public relations…social media…commmunications…marketing. Repeat.

In last week’s post, “Staying relevant and successful in the competitive public relations market,” I included a list of ten great public relations blogs I use on a regular basis.  In addition to those blogs, I would recommend quite a few additional resources to help public relations professional be more effective at their job.

• iCyte: This is an online tool that allows you to take snapshots of your media clippings. iCyte stores your clippings in your online account where you can arrange them according to month, date, industry, etc.
• Google Alerts: Okay, who doesn’t know about Google Alerts? Google Alerts are great because each alert you establish has the ability to bring up multiple mentions at a time. Just be sure to be specific in your search criteria. If you want your Google Alert to search for a specific phrase, put quotes around that phrase. Otherwise, you will get every instance on the Internet known to man where those words are used within a certain document or where that phrase is used within a sentence.
• TwitterFeed: Got a blog? TwitterFeed lets you syndicate your content out to Twitter and Facebook. I personally use this tool to syndicate my blog posts!
• Klout: How influential is your brand? Klout can answer that for you. Klout measures your level of influence among your followers and then labels you to put your level of influence in perspective.
• TweetDeck: Another fave! Tweetdeck lets you monitor more than one account by using one source. You can post status updates or Tweets to LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter profiles. You can also monitor the conversation going on in the social space about your brand. Having multiple accounts up at one time will help you interact with your followers more and respond to them quicker.
• Google Analytics: Google Analytics is a great analytics tool that gives you insight into your web site’s traffic and marketing efforts. It’s also rather easy to use. You don’t have to be an IT or tech guru to set it up.
• HARO: Help a Reporter Out. HARO is another great resource for public relations people who are looking to land media coverage for their clients. Unlike ProfNet, a similar tool, HARO is free and available to anyone who subscribes. The one downfall that I found is that it is too general. If you cater to a specific audience, it might be difficult to find the fit for you.
• PitchEngine: There are a lot of great press release distribution sites out there, but I think PitchEngine is one of the best. It is a great resource for creating a social media press release. The site delivers a social media release that has a clean look and is easy to read and understand.

Feel free to add to the list. I’m sure you all have plenty to contribute!