It’s a wonderful time to be a communicator.
Sanguine professional prospects aside, communication pros have at their fingertips a splendid array of tools and
technology that can make their work more efficient, robust, compelling and
insightful. The trick is finding a nice mix of resources that make your job
easier—not more complicated.
[EVENT: Create powerful corporate content that engages internal and external audiences.]
Veteran PR exec Stephen Waddington has posted a handy list of tools to help PR pros “work smarter” and gain an
edge over competitors. Here’s a sample, separated into umbrella categories:
Planning
AnswerThePublic
Visualization of autocomplete results provided by Bing and Google
Facebook Ad Planner
Understanding Facebook users by demographic and behavior
Google Consumer Barometer
Online research and resources that show how people around the world use the
internet
Google Keyword Planner
Tool to get keyword ideas to help build your campaigns
MozPro
Suite of search engine optimization planning and analytics tools
Listening
Clarabridge CX Analytics
Natural Language Processing, sentiment monitoring and data categorization
Google Cloud Platform Natural Language API
AI tech that can be used for social media sentiment analysis
Google Forms
Survey forms for external or internal research
IQ Bot
AI tool that can analyze and make sense of unstructured content
Questback
Online survey platform for market research
Quid
Platform for searching, analyzing and visualizing social media data
SurveyMonkey
Online survey platform for external or internal research
Analytics
Bit ly
URL shortener, link management and analytics
Shared count
URL tracking
Similar Web
Website traffic and analytics
Tableau
Business intelligence and analytics
Ubermetrics
Media intelligence and analytics software
Buzzsumo
Content and influencer identification based on keywords
Audio content
Audacity
Open source audio, editing and mixing
Libsyn
Podcast syndication
Soundation
Audio editing, mixing and publishing
Zencastr
Podcast editing and recording
Visual content
Canva
Graphic design and layout tool for images, graphics and illustrations
iPiccy
Photo editor and image creator
Pexels
Stock photos
Pixabay
Stock photos
Pixlr
Online photo editor
PNG Mart
Free PNG images with transparent backgrounds
StockSnap
Stock photos
Unsplash
Stock photos
Video content
GoAnimate
Video animation
WeVideo
Online video editor
Media relations workflow platforms
MyNewsdesk
Newsroom platform to create press releases, branded newsrooms and manage
news distribution
PressPage
Newsroom platform to create engaging stories, seamlessly distribute to
maximize reach and analyze results
Prezly
Newsroom, distribution and content management
Prowly
Newsroom platform to create press releases, brand newsrooms and news
distribution with analytics
PR pros who cling to old-school methods are punching a one-way ticket to
Irrelevant Town. It’s time to embrace technology, learn a new skill, try
different platforms, and take advantage of resources that provide a
competitive edge.
Review the rest of the helpful tools listed on
Mr. Waddington’s blog.
(Image via)