25 Reasons to Hate Facebook

The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #452 May 26, 2009

Publisher: Joan Stewart

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“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”

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In This Issue
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1. 25 Reasons to Hate Facebook

2. Getting onto Oprah

3. How Oprah Expert Got onto CNBC

4. Ask the Politicians for Help

5. How to Promote a Roommate Service

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Quote of the Week

8. And at My Blog…

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1. 25 Reasons to Hate Facebook
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If you’ve ever been confused, befuddled or aggravated by
Facebook, raise your right paw.

I know how you feel. These three things almost drove me crazy
when I started using Facebook:

–The incredibly elaborate user interface which seems to have no
rhyme or reason. Sure, anybody can figure it out, but only if
they have several hours to kill so they can make a bunch of
mistakes and then learn from them.

–Two of the most powerful things you can do on Facebook–create
pages to promote your business and create a special interest
group–are hidden behind teeny, tiny Applications icons in the
lower left corner of the screen.

–Everybody keeps referring to the Wall. So where the heck is my
Wall? I found it accidentally–it’s the first tab buried under
the “Profile” page.

–And speaking of the Profile page, what’s the difference between
Profile, Home and the “Joan Stewart” page?

You probably have your own complaints. I listed many more of them
in the blog post I wrote. It includes the link where you can watch Julian
Smith’s popular YouTube video on “25 Things I Hate About Facebook.”

With a lot of patience and a little direction, you can figure out
those basic problems. Then, it’s time to take it a step further
and use the other cool features on Facebook, like adding videos
to your YouTube channel or offering your Facebook friends a
special coupon.

My virtual assistant, Christine Buffaloe, who manages Facebook
for many of her clients, has identified 11 missed opportunities
that leave money on the table. I’ve invited her to explain them
all when she’s my guest during a teleseminar I’m hosting on
Thursday, June 4, at 3 p.m. Eastern Time.

If you can’t attend “11 Ways to Avoid Missed Opportunities on
Facebook,” sign up anyway and I’ll send you the MP3 audio. Or
you can buy the electronic transcript or the CD within 10 days
after the call.

This session is for beginners and those with intermediate skills
on Facebook. It’s an update of last summer’s teleseminar series
that’s already outdated. If you attended that session, you get
complimentary admission to this one. I’ll email you with
details. Everyone who registers will receive illustrated step-by-
step handouts the morning of the call.

Sign up for the June 4 teleseminar on “11 Ways to Avoid Missed
Opportunities on Facebook.”

Note: This session is going to sell out fast, and I can only
accommodate 200 people on the call. Grab your seat now.

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2. Getting onto Oprah
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Pitch a story idea that resonates with Oprah.

If it presses her hot button, you’re more than halfway onto the
show. Here are three examples of topics she loves:

–If you’re a health expert who can speak on the topic of
perimenopause, you stand a decent chance of being considered as a
guest. That’s because Oprah is experiencing perimenopausal
symptoms, and she’s had several segments devoted to that topic.

–Her constant battle with the scale leaves the door open to
guests who can discuss the always-popular topic of how to claim
victory over the battle with food. Fitness experts, this includes
you, too.

–She loves the topic of “beauty from the inside out.” That means
looking and feeling good and making the best use of your skills,
abilities and talents. It’s a broad topic that can encompass many
types of guest experts.

“Oprah’s show is very personal,” says Susan Harrow, creator of
“The Ultimate Guide to Getting Booked on Oprah,” a package of
tools that walks experts through the 15 steps they must take to
get booked as a guest. “Watch the show and you can see what she’s
struggling with, like her thyroid problems.”

Susan will be one of several guest experts on the CNBC
documentary “The Oprah Effect” which will be broadcast several
times on Thursday, May 28. She’ll talk about what it takes to get
onto America’s Number One daytime talk show. Several
entrepreneurs will also discuss how they got onto the show, and
what it has meant to their businesses. If you want to tune in,
check your cable listings.

You can watch a short segment from the show, and learn one more
tip.

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3. How Oprah Expert Got onto CNBC
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I asked Susan Harrow how she got onto “The Oprah Effect” on CNBC
(see previous item).

“I assume they Googled me,” she said. “I rank first for the
keyword phrase ‘how to get onto Oprah.’ And my name comes up at
the top of the list for other sites that refer to me as an Oprah
expert.”

Indeed it does. And not by accident.

Search engine optimization isn’t difficult if you know what
you’re doing. Make it easy for journalists, freelancers,
broadcasters and customers to find you by using a checklist of
tips provided by StomperNet, the Internet marketing association.

Or you can get the entire course “Stomping the Search Engines”
for free if you agree to try StomperNet’s new magazine, The Net
Effect, chock full of tips for Internet marketing, for only a
buck. Yep, the entire course for just a dollar. It includes more
than 30 detailed step-by-step videos.

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4. Ask the Politicians for Help
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When you’re starting a publicity campaign, don’t forget about the
politicians.

Specifically, ask the mayor, governor, county board, those
elected to the statehouse, and anyone elected to national office
to pass a resolution recognizing your event, cause or issue.

Provide something in writing, and let one of their aides do the
rest.

Your event doesn’t even have to be newsworthy. A local Boy Scout
troop, for example, could ask the mayor and governor to declare
February 8 Boy Scout Day. Prevent Blindness America could ask a
member of Congress to declare June “Fireworks Safety Month.”

These routine resolutions might result in only a short mention in
your local newspaper. But but they’re fairly easy to generate,
and they keep your event in front of your target audience while
you’re busy pitching larger feature stories to newspapers and TV.

Dan Janal interviewed me about other tactics for generating
publicity in newspapers, magazines, newsletters and other
publications. “Get Free Publicity in Print” is available as a CD
or electronic transcript.

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5. How to Promote a Roommate Service
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This week, three Publicity Hounds have tips for Dave Kadavy of
Chicago, Ill. He hosts an event in Chicago where people who need
roommates can find each other, and he wants to know how to
promote it.

From L. Keenan:

“You can usually post events on Yelp & Metromix, but you’ll need
to be a registered user first. Both of those sites target your
demographic and I’ve gotten media interest for events that I’ve
posted for clients there.”

From Kristen Manieri:

“Perhaps if you held your events at stores like American Eagle,
they could help you get the word out. It’s a win for them because
people would come in to shop.”

The Publicity Hound says:

How about experimenting by buying an ad on Facebook?

You can target geographically as well as buy age. Since you’re
only trying to market the event in Chicago, you can probably
reach a lot of Facebook users in your demographic for a
reasonable rate.

Learn more about Facebook ads here.

Read all the responses to this week’s Help This Hound question.

Send your own Help this Hound question and include your city and state.

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6. Help This Hound
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Hugo Tschudin of River Vale, N.J. writes:

“My booklet, ‘Wake Up to Abundant Energy: 113 Ways to Make it
Easy to Rise and Shine,’ takes the struggle out of getting up in
the morning.

“I’d like to find licensees who could buy the booklets in bulk to
give away to customers who request a catalog, visit a showroom,
or download a report. Or, a company can buy the booklets for
their own employees who can wake up energized and work more
efficiently.

“I have focused on companies most likely to help their customers
and employees fight fatigue, such as mattress manufacturers,
breakfast cereal companies and coffee shops.

“But I’m wondering if it would be more effective to focus on
other lines of business, or just on very large employers. How can
I find licensees for this booklet? Or how can I generate free
publicity to let companies know about it?”

The website is at http://www.EnergizingLife.com/

The Publicity Hound says: Hugo, it isn’t only about finding
people who are interested in your booklets. It’s also about
letting THEM find YOU. I visited your website and noticed several
major errors that are robbing you of traffic–specifically,
incorrect title tags.

“Then use the ideas that my Publicity Hounds will offer at my
blog  to find licensees and generate publicity.”

How about it Hounds? Let’s help Hugo sell more booklets.

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7. Hound Quote of the Week
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“Some dog I got. We call him Egypt because in every room he
leaves a pyramid.

“His favorite bone is in my arm.

“Last night, he went on the paper four times–three of those
times I was reading it.”

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8. And at My Blog…
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Don’t let Facebook confuse or intimidate you–or you’ll miss out