Migrate from Cision to HighLevel

Cision journalist contact records map to GoHighLevel Contact objects. Journalist-specific fields (beat assignment, outlet affiliation, journalist tier, social profiles) migrate to Contact custom fields created in GoHighLevel before import. The Cision contact's email address serves as the dedupe key. Beat assignment migrates as a custom picklist or text field; outlet affiliation maps to a custom field that may reference a GoHighLevel Company record if the outlet is also tracked as an organization. Note that GoHighLevel has no journalist media database equivalent; the 1.4M+ Cision database is not accessible via GoHighLevel and must be rebuilt or sourced from an alternative media contact provider post-migration.

Cision media lists (curated journalist groupings for targeted pitching) map to GoHighLevel Contacts with Tag assignments. List membership is resolved by matching each contact's email to the GoHighLevel Contact record, then applying the corresponding tag for each list the contact belongs to. List-level metadata (list name, description, created date) is preserved as a GoHighLevel Tag Group or stored as a Contact custom field. If multiple lists share the same contact, the contact receives multiple tags. Contacts in Cision that do not have matching email addresses in GoHighLevel are held in a reconciliation queue for manual review.

Press releases stored in Cision PR Newswire, including distribution history, recipient tier, wire tier, and open/click metrics, have no native GoHighLevel equivalent. We export release metadata (title, date, wire tier, distribution reach count, open rate, click rate) as a custom object record or as structured notes attached to the associated Campaign Contact. Wire distribution history (which outlets received the release) does not map to any GoHighLevel object and is delivered as a CSV export for the customer's reference. Customers relying on press release performance tracking should evaluate a dedicated PR analytics tool post-migration.

Cision PR campaigns (grouping press releases, pitches, and coverage mentions) map to GoHighLevel Opportunity records in a dedicated Pipeline. Campaign attributes (name, date range, status, linked contacts) migrate as Opportunity fields (name, close date, pipeline stage) with custom fields carrying campaign-specific metadata such as campaign type, media objectives, and target outlet count. Linked media contacts from the Cision campaign attach to the GoHighLevel Opportunity via Tags or custom contact association fields. Cision's campaign performance metrics (coverage mentions, reach, sentiment) migrate as custom numeric fields on the Opportunity.

Monitored coverage records from CisionOne mention streams (article metadata, outlet, tone/sentiment, reach estimate, tags) are exported in bulk and deduplicated. Because GoHighLevel has no native media coverage object, we store mention records as Notes attached to the relevant Contact (for journalist-by-journalist coverage) or as entries in a custom object (Coverage Mention) if the customer requires structured reporting. Tag associations from Cision migrate as Tag assignments on the associated Contact. Records with incomplete outlet metadata are flagged for customer review before load.

Social monitoring data from Brandwatch integration (social mentions, engagement metrics, trend data) has no GoHighLevel equivalent for social stream ingestion. We export social records with platform attribution and store them as Notes on the relevant Contact with a custom field indicating social platform and engagement type. Brandwatch-specific metadata that does not fit the Note schema is delivered as a structured CSV export. Customers requiring ongoing social media monitoring should evaluate a dedicated social listening tool post-migration.

Cision outlet records (publication name, type, geography, beat coverage, contact relationships) map to GoHighLevel Company records. Outlet type (print/digital/broadcast) migrates as a Company custom field. Beat coverage and contact relationships are preserved as custom fields and Tag assignments on the associated Company. The Company is created before the corresponding Contact import so that the Contact-to-Company lookup is satisfied at insert time.

Cision user accounts (name, email, role, workspace assignments) map to GoHighLevel User records. We resolve users by email match. Any Cision user without a matching GoHighLevel User is held in a reconciliation queue for the customer admin to provision before record import resumes. Workspace-based access controls in Cision do not have a direct GoHighLevel equivalent; we document the workspace assignments during discovery so the admin can configure GoHighLevel Location or Sub-Account access accordingly.