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

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

Top 10 creative writing blogs. http://ow.ly/8gzJb

Top 5 New Year’s Resolutions for improving your presence on LinkedIn. http://ow.ly/8gBr9

10-point checklist for growing your blog in 2012. http://ow.ly/8gBY9

10 reasons why you might not be attracting the right (or any) Twitter followers. http://ow.ly/8i6tI

Authors, do you make these 3 disastrous book-writing mistakes? http://ow.ly/8i8gM

New to speaking? 5 great venues where you can book gigs and learn the ropes. http://ow.ly/8ikNR

How bloggers can use book reviews to connect with expert authors & tips on how to write reviews. http://ow.ly/8ikbh

3 big benefits to reading your articles aloud before publishing, from Ann Wylie. http://ow.ly/8jvrx

Get credit for your PR brilliance. Bulldog’s Media Relations Awards deadline is 1/16. http://ow.ly/8kuYP

Hospitals: Want Boomer business? Focus on content marketing & social media. http://ow.ly/8kw7n

If you haven’t made any resolutions for improving your publicity or social media efforts next year, promise that you’ll steal at least one tip from this free ebook, “The Best of The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week of 2011” and do it.

This is the seventh year I’ve compiled the very best tips from my weekly ezine and offered it to you as a holiday gift—along with my enthusiastic recommendation to regift it to your friends and clients.

Click here to download the book. (If you’re having trouble, try a different browser or a different computer, or email Scott Buffaloe, my customer service manager, and he’ll send it to you.)

Here’s what you’ll find in this year’s book.

Social Media Tips Galore

• Tips on how to attract more Twitter followers by using Twellow, my favorite Twitter directory, to really drill down and identify people in your target market—and make it easy for others to find you
• 6 bios that need updating. Trust me. They’re either filled with stale information, or your bios are missing key links for new social media profiles you’ve created.
• 3 strong reasons for joining groups on LinkedIn, and the recommended number of groups to join.
• How to create a link for a Facebook status update so you can pull more people to your Facebook page. This still stumps many Facebook users.
• 3 ways to use Twitter lists to save time, get in front of influential bloggers who write about your topic, and start to build relationships with journalists.
• A big no-no that several LinkedIn “gurus” are teaching about how to write your LinkedIn profile.  It looks bad, it smells bad and it can get you into trouble.
• A  new feature on YouTube that lets you edit your videos right in the browser!
  
• Where to find a valuable template on how to write a product review that you can share on the social media sites or at your blog.
• Where to find “52 Headline Hacks,” a handy cheat sheet for writing blog posts that go viral, or headlines you can use on articles.

Publicity Tips for Traditional Media

• An important reminder if you’re planning an event so you don’t blow a big chance at publicity in a magazine.
• 6 ways to avoid corrections and what to do if a mistake in your press release or article slips through and ends up being published.
• The one word to never use when you’re talking to journalists.
• Angles for news stories you can pitch so you can get onto the most watched TV newscast of the entire week on your local station.
• Why press releases are usually ineffective if you want a journalist to cover your story—and the one thing that works instead.
• 3 types of publicity photos that scream “We’re lazy. And we don’t mind boring you with this photo.”
• The one person to follow on Twitter who can provide lots of hot leads from traditional media who are looking for sources to interview.

Tools for Online Publicity

• A hyperlocal website that’s begging for neighborhood news in 16 bigger cities in the United States. This site is perfect for news from clubs and civic groups, schools, nonprofits, churches, political campaigns and neighborhood groups.
• A news powerhouse that you should be pitching because its stories get high rankings on Google News and Google Blogs. You’ll also find a link to a valuable video that explains exactly how to pitch.
• A local publisher that wants news from hundreds of communities in 19 states in the United States. They’re competing with local newspapers for stories, photos, videos and ad dollars.
• 4 tips for creating your 2012 Publicity Plan for online and traditional media.

Tips for Building Your Business & Nonprofit

• Where to find step-by-step instructions on how to format a book for the Nook, the Barnes & Noble ereader, and Amazon’s Kindle—sometimes in less than 30 minutes.
• Where to find detailed instructions on how to produce webinars that sell your products and services. Includes a recommendation for what webinar company to use.
• Nonprofits, 9 ways to make it easy for people to donate at your website.

If you like these tips, you’ll love the newsletter. Today’s issue will be published this afternoon and it includes a cute dog video. Sign up here.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a very Happy New Year!

It used to be easy to find the movers and shakers who were the most influential people within their topic areas. But not anymore, thanks to social media.

PR and marketing pros who need to find the heavy-hitter  journalists, talk show hosts, bloggers, authors, experts and Facebook users who are discussing a particular topic right now, can slog their way through a variety of tools.

They can use Klout, which measures online influence, but only for those who are on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Klout’s generic score ignores how often that person is quoted or discussed in traditional media.

Google Alerts can tell you instantly which bloggers are discussing certain topics. But the alerts don’t measure the blogger’s influence.

A new tool from Appinions, a New York company, tracks traditional and social media to round out a true picture of influence. It’s a subscription-based service that matches influencers to specific topics, based on opinions it finds from news reports, blogs, tweets, TV transcripts and social networks.
     
    
Give Your Clients an Edge

Within seconds, PR and marketing people can identify the most influential people who can move the needles of influence. Then, they can lead their clients to those experts to comment on a blog post, write a letter to the editor, pitch a story, offer background information for a journalist’s article, or offer commentary for an author’s forthcoming book—long before the client’s competitors are even aware that there’s a hot topic being discussed.

Watch this short video to see how it works.

Larry Levy, CEO of Appinions, will give you a free demonstration, perfect for PR and marketing pros, during a webinar I’m hosting from 3 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, Oct. 13. Register today because we have room for only 50 people.

Levy will explain the three key elements that the service measures to determine influence:

• Are trusted writers and publications covering the influencer’s opinions?
      
• Is the influencer’s opinion being shared, retweeted, quoted, requoted and linked?
    
• When did a certain topic or issue first emerge, and who introduced it?

The ideal company for this service is a PR or marketing agency that has multiple clients and does at least $5 million a year in revenue.

When a favorite journalist is promoted, leaves the newspaper for a new job, or wins an award, smart Publicity Hounds swing into action and deliver their congratulations, a very important part of building the relationship.

Be aware, especially, of things like writing, editing and photography awards. They don’t  mean a hill of beans to the success of the newspaper, but journalists think they are a very big deal. I worked in newsrooms for 22 years, won many awards, and they were a huge deal.

How do you congratulate them without gratuitous brown-nosing? Here are seven ideas:

• Send a handwritten note. Most well-wishers would cop out with an email. But you want to zig when everybody else is zagging. A postage stamp and a few minutes of your time are a cheap price to pay to stand out from the crowd.
• Is the journalist on Twitter? If so, send a congratulatory tweet. Link to an article about the award so others who follow the journalist can read it.
• Are  you friends on Facebook? If so, post congratulations to their wall, and give the URL for the article announcing the award. You can also link to the winning article or project.
• Create a short “way to go!” video and email the link. With a little editing, you can also provide the link for the winning project. Consider posting the video to their company’s website.
• Go ahead. Ask the journalist if it’s OK to post the video to YouTube.
  
• Is the journalist on LinkedIn? If so, consider writing a recommendation. But sure to explain what factors made their work so special, or what happened as a result. This is the place to recommend, not just congratulate.
• Call and leave a short, cheery voicemail message.

Don’t do all of these, or it will, indeed, be brown-nosing. And never sneak in a pitch while you’re congratulating.

What Else You Shouldn’t Do

• No flowers. Women reporters I’ve worked with love flowers, but they’d get the heebie-jeebies when sources sent them.
• No gifts, gift cards or anything of value. Many newspapers have ethics policies that prohibit reporters from receiving these. Don’t put someone in the uncomfortable position of having to return a gift to you.
• No tickets to sporting events, the theater or other entertainment venues.
• Don’t invite the journalist to lunch and dive for the check. He might not be able to accept a free meal. See 18 ways to schmooze with reporters.

Don’t forget sports reporters, copy editors, photographers, graphic artists and other newsroom employees. Ditto for TV producers, anchors, sportscasters, meteorologists and radio talk show hosts. They love being congratulated, too.

What have I missed? If you’re a PR person, a journalist or a Publicity Hound, what ideas can you share that have worked well?

Also see: 12 ways to say “thanks” to a blogger or journalist

You can now beef up your LinkedIn profile by adding any volunteer experience, a list of causes that you care about, and any organizations you support.

After all,  volunteering is as good for your career as it is for those you help. And your volunteer efforts are one more way to generate publicity.

Here’s how to add this new section to your Profile.

Step 1: Log into Your Account.

Step 2: In the Menu bar at the top, click on Profile > Edit Profile.

Step 3: Scroll down to just before the Summary and click on “Add Sections.”

Step 4: On the left, under Sections, click on Volunteer Experience & Causes

Step 5:  Add your volunteer experience and causes you care about.

Step 6: Click on Add to Profile

What other ways do you use LinkedIn to promote your expertise?

Other Tools to Help You on LinkedIn: 

Your LinkedIn Power Formula: Learn How to Make Killer Contacts, Pull Crowds to Events, be a Star in Your Industry & Track Down Leads Like a Bloodhound

Your LinkedIn Power Formula Part 2: Advanced Strategies for Writing a Killer Profile, Cashing in on Groups and Creating Company Pages

One of the biggest myths of press releases is that they must contain news.

That was true two decades ago when we wrote press releases primarily for journalists and we had to worry about insulting them with trivia about our business.

But now that we post them online, mostly to pull traffic to our websites, we’re free to write about whatever we wish.

Here, then, are 13 press release topics when your pockets are empty and there’s absolutely nothing newsworthy to write about. They’re excerpted from my free email course on 89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases. (PR people, take the course to sharpen your press release skills. And then use the tips below when you’re scrounging for ideas to publicize your clients.)

Publicity Hounds who have a subscription to Expertclick, The Yearbook of Experts, which lets you post up to 52 press releases a year, will find these tips particularly helpful.

1.  Take a Stand on a Controversial Topic

Controversial topics can include everything from the old standbys such as abortion and gun control to local issues like proposed zoning laws.

When you’re done with the press release, generate extra publicity by writing a letter to the editor of your local or national newspaper. How to Use Newspaper & Magazine Editorial Pages shows you all the ways you can rally support for your cause or issue by using editorial pages, from writing letters to asking for a meeting with the newspaper editorial board.

2.  Write About Your Blog 

If you’ve started blogging for business, write a press release about it so people who want information on your topic can find it. Or devote the release to some of the things you mentioned in a specific post.

This blog, for example, helps people solve problems writing press releases, and I encourage people to submit questions to me. It also teaches people how to use social media sites to self-promote. I could write two press releases, or more, just telling reades about ways they can use this blog. You can, too.

Visit other bloggers who blog on the same topic, or a similar topic, and post comments at their blogs. By linking back to your blog from your comments, you will improve the page ranking of your own blog.

3. Lead Readers to Free Articles at Your Website

If you have free articles that solve people’s problems, or entertain them, say so.

Are your articles arranged by category? Are they updated monthly? Do you let the media, ezine publishers, newsletter editors and bloggers reprint them? Do you feature articles from other industry experts?

4. Tell People Where to Find You on Social Media Sites

Smart Publicity Hounds use Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Quora profiles to position themselves as the go-to sources in their industries.

Do you post your photos and videos to Flickr? Do you have a YouTube channel chock full of helpful how-to videos? (Here’s mine.)

5.  Create Your Own Holiday

Create your own day, week or month of the year, or your own holiday, at Chases Calendar of Events. The listing is free. You can then use that holiday as a springboard to even more publicity.

The topic doesn’t have to be serious. In fact, the more fun, the better. I love Doing Business in Your Bathrobe Day.

6. Make a Prediction

Predict something that ties into your area of expertise—or not.

Predict when gasoline prices, the stock market or interest rates will rise and fall. For fun, predict who will win the Super Bowl or when the first snowfall will occur in your area. Predict the winner of local or national elections.

7. Issue a Proclamation

Congratulate the local high school football team for winning a state title, or a local business for celebrating its 10th anniversary.

8. Write Tips That Tie into an Upcoming Holiday

Professional orgnizers can write about how to stay organized during the Christmas holidays. A child safety expert can offer tips on how to keep kids safe during fireworks season on the Fourth of July.

9.  Identify A Trend You’re Seeing in Your Business or Industry

You don’t even have to think very hard to identify a trend you’re seeing. How has your customers’ behavior changed the way you do business? What’s happening with your orders? Is your nonprofit serving more people in a particular age group or income level?

If you want to cheat, Google “Top trends in the (fill in the blank) industry” and write about one of those.

10.  Comment on Breaking News

This one’s easy. The news can tie into your business or industry—or not. If you’re an expert who welcomes interview requests for radio talk shows, say so in the release. See 6 ways to tie your pitch to breaking news for PR and publicity.

11. What Event Are You Attending?

Most people don’t think it’s a big deal if they attend a trade show or industry conference. But why not turn this into a publicity opportunity?

Write a press release telling people that you’d welcome meeting them. Encourage them to ask you questions about problems they’re facing.

12. Take a Poll or Survey

Sites like Survey Monkey make simple polling a breeze.  You can also take a poll on Facebook. Don’t forget to write a follow-up press release that reports on the results of the poll.

13. Explain How to Solve a Problem

Press releases offering tips and advice are often the very best for pulling traffic to your website. That’s becauase you can dazzle readers with your expertise, help them solve their problem, and then link to a website where they can find more information about a product or service you sell that can help them even more.

What topics do you write about when the idea well is dry?

Tools to Help You:    

How to be a Kick-butt Publicity Hound

Keywords: The Magic Magnets That Pull Journalists & Consumes to Your Press Releases

The New Rules of Press Releases: How to Write them for Consumers, Not Only for Journalists

The Big Press Release Samples Ebook: Press Releases for Every Occasion and Industry

Dr. Karen Hoving of Aurora, Colo., writes:

“I have a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and specialize in two areas: Bipolar Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“Here’s what I’m doing right now to market myself:

• A Facebook page.
    
• A website.  
    
• Two blogs: The Couch Trip for general psychology and “Shrinking” Chronic Illness.
    
• A monthly newsletter (with only 11 subscribers–sigh).
    
• A Twitter account.
    
• A LinkedIn profile (but am not terribly active)

“I share different information on each site. 

“Here’s my question: Do shrinks get patients via social media marketing? I am doing a lot and watching all of the videos you and others send. But often, people are trying to sell something onlne. I am trying to sell ME—my services and education, and my time. 

“Can this be marketed on sites like Facebook and Twitter? If so, how? Marketing for therapists is different than marketing for someone selling widgets.”

“If social media won’t work for me—and I’m willing to be patient—I don’t want to waste a lot of time.”

If you’re on LinkedIn, and even if you have an impressive number of connections, you might be making critical mistakes that are robbing you of the ability to make those connections work for you.

The Business2Community blog lists its Top 10 Self-Defeating LinkedIn Practices, such as a boring or outdated profile, using the site to spit out nothing but free commercials, or asking vendors for recommendations.

Here are three more of my favorite self-defeating practices:

1. Failing to use Advanced Search.

This is where the sales leads and the gold are buried. Wayne Breitbarth, a LinkedIn expert, demonstrates how to use Advanced Search to find CEOs:

2. Failing to optimize your profile for the search engines.

Don’t use the generic “My Company” link in your profile to link to your website. Edit it and replace “My Company” with keywords that will give you more Google juice. For example, on my own LinkedIn profile, rather than using “My Company,” I use the phrase “PR and Social Media Tips” to link to my website.

3. Failing to use LinkedIn to pull more people to your Twitter profile or Facebook Page.

This video discusses more about numbers 2 and 3 above:

For more tips on how to use LinkedIn, check out the 70-minute webinar I hosted with Wayne: Your LinkedIn Power Formula: How to Make Killer Contacts, Pull Crowds to Events & Track Down Leads Like a Bloodhound.

Do you see people missing opportunities on LinkedIn? If so, what else are they doing wrong?

If you want  to learn more about marketing, social media, search engine optimization and blogging, you’ll love Hubspot’s newest freebie: a collection of 100 Awesome Marketing Stats, Charts & Graphs.

It’s based on original research and data from a variety of sources, including analysis of Hubspot’s 4,500 business customers, surveys with hundreds of small and medium-sized businesses, and dozens of well-respected publications like MarketingSherpa, eMarketer, Pew Research and McKinsey.

You can click through the slide show presentation at their website, or download the PDF file for your own use. 

You’ll find stats, graphs and charts on inbound vs. outbound marketing, SEO, social media, blogging, Facebook and Twitter. 

Here are a few examples:

 Here are nine ways Publicity Hounds can use this presentation:

• To re-evaluate your own marketing strategies and decide if you’re spending money and other resources in the most effective marketing channels.
     
• Social media and marketing consultants can use the stats when meeting with prospective clients.
     
• Speakers, include them in your handouts and Power Point slides.
     
• Authors, use the stats in books you’re writing about these topics. (I asked Hubspot if this OK, and they said yes, as long as you attribute the info to them.)
     
• Share the slideshow on Twitter and Facebook and in your LinkedIn groups. (See advanced strategies for writing a killer LinkedIn profile, cashing in on groups and using LinkedIn Company Pages as a giant, free billboard.
     
• Blog about the freebie, like I am here.
    
• Write a blog post elaborating on just one of the stats, graphs or charts, and feature the slide.
      
• Use the stats or graphics in a video on a marketing or SEO topic.
     
• Include the stats in a press release. (Take my free email course on 89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases.)

What other ways can you think of to use this?