The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #556 May 24, 2011
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. Biggest Mistake on Facebook Profiles
2. Patch Wants More of Your Content
3. Sneaky YouTube Trick
4. Advantages of Nook Books
5. Why They Can’t Find Me on LinkedIn
6. Hound Joke of the Week
7. And at My Blog & Mobile Site…
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1. Biggest Mistake on Facebook Profiles
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If you’re on Facebook, I’ll bet you’re making this mistake.
On your Profile, at the top, under your name, where it lists the
company where you now work, I’m betting it links to a generic
Community Page and not a Company Page, also referred to as a Fan
Page.
When Facebook changed your profile to the new design a few months
ago, it automatically hyperlinked your employer field to an auto-
generated Community Page.
Facebook expert Mari Smith says that’s the Number One mistake on
Facebook profiles. You can read her entire post at
http://www.marismith.com/mistake-personal-facebook-profile-
employer-link/
It will take you less than a minute to fix it. Here’s Mari’s
quick fix:
–Click Edit Profile. Go to the Education and Work section.
–Begin typing the name of your Fan Page in the Employer field.
–If you see your Fan Page in the dropdown menu, select it.
–Then fill out the remaining fields (Position, City/Town,
Description and Time Period). If you also add in any Business
partners/Colleagues, this will show on their profile, too, under
the Employer section.
–Click Add Job. You can also add Project(s) to any position and
add Business partners/Colleagues. Again, this shows on their
Employer section.
If that doesn’t solve the problem, refer to her blog post above
for another quick workaround. If you fix it and it still doesn’t
show up correctly, it may take several days.
Mari’s solution bypasses a missed opportunity on Facebook.
Christine Buffaloe, my virtual assistant, has identified 12 more.
We reviewed them all during the webinar “12 More Ways to Avoid
Missed Opportunities on the New & Improved Facebook.” Learn how
to use your photos at the top to promote your products and
services, tag others so your message appears on their walls, and
the two pieces of advice we offered during our Facebook webinar
several years ago that worked back then, but can actually hurt
your efforts today.
Read more about what you’ll learn at
http://publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-
tapes/facebook12ways.htm
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2. Patch Wants More of Your Content
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If you need local publicity, and you live in one of 19 states or
the District of Columbia, Patch.com is almost begging for your
pitch.
A memo from Patch editor-in-chief Brian Farnham to all his
editors outlines a plan to increase traffic by increasing article
production.
Patch covers California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois,
Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island
Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
It loves news about new businesses, community events, local
government news, crime news, items for the events calendar,
columns from local residents and government officials, news tips,
and the all-important and often overlooked photos and videos.
This is the perfect time to pitch Patch for another reason. AOL
Inc., which owns Patch, is launching 33 sites in New Hampshire,
Iowa and South Carolina, key states that play an early role in
the U.S. presidential election.
Here are six tips on how to pitch Patch:
http://publicityhound.net/?p=8512
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3. Sneaky YouTube Trick
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Don’t you hate it when at the bottom of each of your YouTube
videos, YouTube offers viewers several “related videos” and gives
them a chance to click off of your video and onto somebody
else’s?
Here’s a really sneaky way to make sure all of those “related”
videos are yours.
When you tag your videos, assign to each video a tag that’s a
nonsensical word you’ve made up. For example, I just created
swiffmantel. It isn’t a word. But if I include that tag on every
one of my videos, chances are excellent that when someone is
watching one of my videos at YouTube, they will see all “related
videos” that are mine.
I learned that trick last week when Colin Martin and Marc Bullard
presented a free webinar on “YouTube Secrets: Getting Views,
Subscribers and Branding Your Business.” I took three pages of
notes and concluded that my YouTube channel is definitely NOT
ready for prime time. I have a lot of work to do, and I’ll be
sharing many of my new videos with you in the weeks ahead.
The payoff can be huge. Google, which owns YouTube, often
delivers YouTube videos at the top of a list of search results.
And Colin and Marc shared another cool trick on how to make sure
that when your video ends, another one begins automatically,
without the viewer having to touch the keyboard.
If you were one of the Publicity Hounds who signed up for the
free webinar but couldn’t get onto the line, we apologize. You
were shut out because we ran out of room.
But don’t worry. We recorded it. You can access the replay of
“YouTube Super Secrets: Getting Views, Subscribers and Branding
Your Business” at http://tinyurl.com/62ajq65
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4. Advantages of Nook Books
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On the Barnes & Noble blog, a fan of the Nook, the Barnes & Noble
eReader, listed five advantages to reading Nook books:
–My Nookbooks don’t slide under the seats in the car,
disappearing for weeks while accruing late fees.
–My Nookbooks don’t smell or have other people’s food spills
stuck on the pages.
–My Nookbooks can be accessed anytime–no holds, no waiting.
–Nookbooks all weigh the same.
–Buying Nookbooks saves gas money and time.
If you’re an author, isn’t it time your books were available for
the Nook? Daniel Hall, who showed Publicity Hounds how to turn
their ebooks into material for the Kindle late last year, is back
with step-by-step instructions on how to make your ebook ready
for the Nook.
I’m hosting a free webinar with him at 3 p.m. Eastern Time on
Thursday, May 26. Set aside at least 90 minutes. He sometimes
goes way over the time limit because he answers every question
that participants ask. Register here:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/833100745
You’ll also learn how to:
–Use your “Nook” books as lead generators for your business.
–Earn set-it-and-forget-it recurring revenue by building profit
centers into each of your ebooks.
–Get readily available content to publish so you don’t have to
spend time and energy writing it yourself.
–Build your credibility within your market…whatever that
market is.
This training is free. The content is solid gold.
Register here:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/833100745
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5. Why They Can’t Find Me on LinkedIn
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In-between improving my videos, and producing more of them, I
need to set aside a huge chunk of time to rewrite my LinkedIn
profile.
During last week’s webinar on advanced LinkedIn strategies, Wayne
Breitbarth used me as an example of what happens when you don’t
write your profile correctly. Mine appears way down on the search
results for keywords like “publicity” and “public relations.”
He explained exactly what I needed to do. And when I’m done with
my profile, I need to start building my Company Pages to promote
my many products and services.
I also need to start returning some of the recommendations people
are kind enough to write for me.
What? Return a recommendation? Why would anybody do that? We want
recommendations, don’t we?
Yes, we do. But we want the right kinds of recommendations–only
those that include keywords and keyword phrases that people use
when searching for people with our expertise.
What’s wrong with your LinkedIn profile? Have you searched for
yourself recently under all the keywords you want associated with
your business? If people want to recommend one of your products
or services on LinkedIn, will they find it on your Company Pages?
I had no clue how much I was doing wrong. You might not either.
Read more about what Wayne discussed on last week’s webinar on
“”Your LinkedIn Power Formula Part 2: Advanced Strategies for
Writing a Killer Profile, Cashing in on Groups and Creating
Company Pages” and access the replay at
http://publicityhound.com/linkedinpowerformulapart2.htm
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6. Hound Joke of the Week
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Check out this illustration that shows Fun Facts Your Dog Never
Told You. And read my comment about why so many dogs are obese:
http://holykaw.alltop.com/woof-woof-fun-facts-your-dog-never-told-you-i
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7. And at My Blog & Mobile Site…
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Need local publicity? 6 tips for pitching Patch.com
http://publicityhound.net/?p=8512
12 ways to say “thanks” to a blogger or journalist
http://publicityhound.net/?p=8495
Where to See The Publicity Hound:
June 18 in Milwaukee, WI: General Federation of Women’s Clubs,
120th Annual International Convention: Lunch and Learn from 12:45
to 2:45.”How to Use Traditional & Social Media to Promote Your
Club & Attract Members.”
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Joan Stewart
The Publicity Hound
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