It’s hard to decide which part of Facebook drives people craziest: The super-secret settings that nobody tells them about, or the difficulty for businesses to really gain traction and see a return on their investment of time.

I vote for ROI.

But then, I almost drove myself crazy when my Facebook fan page disappeared early last year. I finally got it back when I appealed for help on Twitter. Dave Kerpen of Likeable Media found a glitch in my settings and told me that only people in the Philippines could see my page. He fixed it in a jiffy and I was back in business. 

Part of the problem for many of us is that every time Facebook rolls out wholesale changes, it’s like entering kindergarten at Facebook Elementary School because we have to learn how to use it all over again.

Mari Smith, The Queen of Facebook, helped more than 14,000 people understand Facebook’s new timeline this week when she presented a free 90-minute webinar. It’s called “10 Essential Facebook Money-making Techie Tips” and if you’re at all confused about Facebook, I encourage you to watch the replay.

I’m promoting this as a compensated affiliate and I earn a commission if you buy her new Facebook product. I’m promoting it because way too many people, me included, find Facebook so frustrating.

Or, jump to the page where she’s selling the product.

What part of Facebook do you find most frustrating? The secret settings, difficulty seeing ROI, or something else?

Here are my Top 10 tweets from this past week, great for retweeting! If you missed these, follow me on Twitter.

8 Ways to Get the Biggest Marketing Bang Out of SlideShare [Love Tip #4 for capturing leads] http://ow.ly/aLJGG

How to Use Facebook Ads to Get More Quality Leads and Attract More Blog Traffic. http://ow.ly/aLP4N

Wall Street Journal uses Facebook timeline to tell the story of Facebook’s IPO [Very clever] http://ow.ly/aNlnY

5 things they never tell Twitter newbies, but should. http://ow.ly/aNBnb

What to do when a LinkedIn recommendation for you isn’t quite right. http://ow.ly/aNl4q

27 highly recommended WordPress plug-ins. http://ow.ly/aOtTl

PR Peeps: Check out the “insta pitch” idea from PR guy Christopher Lee Nutter. [6th sub-head] http://ow.ly/aP0Ig

25 Link-Building Tips to Drive Traffic to Your Website. http://ow.ly/aPajJ

Infographic explains how long it takes to become an expert in various fields. http://ow.ly/aPcdD

Here are my Top 10 tweets from this past week, great for retweeting! If you missed these, follow me on Twitter.

5 things to do if your Facebook fan page disappears. http://ow.ly/aDJW5

Need Pinterest stats to convince the boss that you should be pinning? Cool infographic at http://ow.ly/aBmbW

Don’t freak if a reporter asks, “Is it OK if I record our interview?” Here’s what to do. http://publicityhound.net/?p=11134

Pinning videos on Pinterest is a cinch with these tips [some of them advanced] from Grant Crowell. http://ow.ly/aDrOR 

6 questions to determine if your story is worthy. http://ow.ly/aFgNW 

5 Major Trade Show Nuisances for the Press & How to Avoid Them.  http://sandstormmedia.com/home/nuisances

How Many Of These Hard-To-Pronounce Brand Names Are You Saying Wrong? http://read.bi/K2giAv’ 

How to create a successful editorial calendar for your blog. http://ow.ly/aGPQI 

Create a cool infographic comparing your Twitter stats to your favorite celeb’s. Free. http://ow.ly/aHtZG 

Best book publicists on Twitter (long list). http://ow.ly/aHJyR 

Here are my Top 10 tweets from this past week, great for retweeting! If you missed these, follow me on Twitter.

B2B marketers devote 26% of their budget to content marketing. [Infographic] http://ow.ly/9DnP2

Facebook’s latest news, announcements and media resources – Announcements – Introducing Interest Lists – Facebook http://ow.ly/9Ehxj

Pinterest = digital crack for women. (Hooked yet?) Lots of opportunities to pull traffic. http://ow.ly/9saIt

LinkedIn is better than Facebook (for identity thieves looking for rich victims). http://ow.ly/9uoJu

4 Tips for Creating Your LinkedIn Company Page | Social Media Examiner. http://ow.ly/9upsl

Drive new traffic to your old blog posts using Pinterest. Here’s how I’m doing it: http://ow.ly/9FBWw 

Send your Pinterest followers to your YouTube videos, free articles page & old blog posts. Neat example: http://ow.ly/9FC47

Blogs Trump Facebook for Trust and Spending. http://ow.ly/9FCb4

Making Headlines Shine (and Getting Your PR Releases Read!) | Bulldog Reporter. http://ow.ly/9FCx1

5 ways to handle negative Facebook comments. http://ow.ly/9FROH

Here are my Top 10 tweets from this past week, great for retweeting! If you missed these, follow me on Twitter.

50 Ways to Get More People to Like your Facebook Page | Facebook Tips and Tricks – FanPageFlow.  http://ow.ly/9jBz0

Big list of 200 “Write for us” pages. http://ow.ly/9kmjE

The mounting minuses of Google+. It’s a ghosttown, compared to Facebook, study says. http://ow.ly/9ljxI

Why do journalists make so many mistakes that demand corrections? Top reasons, from a NY Times editor: http://ow.ly/9ljPS

Today’s Publicity Ezine: A great PR pitch, how Pinterest violates copyright & new LinkedIn “follow” button. http://ow.ly/9ltsG

5 “musts” you must follow when adding or changing your photo on LinkedIn. http://ow.ly/9mn8r

The one skill that makes an online entrepreneur unstoppable. http://ow.ly/9mRXl

Twitter to give marketers access to old tweets. http://ow.ly/9mTV8

Facebook opens timelines to brands. http://ow.ly/9om8V

Excellent summary of how to write a press release for SEO, by Brian Hanson, who owns 300+ niche websites.

Here are my Top 10 tweets from this past week, great for retweeting! If you missed these, follow me on Twitter.

How entrepreneurs decide how to post on LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter. http://ow.ly/8MvYM

4 easy tactics for becoming a must-follow account on Twitter.  http://ow.ly/8MHte

5 Ways Writers Can Break Out of the Tired Old Social Media Box.  http://ow.ly/8Mxlx

How to keep your face out of LinkedIn ads. http://ow.ly/8Mw6j

Don’t create your next info-product until you watch this cool video that explains a smart 5-step system. http://ow.ly/8Onwp

13 Ways To Get More Traffic & Publicity From Slideshare. http://ow.ly/8OA68

Top 30 PR Do’s and Don’ts. http://ow.ly/8OzE4

18-point checklist for proofreaders. http://ow.ly/8PTc9

Press Release Tip: Always include a strong call to action & explain EXACTLY what you want people to do (click, call, write…)

The Inside Scoop on Using Twitter Lists for Profit and Sanity http://ow.ly/8Rgbr

Cary Goldwasser and Diane Kline

Diane Kline of St. Louis, MO, writes:

“I am the co-author of QuirkOut! Crazy Things Women do to Stay Sane.  It’s a blog and weekly column, for women 20 through death, in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper on Sundays—sort of a Martha Stewart meets Tina Fey.

“We all have QuirkOut! moments. We just named them. They are quirky behaviors that help women of all ages get through our busy lives – such as taking three purses on an overnight trip or keeping shoes in the oven when we run out of closet space.

“We’re trying to increase the number of Likes on our Facebook page at Facebook.com/quirkout and encourage women to submit their QuirkOut! moments to use on our blog. We occasionally feature some of these items in our Post-Dispatch column.

“We’re hoping your Publicity Hounds can offer some helpful tips on how we can reach women by using both traditional and social media.”

Another case of a celebrity behaving badly, and another opportunity for Publicity Hounds in a variety occupations to generate some PR by tying into this story.

This time, it’s Alec Baldwin who was kicked off an American Airlines plane on Tuesday for refusing to stop playing Zynga’s Words With Friends on his phone.  The plane was parked at the gate and the seat belt light was still on.

When Baldwin was asked to turn off his phone, things got ugly. He stood up, took his phone into the plane’s lavatory, slammed the door and started yelling at the crew.

Here are 7 ways you could piggyback onto that story:

1. Why are airline regulations so strict? This is a perfect time for flight instructors, pilots, and owners of aviation schools to explain why you can’t use a Kindle, cell phones, laptops or other electronic devices at certain times either in the air or on the ground.
     
2. What makes this game so addictive? “Words With Friends” has 12.6 million active monthly users, according to tracking service AppData. If you’re an addict, let the media know. Where do you play it? When do you play it? How good are you? And what’s the big attraction?
     
3. Is this game a teaching tool for kids?  The game is intended for children 9 and older. Teachers, librarians, tutors and others who teach kids: Explain the benefits of this game for teaching children how to spell and read.
     
4. What are the best ways to control your temper when you’re ready to explode?  And if you do lose control, what’s the best way to apologize? Anger management experts, what a great opportunity for offering tips on how to behave nicely with others on a cramped airplane, and then say you’re sorry. Baldwin apologized to fellow passengers, but not to the airline.
     
5. What are the worst behaviors exhibited by airline passengers? Baldwin is just one of hundreds of boors who make life difficult for airline crews and passengers. What are the Top 10 worst behaviors on airplanes? Frequent fliers, start making a list. And then explain how—or if—you get involved. Offer it as a guest blog post to bloggers who write about etiquette, electronics, human behavior or the airlines industry. Or pitch it to your local newspaper.
     
6. How did American Airlines handle this from a PR standpoint? The airlines wrote about it on its Facebook page, but didin’t mention Baldwin by name.
     
7. What does this kind of publicity mean for a product like Words With Friends? Bloggers have already written about the perfect timing because Zynga is about to go public. Experts in marketing, branding, investmentsw and the stock market should weigh in.

What other ways can you think of to piggyback PR onto this story? Have you ever generated great publicity for yourself or your PR client because you tied your story to Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction,” a celebrity’s drug or alcohol rehab, or any other less-than-flattering celebrity story? Tell us what you did, and the results. And then share this post on the social media sites.

I write more tips like this one in my free weekly ezine, “The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week.” You can join the fun and learn new publicity techniques every week by typing your name and email address into the box to the right, beneath my photo.

Here are my Top 10 tweets from this past week, great for retweeting! If you missed these, follow me on Twitter.
    
How to improve your Facebook marketing for the holidays
http://ow.ly/7DjbU 
     
    
50 tools that can help you write
http://ow.ly/7BtSv
     
    
The care and feeding of the press: Super tips from the Internet Press Guild
http://ow.ly/7BtCU
     
    
Publicity Tip: Contact a media outlet that already covered you & suggest a “follow up story” to the original one
     
    
6 tips for making your press release Twitter-friendly
http://ow.ly/7AqL8
     
    
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. ~William Arthur Ward
     
     
10 words that can help or hurt your click-through rate on Twitter.
http://ow.ly/7xNfu RT @DanZarrella [Testing is powerful]
    
    
Social bookmarking tips to pull traffic to your blog or website
http://ow.ly/7BzRk

      
 ”I love Thanksgiving turkey. It’s the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts.” ~Arnold Schwarzenegger
     
    
6 ways to help people find your press releases
 http://ow.ly/7FkmY 

Do you already follow me, but you’d like to read tweets about certain PR, publicity and social media topics? Which ones?

Barbara Roy

This week’s Help this Hound question is from Barbara Roy, a communications specialist  in Oakland City, IN:

“I  need ideas on how to promote an upcoming charity car raffle in 2012 through the Mad Mac Foundation, a group that sponsors educational programs for at-risk youth.

“Proceeds from the raffle will be used to get teenagers, who illegally race their cars on street, into the classroom where they can learn how to build tuner cars from the ground up. The training will help them transfer their skills, which they’ve been using illegally, into career paths that might include auto engineering and design, auto repair, and creating video games that involve cars.  The curriculum includes science, technology, engineering and math.

“Two cars will be given away during the July raffle.

“The winter months will be spent on materials prep and strategy. But beginning in January, we’ll focus more on going after sponsors and businesses to carry the raffle tickets.  I could really use recommendations on how to gain mass awareness for this nationwide event. 

“We will have branding, messaging and content on the website by January, as well as a Facebook event page.  Can your Hounds offer their best ideas?”

If you have ideas, please comment.