Here’s another hyperlocal website to add to your publicity toolbox: EveryBlock, perfect for publicizing local news in bigger cities, and also for finding other local blogs and media outlets you might not know about. MSNBC.com bought it in 2009 and unveiled the new version yesterday. It operates in 16 cities mostly on the east and west… Read More
Free Social Media Tools
Churches, claim your free social media platform
Looking for a social media site where members of your church can recruit volunteers, share prayers on the Prayer Wall, and announce the next Friday fish fry? Compete to win one of 28 remaining slots offered by The TableProject and your church can have its own platform immediately. How to Enter First, host a get-together like a potluck… Read More
Online catalog lets you search for PR, social media tools
Looking for a tool to help you navigate PR, communications or social media, or do you have one you’re selling? There’s a new service that can help. JungleBuzz lets you search its online catalog of more than 250 tools organized in 25 categories. Search results provide a description of available tools, features, functionality and access… Read More
The biggest missed opportunity on LinkedIn
By Joan Stewart If you’re on LinkedIn, you’re passing up the chance to create “Google juice” if you aren’t paying attention to the way you link to your website, blog and social media sites from your LinkedIn profile page. You can display up to three website links on your Profile. Website titles can and should… Read More
Trouble remembering social media passwords? Try KeePass
By Joan Stewart Remembering passwords to your website, blog and email program are hard enough. But if you’re participating in social media, it can be a nightmare, particularly since it’s a good idea to change them periodically. I’ve been using a great program called KeePass, the free, open source, lightweight and easy to use password manager. You can put… Read More
Corporate social media policy needed? Here are samples
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
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