Facebook’s Bait and Switch

Issue #806 April 5, 2014
Publisher: Joan Stewart

“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”

In This Issue

1. Facebook’s Bait and Switch
2. Your Invisible Content
3. I Need Your Press Releases
4. Hound Video of the Week

This Weekend in the Hound House:

I’ll be in front of the tube tonight watching the Wisconsin Badgers take on Kentucky in the NCAA Final Four. Frank Kaminsky, almost 7 feet tall, makes the two-handed stuff look easy. Kaminsky has told sports writers he talks to himself on the court but won’t reveal what he says because “it’s kinda X-rated.”

1. Facebook’s Bait and Switch

If you’re still slogging along on Facebook, frustrated that you aren’t making any money because your message isn’t reaching your audience, you’re not alone.

I spend almost no time on Facebook anymore because it filters almost all my content. It gives me moderately decent exposure only if I give them my credit card number to “boost” a post. Forget that. Many influential people I want to reach aren’t even there anymore.

I’m seeing great traction, deeper conversations and more influential people commenting and sharing the content I post in Google+ communities. On YouTube, crappy videos I created six years ago are still pulling traffic.

Derek Muller, who has the science video blog Veritasium, worked his tail off amassing 118,000 Facebook fans. Like you and I, his posts go out only to a small fraction of them. Those fan pages are one of the biggest bait-and-switch schemes in history.

Muller created an excellent video called The Problem with Facebook. It’s gotten more than 1.4 million views on YouTube and more than 9,000 comments, many from angry Facebook uses. I recommend you watch it to understand fully what you’re up against by spending so much time on Facebook.

Now go out and join a Google+ community. Or start a YouTube channel. But only after you start blogging.

The 2014 edition of How to be a Kickbutt Publicity Hound gives an excellent overview of how to use a blog and social media sites as part of a publicity campaign. Grab your copy.

If you participated in my slogan survey, you should have gotten your coupon code which gives you $10 off the ebook.

If you haven’t participated in the survey yet, help me choose a slogan.

2. Your Invisible Content

You bust your butt sharing helpful content on Twitter, creating YouTube videos, writing press releases, and posting valuable information on Google+.

But if you aren’t using hashtags, you aren’t reaching the biggest audience possible. That’s because many people are using hashtags to search for content.

On Google+ for example, go and click on “Explore” in the menu bar, you’ll see what’s hot according to topics like #Photography, #Science and #Technology. Or, you can type your own topic into the search box, like this: #dogtraining. It will return to you content that includes those hashtags. And you’ll also get another list of related hashtags so you can probe even further and find the people who are discussing those topics.

Hashtags are the new search tool. If you aren’t using them, your target market is finding content from your competitors who do.

My webinar How to use Hashtags: The New Search Tool explains how to use hashtags not only in social media content but also in press releases. It comes with a checklist of questions to ask yourself before creating your own hashtags, and examples of some of the most successful hashtags used in marketing campaigns.

Learn how to use hashtags to attract your target market.

3. I Need Your Press Releases

If you were taking my free email course “89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases,” you may have stopped receiving the email lessons when my website changed from one location to another.

But not to worry.

I’m updating the course, and when I’m finally done by May 1, you’ll be able to pick up where you left off. Or you can start at the beginning again. Even though most of the course is still the same, I’m updating the links and offering new press release examples.

Here’s where you come in.

If you’ve written a press release that resulted in great coverage either online or offline, email it to me at JStewart@PublicityHound.com and tell me exactly what resulted. Also let me know if you hired someone to write it for you. More than 6,000 people already have taken the course, and if I use your release when I relaunch the updated version, as well as the ebook that includes the updated course, it will mean even more publicity for you.

I’m looking for all kinds of press releases, including those for events, new products and services, social media press releases that include audio and video, and lots more. Email them as attachments to me at JStewart@PublicityHound.com and use “Press Releases for You” in the subject line. Or send me the links.

If you bought the ebook “89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases” recently, I’ll send you the updated version at no extra charge.

4. Hound Video of the Week

Thanks to Publicity Hound BL Ochman of New York, NY, for this one showing lots of examples of dog alarm clocks. When she sent this to me, I made the mistake of watching it while eating my lunch and almost choked from laughing so hard.