5 ways to be included on other people’s Twitter lists

Twitter lists that list Joan Stewart, The Publicity HoundWhen I hosted the recorded webinar last week on How to Use Twitter Lists & Directories to Promote Your Expertise and Build Your Brand,  I encouraged participants to get onto as many Twitter lists as possible because lists are a powerful form of free advertising. 

One of my suggestions was to write a blog post telling readers the types of lists where you’d be a perfect fit, and then suggesting that they add you to existing lists on those topics, or create new ones.

But before you do that, it’s helpful to first find out how people on Twitter perceive you.  This will give you other ideas to add to the list of topics on which you’re an expert, and some of them might surprise you. The instructions below are included on the handouts from last week’s webinar, and the entire package is available here.

To see whose lists you’re on:

  • Log into your Twitter account
      
  • Go to your Home page
      
  • Look in the upper right corner, near your gravatar, for the word “Listed.” It will tell you how many lists you’re on.
      
  • Click on it. You’ll see all the names of the lists and the gravatars of the people who created them. The names of the lists will be in bold.

Scan the list and you should start to see a pattern. The screenshot above shows some of the 668 lists I’m on. Many of the lists are devoted to PR, publicity, marketing communications, book marketing and social media.

Now that you have a good idea how you’re perceived, write a blog post like this one, suggesting that your Twitter followers add you to their lists on certain topics.
    
   
Add Me to These Lists

Here are topics for other lists you can consider adding me to, based on many of the other lists on which I appear:

Writing or Writers

Editing or Editors

Journalists or Journalism

Marketing

Authors

Business Women

Small Business

Online Marketing

Digital Marketing

Self-promotion

Shoestring Marketing

Book Publicity

Resources for Authors

Inspiring Quotes

Humor

Entrepreneurs

Advertising/Marketing

PR Pros

Press Releases

Blogging or Bloggers

Dog Jokes (I include a dog joke in each issue of The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week, my free weekly ezine, and often share it on Twitter)
     
     
Other Ways to be Included on Twitter Lists

1. Tweet helpful, relevant content frequently and forego the “here’s what I’m doing today” tweets. Help people solve their problems!

2. Add yourself to your own lists if you’re a perfect fit. Remember that other people will be subscribing to your lists. If you’re a small business expert, for example,  and somebody is following your list of small business experts, you want to be on it.

3. Include a short blurb in your email signature suggesting that people add you to their lists, with a link to your Twitter page.

4. Ask! Don’t be shy about suggesting that people add you to a particular list they’ve created. They might be grateful that you’ve helped them grow their lists.

Be sure to reciprocate. Welcome requests from other people who ask you to put them on your lists.

What other ways do you use Twitter lists? Is there anything about lists that you don’t understand? Sharre your own tips here on how to get onto other people’s lists.

Italian restaurant in Texas hurting; needs marketing tips

pizzaDeborah Lott of Giddings, Texas, writes:
  
“My husband and I opened a casual pizza and Italian restaurant in the small Texas town of Giddings, population 5,000, on Hwy. 290, a major highway between Austin and Houston.
   
“We have been open for only six months and are having a hard time getting local residents to dine here.  Money is tight so advertising has been minimal. 

“We are open to any and all ideas to help us keep our doors open. The first three months we were open, we were doing great, but this summer has been a hardship.”

Have ideas for Deborah? Please share them below. And then email me you rown “Help this Hound” question. 

5 ways to use Twitter lists for PR, publicity

Twitter lists Joan Stewart is on I’ve been inundated with questions from Publicity Hounds about how to use Twitter lists. 

Lists are all the rage right now, for so many reasons.

They save you time two major ways. First, they help you categorize, group and isolate the tweets of people within a specific industry, niche or topic so you don’t have to search through your miles-long Twitter feed for their tweets. Lists also one of the most powerful research tools on the planet if you’re looking for experts within a niche. 
  
They help you spy on your competitors and let you know instantly which influential people they’re following on Twitter. Lists also help position you as an expert in your field. I’m on 660 lists, many devoted to the topics of PR, publicity and social media.  That’s a ton of free advertising!

When I host the webinar How to Use Twitter Lists & Directories to Generate Publicity and Build Your Brand on Thursday, Aug. 26, I’ll be discussing and illustrating dozens of tips, including these five ways to use Twitter lists in a publicity or PR campaign. You can use some of these tips even if you aren’t tweeting:

  1. Save hours of time researching  journalists, broadcasters, Internet radio hosts, freelancers, beat reporters, editors and others by looking for lists that other people on Twitter have created. Within seconds, you can even find lists of journalists in specific cities, like this list of Milwaukee media that Tom Snyder, president of a Milwaukee web design company, created on Twitter. (You can do this even if you aren’t tweeting.)
      
  2.  Want to get in front of influential bloggers who write about a particular topic? Save hours of time by finding them on Twitter lists that other people have created. (You can do this even if you aren’t tweeting.) 
      
  3.  If your favorite journalists, or journalists who you want to notice you, are on Twitter, and you have a Twitter account, create a “(Fill in the blank) Journalists” list  and add them. If you have a food-related story to pitch, for example, and you want to get in front of food journalists, add them to a “Favorite Food Journalists” list. And then let them know you’ve done so. They’ll be flattered. This is a great way to start a relationship with journalists before you pitch them. 
       
  4. Position yourself as a super-valuable source. Let journalists or bloggers who are interviewing you know about Twitter lists you’ve created where they can find other sources on a specific topic. They’ll love you for doing this!
       
  5. Pull journalists to your Twitter profile by including links to your own Twitter lists in your online media room.

I’ll be sharing more tips like these, and giving you step-by-step directions on how to use Twitter lists and directories, during the webinar. If you can’t make it, register anyway and I’ll send you the replay link where you can watch the video, as well as the MP3 link if you’d rather listen on your iPod.

As a special bonus, you’ll also get my special report “How to Use Twitter for Business to Network, Promote, Sell, Recruit & Profit.”

This webinar is filling up fast because Twitter lists are such a hot topic. Hope to see you there.

‘The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week’ now accepts ads

ad space in The Publicity Hound newsletterI’ve been publishing a free weekly newsletter for almost 10 years, and accepting paid ads never appealed to me.

I hated reading them in text-based newsletters but never minded them at all in HTML newsletters where they aren’t obtrusive.

Since I’ve always published in text-only, I never gave ads a second thought.

But when I offered readers the option of an HTML newsletter several weeks ago,  Publicity Hounds started asking about whether they could buy an ad.

If you offer a product or service for people who self-promote, or for the PR community, here’s what you need to know about how to advertise.

 

 

Size

All ads are 125 x 125 pixels, and must be delivered as a JPEG. I also need an ad of 15 words or less for the text version of my newsletter. If you need a larger ad that’s 125 pixels wide (the maximum width), contact me at 262-284-7451 or email jstewart at PublicityHound.com.

If you don’t have your own graphic artist, I suggest you check the Graphics Services/Design category on the Publicity Resources page at my website. Or ask for referrals on the social media sites. Or post your project to Elance.com or RentaCoder.com.

Update: If you’re a graphics artist who wants referrals from me, for people who need ads created, consider adding your name to my publicity resources page in the Graphics Services/Design category. These are paid listings, and we’ll check your references before you’re added to the list. 

Ad Rates

Ads are $100 a week. Order your first ad here.

Deadlines

Ads are due by 5 p.m. Eastern Time the Friday before publication day, which is always Tuesday.

Questions?

Call 262-284-7451 or email me.



Calculate the value of your Facebook Fan Page

Maintaining a Facebook Fan Page is a lot of work.

You need to attract targeted fans who care about your topic. You must consistently provide compelling content. And you should respond to every person who responds to you.

So how much is all this work really worth?

Find out with the Social Page Evaluator, which helps marketers determine the value of a page. Type your Fan Page URL into the window and it will calculate the valuation based on factors such as the number of fans, how often you post each day, and the number of times you interact with your fans.

A  chart lets you compare the current value and the potential value, based on activity from the last 30 days.  I measured the value of my publicity tips fan page and here’s what it’s worth:

I like the fact that they make suggestions on best practices that can improve the value of your page.

Post frequency: “You may be posting too often or not often enough. Be aware of what content you would like users to see from your brand and how frequently you are posting.” (I post several times a week, and I’m guessing that they think that isn’t often enough.)

Post type: “You are already making effective use of multimedia and dynamic wall posts. The next step for you could be the use of wall apps for heightened engagement.”

Short URL: “Having a branded, shortened URL would give your links more credibility and assurance to users that the link will redirect to a relevant page.”

A”Fan-tasize” section lets you manipulate other features like number of posts per day, how often you reply to your fans, and the number of fans, to see how that will affect the value of your page. If you’re looking for more ways to attract fans, see 11 Ways to Avoid Missed Opportunities on Facebook.

Curious about how your page stacks up to those of your competitors?  You can compare your page to up to three other brands at a time.

Be sure to sign up for email updates on your page’s value.

The evaluator tool was created by Vitrue, the social media management company.