Endorsements Cheapen LinkedIn

The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #664 Nov. 13, 2012

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. Endorsements Cheapen LinkedIn

2. How to Host Webinars

3. Publicity Shortcuts

4. Hound Quote of the Week

This Week in The Hound House:

I’ve been wondering: Why can I buy three pairs of stylish
“cheater” glasses for under $10 at the local hardware store, but
one pair of bifocal prescription glasses that do about the same
thing cost 20 times as much?

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1. Endorsements Cheapen LinkedIn
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Tacky publicity tactic: Endorse lots of people on LinkedIn, even
if you don’t know them and aren’t familiar with their work
because your avatar will appear on their profile page.

Even tackier: Beg somebody to endorse you.

This past week, I’ve heard three friends complain that they’ve
been endorsed by total strangers.

Then I read a fabulous column a few days ago by social media
expert Pam Moore. She’s grousing, too, and says endorsements,
which are too darn easy to give and which LinkedIn practically
shoves down our throats, have led to a glut of LinkedIn spam
because people are begging others they don’t know to endorse
them.

To retaliate and put the spammers in their place, she introduced
a clever “Pet the Pig” campaign.

She replies to the guilty parties who plead for endorsements and
leads them to a page that invites them to “Pet the Pig.” That
leads them to another page that offers a free White Paper on “15
Tips to Eliminate Spam From Your Social Media Diet.”

You can read her column at
http://www.pammarketingnut.com/2012/11/the-new-linkedin-
endorsements-are-we-being-gamed-linkedin/

On LinkedIn, when somebody invites me to connect, and I accept, I
also suggest we connect on Facebook and Twitter, and I include
links to my profile pages. The response has been great.

Despite the ugly endorsements mess, LinkedIn is still a fabulous
place to gain traction very quickly. I used a tip from LinkedIn
expert Wayne Breitbarth on how to piggyback a speaking engagement
onto another event in the same city. It’s worked twice! I made
more contacts and even walked away with some extra money.

Read more about the video that Wayne created with me. It’s called
“4 Secret LinkedIn Power Tools to Connect with Journalists and
Put Money in Your Pocket.” You can learn how to access it, and
all the bonuses, at
http://publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-tapes/linkedinpowertools.htm

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2. How to Host Webinars
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If you’re a subject matter expert and share your knowledge mostly
through articles and blog posts, consider hosting live webinars,
recording them, and selling the video replays.

That’s what I’ve been doing the last several years, even though
I’m a techno-idiot and struggled to get my wall calendar into my
mobile phone.

During Thursday’s webinar on “35 Ways to Promote Your Facebook
Page,” several Publicity Hounds asked for a webinar on how to
host webinars.

Consider it done.

Save the dates Nov. 28 and 29. From 4 to 5:30 Eastern Time, I’ll
host two sessions that will walk you through my system. The first
session deals with marketing–how to find an enticing topic, how
to promote it, and how to sell it afterward–and how I create the
PowerPoint slides. The second session will walk you through the
90-minute call using GotoWebinar. I’ll tell you what buttons to
push, and how to avoid the same disasters that have plagued me.

One of the bonuses will be my tattered checklist of about 20
things I do the day of the call, to keep everything running
smoothly, from giving the dog a frozen Kong with peanut butter to
keep her quiet, to rebooting my computer 30 minutes before the
webinar begins. The checklist has saved my butt.

You’ll be able to register for one or both calls next week. Start
thinking about what topics you’d like to offer. And if you missed
the Facebook webinar, you can grab the video replay and all the
bonuses at
http://publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-tapes/35WaystoPromoteYourFacebookPage.htm

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3. Publicity Shortcuts
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One of my very best shortcuts is to outsource my video editing
and other graphics stuff to a high school kid in my neighborhood.
He loves the work, and I love not getting my hands dirty.

Those are the kinds of tips that Tim Ferris, author of The 4-Hour
Work Week, will share during a free webinar tomorrow–Wednesday,
Nov. 14. He will be Steve Harrison’s guest at 2 and 7 p.m. and
share his best tips on “How to Get Maximum Publicity in Minimum
Time.” One of them is the single most important thing you need to
know to land media coverage.

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4. Hound Quote of the Week
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“Dachshunds are ideal dogs for small children, as they are
already stretched and pulled to such a length that the child
cannot do much harm one way or the other.” — Robert Benchley

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: http://publicityhound.com/dogjokebook/

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