Issue #736 July 23, 2013
Publisher: Joan Stewart
“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”
In This Issue
- Help Bloggers Promote You
- Smartphones Banned at Weddings
- Free Training for Authors
- Hound Video of the Week
This Week in the Hound House:
I’m hosting my Garden Club meeting on Thursday night and presenting a program on vegetable recipes for the summer garden harvest. We’ll snack on Zucchini Feta Bruschetta, Caponata, Low- fat Vegetable Quiche Cups, Salsa and Chips, Zucchini Bread, and a selection of fruit-flavored iced teas. Next week, after I recover, I’ll share the link where you can find all the recipes. You’ll never groan again when your neighbor dumps a pile of zucchinis on your porch.
1. Help Bloggers Promote You
It’s frustrating blogging regularly and seeing little traffic.
That’s why Social Buzz Club, a membership site that’s a collaborative content sharing system, is such a great deal. It offers a free level of service, and two paid levels, that let other bloggers promote your content such as blog posts, articles and videos–and you promote theirs.
I’ve been using it for about a year and recently upgraded to a paid level with fabulous results.
Here’s how it works.
Every member gives first by sharing or “buzzing” other members’ content on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon or Digg. Every share earns you points. When you have enough points, you can then add your content to the pool. But it can’t be promotional or spammy. The strategy is to share as much of other people’s content that’s a good fit for your audience so that you always have accumulated enough points in your account when you have important content you want others to promote.
Read the blog post I wrote this morning that explains how Social Buzz Club caused a traffic jam on my Pinterest account and resulted in hundreds more people following my boards.
2. Smartphones Banned at Weddings
Here’s a story idea perfect for wedding planners, wedding photographers, etiquette experts, phone companies, social media coaches, and others.
Some wedding couples are asking their guests to surrender their smartphones for the duration of the ceremony, and it’s sparked a lot of debate among brides, grooms and their guests.
The phones are obnoxious when they ring during the ceremony, and especially when guests take the call. Some guests are even posting the photos they’ve taken to Facebook, before the ceremony is over!
The Huffington Post has an interesting slideshow of reactions from people on both sides of the issue.
What a great story!
It has controversy, a technology angle and an emerging trend.
Do you feel comfortable pitching, even to big-wheel reporters and editors who work for national media outlets?
If not, grab the video replay and all the bonuses of my program “A Simple 5-Part Formula for Delivering the Perfect Media Pitch and Hitting it Out of the Park.” You’ll learn about the one word you must never use when you pitch, the one question you must be prepared for after you pitch, and how to take one story idea and customize it for three different media outlets (this is imperative if you want them to cover you).
3. Free Training for Authors
Rich authors think differently than poor authors.
For example, many of them don’t care about making money on their books as much as they care about making money and getting mega- publicity from all the spin-off products, speaking engagement and consulting gigs they’ll get later.
Most poor authors rely on book sales alone. After spending thousands to publish their books, they’re crushed to learn they have books no one wants to buy.
Seven things set rich authors apart from poor authors. And Steven Harrison has identified them after working with more than 12,000 authors over the last 25 years. He’s hosting a free webinar at 2 and 7 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, July 25. Even though the call is free, I’m promoting it as one of Steve’s affiliates.
4. Hound Video of the Week
Thanks to Publicity Hound Linda Jay of Kentfield, Calif., for this hysterical video of a dog trying to jump on its own shadow.
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