The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #546 March 22, 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. Cool Tool for Local Publicity
2. Answer Your Damn Phone
3. A Facebook “Welcome” Page
4. Pitching Tips from Journalists
5. Help This Hound
6. Hound Video of the Week
7. And at My Blog & Mobile Site…
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1. Cool Tool for Local Publicity
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Here’s another hyper local website to add to your publicity
toolbox.
EveryBlock at http://www.EveryBlock.com is perfect for
publicizing local news in bigger cities and also finding other
local blogs and media outlets you might not know about.
MSNBC bought it in 2009 and unveiled the new version yesterday.
It operates in 16 cities mostly on the east and west coasts:
Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston,
Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San
Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and Washington, D.C.
EveryBlock offers news down to the block level and encourages
collaboration among neighbors. Enter any address in one of those
cities and you’ll see news articles, blog coverage, crime reports
and a wide variety of other local information, all updated
throughout the day. You can also submit your own news, which they
don’t edit.
You’ll find three main types of news:
–Civic information, including building permits, crimes,
restaurant inspections and more. In many cases, this information
is already on the Web but buried in hard-to-find government
databases. In other cases, the data hasn’t been posted online,
but EveryBlock gets it through government agencies.
–News articles and blog entries, including information from
major newspapers, community weeklies, TV and radio news stations,
local specialty publications and local blogs. If you find a
local blogger on that site who you didn’t know about, you can
start pitching that blogger when you have local news to share.
–Fun from across the Web, including local photos posted to the
Flickr photo-sharing site, user reviews of local businesses on
Yelp, and lost-and-found postings from Craigslist.
This site is perfect for news from clubs and civic groups,
schools, nonprofits, churches, political campaigns, neighborhood
groups, etc., because it offers customizable RSS feeds for every
block, zip code and neighborhood in each city it serves. Sign up
for a free account and you can receive email updates. Read the
FAQ page at http://www.everyblock.com/about/faq/
I’m adding EveryBlock to the long list I’ve already accumulated
and shared on the webinar “50+ Places Online to Promote Your Live
or Virtual Events to Reach Your Target Market & Pull Sell-out
Crowds.” Find out how to access the webinar replay at
http://publicityhound.com/events.htm
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2. Answer Your Damn Phone
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Obsessed with your tweets, clicks, likes, bookmarks, friends,
fans and apps?
None of them will do you any good if you don’t provide basic
customer service offline, like answering your damn phone.
Jay Baer hit a nerve when I read his blog post on how, in almost
every case, people experience our companies in the “real world”
first, and then decide whether (or how much) to interact with us
in the virtual world. Every smart Publicity Hound knows that
includes journalists.
For example, I had my journalist hat on this morning when writing
the item above about EveryBlock. I had two questions.
Luckily, I found the mobile phone number of an EveryBlock
employee at their website. I called, he answered the phone, I got
what I needed, and I was VERY impressed.
If a journalist were to call you right now, would she be kicked
into voicemail? If a customer orders from your website and your
shopping cart accidentally charges his credit card twice, is he
forced to fill out one of those annoying Help tickets before his
problem is resolved? Do you hide behind caller ID and never
answer unless you recognize the caller’s name?
Read what Jay Baer has to say about offline customer service,
including my comment at his blog, and then grade yourself:
http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-strategy/why-
social-success-is-no-accident
And, yes, I answer my own phone.
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3. A Facebook “Welcome” Page
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Assuming you do answer your phone and take care of customers,
make sure they can follow you on the social media sites,
especially Facebook.
Turning friends into fans, and fans into customers, isn’t easy.
But there are all kinds of apps, tricks, tools and techniques you
can use to draw a huge following.
For example, did you know that a customized Welcome page converts
twice as many visitors to a company page into fans than if those
visitors were to simply land on the Wall? You can create a simple
landing page yourself, or you can pay a design firm to do it for
you like I am. I’ll share the results in a few weeks.
During last week’s webinar on “12 More Ways to Avoid Missed
Opportunities on the New & Improved Facebook,” we showed examples
of Welcome pages, and shared dozens of tactics you can use to
build up a huge following.
If you missed it, read more about what we discussed and access
the replay and the 14 pages of handouts, complete with screen
shots, here:
http://publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-
tapes/facebook12ways.htm
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4. Pitching Tips from Journalists
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What’s the one thing journalists and broadcasters are looking for
when they hear your pitch?
It depends on the journalist. But watch this video, and four of
them will share valuable pitching tips you can start using right
now:
http://www.nationalpublicitysummit.com/info/nps8media.html?10011
All four have been among the more than 100 journalists who have
attended the National Publicity Summit, where authors, speakers,
experts and PR people can meet them face to face and pitch. This
year’s summit is April 13-16, and only 19 of 100 seats are left.
Plus, the price goes up after tomorrow. If you want to attend,
apply here:
http://www.nationalpublicitysummit2011.com/apply/?10011
For the remaining 19 spots, Steve Harrison will consider all
applications submitted through Wednesday and give preference to
applications in the order submitted. I’m a compensated affiliate
for this event.
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5. Help This Hound
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Heather John of Los Angeles, Calif., writes:
“I created and manage the Facebook business page for an online
store and I want to set something up on Facebook (maybe through
Events?) where we send out a mass Facebook message inviting
previous customers to like our new Facebook business page.
(There are about 30,000 people on file in our customer base,
though many may not have a Facebook profile.)
“The idea is that I would say something like, ‘Like’ [our
company] on Facebook and get a promotional code for 10% off.”
But, how can I set it up so that it sends the code automatically
to anyone who likes us (for a limited time)? Is there an app
that I can make for that or do I just have to respond directly to
each individual Like?”
The Publicity Hound says:
I’m getting more questions like this from Publicity Hounds who
want to know how to reward people for Liking their pages.
Wildfire is an online software application that lets you create
branded interactive campaigns like sweepstakes, contests, give-
aways, incentive-based surveys and to simultaneously publish them
in multiple social networks and on your website, but I haven’t
tried that yet.
I’m experimenting with Suggest This, the Facebook app at
http://facebook.com/suggestthis that lets you suggest to 20
friends at a time that they visit your page and Like it. But it
doesn’t reward them for doing so.
Please share your comments on how you actually reward visitors
for Liking your page, with coupons, discounts or other
incentives. And please include a link to your page. Post your
comments to my blog at http://publicityhound.net/?p=7974
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6. Hound Video of the Week
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Guilty!
That’s what the expression on this dog’s face says when his owner
asks if he stole the cat’s treats. The video is a little over two
minutes, and worth it. I howled. Thanks to my virtual assistant,
Christine Buffaloe, for sharing it.
http://www.youtube.com/user/foodplot#p/u/0/B8ISzf2pryI
DOG JOKES & QUOTES EBOOK: 170+ G-rated dog jokes and quotes,
perfect for a dog-lover, your favorite vet, or just for a few
good laughs.
BONUS: Buy the ebook and you also get a compilation of the 50
best websites for dog humor.
http://publicityhound.com/dogjokebook/
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7. And at My Blog & Mobile Site…
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How to read the Wall Street Journal, NY Times online for free
http://publicityhound.net/?p=8035
EveryBlock: Another uber-local site for community news
http://publicityhound.net/?p=8059
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Joan Stewart
The Publicity Hound
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