Each week we feature an app that has caught the attention of the Crozdesk community. We look for exciting features that make our lives easier, apps that take a radical approach to existing problems or a service that has everyone talking about it. In other words, apps that we think you should know about. This week’s featured app is BuzzStream – an Online PR, CRM and mailing tool that makes relationship building and influencer outreach easier. We all know how crucial quality backlinking and content promotion is online, especially for start-ups trying to get their name out there, BuzzStream is a tool worth considering for efficient Online PR!
BuzzStream: An online PR tool to reach influencers and monitor your campaigns
It is a familiar problem – you have a great product that nobody has heard of; where to start to let the world know about it? From social media to Google AdWords, directory websites to user forums; whether paid or free – you have a lot of channels to try! As many content strategy and digital marketing experts know, one of the most effective channels is to reach out to influencers. Whether they are a blogger in a niche industry or a journalist writing for a major news site, contacting key industry professionals can offer huge rewards and bring much-needed publicity to your site.
Discovering these key individuals can be tricky and often involves time-consuming research, while reaching out to them in an appropriate and professional way can be long and complicated. This is where BuzzStream can help. It helps you create and sort categories of contacts to make your PR campaigns clearer. Among its functionalities, you can create customizable email templates to be re-used and automated, and assign tags to your contacts to make it simple to find them. Now you know more about the BuzzStream tool, let’s have a look at how it works.
Installation and sign-up process
The sign-up process is fairly straightforward – you have to go through a quick form to set up your account information, login credentials and billing information. BuzzStream offers a free 14-day trial – useful for road-testing the product.
UI / UX
BuzzStream offers an online PR web application, so it is accessible from any device. The UX is pretty intuitive, however the range of features on offer within the product can be a bit overwhelming at first. On mobile devices the dashboard is not as responsive and seems to be a scaled-down version of the desktop view.
Dashboard overview
Once logged in you have 3 main tabs: “Websites”, “People” and “Dashboard”; you can create folders and projects to classify your list of contacts. When you select a project, BuzzStream displays the list of people or websites that you have assigned to it. You have a quick overview of the information you have for each contact; email, relationship stage and website domain authority are some of the fields available. It works in a similar way for your contact list on the “People” tab.
Adding people to the list
Online PR is made a great deal more efficient through the ease with which you can add people and websites to your list. Once it’s done you don’t have to do it again. Compile the information you have on a website or a contact and add it to one or several lists you have created before.
When navigating through your lists you can click on a website or people profile and get a summary of the information you have on them. You also have a history of your relationship with the person, the mail exchanged and who from your team has been in touch with that contact before. You can also edit contact profiles, add related articles and assign tasks to that contact.
Buzzmarker tool
This useful browser plugin is compatible with the major browsers and allows you to easily add websites, people and links to BuzzStream, without leaving the website you are visiting. Additional functionality also allows you to identify whether or not your team already have a particular contact on record as well as allowing you to flip through new opportunities from lists and prospecting tools, keeping only the most useful ones.
Outreach
You can choose to outreach one or an entire list of contacts. You can either create a specific email template or reuse a pre-created template. You can edit and customize the template before sending the mail. BuzzStream requires the user to validate each email on an individual basis before sending, reducing the possibility that an email will be sent to an unintended recipient.
Pricing
BuzzStream proposes 3 monthly subscription options. The pricing varies depending on numbers of users, links and contacts. Prices range from between $29 and $249 a month.
Conclusion
BuzzStream has a minor drawback, which could be remedied relatively easily. The UX is not perfect, particularly when viewing the site from a mobile device, with small fonts and less-than-intuitive option menus detracting from the experience. A purpose-built mobile app would help with this.
On the plus side, BuzzStream is a great online PR tool because it helps you discover contact information, social profiles, and site metrics of the people you target. Its functionalities make it easy to prioritize your contacts depending on their importance. Lastly, it is convenient to use because it automatically saves your emails and tweets and allows you to set reminders for follow-up. It makes it more simple to keep track of conversations or projects and gives your entire team one centralized database to work from.
