Grade Your LinkedIn Credibility

The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #469 Sept. 15, 2009

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. Grade Your LinkedIn Credibility

2. Help Celebs Deal with Anger

3. Twitter: A Giant Garbage Dump?

4. Test-drive Stompernet for Free

5. Publicizing Zombie Stories

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Joke of the Week

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1. Grade Your LinkedIn Credibility
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If you’re answering questions on LinkedIn to promote your
expertise, good for you.

But don’t make the mistake I’ve been making. At times, I’ve been
creating the impression that it’s all about me.

Yesterday, for example, I answered a question from somebody who
wanted to know how to use press releases to promote his
consulting services in anger management.

I wrote a detailed answer (see Item #2 below). Then, at the
bottom of the answer, where I could offer three links to websites
where he could learn more about press releases, I offered three
links to my own websites.

LinkedIn also gave me the chance to name other experts on press
releases. But I didn’t.

A few hours later, I realized my mistake when I read the
excellent article “7 Ways to Have Character (and Show It) on
LinkedIn.”

It was written by LinkedIn expert Scott Allen, who says it isn’t
all about me or you. It’s all about giving before we take, and
offering other resources and experts that can help our LinkedIn
connections solve problems that are bugging them.

I used his article to grade my own credibility on LinkedIn. As a
result, I’ll be doing three things differently:

–Writing recommendations for my LinkedIn connections without
being asked.

–Responding more quickly to requests for introductions.

–Referring people whose questions I answer to other websites and
experts.

Read Scott’s article, and grade your own credibility. Then read
more about what he taught during the teleseminar I hosted with
him on “How to Use LinkedIn to Promote Anything–Ethically and
Powerfully.”

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2. Help Celebs Deal with Anger
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U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, tennis champ Serena Williams and rapper
Kanye West have just handed you three fabulous opportunities to
piggyback your pitches onto big news events.

Anger management experts, etiquette consultants, therapists,
sports coaches and others should be tying their tips to the
recent problems experienced by Wilson’s “You lie!” outburst,
Williams’ potty mouth threat at the US Open, and West’s obnoxious
interruption onstage at the MTV Awards ceremony.

Some ideas worth pitching:

–When is “I’m sorry” enough?

–What constitutes an appropriate apology?

–Should politicians, sports stars and music celebs be held to a
higher level of behavior than the rest of us?

–What does their bad behavior teach us about anger management?

–When somebody loses their cool in public, what does it tell us
about their character?

See “Special Report #50: How to Piggyback onto Celebrity News to
Promote Your Product, Service, Cause or Issue.”

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3. Twitter: A Giant Garbage Dump?
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Are you so disgusted with the garbage that flows into your
Twitter feed, that you sometimes feel like you’re knee-deep in a
stinky, fly-infested landfill?

Some days, I am.

Most of the tweets I see tell me to download a free ebook. Or
register for a teleseminar. Or ask me if I want 10,000 more
Twitter followers in just a few weeks.

Those automated “thanks for following me” messages are so overtly
promotional that I dread reading them.

Other followers bore me with annoying chatter about what’s going
on in the coffee shop where they’re tweeting.

Some talk nonstop about humorous things their cute kids have
done. Others offer a steady stream of pithy quotes from
celebrities, experts and gurus.

A few lazy authors and speakers offer nothing more than one-
liners taken directly from their books or speeches.

But I plod on, slogging through the garbage, because
occasionally, I come across a little nugget–usually a helpful
tip or a link to a content-rich article–that makes it all
worthwhile.

All the topics I’ve mentioned above, including humor, are
perfectly acceptable on Twitter, and your followers may actually
welcome them. But knowing the right formula for the kinds of
things to tweet, and how often, separates the Twitter “must-
follows” from the Twitter “unfollows.”

My new business partner, Jeanne Hurlbert, an expert on social
media and surveys, has been collaborating with me the last five
months on a new learning tool that will give every Publicity
Hound who uses it their own customized formula for participating
in social media, not just Twitter. It’s for social media newbies
who haven’t dipped their toes into the water yet, and for
Publicity Hounds who are already using social media but don’t
know what they don’t know.

The process we’ve developed for customizing our training–
depending on your level of expertise, interests and hobbies–is
so specialized that we’ve even applied for a patent.

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4. Test-drive Stompernet for Free
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Before Jeanne and I launch the social media learning tool
mentioned above, we need to solve a few knotty problems with how
we market and deliver it.

As a member of Stompernet, the world’s largest membership site
for Internet marketers, I took advantage of yesterday’s Faculty
Office Hour to present our questions to two top Internet
marketers.

Their feedback will keep us from making three major mistakes.
They also gave us several creative solutions we never would have
thought of on our own. The faculty calls, held four times a week,
are one of the most valuable benefits of a membership.

Several Publicity Hounds have joined Stompernet, based on my
recommendation. But many more have complained that the $800-a-
month membership is too expensive.

Stompernet has taken note of those complaints and revised their
membership structure. Next Tuesday, you’ll be able to join for as
little as $200 a month.

But don’t take my word for it. Test-drive Stompernet, and watch
seven days worth of webinars on topics like social media, search
engine optimization, article marketing, keyword research and
niche marketing. In all, you can get 40 pieces of content at no
charge–training courses, mega tutorials and free software.
There’s something for everybody.

Test-drive Stompernet to get a taste of what you’ll get when you join.
And find out more about the 11 cool tools that come with a membership.

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5. Publicizing Zombie Stories
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This week, eight Publicity Hounds have tips for Karma Bennett, a
publicist for Ulysses Press. Her company is publishing a
compilation of zombie stories, and she needs ideas on how to
publicize the book.

From Jena Zakany:

“Do what Universal Studios did when it first announced the
upcoming Harry Potter ‘theme park within a theme park,’–go to
the bloggers.”

From Ryan Mecum:

“There’s a book, The Living Dead, that sounds exactly like your
book, which did really well in sales. The author went to zombie
conventions and horror conventions to help promote it.”

From Bruce Jones:

“We are becoming such a video world, and YouTube is becoming so
powerful, that I would recommend reading excerpts from some of
the stories onto video and publishing them on line. At the end of
the video, send the viewer to a website for more information or
how they can buy the books. Also put the text in the description
area to attract Google.”

The Publicity Hound says:

Read all the responses to this Help This Hound question.

Send your own Help this Hound question and include your city and state.

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6. Help This Hound
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Suzanne Wood of Raleigh, NC asks:

“I’m starting an after-school writing academy to help kids in
grades 8-12 improve their writing. Services include tutoring and
workshops on topics such as writing the college application
essay.

“I’m having trouble figuring out how best to market this academy,
because most parents rely on word-of-mouth recommendations for
tutoring and instruction, and I haven’t generated enough momentum
yet for that to be effective. Besides, I can’t afford advertising
yet.

“Can your Hounds offer some creative ideas for promoting my
classes?”

The Publicity Hound says:

Here’s my idea. Sponsor a writing contest for kids, and convince
a local merchant to donate a cool prize in exchange for a little
publicity. Ask kids to write an essay on a really fun topic.
Write a press release and submit it to your local newspapers.

I know my readers can come up with ideas better than that one.
How about it, Hounds? Help Suzanne fill her classes by posting
your best ideas to my blog.

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7. Hound Joke of the Week
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Thanks to BL Ochman of New York, New York for this one:

I pulled into a crowded parking lot at the Pinecrest Plaza
Shopping Center and rolled down the car windows to make sure my
Labrador Retriever Pup had fresh air.

She was stretched full-out on the back seat and I wanted to
impress upon her that she must remain there. I walked to the curb
backward, pointing my finger at the car and saying emphatically,
“Now you stay. Do you hear me? Stay! Stay!”

The driver of a nearby car gave me a strange look and said,”Why
don’t you just put it in park?”