Between editorial calendars, email blasts and community management, digital marketers have a lot on their plates. We rely on a collection of tools to save time, stay organized and keep things running smoothly. Here are five of the mobile apps we keep on hand at the lonelybrand office.
Subject Line
There is no magic formula for email subject lines, but Subject Line’s rating tool is helpful for testing for issues before deployment. Type in your proposed subject line and the app will give you a score out of 100, taking both readability and deliverability into account to help maximize open rates. Scores should obviously be taken with a grain of salt, but it’s a handy reference point for email marketing.
Evernote
As content producers we spend a good amount of time in the research phase, so it’s vital to have a system to keep our sources organized. My ideal organization tool is Evernote – but the key is to really dive in and learn how to use Evernote’s features to the fullest. Clipping every article and dumping it into a giant vat of content that may or may not be read later – that’s obviously not effective. But taking advantage of Evernote’s Stacks, Notebooks, Tags and Lists can keep research and to-dos manageably organized across all of your devices.
Buffer
Whether it’s early morning or bedtime, you probably have a time of day when you sit down and consume content. Using Flipboard, Google Currents (see below) or whatever your news aggregator of choice may be, you’re bound to find content that’s worthy of sharing. But rather than sharing all those articles in quick bursts, why not space it out evenly over the next day? Buffer is the tool for this. The mobile app features a Safari bookmarklet that lets you que up content to tweet now or later – a courtesy that your Twitter followers are sure to appreciate.
Google Currents
Rather than bouncing around from site to site, it’s helpful to have a mobile hub for browsing share-worthy content. There are a number of options out there, but I like Google Currents for its mobile-friendly article layout and easy social sharing options. First off, you’ll plug any of your favorite publications, or “Editions” into the app using a search function. Articles within Editions are converted into a really nice mobile format that lets you horizontally scroll through pages, much like a magazine. And once you connect your favorite social platforms to Currents, sharing is a breeze – no copying, pasting or app exiting necessary.
Skitch
Annotating images and articles is a great way to get your point across quickly, but booting up Photoshop isn’t always ideal. Skitch, an Evernote product, makes it easy to add arrows, text and other markups to screenshots, maps and web clippings.
