-Your New LinkedIn Profile

The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #687 Feb. 2, 2013
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. Your New LinkedIn Profile

2. Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest

3. New Posts at My Blog

4. Hound Video of the Week

This Weekend in the Hound House: I’m finally reading the New York
Times bestseller “The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein,
sent by my friend, Dan Janal. I’ve fallen in love with Enzo, the
lab mix that’s more interesting than some people I’ve met.

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1. Your New LinkedIn Profile
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“Where the hell did my apps go on LinkedIn?” a blogger asked
recently.

The Answers disappeared this week.

The Book Reviews are no more.

Slideshare is gone. So are Box.net files, Amazon Reading lists
and Google Presentations.

And my beloved Event app? Rest in peace.

When I started bellyaching about the disappearing apps to my
friend, Wayne Breitbarth, he told me there’s plenty of reason to
put on a happy face.

LinkedIn’s new “Professional Gallery,” Wayne said, lets you
differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack and really wow
people with a well-crafted LinkedIn profile. You don’t use only
words, but hyperlinks to various media such as video, images,
documents and presentations.

Professional Gallery hyperlinks can be placed in your Summary,
Experience and Education sections and you can catch people’s
attention with photos and illustrations.

“I like this much better than the old applications features,
because the hyperlink is displayed right in the applicable
profile section,” Wayne said. “And adding information to your
Professional Gallery is fast and easy.”

That’s just one of the many new changes on LinkedIn. Wayne
started ticking off all the others, and I knew it was time to
invite him back for another webinar with Publicity Hounds.

Since Wayne’s last webinar with me in August last year, LinkedIn
has introduced a variety of new tools and tweaks that let you do
some powerful networking and savvy promotion. We can’t explain
them all in only an hour, so we’re devoting two hours to this
webinar, and giving you time to ask LOTS of questions. Wayne will
go live on the Internet so you can see exactly what he’s doing
and how he’s doing it.

Join us from 3 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 7, for “LinkedIn
Update: What’s In, What’s Out and Under-the-Radar Tricks to Help
You Crush It in 2013.”

As usual, I’m recording it, so sign up even if the time is
inconvenient and you can watch the video replay later. The package
of bonuses we’re offering rocks the doghouse. Read all about it
and register.

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2. Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest
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During yesterday’s webinar on Pinterest contests, I couldn’t help
myself.

Guest expert Beth Hayden was brainstorming ideas for Pinterest
contests that would be perfect for people who registered for the
webinar. Her ideas were fabulous.

But when she got to Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, which bills
itself as “The World’s Largest Christmas Store,” I couldn’t
resist.

“How about an Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest?” I asked. “That
would be a hoot.”

She agreed.

It would go viral, especially if Bronner’s offered an
irresistible prize.

And people would be clicking on that board in droves just
to see the obnoxious sweaters, even if they weren’t interested in
entering the contest.

If you specialize in a fun topic like Christmas, ideas for
Pinterest contests come easy.

But what if you’re a coach?

Beth covered that, too, and explained all about a Pinterest
contest that paid off big.

It was created by Rikka Zimmerman, a consciousness coach. Beth
showed us examples of the Pinterest badges that Rikka created and
required contest entrants to pin. The contest was so successful
that Rikka got 3,500 new email signups, and she sold several
thousand dollars worth of coaching.

You can do it, too. But you must keep your contest simple,
promote it correctly, and do the all-important follow-up.

If you missed it, you can order the video replay and the big
package of bonuses. The replay, “How to Use Powerful Pinterest
Contests to Grow Your Audience and Explode Your Profits” will be
ready later today, and I’ll email you all the download links.

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3. New Posts at My Blog
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Don’t miss the special three-part series on the pros and cons of
print, broadcast and online publicity.

Print: Pros and cons of free publicity in newspapers, magazines

Broadcast: Pros and cons of TV and radio publicity

Online: Pros and cons of generating online publicity

Other posts from this week:

Dog Tweets: How to handle rejection from journalists when doing PR

Why Pinterest contests are easier than Facebook contests

LinkedIn phishing scheme is back–don’t respond

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4. Hound Video of the Week
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This scared puppy couldn’t figure out how to go downstairs and
had to be shown by one of its elders. By the time the puppy gets
to the bottom step, you’ll practically be cheering!