In our industry, it’s important to stay on top of the latest news, gadgets, social media platforms, and more.
It can be like drinking from the firehose.
There’s so much information out there, but how do you know where to get the best PR news?
Who has the most up-to-date information?
Most importantly, who has the most relevant information for our industry?
The Spin Sucks community is a network of communications pros and is a great place to turn both for PR news, and for crowdsourcing.
Because none of us have the time to sort through all the PR news sources available, we have put together a handy list from some of the members of the community.
This week for the #SpinSucksQuestion, we asked:
Aside from Spin Sucks, where do you turn for your content information? Which newsletters and sites do you rely on to have the most up-to-date information about the communications industry?
Here’s what they had to offer.
In the World of SEO and Newsletters
In order to produce our weekly newsletters and not spend the entire week doing it, I pull data from more than 1,500 blogs into custom-built software, score it based on metrics like SEO value, clicks, and social shares, then analyze it for topics the company and I care about, and then extract the top 15-25 stories each week. To do that, I had to write custom software for the process, but it’s a very scalable way to keep up on what’s going on in our space. One of my benchmarks of a good newsletter is that if I learned something as I’m putting it together, that’s a sign others will learn too. Spin Sucks, of course, is one of our top communications-related content sources.
Our team puts together a Daily PR Brief with communications news.
I just posted about my favorite newsletters on LI the other day (which I’ll include below to give the links). They weren’t all communication industry- specific, but ones that are include:
- Total Annarchy – Ann Handley’s fortnightly content writing ideas
- Joe Pulizzi’s Random News
- CMI’s Weekly News
- Almost Timely from Mr. Christopher S. Penn
- Katie Martell’s “World’s Best Newsletter”
- Andy Crestodina’s Orbit Media Studios updates
- Scott Monty’s “Timeless Wisdom”
Here’s the LinkedIn post with a few more business news-focused suggestions, too.
Facebook Groups, RSS Feeds, and More
I subscribe to a variety of RSS feeds (including Spin Sucks, of course) and use Feedly to peruse them. Then I use a combination of folders and Feedly’s “popular” sort to prioritize what I read daily, with the goal of getting fully caught up by the weekend.
I also read the PR industry trades like PR Week, O’Dwyer’s, and The Holmes Report to stay on top of the business side of the industry. Finally, I try to stay fresh by reading, listening, and viewing content outside the industry for the serendipity value.
A Facebook group called Tourism Geeks. The smartest minds in tourism communications are in there and what is shared in there is by far the best exchange of information I have seen. I actually ask relevant clients to join as well.
I love the Social Pros podcast.
I believe they have one called The Content Experience Show, as well.
I also pull everything into Feedly and read what interests me there, huge help for reducing emails! I’m also part of the local IABC Chapter which connects me to awesome people who are doing great things.
Buffer, Neil Patel, Social Media Examiner, CoSchedule, Storyteller, Google, Hubspot, Sprout Social.
Beatrice Garcia:
I have been focusing mostly on the PR-related sites/contest like PRSA, PR Week, Holmes Report. I am a big fan of the Spin Sucks and Inside PR podcasts. And one by the WSJ — Instant Message — which is a weekly discussion on some recent tech developments by three of the paper’s reporters. It’s a good way to stay current without having to read every single story on big tech company announcements.
Sandra Polak
We use Signal A.I. This is a great article on how media monitoring works.
I use CMI Slack, Copyblogger, Copyhackers, and Orbit Media.
I like MarketingProfs, Orbit Media, Moz, SEMrush, Neil Patel, Content Marketing Institute, Trust Insights, Agency Leadership, Holmes Report, O’Dwyers, Michael Smart, Heidi Cohen, Social Media Today, and Spark Toro.
Copyblogger, CoSchedule, BuzzSumo, Better Marketing (all of these are marketing heavy because I feel like that’s my weak point), PR Daily, Flipboard on the topics I’m producing content for (that’s usually productivity and health/wellness), and Medium in the same vein as Flipboard.
Name Your PR News Sources
Did we miss anything?
Do you have a favorite corner of the internet where you always go for PR news?
We’d love to hear about it.
You can join the Spin Sucks community.
If that’s not your thing, find us on social or leave your answers in the comments below!
