Today, I would like to share with everyone some of my favorite websites, blogs and tools for public relations professionals. As the Internet is inundated with millions of websites and resources, it can be difficult to find the most useful and credible sites out there. I would like to invite everyone to share your favorites in the comment section following the blog!
5. MetricsMan. MetricsMan is a personal blog of Don Bartholomew, Vice President, Digital Research at Fleishman-Hillard. As the PR world continually evolves, it’s important to learn about new ways to report the value of traditional and new media placements to clients. MetricsMan offers wonderful insight and opinion on research and ROI measurement. Don is one of the top executives within the industry and can offer any PR program a little bit of guidance when it comes to accountability and measuring success.
4. Twittercounter. Twittercounter is a third-party application for Twitter. It has been dubbed the "FeedBurner for Twitter." What I find most useful about Twittercounter is the weekly updates I receive via e-mail, which include statistics on my Twitter account's new followers, predictions on the new followers I will receive the next week and an overview of how many times my account was updated. It’s a convenient way to keep track of new followers and the growth of a Twitter account. Twittercounter also has a comparable statistics tool. You can enter up to three Twitter handles to compare followers, following numbers and the number of tweets. You can compare them on a weekly, monthly or a 3-monthly basis. It’s a great way to keep up on competitors within the Twittersphere as well!
3. Compete. Compete is an online tool which measures website traffic. I find it extremely useful when I am trying to find information about bloggers to report on the value of blog hits for a client. I also find it helpful in deciphering top bloggers within an industry. You are able to view unique visitor traffic with timeline options of 3 months, 6 months and 1 year. Compete also has a comparison tool, where you can compare traffic of up to five different websites. There is also a paid portion of Compete, which gives more in-depth information about a blog or website including demographics and audience profiles.
2. Epodunk. Epodunk is an online database of cities, counties, communities and towns throughout the United States. This website is extremely useful when pitching the media in smaller regions. Each town profile lists out details such as population, demographics, income, housing, attractions, etc. What I find to be the most useful is the Media Outlets section. This section of the profile will list all daily newspapers, radio stations and TV stations within the area. Even better is that you can narrow your search within miles. Epodunk is a "must see" website when pitching regionally.
1. The Navigator. The Navigator by Cision is a great online resource of articles by industry experts, breaking media news, placement opportunities and profiles on top media contacts. I love everything about this website but the one section I find to be the most useful is the Media Updates section. Media Updates are weekly personnel changes in all the top print publications, broadcast and most recently, blogs. You can view the updates by industry: General Interest, Lifestyle/Entertainment, Business/Financial, Science/Technology and Medical/Health. It is wonderful way to keep updated on the quickly-changing landscape of media. It is also a great way to build relationships with editors and reporters. For instance, if you see that a new editor was named at one of your target publications, send them a quick congratulatory e-mail and offer them an overview of how you can potentially be a resource in the future. It can really go a long way!