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.

If the media, bloggers or anyone else come to your website looking for the navigational button that will give them all the background information about your company, what will they find?

If you’re trying to be  clever and call that part of your website an “asset library” or “company press club,” visitors will find utter confusion, says publicity expert Marcia Yudkin. In this week’s issue of her ezine, Marketing Minute, Marcia correctly points out that an organization’s attempt to be creative can backfire.

She says she found one company that called its online media room an “asset library,” a phrase that stonewalls the visitor. She Googled “asset library” and discovered that other companies are using it, too. She also found a company that calls its online media room a “company press club.”

“Press Club implies a clique of media followers who clink glasses with each other,” she said.

What should you call it?

So what SHOULD you call that part of your website that helps the media and other  visitors find your bio, photos, background material, press releases and contact information?

I like “Press Room,” which is what I use, or “For the Media.” ”Media Kit” is OK, too, although a media kit can sometimes be part of an online press room. ”Media Room” is OK but some people don’t like it because they think it sounds too much like a home entertainment center.

If you REALLY want people to click on that navigational button, you can call it “For the Media Only.”

Yikes! I  just noticed my online press room is horribly out of date. I need to add links to my profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube, as well as information about my new company, My Social Media Solution.   (See “Special Report #22: How to Create an Online Media Room and Keep the Media Coming Back.”)

  
What do you call it?

What do you call that part of your website designed spcifically for journalists, bloggers, or anyone else who wants background information? What names have you found that are too confusing?

And how long has it been since you visited your own Press Room? How much of the content there needs to be updated?

I’d also love to hear your comments about features in your own online press room that have proven helpful to the media and other visitors.

Occasionally, I’ll get a call from somebody who thinks it might be “fun and interesting” to be in the world of PR, or a publicist. But they don’t want to go back to college and spend more than $50,000 on a degree in PR or communications.

So they ask me what the best way is to break into the business. I suggest they follow the same people I follow:

—BL Ochman and her whatsnext blog

—David Meerman Scott

—Book marketing guru John Kremer and his excellent blog and weekly ezine

—Anything published at the Bulldog Reporter site, particularly its Journalists Speak Out interview series. 

I’m adding Gaetan Giannini Jr.’s new book, “Marketing Public Relations: A Marketer’s Approach to Public Relations and Social Media” (Prentice Hall, $93.33) to my list. Several years ago, Giannini, business department chair at Cedar Crest College in Allentown, Pa., seached for a public relations textbook tailored to marketing students, instead of communications or journalism students.  When he couldn’t find what he was looking for, he decided to write one.

He has had an extensive marketing background, having worked for several years in sales and marketing for industrial instrumentation companies before landing at Cedar Crest . In addition to writing a public relations book from a marketer’s perspective, he reveled in the opportunity to write about the burgeoning world of social media, which he claims has been widely ignored by academics.
    
      

PR and social media from a marketing perspective

“Most of the textbooks that were written about Web 2.0 were written on the technical side.  As far as I know, there is not one textbook out there at this point that covers this topic from a marketing perspective,” he said. 

Each chapter begins with a PR success story. They include:

• Dunkin’ Donuts’ Facebook page that boasts more than 825,000 fans.
     
• Ben & Jerry’s “Random Acts of Cone-Ness” campaign. Employees “showed up” in undisclosed locations in three major cities and distributed ice cream in support of the company’s new waffle cone. The story attracted the attention of CNN, ESPN, national and local newspapers, and trade magazines.
          
• Gary Vaynerchuk, a New Jersey liquor store owner who founded Wine Library TV, a “shoot-from-the-hip” Internet video podcast about wine that boasts nearly 100,000 views daily.  Vaynerchuk connects with his audience through frank, honest wine talk to which people can relate.
    

Practical experience for students

What really makes this book a must-read for anyone going into PR or publicity, or for marketing student who want to learn more about PR, are the “chapter objectives” that kick off each chapter and show show students what they should be able to do after reading it, and the three special sections at the end of each chapter. They include:

1. Chapter key terms, which lists words and phrases used in that chapter, with their definition.
     
2. Application Assignments. Students can  complete from one to five assignments that involve more research, reading articles online or finding examples of strategies and tactics they just learned.
      
3. Practice Portfolio. This activity is related to the material covered in the chapter. It allows students to contribute to a marketing public relations portfolio that they can use during their job search. The portfolio can be based on a fictitious company or on a real company that the instructor assigns to them. The student “works” with the company the entire semester. At the end of the chapter on press releases, for example, students are asked to write a backgrounder, fact sheet and two press releases for their company.   

One of the problems with books about social media is that sections can be out of date by the time the ink is dry. Still, this is a valuable book that encourages the student to not just learn it, but do it. My only wish is that it had included informaton about the importance of using keywords in press releases so they are search-engine friendly. 

Don’t let the steep price deter you. There’s three times as much content as you’ll find in most other PR books, and most chapters tackle a topic in-depth, with lots of practical tips.

I loved the chapter on Building a Connector List, and how to determine the types of media that can help you spread your message. I’ll be sharing those tips later this week and excerpting more from the book in the months ahead. (Disclosure: I contributed to the book.)      

While “Marketing Public Relations” is a textbook for mid-level marketing students—one which Giannini will use in his classes this fall and which will be available for general consumption for educational institutions by spring semester—he is quick to note that the content is perfect for any organization that wants ideas and strategies to promote its products and services.

 By the way, I love the press release about the book.

One of the best ways to generate publicity from traditional media outlets is to form a relationship with reporters, editors, broadcasters and freelancers.

That’s a critical step that 99 percent of the people miss!

And what a shame. If you know what they’re looking for, how to talk to them, how to help them, and how to stay on their radar screens, you’ll have a huge advantage.

When I worked as a reporter and editor for 22 years, I was able to tell within about 15 seconds if somebody pitching a story idea was genuinely concerned about helping me, or if their Number One goal was to simply generate free publicity.

If you’re meeting reporters face to face, or pitching an idea by phone or email, nine magic phrases can help you build a relationship with them. This video, created with a cool program called Animoto, explains all about the phrases I loved to hear when I was speaking with somebody who was either pitching a story idea to me, or wanted to get to know me better and genuinely help. It also explains one opportunity to meet journalists face to face.

What other phrases do you use when talking to journalists to help build the relationship?

Lots of books on PR dole out advice on how to generate publicity, but few encourage the reader to take the next step needed to reach a particular goal.

Power Up with PR—A publicity guide for artists by Jackie Abramian does just that. The 105-page softcover book (ArtNetworkPress, $14.95) is packed with information on how artists can claim their share of publicity in traditional media. 

Except for a short section on blogging, you won’t find anything on how to promote yourself in social media. If you’re after publicity in newspapers, magazines, and on TV and radio, however, this book shows you how to get it.   

On Pages 92 and 93, the author gives examples of four main PR goals, and the four steps necessary to reach each one of them.

Goal #1: Exhibit in local galleries

1: Research local galleries, including studying their websites and visiting their galleries.

2:  Include local galleries on your mailing list.

3: Contact local galleries to enquire about an exhibit.

4: Hold an Open Studio to introduce galleries to your work.
         
        
Goal #2: Get a media review of your exhibit.

1. Write a catchy press release.

2. Decide on a great visual.

3. Send to media and follow up.

4. Ask an art editor to review your exhibit.

    
Goal #3: Publish one of your artworks in a local newspaper or magazine, with a caption that includes title, medium and price.

1. Find local publications with art features.

2. Submit your best visuals with captions.

3. Follow up with the editor to pitch your art.

4. Ask if they would use your artwork for the cover. (This is gutsy, but it might work! You never know when plans for another cover photo have fallen apart.)

          
Goal #4: Reach national media

1. Research appropriate out-of-state galleries to contact.

2. Submit artwork for review to 10 such galleries.

3. Let local and distant media know about your shows.

4. Use the one show you receive to get more shows.

The author then gives artists a “fill in the blanks” page where they can list their annual PR goals and steps needed to meet them.

The book also features stories about other artists’ media successes, charts to help track of media contacts, examples of press releases that will help you write your own, information on how to compile a targeted media list, and more than 300 national media contacts.

Jackie and her husband own Haley Farm Art Gallery in Kittery, Me. As a PR and marketing consultant, she conducts seminars for artists and entrepreneurs. She has created successful media strategies for national and global organizations, as well as for individual artists.

In the resources section, Abramian mentioned my free email course on how to write press releases, as well as my free publicity newsletter, The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week.  (Also see How Artists Can Sell More Artwork through Online and Offline Publicity.)

Karen Kalisek of Escondido, Calif. writes:

“WomensMedia.com a seven-year-old website that has undergone a major overhaul and is in the process of relaunching.

“We pride ourselves in offering ‘expert advice for working women.’ Currently, we have 30,000 unique website followers each month (20% of those are overseas), 10,000 follow the blog, Women’s Lunch Talk, and, 1,000 listen to our podcast, Working in Heels.

“We don’t male bash, but do offer realistic advice concerning being a working woman.  We also have a library with over 200 articles written by people such as Madeline Albright, Suze Orman, and many other notables.  We also are proud of our Google ranking of 5.

“We have done all this with no advertising or sponsorship. With the new ‘look’ we want to increase our followers, create revenue channels, offer classes, provide speakers and build relationships.  Where do we start getting the word out that we exist?  Any suggestions for a media kit, PR kit, etc. would be greatly appreciated.  We have no money, but we have a great message with a proven history.”

In yesterday’s ezine, The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week, I wrote about how Publicity Hounds should rely on weekly newspapers more than ever, now that several dailies are eliminating their zoned editions because of mounting financial pressures.

It wasn’t until today that I remembered a fabulous article in the May/June 2000 issue of The Publicity Hound, my now-defunct print newsletter. Lovelace Lee III, a publicist from Los Angeles, wrote “Don’t Forget the Weeklies,” and explained how he relied on Black weekly newspapers as part of a national publicity campaign for one of his clients.

I’m reprinting the column here becauase it’s a great example of the power of not only mainstream weeklies, but special-interest weeklies. Those include ethnic, religious, educational, business, industry-specific and topic-specific newspapers. Here’s Lovelace’s article, in full:

Don’t Forget the Weeklies

By Lovelace Lee III

God bless the weekly newspaper! You can’t beat it for community news. I’ve used the weeklies to create affordable national publicity campaigns for my clients. And so can you.

In 1991, a young, Black honor student named LaTasha Harlins was killed in a scuffle with a Korean merchant in South Central Los Angeles. With the right spin, Black weeklies treated the update—a year later—as news.

My client was the now-defunct LaTasha Harlins Justice Committee. They needed to raise funds for a community center to be named after the slain teen.

Research of 10 major cities showed that most blacks really didn’t know the details of the LaTasha Harlins murder and editors of the weeklies were still curious. In 1992, I created the LaTasha Was Murdered Campaign to be released to Black weeklies across America.

I began the campaign with personal phone calls to editors of Black weeklies in 25 cities. I told them what I had and why it was important to their readers. The following week, I sent a release package that included a personal letter to the editor, a four-page news story, a black and white photo of campaign spokesperson and rapper Hot Shot wearing the “LaTasha Was Murdered” T-shirt and a page of Hot Shot’s quotes to support the article.

At the end of the release, I asked that editors send me two uncut, full-page tearsheets of the story as it appeared in their newsppaer. And for their support, I promised to send them their very own T-shirt. Of course, they were the first in their cities to have this coveted T-shirt. Crazy, huh?

Not really. Remember, I had already talked with these editors at my expense—a relationship had been established.

Within 10 days of the mailing, tearsheets started arriving from black weeklies all over the country. The campaign reaped press from 35 black weeklies, ADWEEK, two loal TV stations and Players, the international black men’s magazine. A hot rap group decided to assume fund-raising responsibilities for the community center and one of the members even wore the T-shirt in a music video.

Don’t forget the weeklies. A little time spent cultivating a relationship can be good for you and your business or your favorite cause.

Lovelace Lee III is a public relations veteran with over 20 years experience. He’s a screenwriter and author of the soon-to-be published book 501 Things Every black Person Should Know for a Richer & Fuller Life. He lives in Los Angeles He can be reached at robertlucycreative@yahoo.com or 310-743-2855.

While you’re at it, don’t forget your local shoppers, those newspapers usually crammed with ads, that usually show up once a week. If they need editorial to fill it, make sure they have an article or photo from you.

If you’ve hired a virtual assistant, or you’re considering hiring one,  let your VA help you with more than just your business. Delegate many of your personal calls to her.

Here’s an example. 

When my local Pick ‘n Save supermarket stopped carrying Jennie-O turkey sausage links, one of my favorite breakfast foods, they told me that if I wanted to continue buying them, I’d have to call the meat department and place a special order for an entire case.

So every few months, I do. But making calls like that chips away at time I should be spending on my business.

Now, I turn over calls like this one to my virtual assistant, Christine Buffaloe. Yesterday, she hunted for the cheapest 16-foot USB cord she could find online and ordered it. She orders my books from Amazon.com and researches where I can get the most inexpensive office supplies.

This afternoon, she’s calling the sewing machine repair shop to see if my sewing machine is ready to be picked up. When that’s done, she’ll make a doctor’s appointment for me.

I can’t tell you the number of hours she’s saved me, not only doing business tasks, but making personal phone calls that eat up my precious time.

Last year, I hosted a teleseminar on “How to Find a Virtual Assistant to Help with Your Publicity Campaign.” My guests, virtual assistants Diana Ennen and Cindy Greenway, explained that VAs often relieve their clients of personal calls like the ones I’ve mentioned. Once I started delegating many of my personal these calls to Chris, it suddenly dawned on me how time-consuming these calls can be.

VAs, by the way, can help with many aspects of your publicity campaign such as:

—Writing and distributing your press releases.

—Updating your online media room

—Updating your profile on social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn.

—Calling newspapers and asking for permission to reprint articles they’ve written about you

—Researching media outlets and bloggers you want to target with your pitches.

The training program I conducted last year for VAs, interns and assistants on “How to Help Your Boss or Client with a Publicity Campaign” discussed hundreds of ways you can use VAs or assistants. Many VAs signed up for the course, have added publicity tasks to their services and, as a result, have been able to raise their hourly rates.   

Angie Dzalamanow of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina writes:

“I am the public relations manager for Sylvan Dell Publishing, a children’s book publisher committed to exciting children’s imaginations with artistically spectacular science, math and nature themed stories.  We’re doing fairly well at securing reviews for our 29 titles with key trade publications, regional parenting magazines and bloggers, but we would like to create a bigger buzz and score some national attention.

“In the back of every book, we include a ‘For Creative Minds’ educational section with fun facts, crafts and other educational activities.  We also offer free supplemental parent/teacher resources on our website, including 30-80 cross-curricular teaching activities, child-friendly learning links, audio readings, interactive quizzes and a bi-monthly e-newsletter.

“However, our books are first and foremost fun-to-read picture books, and we want parents and educators to understand that there doesn’t need to be a strict line between educational and entertaining.

“The public relations team consists of me and two interns, and our budget is limited.  We need some creative, affordable ideas for media kits and pitches, but we’ve yet to think of that ‘big idea’ we need to garner national media.  Help from your Hounds would be greatly appreciated!”

Gail Sideman of Milwaukee, Wisconsin writes:

“I’m what the business calls a veteran publicist and media relations professional who has landed quality hits, and believes she does a good  job in explaining how a PR or publicity campaign works to those who  have never been involved in one.

“I outline the fact that an online newsroom is necessary and why, and that a foundation and reputation must be built before reporters have enough trust to include or feature  the client in a big story. I also explain the differences between public relations and advertising. 

“Despite all of this and making sure potential clients know what they’re getting into before they sign on the dotted line, I have found that some people, two or three months 
into the effort, maybe while we’re still trying to build a quality online press room, question why I have not been able to score that  ‘big story’ for them.

“How do other media relations professionals deal with  complaining clients after they’ve already explained the industry to them and they’re working diligently to do things in step?”