For your PR Toolbox

How will you become a successful PR person? Know your resources! Familiarizing yourself with websites and software relevant to the industry gives you an edge over the less-informed PR pro.

AddThis:

Social media platforms improve PR campaigns by providing a means to reach and engage an interactive audience. But to be effective, PR people are itching to know how to correctly use social media. AddThis, an online bookmarking and sharing service, has analyzed sharing statistics for the past five years. After diving deep into its data pool, the service provides answers to burning questions about the social web. For example, AddThis tells us that we share the most on Wednesdays; social media users are not suffering from the mid-week blues. Awareness of social media trends makes it possible to update and post at optimal times. Is your audience retweeting your tweets, posting a link to your latest blog entry, or missing your posts altogether? PR people get inside the heads of their audience through AddThis.

MyMediaInfo:

Effective media relations requires up-to-date knowledge of press, broadcast, blogs, and the like. However, media contacts can become quickly dated as journalists move between outlets and cover new beats. MyMediaInfo, an in-depth media contacts database, is another time-saver, by targeting relevant outlets and journalists. Subscribers can search by outlet, contact or social media handle while narrowing the search to a designated marketing area or a publication’s focus. A current, relevant media list is a requirement for successful outreach and MyMediaInfo perfects the art.

Snagit:

When it comes to measuring PR impact, collecting press clippings is the easiest way. Although, simple cutting and pasting—whether on Microsoft Word or with scissors and glue—is tedious (and boring!). Screen capture programs like Snagit offer some relief. In just a few clicks, you can snag, edit, and organize screenshots of online media placements. Snagit will scroll an entire website or grab only a small portion of picture and text. The variety of ways in which to capture and edit digital formation using Snagit saves time and prevents stress-management headaches!

What other public relations resources might you suggest looking into? Let us know!

This guest blog was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Frank Kunkle.