Issue #786 Jan. 18, 2014
Publisher: Joan Stewart
“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”
In This Issue
- 40 Creative Social Media Ideas
- Stand Out on Twitter
- Promote Your Books for Free
- Hound Video of the Week
This Weekend in the Hound House:
I leave today for my “Create a Best-seller at Sea” cruise to the western Caribbean with authors, publishers and book experts. I’m going to soak up every morsel of information on ebook publishing and promotion, a topic Publicity Hounds say they’re most interested in. I’ll have very limited Internet access, so the next issue of this newsletter will be Jan. 28.
1. 40 Creative Social Media Ideas
When Intel introduced its Ultrabook, it could have told its Facebook fans how much it weighs. But instead, the company demonstrated its light weight with a photo of a rhinobeetle carrying 8 Ultrabooks on its back.
Degage Ministries used a time lapse video produced by filmmaker Ron Bliss to tell the story of a homeless veteran, Jim Wolff, who regains his confidence via a makeover by a volunteer team of stylists. Since the makeover, he’s found his own apartment and attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings regularly. The video has had nearly 12 million views in 5 days.
Blogging expert Ileane Smith wanted to see if she could get more Pinterest repins by taking “action” screenshots from popular videos. She took one of Katy Perry painting an elephant’s toenails and it quickly became one of the most repinned photos on her board.
Webpage FX asked 40 social media experts to identify the most clever social media strategies and campaigns from 2013. You can read them all.
The list will give you ideas galore on clever ways you can use social media to attract a huge following, tell a story and build your brand.
2. Stand Out on Twitter
In Tuesday’s issue, I urged you to format your Google+ posts so they attract attention, and I linked to the Google+ Cheat Sheet.
How about this clever idea for making a tweet really stand out on Twitter?
You can’t format the text like you can on Google+, but you can create a very short, numbered list that includes lots of white space and really commands attention.
Read how to create a short list on your Twitter post at my blog.
3. Promote Your Books for Free
Self-published authors, especially those on a tight budget, will love this list of 15 Places to Promote Your Book for Free.
One of the website, Author Marketing Club includes 24 more places to promote your books, including erotica and kids books.
Too busy to do this yourself? College kids looking for extra spending money can probably help you. Make sure you give them all the information they’ll need like ISBN numbers, book descriptions, etc.
You spend YOUR time on the really important book promotion tasks like keyword research and immersing yourself in Amazon where you have free tools galore to help you promote.
Learn what they are by watching the video replay of the webinar I hosted with Penny Sansevieri on “How to Launch a Book, Promote It and Sell a Truckload–Without an Expensive Publicist.” Find out what you’ll be able to do after you watch the video, and what the giant bonus package includes.
4. Hound Video of the Week
An oldie but goodie: The GoD and DoG video by Wendy J. Francisco, which has been viewed by more than 3.6 million people at YouTube. Dog lovers, don’t miss this one:
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