During the teleseminar today on “How to do Social Networking, Run a Business & Still Have a Life,” with BL Ochman, we offered two ideas on how Publicity Hounds can find social networking sites on niche topics: 1. Do a Google search for “social networking” + (your topic). That’s what I did this morning when searching… Read More
Social Media
Hypertarget your message with MyAds on MySpace
I spend almost no time on MySpace simply because that’s not where my target audience spends most of its time. I much prefer Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (follow me, connect with or be my friend). If you’re a musician or artist, or your target audience spends considerable time on MySpace, there’s a new way to target your message… Read More
Sending Facebook event invitations, RSVPs is time well spent
If you’re creating events on your Facebook page for speaking engagements, book signings, teleseminars or anything else you want to promote, don’t miss an important step—emailing the invitation to a select group of your friends, or all of them, using the email function on Facebook. If you have thousands of friends, that’s a time-consuming chore. But it’s worth it. Here’s an… Read More
How to choose your profile photo for social networking sites
If you’re strapped for cash and can’t afford a professional photographer, and you need a photo because you want to promote something on Facebook or another social networking site, what’s the next best alternative? The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal offers tips from three professional photographers on how to capture the right image. Each has a Facebook… Read More
How do you promote your social networking profiles?
Publicity Hound Holly Miller of Chesapeake, Virginia emailed me this morning and and asked if it’s proper to include a Twitter address within a press release. It’s a great idea, and it got me thinking about other ways to let people know where they can find you online. —If you’re on MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn and… Read More
Twitter Handbook: The bible for newbie, veteran Tweeple
The more addicted you become to Twitter, one of the fastest and easiest-to-use publicity tools, the more time-consuming and confusing it can become. Answering the question “What are you doing?” within 140 characters is the easy part. The hard part is figuring out the Twitter culture and etiquette, understanding the Twitter lingo (Tweeple means people… Read More
Twitter and text-speak are poisoning the English language
Maybe it’s just me, a grumpy former newspaper writing coach. But I fear our love affair with Twitter, text messaging and even those ubiquitous emoticons is poisoning the English language. Mari Smith’s Twitter Lingo Demysified includes a list of the most popular terms that many active Twitterers use in everyday tweets, to help them keep their posts within the 140-character limit. Even if you don’t… Read More
The perils of friending journalists on Facebook
Journalists have always hated being identified publicly as the “friend” of a source. “I’m not your friend,” is a typical response. “I’m just trying to do my job.” But that was 10 years ago, long before social networking sites came onto the scene. These days, if you’re trying to get in front of a reporter at… Read More
Your social networking profiles shouldn’t include passwords
I’m going to comb through my profiles at the various social networking sites where I participate to see if any of them contain the passwords I use for my bank accounts, websites and anything else online. The article “Forgot Your Password?” May be Weakest Link by Bob Thompson presents a compelling case for just how easy it… Read More
Don’t hide behind a cloak of anonymity on Facebook
If I’m going to spend time on Facebook replying to messages, writing on walls, and reading invitations to events, I want to see the whites of people’s eyes. And I want to know their names. I won’t waste time responding to a company whose only form of identification is their logo. I just completed Part… Read More