formatting in the Terms to Monitor box. You may see an error like the one below indicating a formatting error somewhere in your keyword string. You can select Search Help just above this box to view a guide on all the Boolean operators and correct formatting rules.

Our team is happy to help review the formatting of your keyword strings as well. Select the chat icon in the bottom right or email support@muckrack.com to get in touch with us.

  • Whitelist IP Addresses:

Suppose you ensured that your keyword string is properly formatted in the Alert settings and the emails are not being delivered elsewhere in your inbox. In that case, the next troubleshooting step to take is to have your IT whitelist our IP addresses to improve the deliverability of these emails better.

Please contact us at support@muckrack.com, and our team can provide the necessary IP addresses for your team to whitelist.


Get Help

For additional help, contact support by choosing the chat icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen and selecting Messages > Send us a message.


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