What do you do when you’re walking past the sales department in your company and you see a sales rep uploading a photo of him and his drunken buddies to his Facebook page? What about that strange guy in Receiving who tweets about all things Gothic and, occasionally, slips the name of your company into his weird… Read More
Free Social Media Tools
Why Facebook’s vanity URLs beat the current alternatives
Several readers responded to the item I posted in yesterday’s publicity tips newsletter about how Facebook is expected to announce this week that it’s offering vanity URLs. “What’s the big deal?” one reader asked in an email. “Anyone can already do a short URL—yours would be http://profile.to/joanstewart.” She’s right. Facebook already has an application lets users adopt a short URL for… Read More
Twitter app helps promote Tweetups and other live events
If you’re promoting a Tweetup, an event where people who Twitter come together to meet in person, or an event that’s open to anyone regardless of whether they tweet—like a class, a book-signing, a fund-raiser, or a fashion show at a department store—check out Twtvite. Just fill in the blanks on the screen (event name, where,… Read More
Massive Twitter directory lists tools, apps galore–bookmark it
One of the biggest frustrations with Twitter is staying on top of the hundreds of tools and apps that make Twittering faster and easier. When I hosted a teleseminar with Twitter expert Warren Whitlock last summer on How to Use Twitter to Amass an Army of Followers, Customers & Valuable Contacts—and Promote, he mentioned that there were hundreds of… Read More
Social networking ROI: A testimonial more valuable than an ad
Many Publicity Hounds say they don’t understand social networking’s return on investment. How can spending 15 minutes a day, or several hours, bring more leads or more sales, they wonder. Here’s one way. I discovered it yesterday morning, shortly after answering a question on LinkedIn. Answering questions is one of the very best ways to… Read More
How to track Twitter quitters who don’t follow you anymore
Many of us on Twitter are racking up followers so quickly that we don’t stop to think about those people who follow us, then click on “unfollow” when they read one of our tweets that offends, angers or bores them. If you’re curious about which followers have abandoned you, check out the free service Qwitter. When you enter your… 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
Think far beyond traditional media & target niches
Too many Publicity Hounds are still chasing after top-tier newspaper reporters, national magazine editors, the highest rated TV talk show hosts and major market radio deejays, hoping that if they mention you, you’ll make it big. Problem is, so are thousands of other publicity seekers. And because lots of those big media outlets reach a general audience of millions,… Read More
Best Twitter tools and resources
Savvy Publicity Hounds are already using Twitter for business and publicity. Twitter has become so popular, in fact, that almost daily, people are creating a variety of tools and widgets to help you Twitter faster and more effectively, and locate tweets about you and your company. But with more than 350 Twitter tools from which… Read More
7 resources make it easy for journalists to find you
Even the most carefully written publicity plan can be downright frustrating if you pitch journalist after journalist and you hear nothing back. I just finished a free article Find Journalists Using These 7 Resources. It lists seven resources that Publicity Hounds can use to get in front of journalists. One is a free leads service. Four are subscirption-based leads services.… Read More