By Cassy van Eeden

There are literally hundreds of apps that can save PR pros a lot of time and make their efforts more effective. We have compiled a list of some of the best, most useful apps that you can download right away.

Pulse

One of the most important parts of your job is to be up-to-date with the latest news pertaining to your industry and the brands that you represent. Pulse is the ideal app to help you do this.

Penna Powers account manager Jane Putnam writes: “Pulse aggregates into one place the blogs, magazines, newspapers and social networks your regularly track and read.”

Writing for PRDaily, Niall Harbison founder of Simply Zesty, comments that Pulse is “beautifully designed” as well as neat and vibrant.

Journalist Patrick Coffee adds: “This is great for tracking emerging news stories, but also for sharing stories with your audience via the app’s Facebook and Twitter integration.”

GoToMeeting

You’re constantly on the go, and so are your clients and colleagues. This is why you need GoToMeeting. This nifty app “allows you to set up a mobile meeting with everyone, on the fly”, writes Coffee. “Invite your whole team to chat and view a quick presentation, mockups and reports – whatever is on the screen,” he adds.

Associate editor at PR News magazine, Caysey Welton, says that GoToMeeting app allows users to “create webinars, conference calls [and] HD conferencing, all from a mobile device”.

Michal Galuszek, a website and social media advisor at London School of Public Relations, adds that: “In the PR industry, it is quite common to work with people living in different countries. Having customer[s] based overseas can be difficult.” He says GoToMeeting alleviates this challenge.

Facebook Pages Manager

A free app that is available on all smart devices, Facebook Pages manager is an absolute essential to any PR professional. “The Facebook Pages Manager app keeps a constant connection with your audience, which is important for managing any crisis or opportune moment,” says Coffee.

“Getting notifications to your phone is an important step when it comes to staying ahead of brand issues or opportunities,” he adds, especially when you are out of the office.

Putnam adds that the app is “separate from the standard Facebook app” and it “lets you ‘act’ as your page, so you never worry about which account you’re posting from”.

Dropbox

Are you still carrying press releases around with you? Or promising journalists hi-res images, but you can only send them one by one attached to separate emails? If so, it’s time you tried Dropbox.

“Dropbox is a cloud-based file sharing and storing service, and the app lets you take your documents, files and pictures – and everything else you have in your Dropbox – with you,” says Putnam. “You can also grant access to documents to your team members, which is great for version control and sharing documents.”

Do you have any apps that help you with your PR activities? Do you use any of the ones we have discussed? Let us know in the comments below.