Publicity Tips/No Bio? No Thanks Mar 24, 2009

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #443 March 24, 2009
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.net/ Blog)

Circulation: 41,708

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"Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity"

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It's Tuesday, and I'm Here to Stay:

Eight out of 10 Publicity Hounds who took my customer profile
survey want this newsletter to stay just as it is--delivered
every Tuesday instead of a sliced and diced version with tips
scattered throughout the week, like I was considering doing.

So Tuesday it is.

I've been publishing for eight and a half years and still going
strong--thanks to the helpful Hounds who share their success
stories, questions, publicity tips and, of course, dog jokes.

Next week, I'll announce the lucky winner of the Kindle 2.

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In This Issue
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1. No Bio? No Thanks

2. Meet Mr. Tweet

3. 10 Dead or Dying PR Tactics

4. Top Search Term: Craigslist

5. Where to Find Pro Bono PR Interns

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Joke of the Week

8. And at My Blog...


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1. No Bio? No Thanks
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Almost two-thirds of the people who use Twitter don't have a bio
or a link listed on their profile, the 160-character description
just under their avatar.

So what's the big deal?

Does having a bio and website link in your Twitter profile really
make a difference in the number of followers you have?

Absolutely.

The Hubspot Internet Marketing Blog has crunched the numbers and
says that users with a bio have over eight times more followers,
on average, than users without a bio. Users with a link have over
7.5 times as many followers as users without.

Power users (Twitter users with high Twitter grades) are even
less likely to follow you if you don't have a bio and link.
Users with a bio have over 15.5 times more power followers than
those without a bio. Users with a link have over 22 times more
power followers than without.

You can check out all the findings at http://budurl.com/f52e

I didn't see anything about the quality of the profiles, but I'm
betting that the typical Twitter user who reads somebody else's
bio and sees nothing remotely interesting is gone in a flash
without ever clicking "Follow."

What a shame. Another potential follower--maybe even a customer--
lost forever. It doesn't have to be that way.

Social networking expert Nancy Marmolejo says your bio should
communicate immediately what you do, who your target audience is,
and how you can help people. Mix in some fun and people will
practically be begging to be part of your tribe.

During a teleseminar last month, Nancy gave tips galore on how to
customize your bios for different social networking sites so you
turn visitors into clicks and clicks into customers. "Can Your
Social Networking Profile Pass the 10-Second Test?" is available
as a CD, MP3 or electronic transcript that you can read as soon
as your order is approved.

Read more about how to get started writing a sizzling bio that
really pulls 'em in and makes 'em want to stay at
http://budurl.com/xcqh


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2. Meet Mr.Tweet
=================================

Here's a way to build followers quickly on Twitter without
resorting to those obnoxious black-hat tricks that some of the
slimy Internet marketers are using--and even selling.

Meet Mr. Tweet, your new best friend, at http://mrtweet.net/

He's your personal networking agent who helps you expand your
network. To do that, he helps you regularly:

--Find relevant followers by recommending you to them.

--Discover great people relevant to your current needs.

--Improve your Twitter usage via useful statistics.

Just go to the website and click on the blue bar that says
"Follow Mr. Tweet." Since I started using him last week, I've
gained several hundred followers.

Now then, if you want to know the tactics that underhanded
Twitterers are using to add thousands of followers every day,
read blogger Chris Cree's step-by-step instructions--and his
warning--at http://budurl.com/gametwitter

I wouldn't stoop that low and prefer, instead, the five steps of
Twitter success: Follow. Reply. Retweet. Share. Repeat.


Warren Whitlock says that retweeting other people's tweets is
one of the best ways to encourage them to retweet yours--
especially if you're planning to introduce a new product or
service or you're launching a book, and you want the world to
know.

The power of retweeting was one of dozens of tips he shared
during the teleseminar on "How to Use Twitter to Amass an Army of
Followers, Customers & Valuable Contacts--and Promote." It's
available as electronic transcripts and your choice of CDs or
MP3s.

Read more about other ways to build your Twitter tribe and win
their loyalty at http://budurl.com/la38


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3. 10 Dead or Dying PR Tactics
===========================================

If you work in PR, you might be discouraged to learn that you're
spending the better part of your day on what Steve Mullen
identifies as "10 Dead or Dying PR Tactics."

He's a social media PR blogger who stirred up a controversy
recently with his list:

--Newspaper-based media relations strategy

--Deskside reporter meetings

--Media packets

--Video news releases

--Audio news releases

--Media Map

--Blast faxing

--Mailed newsletters

--Bacon's Media Guides

--Mailed reporter pitches

You can read his reasons, at http://budurl.com/mn5s

I agree with most of his choices except for mailed newsletters.
With postage skyrocketing, fewer businesses are using them.

That means top-quality newsletters packed with helpful content
can really attract attention.

My vote for the one PR tactic I wish would make the list but it
refuses to go away: those ubiquitous ground-breaking, ribbon-
cutting, check-passing photos. Will somebody please slay these
ugly dinosaurs?

No self-respecting Publicity Hound would even THINK of resorting
to them, particularly those who hear PR guy Dan Collins' ideas
for cool media events and clever publicity stunts that attract
far more attention the cliche photos.

"Fun Alternatives to Boring Ground-breakings, Ribbon-cuttings &
Check-passings" is available as a CD or electronic transcript
that you can be reading as soon as your order is approved. Read
more about your clever options at http://budurl.com/9pyj


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4. Top Search Term: Craigslist
=======================================

For the first time in three years, searches for "Craigslist," the
world's largest classified ad bulletin board, surpassed
"MySpace."

Hitwise Intelligence says "Craigslist" searches increased 105
percent for the week ending March 14, compared with the same week
last year.

The economic downturn, it says, is responsible.

That's easy to understand. People are hunting for jobs, used
cars, gently used furniture and who knows what else.

All those extra eyeballs means this is the ideal time to use
Craigslist as part of your publicity campaign.

The Community category is my favorite for publicity. Its sub-
categories include activities, artists, groups, pets, events,
musicians, local news, politics, volunteers and classes.

The Services category includes "Small Biz Ads" and "Gigs" which
are idea for people looking for clients and customers.

But remember, you can only post to the Craigslist closest to
where you live. And you can't post the same message to more than
one category, or Craig can throw you off the list.

Nancy Mills, an expert on how to use Craigslist in all sorts of
clever and creative ways, says the writing style of a Craigslist
post should be very different than the standard press release.
She explained why when she was my guest during a teleseminar on
"How to Use Craigslist as a Global Publicity Tool."

It's available as a CD or an electronic transcript that you can
download and be reading as soon as your order has been approved.
Read more about how to get started using Craigslist as one of
your most valuable publicity tools at
http://budurl.com/craigslistnumberone


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5. Where to Find Pro Bono PR Interns
========================================

This week, three Publicity Hounds have tips for Mitchell
Teplitsky of New York, NY, who is distributing a documentary film
himself. He is looking for suggestions on where he can find
interns or PR firms that do pro bono work.

From Kathy Magrino:

"Contact NY/NJ colleges and universities to promote and advertise
the internship opportunity."

From Bruce Jones:

"I don't know much about PR internships but I would make a
comment on the existing promotional videos. They don't say 'buy
me.' People need to be told what to do.

"YouTube can be a very effective way to promote your products. At
the end of the video, which maybe is a little too long, it should
tell people that to purchase or for more info, they should go to
http://www.soyandina.com

"The same thing on the other clips. Just having a web address
isn't enough. I have also found that different video hosting
platforms get very different results and audiences. Once the
video is done, put it up on 10 or more."


The Publicity Hound says:

Bruce is right. But posting on more than just a few of these
video sites can eat up your life because uploading takes such a
long time. Shave hundreds of hours off the task with Traffic
Geyser. With just one click, it uploads to dozens of sites. Learn
more about it at http://budurl.com/lpxg


Read all the responses to this week's "Help This Hound" question
http://tinyurl.com/cecogs


Send your own Help this Hound question to:
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=HelpThisHound
and include your city and state.


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6. Help This Hound
==================================

Linda Foirmichelli of Concord, NH and Jennifer Lawler of
Lawrence, KS write:

"We're both well-established writers who offer e-courses in our
areas of specialty. Linda offers a class for magazine writers on
how to break into magazines, starting April 13,and Jennifer
offers one for book authors on how to write a book proposal,
starting May 4.

"We both have been offering our e-courses for a few years and
have happy customers who can give testimonials and describe how
our courses offer results. However, we're finding it tougher and
tougher to get the word out about our e-courses.

"We both blog (Linda’s blog has more followers than Jennifer’s,
which she just started a few weeks ago). We both belong to
writers' groups and contribute to their online forums, but of
course if we're too sales-y in our approach, our posts get
deleted. We're on LinkedIn and Facebook. What are we missing?"


The Publicity Hound says:

You can pretty much kiss traditional media good-bye because both
classes are starting soon, and you'll miss many of the deadlines.
That leaves online publicity.

Hounds with quick tips for Jennifer and Susan can post them to my
blog at http://budurl.com/avpt

Here's my idea:

If you aren't Twittering yet, start today and link to tips at
your blogs or websites that tie into your courses. From the tips,
link to the registration pages. Use the search box at
http://search.twitter.com to search for freelancers, writers,
authors and anyone else who's an ideal candidate for the courses.
Follow them, retweet their tweets, and then send them a direct
message asking that they retweet one of your tweets that promotes
the tips.

Courses like these are ideal to promote on LinkedIn, too, but you
need a long lead time so you can plant the seed, so to speak, by
asking a question about a topic that ties into your course, and
then letting everyone who answers the question know about what
you're offering.

This has to be done very carefully, however. Scott Allen, one of
the foremost experts on LinkedIn, laid out an entire campaign he
designed for a friend on how she could promote something she was
sponsoring. His ideas started drawing immediate response within
48 hours.

He outlines the entire campaign in step-by-step detail and gives
you your own timeline on exactly what to do on LinkedIn, and
when, if you want to promote something. Read more about "How to
Use LinkedIn to Promote Anything--Ethically & Powerfully" at
http://budurl.com/fft3


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7. Hound Joke of the Week
==================================

Cat's motto: "No matter what you've done wrong, always try to
make it look like the dog did it." -- Unknown


DOG JOKES & QUOTES EBOOK: 170+ G-rated dog jokes and quotes,
perfect for a dog-lover, your favorite vet, or just for a few
good laughs.

BONUS: Buy the ebook and you also get a compilation of the 50
best websites for dog humor.

http://www.publicityhound.com/dogjokebook/


==================================
8. And at My Blog...
==================================

4 ways I censor myself in social media circles
http://budurl.com/rxmk


Pitching Hispanic radio? Tie your pitch to the geographic area
http://budurl.com/ntns


Want your own radio show? Discover how on Thursday
http://budurl.com/cxkw


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Joan Stewart
a.k.a. The Publicity Hound®
3434 County KK
Port Washington, WI 53074
USA
Phone: 262-284-7451 (Central) Fax: 262-284-1737