Smartphone Smarty Pants: Helpful Apps for PR Professionals

On the first Friday of every month, the PRSA SEW Social Media Committee conducts an informal social media training at the Milwaukee Public Market at 8 a.m. This month Laura Stanelle of Emerald Isle Marketing + PR and Emily Lenard of Hanson Dodge Creative discussed helpful smartphone apps for PR professionals.

Coincidently, Mediabistro’s PRNewser published their second list of 10 must have apps for PR a day earlier so we were able to crib some helpful apps from them as well.

Organization apps:

Evernote: Awesome for notes, photos and voice memos. Keeps everything in one place and syncs up between devices.

Dropbox: Synchronizes documents and files across several devices, so you’re never without a file you need.

Instapaper: Saves articles and other content for reading later.

Local apps:

JSOnline: Local headlines at your fingertips; divided by section.

OnMilwaukee: A favorite website in an easily accessible app.

MKEBIZ: Business Journal of Greater Milwaukee divided by Latest News, Most Viewed and Most Emailed.

Reference apps:

Wikipedia: Helpful for quick reference on thousands of topics in encyclopedia entry form.

Google: For many the utility of Google is a no-brainer, but many people still haven’t added the Google mobile app to their arsenal of tools on the go.

Mashable: This is a great resource for all levels of PR, marketing, social media and communication professionals.

Others:

Recorder: Mediabistro’s PRNewser recommends this app to capture memos, interviews, and ideas on the go.

Dragon Dictation: Fingertips not moving as fast as your mind? Then this is the app for you. Talk into your phone and let Dragon Dictation put your verbal thoughts into words for a text or email.

Communication-Social Media:

WordPress: Another helpful app on the PRNewser list. This app enables blogging and comment moderating via a client’s WordPress blog/website.

Hootsuite/Tweetdeck: Monitor, engage and track individual post clicks and engagement of your clients’ online communities on many social networks at once.

Twitter: Even though apps like Hootsuite seem to get more press, we advise you not to count out the native Twitter app. Many find it easier to use—helping you get the message out more efficiently.

Others you’d like to add?