Issue #893 Feb. 17, 2015
Publisher: Joan Stewart
“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”
In This Issue
- You Can be Immortal on Facebook
- Make a Book Bubble
- Creative Content Sharing
- Hound Video of the Week
This Week in the Hound House:
Thanks, Downton fans. You urged me not to peek on Sunday nights and recommended I wait to watch the entire series of “Downton Abbey” with my friend, starting at the beginning. I’m following your advice. I’ll let you know what I think of the series.
1. You Can be Immortal on Facebook
Facebook has been fielding thousands of complaints from people who have no control over their loved ones’ Facebook accounts when friends and family members die.
That’s why a new policy allows Facebook users to designate a “Legacy Contact,” someone from their Friends list who can look after the account and do things like:
–Write a pinned post for your profile to share a final message on your behalf or give details about your memorial service.
–Respond to new friend requests.
–Update your profile picture and cover photo.
Here’s how to designate a Facebook Legacy Contact:
–On the right side of your Facebook page, on the blue bar at the top, click on the arrow to show the drop-down menu. Click on “Settings.”
–In the left margin at the top, choose “Security.”
–At the bottom of the list, click on “Legacy Contact.”
–From your Friends list, choose your Legacy Contact and then the options you want your Legacy Contact to have.
–Facebook will give you the option to send a message to that person.
Learn more about Memorialized Accounts and find out what your Legacy Contact can and can’t do.
2. Make a Book Bubble
Most authors can’t afford publicists.
But the wide variety of free tools to promote your books lets you do a lot of the hard work yourself.
It can be fun, too, thanks to Bublish, a platform that lets you build your audience while you’re writing your book.
How? By creating an attractive “Book Bubble” and then collecting pre-orders when your launch date approaches.
A Book Bubble is a graphic element that includes your head shot, genre, links to your bio and synopsis, an excerpt, social media share buttons, and a place where people can comment.
The most interesting part of the bubble is the Author Insight. That’s where you explain the story behind the story. Tell readers about the one event in your life that prompted the book or the cause or issue that led you to write.
A free account lets you create a bubble for one book and share it everywhere. A paid account gives you more options like author metrics that show you what’s resonating with readers on various social networks.
Bublish was among the dozens of tips I shared last week during the webinar “Book Publicity Ideas to Use Today to Sell More Books Tomorrow.”
Publicity Hound Rebecca Brown attended and emailed me afterward: “The info you shared was beyond compare. I feel like I’ve just attended a 2-day event…for pennies! Thank you, thank you.”
Don’t miss out. Grab the replay and the bonuses.
3. Creative Content Sharing
In December, I told you about an interesting survey conducted by Prezly, a paid service that lets PR people use a variety of rich media to tell their clients’ stories to the world.
They created a helpful slidedeck of tips from PR experts on “How to Influence Influencers: 10 Tips by Top #PR Thinkers.”
Their research showed that I was one of the “top PR thinkers” so my tip was included. If you missed this item, you can see it in my newsletter archives.
I was so impressed with the slidedeck and how they shared it, that I asked them to explain the entire process.
You can do this same thing with any question your own followers are curious about.
In a guest post at my blog, Frederik Vincx explains the project from beginning to end. He shows you what tool they used to find the top PR thinkers, the excellent email pitch they used to solicit comments, how they created the slidedeck, and where they shared it.
It’s a lot of work. But the results were worth it. Read about how they did it.
4. Hound Video of the Week
Thanks to Sophie Wajsman of Melbourne, Australia for this video of Charlie The Beagle. He was taught how to play the keyboard, push the button to make a traffic light change, and swing a baby crib. But he never had to be taught how to love the little baby.
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