4 lesser-known features of popular PR and marketing tools

Get the most out of your PR and marketing tools—especially if you’re paying for them.

Only using a portion of a resource’s features is similar to having a gym membership and only using the treadmill. Many brand managers don’t realize that you have access to deeper insights and time-saving shortcuts, which hide in plain sight on platforms you use every day.

Consider these less-known features:

1. Cision: Influencer Rating

Most PR pros know Cision. The database is a streamlined way to find reporters and their contact information, but the platform also makes influencer marketing searchable.

Using its database, you can see a 360-degree view of each journalist’s influencer rating and digital presence. If used correctly, the feature can help boost your social media efforts and identify potential partners. Not only does it link influencers’ common social profiles like Twitter, it also includes platforms such as SoundCloud and YouTube to show exactly where—and how far—an individual’s influence is felt.

2. Hubspot: Sidekick

The beauty of HubSpot is that some of its best assets are entirely free, including its SideKick plugin. You can use it to track when a reporter opens your email, because you receive a notification to follow up at the right time.

The cherry on top of the sundae is an activity stream which tells you when and how many times a reporter opened your email, downloaded an attachment or clicked a link. You can use the feature to gauge true interest in your pitch; if he or she opened your email a few times, following up is probably welcome. If the reporter opened your pitch once without clicking a link or viewing a photo, it might be time to move to greener pastures.

[RELATED: Learn how to properly pitch your stories, boost your visual content muscles, measure your tactics and more.]

3. Bitly Enterprise: OneView

If you’ve tweeted on behalf of a client or your organization, you might have used Bitly to create a branded, shortened link and save characters. If that’s all you’re using Bitly for, you’re missing out on the link management platform’s full benefits for communicators.

Bitly's OneView feature gives Enterprise users a real-time look at how their links are performing across all channels, whether they’re paid, earned or owned. This enables you to adapt your digital marketing strategy based on who engages with your content and where it’s performing the best.

4. LinkedIn: Data Exporting

Because all LinkedIn profile data is the property of its users, you can download your full personal archive, including your connections. This can come in quite handy considering the data set includes email addresses.

Say you don’t have a new reporter’s contact information, and it also isn’t on Cision. If you’re connected via LinkedIn, you can download your entire list of connections from your profile. Don’t use the feature to pad your email list with unwilling recipients—but it can be a lifeline if you need a single address in a pinch.

Which “hidden” features of popular tools and platforms would you add to the list?

Mark Josephson is the chief executive of Bitly.

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