Working in public communications means you’ll likely spend a decent amount of time each week perusing news newspaperheadlines, industry publications, and social media hashtags. In order to best represent your clients and find prime opportunities for coverage, you need to be aware of the top trends and breaking news. This includes public relations news, industry talk pertaining to your clients, and worldwide stories. However, in a public relations specialist’s busy schedule, how can you get the most out of the time you have to browse media? I have three PR tools I check in with each day that help keep me informed without draining too much of my work time.

 

  • PR Daily & PR Week
    • It’s not all about the clients – PR pros have their own trends and news to watch, too. These two sites offer comprehensive daily coverage of what’s new and exciting in the world of public relations. From major agency announcements to news about updated social media analytics tools, anyone in PR can stay in the loop with a quick browse each day. Both sites also offer articles and webinars to improve your skills, and more humorous, fun articles – like this one about PR lessons from the Star Wars

 

  • Industry Specific News
    • Many of us work with clients in industries that we aren’t initially experts in. However, in order to pitch media successfully and write engaging content for these clients, we need to spend time increasing our knowledge. An easy way to do this is research the top publications in the client’s industry, and sign up for daily or weekly newsletters. Google alerts set for client-related phrases are also a great option, as is following industry thought leaders on Twitter. You can use Twitter lists to organize by client or field, and then browse your list each week to see what’s being discussed in that particular arena. You can also subscribe to top blogs related to your client, and set up an RSS feed.

 

  • The Skimm
    • the skimmThe Skimm is a free, curated morning email covering news in the USA and worldwide. It’s sent out in time for you to read with your morning coffee, and head into work more informed. Stories are shared in short blurbs, so you can get the most important information quickly. Most stories have hyperlinks for more information if you have some extra time. The overall tone is more lighthearted and fun, so it never
      reads like dull, typical morning headlines. Recently, The Skimm has featured quick interviews with current presidential candidates, to help readers get to know them prior to next year’s elections. The email also frequently features fun giveaways and trivia to add a little more for readers.