The beginning of the year is a great time for goal setting and getting organized, as we plan for ways to to level up and be more proactive, organized and productive. Each of us at the Nest has our preferences when it comes to tech tools, apps and resources that help us do our jobs faster, more efficiently and more effectively. So, in the interest of “spreading the love” as Valentine’s Day approaches, we thought we’d share some of our team’s favorite tools with you.

Otter

Otter is my go-to tool for any conversation or media interview that I need to record and reference later. The transcription feature is a serious game-changer, and even better is the search function within the transcription. This tool makes client sourcing calls a breeze, and I never have to worry about frantically taking notes during a conversation again.

– Macy Hyland, Media Specialist 

Planoly

Planoly allows me to plan, schedule, post and measure social media content across Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter from the palm of my hand! It is the perfect tool to use for social media management, as it is both efficient and effective. Since learning about this platform, I have saved ample time and been able to deliver much higher quality social media content to clients.

– Natalie Savarino, Account Manager

Tezza

I really love the Tezza app for Instagram. I pay $3 a month for this app, and it provides nice filters along with templates to create different style posts if posting multiple videos. I love the options and different aesthetics. 

– Kaitlin Egan, Group Director

PostureMinder

PostureMinder is an app that reminds you to sit up straight throughout the work day. It also can be set to remind you to get up and stretch or walk around. This has been a great tool for me with working from home every day and has prevented the neck and back pain that I used to struggle with in college. I can’t recommend it enough!

– Cara O’Connell, Account Coordinator

15five

One of my favorite tools for managing people is 15five. This is an effective employee engagement tool that boasts a few features to help managers keep a pulse on the health of their employees. Their weekly 15five surveys provide actual data around fixed topics so you can get a bird’s eye view of how employees are feeling, what their bandwidth is, what they think is working and what isn’t working. This data creates the framework for more productive conversations around your employees’ challenges and accomplishments and can also be used to find teamwide patterns in need of fixing.

– Casey Blatt, Senior Director of Operations

Serene 

Serene is a wonderful productivity app and is the best for helping me stay focused. It helps you from getting distracted by muting notifications on your laptop and assists in planning your workflow for the day. It is truly a game-changer!

– Kylie Turner, Social Media & Influencer Marketing Manager

Asana

As an account lead, Asana helps me maintain oversight on all moving tasks and quickly assess if any project is behind, ahead or on schedule. It allows for multiple ways to view projects and tasks, which helps me flex as I use the tool – whether it’s assigning tasks, adding my own tasks or checking progress. I also enjoy being able to have a glance at team members’ task lists to understand their workload and adjust assignments as needed.

– Chelsea Curran, Group Manager

Similarweb Browser Extension

We’re all familiar with Similarweb, the all-in-one website tool that shows the number of pages visited per session, number of monthly visits, engagement rate and other key website metrics. What most people don’t know, however, is that Similarweb offers a free browser extension! I have the plug-in installed on Google Chrome so that whenever I open an article, at the click of one button (without leaving the site) I can see a snapshot of the UVM for easy, quick reporting in a snap. This plug-in has saved me so much time, I can’t live without it now!

– Gillian Boraiko, Media Specialist

Grammarly

Grammarly is the most underrated yet crucial tool that I use day in and day out. Writing is a huge part of my daily responsibilities as a PR professional, from writing pitches and press releases to email communications with media and clients. I am always relying on Grammarly to be my final set of eyes before I finalize a piece of writing or correspondence. Grammarly is simple to integrate on all platforms, and I would be lost without it. 

– Erin Gillcrist, Account Coordinator

Google News “Top Stories”

All PR pros need to stay on top of news and trends, so I use Google News’ “Top Stories” function to browse trending articles and news stories for the day. I find it to be a very helpful aggregator and it allows me to get a sense of what’s happening each day and to find things that may impact my clients’ business.

– Janine Warner, Senior Account Manager