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Many PR tasks simply need to be done, but are repetitive, boring and time consuming. You could be holding back your business or career if you’re not dedicating your limited time properly and wasting it on tasks that could be automated.
You can actually automate many of those distasteful tasks and avoid spending the bulk of your time completing them, allowing you to focus on other activities that call for greater creativity and relationship-building skills.
Here are seven PR tasks that you can automate now, so that you can begin to develop the more gratifying areas of your PR responsibilities.
Tracking Your Email Responses
You’re almost certainly sending a large number of email messages, which likely results in a large amount of email responses. Keeping track of all those messages manually can be difficult and time-consuming. But there are ways to automate this tracking, so that you don’t have to put in hours of work. Email add-ons such as Yesware can help monitor the number of opens, clicks and responses to emails you send.
Getting Multimedia Press Releases Published
It can be incredibly time-consuming to manage a contact database and media pitches and check that your press release and pitch are functioning properly on all types of devices. So, if there’s a way to automate it, why not take advantage and dedicate that time you’re saving elsewhere? A lot goes into creating a multimedia press release, but when it comes time to publish and distribute it, you can automate the process to save time. Create a multimedia press release with a platform like Prezly, which generates email versions of your news release that you can send to journalists for review and consideration.
Scheduling Social Media Posts
It’s no longer necessary to sign into social media accounts to post content at a particular time. “You can actually plan and schedule what will be posted, so that it automatically happens without you having to set a timer and hop on the computer each time you want to post,” explains communications manager Willie Garrett of UK Writings and Academized. Inexpensive and even free tools like Hootsuite or Buffer can help manage social media accounts and schedule posts to keep those accounts continuously active.
Monitoring Social Media
If people mention or interact with your brand on social media, you don’t want that to go unnoticed. Many comments about your organization, especially customer complaints, call for a quick response. The quicker your response, the better experience your user will have. A social media listening tool with automated email alerts, such as Glean.info, will notify you almost immediately when someone mentions your brand or other keywords you choose, significantly minimizing the chance you’ll miss something important.
“There’s a lot riding on the speed and effectiveness of the response you give to those interacting with you on social media, so ensure you’re responding timely to and not missing those interactions,” outlines Richard Munsey, PR blogger at OxEssays and EliteAssignmentHelp.
Creating a List of Influencers
You no longer need to spend hours searching on Google for contact information of influencers in your field. Now, all you’ve got to do is find a program like Buzzstream, and pretty much everything else is done automatically for you. With the service, you input the blog or website into the database, and all of the information you’re looking for can be extracted and entered into a spreadsheet for your review.
Keeping in Touch with Influencers
Outreach and responses to influencers need to be relevant and focused to have optimal impact. In order to tailor your response to the specific influencer you have two options: Complete extensive research on the influencer by examining their online presence and social media outlets or automate this process with a program such as Rapportive that generates this data for you.
Staying in contact with influencers is highly recommended, even when there’s nothing hugely significant happening. Send periodic messages, links or relevant articles to keep in touch with influencers and build a rapport with them. Automate these messages so you don’t have to remember to send them and so you can work on other tasks while maintaining contact with influencers.
Bottom Line: Focus your efforts in your business on the priorities that need your attention, and utilize automation for tasks wherever possible. Your time is limited, so it’s essential to make the most of it to complete as much as possible and achieve the highest level of success possible.
Nora Mork is a business and marketing journalist, as well as a business writer at Paper Fellows and Australian help. She helps businesses create better communications strategies, and shares her best practices at online magazines and blogs, such as the Write my essay blog.
