{"id":177,"date":"2009-09-15T19:03:33","date_gmt":"2009-09-16T00:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.publicityarticles.net\/?p=177"},"modified":"2024-05-01T13:51:02","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T13:51:02","slug":"grade-your-linkedin-credibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/tips-of-the-week\/grade-your-linkedin-credibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Grade Your LinkedIn Credibility"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Publicity Hound&#8217;s<br \/> Tips of the Week<br \/> Issue #469 Sept. 15, 2009<\/p>\n<p>Publisher: Joan Stewart<\/p>\n<p>==========================================<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>===================================<\/p>\n<p><em id=\"__mceDel\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0 In This Issue<em id=\"__mceDel\"><br \/> ===================================<\/em><\/p>\n<p>1. Grade Your LinkedIn Credibility<\/p>\n<p>2. Help Celebs Deal with Anger<\/p>\n<p>3. Twitter: A Giant Garbage Dump?<\/p>\n<p>4. Test-drive Stompernet for Free<\/p>\n<p>5. Publicizing Zombie Stories<\/p>\n<p>6. Help This Hound<\/p>\n<p>7. Hound Joke of the Week<\/p>\n<p>=====================================<br \/> 1. Grade Your LinkedIn Credibility<br \/> =====================================<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re answering questions on LinkedIn to promote your<br \/> expertise, good for you.<\/p>\n<p>But don&#8217;t make the mistake I&#8217;ve been making. At times, I&#8217;ve been<br \/> creating the impression that it&#8217;s all about me.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday, for example, I answered a question from somebody who<br \/> wanted to know how to use press releases to promote his<br \/> consulting services in anger management.<\/p>\n<p>I wrote a detailed answer (see Item #2 below). Then, at the<br \/> bottom of the answer, where I could offer three links to websites<br \/> where he could learn more about press releases, I offered three<br \/> links to my own websites.<\/p>\n<p>LinkedIn also gave me the chance to name other experts on press<br \/> releases. But I didn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>A few hours later, I realized my mistake when I read the<br \/> excellent article <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20150630054613\/http:\/\/www.ducttapemarketing.com:80\/blog\/2009\/03\/11\/7-ways-to-have-character-and-show-it-on-linkedin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;7 Ways to Have Character (and Show It) on<\/a><br \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20150630054613\/http:\/\/www.ducttapemarketing.com:80\/blog\/2009\/03\/11\/7-ways-to-have-character-and-show-it-on-linkedin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> LinkedIn.&#8221;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It was written by LinkedIn expert Scott Allen, who says it isn&#8217;t<br \/> all about me or you. It&#8217;s all about giving before we take, and<br \/> offering other resources and experts that can help our LinkedIn<br \/> connections solve problems that are bugging them.<\/p>\n<p>I used his article to grade my own credibility on LinkedIn. As a<br \/> result, I&#8217;ll be doing three things differently:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;Writing recommendations for my LinkedIn connections without<br \/> being asked.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;Responding more quickly to requests for introductions.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;Referring people whose questions I answer to other websites and<br \/> experts.<\/p>\n<p>Read Scott&#8217;s article, and grade your own credibility. Then read<br \/> more about what he taught during the teleseminar I hosted with<br \/> him on &#8220;How to Use LinkedIn to Promote Anything&#8211;Ethically and<br \/> Powerfully.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>======================================<br \/> 2. Help Celebs Deal with Anger<br \/> ======================================<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, tennis champ Serena Williams and rapper<br \/> Kanye West have just handed you three fabulous opportunities to<br \/> piggyback your pitches onto big news events.<\/p>\n<p>Anger management experts, etiquette consultants, therapists,<br \/> sports coaches and others should be tying their tips to the<br \/> recent problems experienced by Wilson&#8217;s &#8220;You lie!&#8221; outburst,<br \/> Williams&#8217; potty mouth threat at the US Open, and West&#8217;s obnoxious<br \/> interruption onstage at the MTV Awards ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>Some ideas worth pitching:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;When is &#8220;I&#8217;m sorry&#8221; enough?<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;What constitutes an appropriate apology?<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;Should politicians, sports stars and music celebs be held to a<br \/> higher level of behavior than the rest of us?<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;What does their bad behavior teach us about anger management?<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;When somebody loses their cool in public, what does it tell us<br \/> about their character?<\/p>\n<p>See <a href=\"https:\/\/publicityhound.com\/shop\/special-report-50\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;Special Report #50: How to Piggyback onto Celebrity News to<\/a><br \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/publicityhound.com\/shop\/special-report-50\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Promote Your Product, Service, Cause or Issue.&#8221;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>=======================================<br \/> 3. Twitter: A Giant Garbage Dump?<br \/> =======================================<\/p>\n<p>Are you so disgusted with the garbage that flows into your<br \/> Twitter feed, that you sometimes feel like you&#8217;re knee-deep in a<br \/> stinky, fly-infested landfill?<\/p>\n<p>Some days, I am.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the tweets I see tell me to download a free ebook. Or<br \/> register for a teleseminar. Or ask me if I want 10,000 more<br \/> Twitter followers in just a few weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Those automated &#8220;thanks for following me&#8221; messages are so overtly<br \/> promotional that I dread reading them.<\/p>\n<p>Other followers bore me with annoying chatter about what&#8217;s going<br \/> on in the coffee shop where they&#8217;re tweeting.<\/p>\n<p>Some talk nonstop about humorous things their cute kids have<br \/> done. Others offer a steady stream of pithy quotes from<br \/> celebrities, experts and gurus.<\/p>\n<p>A few lazy authors and speakers offer nothing more than one-<br \/> liners taken directly from their books or speeches.<\/p>\n<p>But I plod on, slogging through the garbage, because<br \/> occasionally, I come across a little nugget&#8211;usually a helpful<br \/> tip or a link to a content-rich article&#8211;that makes it all<br \/> worthwhile.<\/p>\n<p>All the topics I&#8217;ve mentioned above, including humor, are<br \/> perfectly acceptable on Twitter, and your followers may actually<br \/> welcome them. But knowing the right formula for the kinds of<br \/> things to tweet, and how often, separates the Twitter &#8220;must-<br \/> follows&#8221; from the Twitter &#8220;unfollows.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>My new business partner, Jeanne Hurlbert, an expert on social<br \/> media and surveys, has been collaborating with me the last five<br \/> months on a new learning tool that will give every Publicity<br \/> Hound who uses it their own customized formula for participating<br \/> in social media, not just Twitter. It&#8217;s for social media newbies<br \/> who haven&#8217;t dipped their toes into the water yet, and for<br \/> Publicity Hounds who are already using social media but don&#8217;t<br \/> know what they don&#8217;t know.<\/p>\n<p>The process we&#8217;ve developed for customizing our training&#8211;<br \/> depending on your level of expertise, interests and hobbies&#8211;is<br \/> so specialized that we&#8217;ve even applied for a patent.<\/p>\n<p>========================================<br \/> 4. Test-drive Stompernet for Free<br \/> ========================================<\/p>\n<p>Before Jeanne and I launch the social media learning tool<br \/> mentioned above, we need to solve a few knotty problems with how<br \/> we market and deliver it.<\/p>\n<p>As a member of Stompernet, the world&#8217;s largest membership site<br \/> for Internet marketers, I took advantage of yesterday&#8217;s Faculty<br \/> Office Hour to present our questions to two top Internet<br \/> marketers.<\/p>\n<p>Their feedback will keep us from making three major mistakes.<br \/> They also gave us several creative solutions we never would have<br \/> thought of on our own. The faculty calls, held four times a week,<br \/> are one of the most valuable benefits of a membership.<\/p>\n<p>Several Publicity Hounds have joined Stompernet, based on my<br \/> recommendation. But many more have complained that the $800-a-<br \/> month membership is too expensive.<\/p>\n<p>Stompernet has taken note of those complaints and revised their<br \/> membership structure. Next Tuesday, you&#8217;ll be able to join for as<br \/> little as $200 a month.<\/p>\n<p>But don&#8217;t take my word for it. Test-drive Stompernet, and watch<br \/> seven days worth of webinars on topics like social media, search<br \/> engine optimization, article marketing, keyword research and<br \/> niche marketing. In all, you can get 40 pieces of content at no<br \/> charge&#8211;training courses, mega tutorials and free software.<br \/> There&#8217;s something for everybody.<\/p>\n<p>Test-drive Stompernet to get a taste of what you&#8217;ll get when you join.<br \/> And find out more about the 11 cool tools that come with a membership.<\/p>\n<p>=================================<br \/> 5. Publicizing Zombie Stories<br \/> =================================<\/p>\n<p>This week, eight Publicity Hounds have tips for Karma Bennett, a<br \/> publicist for Ulysses Press. Her company is publishing a<br \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/publicityhound.com\/blog\/publicist-needs-ideas-for-promoting-book-of-zombie-stories\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">compilation of zombie stories<\/a>, and she needs ideas on how to<br \/> publicize the book.<\/p>\n<p>From Jena Zakany:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Do what Universal Studios did when it first announced the<br \/> upcoming Harry Potter &#8216;theme park within a theme park,&#8217;&#8211;go to<br \/> the bloggers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>From Ryan Mecum:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a book, The Living Dead, that sounds exactly like your<br \/> book, which did really well in sales. The author went to zombie<br \/> conventions and horror conventions to help promote it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>From Bruce Jones:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are becoming such a video world, and YouTube is becoming so<br \/> powerful, that I would recommend reading excerpts from some of<br \/> the stories onto video and publishing them on line. At the end of<br \/> the video, send the viewer to a website for more information or<br \/> how they can buy the books. Also put the text in the description<br \/> area to attract Google.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Publicity Hound says:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/publicityhound.com\/blog\/publicist-needs-ideas-for-promoting-book-of-zombie-stories\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read all the responses to this Help This Hound question.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=HelpThisHound\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Send your own Help this Hound question<\/a> and include your city and state.<\/p>\n<p>===============================<br \/> 6. Help This Hound<br \/> ===============================<\/p>\n<p>Suzanne Wood of Raleigh, NC asks:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m starting an after-school writing academy to help kids in<br \/> grades 8-12 improve their writing. Services include tutoring and<br \/> workshops on topics such as writing the college application<br \/> essay.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m having trouble figuring out how best to market this academy,<br \/> because most parents rely on word-of-mouth recommendations for<br \/> tutoring and instruction, and I haven&#8217;t generated enough momentum<br \/> yet for that to be effective. Besides, I can&#8217;t afford advertising<br \/> yet.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Can your Hounds offer some creative ideas for promoting my<br \/> classes?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Publicity Hound says:<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s my idea. Sponsor a writing contest for kids, and convince<br \/> a local merchant to donate a cool prize in exchange for a little<br \/> publicity. Ask kids to write an essay on a really fun topic.<br \/> Write a press release and submit it to your local newspapers.<\/p>\n<p>I know my readers can come up with ideas better than that one.<br \/> How about it, Hounds? <a href=\"https:\/\/publicityhound.com\/blog\/whats-best-way-to-promote-a-writing-program-for-kids\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Help Suzanne fill her classes by posting<\/a><br \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/publicityhound.com\/blog\/whats-best-way-to-promote-a-writing-program-for-kids\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> your best ideas to my blog.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>===============================<br \/> 7. Hound Joke of the Week<br \/> ===============================<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to BL Ochman of New York, New York for this one:<\/p>\n<p>I pulled into a crowded parking lot at the Pinecrest Plaza<br \/> Shopping Center and rolled down the car windows to make sure my<br \/> Labrador Retriever Pup had fresh air.<\/p>\n<p>She was stretched full-out on the back seat and I wanted to<br \/> impress upon her that she must remain there. I walked to the curb<br \/> backward, pointing my finger at the car and saying emphatically,<br \/> &#8220;Now you stay. Do you hear me? Stay! Stay!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The driver of a nearby car gave me a strange look and said,&#8221;Why<br \/> don&#8217;t you just put it in park?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Publicity Hound&#8217;s Tips of the Week Issue #469 Sept. 15, 2009 Publisher: Joan Stewart ========================================== &#8220;Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity&#8221; =================================== \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In This Issue =================================== 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\u2026&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/tips-of-the-week\/grade-your-linkedin-credibility\/\" class=\"rmlink\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","iawp_total_views":2,"wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[48,19,10],"class_list":{"0":"post-177","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-tips-of-the-week","7":"tag-linkedin","8":"tag-pitching-to-reporters","9":"tag-twitter","10":"entry"},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Joan Stewart","author_link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/author\/jstewart\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}