The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #486 Jan. 6, 2010
Publisher: Joan Stewart<\/p>\n
=========================================<\/p>\n
“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In This Issue
===================================<\/p>\n
1. Facebook Redesign: Don’t Panic<\/p>\n
2. New Year’s Resolutions for Bloggers<\/p>\n
3. Still No Gravatar?<\/p>\n
4. A Dozen Ways to Use My Free Ebook<\/p>\n
5. Promoting Absorbent Mats<\/p>\n
6. Help This Hound<\/p>\n
7. Hound Joke of the Week<\/p>\n
8. And at My Blog…<\/p>\n
======================================
1. Facebook Redesign: Don’t Panic
======================================<\/p>\n
If you’re like me and you’re on Facebook, the words “Facebook
redesign” send you into panic mode.<\/p>\n
It can take me weeks to navigate my way around a redesigned site.
Facebook is slowly rolling out another one this week. But the
good news is that the changes are minor:<\/p>\n
–The search box is being moved from the right side of the
screen, further to the left.<\/p>\n
–Facebook is cleaning up the categories on the left.<\/p>\n
–Facebook–finally!–has removed the double link to your profile
at the top of the screen. Instead of seeing “Profile” and “(Your
Name)” at the top of the screen (the information is identical),
you’ll only see “Profile.”<\/p>\n
–Login\/logout have been combined into a single ?account? drop
down.<\/p>\n
The changes haven’t shown up on my own profile yet, but I’ll be
watching for them.<\/p>\n
Facebook also has a new, streamlined Help Center that should make During the teleseminar I conducted several months ago with ====================================== Here are three New Year’s Resolutions I’ve made about blogging. –Post more frequently. The more posts, the more traffic. It’s –One way to post more frequently is to write short items. I’ve –Reply to people who comment at my blog. Finally, I’m seeing the Carrying on a conversation at your blog is incredibly time- Results of my customer profile survey earlier this year show many Make 2010 the year you finally commit to a blog and build in ======================================= Here’s another resolution for 2010, even if you don’t blog, but Make sure you have a gravatar<\/a>, a universal image that follows you It takes just a few minutes to create one.<\/p>\n Jeanne Hurlbert and I recommend that if you’re using social media Jeanne is my new business partner,<\/a>\u00a0and I wrote about her last In just a few weeks, we’ll be introducing you to Social Media Rx, =================================== Have you claimed your copy of “The Best of The Publicity Hound’s –Create a Facebook note, and excerpt a tip in its entirety. Use –No time for a Note? Write about it and share the link above in –Write about it in a LinkedIn status update.<\/p>\n –Blog about the book, and include your own success story that –Offer the ebook as a bonus along with other products and –Give it to your clients and customers.<\/p>\n –Mention it at your weekly staff meetings.<\/p>\n –Add it to the Free Articles page at your website.<\/p>\n –Give it away to the winner of a contest you’re sponsoring.<\/p>\n –Offer it as a freebie to help you capture names and email –Create a video that discusses the ebook and upload it to your –Include the link in a book you’re writing, or in handouts you’re using for a speaking =================================== This week, six Publicity Hounds have tips for Jeanne Krieg of From Christel Hall:<\/p>\n “I would consider picking the top three publications in each area From Jay Groff:<\/p>\n “I am friends with the vice president of PIG mats, which has the From Laurie Morrow:<\/p>\n “DryMate might try to tie in with a realty company–get them to The Publicity Hound says:<\/p>\n All three ideas involve joint venture partnerships. Internet Read all the responses to this week?s “Help This Hound” question.<\/a><\/p>\n Send your own Help this Hound question<\/a>\u00a0to and include your city and state or province.<\/p>\n ================================= Linda Alexander of Pitman, NJ, writes:<\/p>\n “I work for an association management and publishing company, and “The book is designed to help new board members on association “Mentoring the Stars is a great resource for association board “The book is available on our website and on Amazon. We have done The Publicity Hound says:<\/p>\n The first thing that comes to my mind is LinkedIn. Let’s see what ================================== Thanks to Mary Pacinda of New Carlisle, Ohio for this one:<\/p>\n Two fleas are coming out of the movie theater and it’s raining =================================== 12 ways to use my free ebook of publicity tips<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week Issue #486 Jan. 6, 2010 Publisher: Joan Stewart ========================================= “Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity” In This Issue =================================== 1. Facebook Redesign: Don’t Panic 2. New Year’s Resolutions for Bloggers 3. Still No Gravatar? 4. A Dozen Ways to Use My Free Ebook 5. Promoting Absorbent\u2026 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":0,"wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2,3,16],"class_list":{"0":"post-347","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-tips-of-the-week","7":"tag-blogging","8":"tag-book-promotion","9":"tag-facebook","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\/347","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=347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
it easier for you to find solutions to problems. You can read<\/a>
more about it at Facebook’s blog.<\/a><\/p>\n
Christine Buffaloe, my guest expert, on “11 Ways to Avoid Missed
Opportunities on Facebook,” we identified “Missed Opportunity
#10: Not using the Help Center.” The Help Center is located on
the bottom right side of your screen. Facebook is so big that
it’s impossible to instinctively know what to do, and the Help
Center can lead you in the right direction. <\/p>\n
2. New Year’s Resolutions for Bloggers
======================================<\/p>\n
You might want to make them, too:<\/p>\n
that simple. I usually post at least three times a week. I’m
trying to increase that to five a week.<\/p>\n
fallen into the habit of trying to make each post as thorough as
possible, but that eats up precious time. I can’t tell you how
many unfinished posts are sitting in my Drafts folder. Readers,
always pressed for time, appreciate short posts, too.<\/p>\n
number of comments increasing. But I haven’t been very good about
replying to those comments. By not replying, I’m simply talking
“at” people instead of talking “with” them.<\/p>\n
consuming, but it’s well worth the investment. People will be
more inclined to comment if they see you’re paying attention. And
they’ll be motivated to return to the blog to see how you
responded to what they said.<\/p>\n
Publicity Hounds are hungry for time-saving tips on how to blog.
So I asked Patsi Krakoff of The Blog Squad to join me for a
teleseminar at 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, Jan. 20, called
“Time-saving Tips for Smart Business Blogging<\/a>.” (This teleseminar
was originally scheduled for Jan. 13.) Everyone who registers
receives a handout that includes 77 ways to find content for a
blog.<\/p>\n
efficiencies that will make the job go faster. Read more about<\/a>
what you’ll learn.<\/a><\/p>\n
3. Still No Gravatar?
=======================================<\/p>\n
you comment at other people’s blogs.<\/p>\n
from site to site and appears beside your name when you comment
or post on a blog. A gravatar helps identify your posts and
attaches a face to a name.<\/p>\n
for your business, you use a photo instead of an image that
resembles a cartoon character. We’d both prefer to see the face
of the person we’re talking to. And it’s easier to build a
relationship with a person who has a name and a face vs. somebody
who seems to be hiding behind a logo or a silly graphic.\u00a0 My
gravatar is the same photo that appears at the bottom of the HTML
version of this newsletter.<\/p>\n
week here and at my blog. If you missed it, check it out.<\/p>\n
our new social media assessment that’s your 20-minute
prescription for cutting through the clutter, chatter and
confusion on social media sites.<\/p>\n
4. A Dozen Ways to Use My Free Ebook
===================================<\/p>\n
Tips of the Week of 2009″ yet? Consider using it one of
these 12 ways:<\/p>\n
the JPEG of the ebook cover along with the text, and you’ve got a
nice little item that your followers and fans will love.<\/p>\n
a Facebook status update.<\/p>\n
ties into one of the tips.<\/p>\n
services you’re selling.<\/p>\n
addresses at your website.<\/p>\n
website or to YouTube.<\/p>\n
engagement.<\/p>\n
5. Promoting Absorbent Mats
===================================<\/p>\n
Savage, MN. Her company, DryMate, makes a line of absorbent and
washable mats for home, pets, autos, hunting, garage and
outdoors. She needs ideas on how to pitch this product to
journalists.<\/p>\n
to do a special, custom publicity promotion to. For example, the
garage auto mat could be promoted to the top two auto
care\/accessories magazines and also to the national publication
for Porsche owners, or other exclusive car club members. At the
same time, the outdoor blanket\/mat could be promoted to camping
and outdoor magazines.”<\/p>\n
same concept but they are more industrial. Despite the fact that
they are somewhat of a competitor, I think some kind of a
relationship could be formed where they could promote your line
of more household mats and you could promote their heavy duty
industrial mats. I truly believe cooperation can be better than
competition.”<\/p>\n
buy a large amount, and give them as gifts to purchasers of new
homes. This is a tough market to sell real estate in, and you
could develop a number of cross-promotional ads.”<\/p>\n
marketer Don Crowther says “there’s no such thing as competitors,
just joint venture partners who don’t know it yet.”<\/p>\n
6. Help This Hound
=================================<\/p>\n
we have just published the book Mentoring the Stars: A Program
for Volunteer Board Leaders.<\/p>\n
boards understand their new roles and learn the skills and
competencies they need to be a successful board member.
Leadership, decision making, teamwork, strategic planning,
effective meetings and mentoring are just some of the topics
covered.<\/p>\n
members in any industry?nursing, hospitals and health care,
education, banking, real estate, human resources, plus church
groups, community organizations and more. While it’s great to be
applicable to anyone, it’s also hard to promote to everyone!<\/p>\n
some traditional PR and will be trying some targeted advertising
on Facebook, Google and Yahoo. Can your readers offer any
suggestions for ways to promote Mentoring the Stars to members of
association boards??<\/p>\n
my Hounds have to say. Hounds with their own ideas, or ways to<\/a>
piggyback onto my LinkedIn suggestion, can post them to my blog.<\/a><\/p>\n
7. Hound Joke of the Week
==================================<\/p>\n
very hard outside. One flea says to the other flea, “What are we
going to do? Should we walk or wait for a dog?”<\/p>\n
8. And at My Blog…
===================================<\/p>\n