The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

Any day now, you’ll be able to let your Facebook friends and Twitter followers know where you are when you post status updates.

Daniel Ionescu’s article in PC World says Facebook will start adding friend location starting next month, though it’s uncertain exactly how this will work. Twitter turned on its feature briefly this week and then turned it off. On the main stream, Twitter will show maps overlaying individual tweets, together with place names and your location. On both sites, the geo-location features will be optional.

Ionescu offers three reasons for using them:

• To get social recommendation from real people
• To find relevant local news
• To find friends and cool people around you

His three reasons for not using them:

• Criminals are reading Facebook and Twitter status updates, too. I wrote about how unsuspecting Twitterers are showing up on sites like PleaseRobMe.com
  
• Even more advertising in your face
• The lack of control over who actually sees your location.

If you’re planning to use the geo-location features, let’s hear why. If not, why not? Share details of how you’ll use these features in a PR campaign. Comment here.

Posted In: Facebook, Social media marketing, Twitter
posted On: 3/11/2010: 2:44 pm: By Joan
Comments: 1 Comment

If you’re releasing a report on the state of your industry, what’s the purpose of writing a press release? Why not just post the information to your blog?

In fact, why even bother with press releases? Can’t blog posts serve the same function?

That’s what law firm marketing expert Kevin O’Keefe asked at Real Lawyers Have Blogs.

He will be releasing a report later this week on the use of blogs by large American law firms, and he asked:

“My question is who do I send the press release to? Don’t I accomplish the same thing by posting a blog post with the report as I always have? As a courtesy to reporters and editors, couldn’t I just email them a link to my blog post? How does a press release help them?

“Some law firms and companies use press release services such as PR Newswire or PRWeb for press releases, many in large part for Search Engine Optimization.  Getting links from such sites to your company website or blog using keywords describing your offering causes your website or blog to rank higher on such keyword searches.  But that feels a bit like a sham and I’m not looking for SEO.”
   

Write a release and a blog post

Do both.

Press releases are written much like a newspaper article would be written with “just the facts.” And, of course, you can link directly to the report and anything else you wish.

One of the big advantages of press releases is that journalists, bloggers and others can simply cut and paste from the press release and add what you’ve written to their own copy.  Blogs, on the other hand, are written in a more informal, personal style that make wholesale copying difficult.
  
A blog also serves as a great platform to comment on various aspects of the report, in one or more blog posts. So while that press releases is pulling traffic at PRWeb, your post is pulling traffic at your blog. 
         
  
How to publicize an industry report

I gave Kevin seven ideas for publicizing his report:

1. Write a press release and post it to PRWeb.  Journalists and others can also search the PRWeb site by topic.  I found eight RSS feeds at PRWeb just for legal news. So if the only place that somebody can find info on the report is at Kevin’s blog, they’ll miss it if they’re at the PRWeb site.
       
2. Let your Twitter followers, Facebook friends and LinkedIn connections know about the release. Just give an enticing headline and link to it at PRWeb. (See 11 Ways to Avoid Missed Opportunities on Facebook.)
       
3. Write a blog post that ties into the press release.  Why was the report written? Are the results surprising? Can you offer a behind-the-scenes look at the benefit of blogging for big law firms, something the press release doesn’t explain?
       
4. Post the same press release at your website, in your online press room.  You want to do this so that people who come to your website can find recent information about what you’re doing.
       
5. If you wish, you can now pitch the story to a select group of journalists and bloggers.  These can be people whose names you have collected and put into a database.  I’d create individual pitches for each journalists or blogger, customized for their audience, and then include a link where they can see the press release.
       
6. What about people on Twitter who “tweet” about law-related topics?  Don’t forget about them.  Sometimes you can get far more traction on Twitter than you can in traditional media, simply because of the retweets.
       
7. How do you find people who would be interested in the report and are most likely to retweet?  Go to Search.Twitter.com and search for #law, #lawyers, #legal and other related words, using hash tags.  Twitter will return a list of tweets written by people who have used those keywords in their posts.  You can then go to each person’s Twitter page and decide if they’re worth following.  If so, follow them.  They might follow you back.  You can then send them a direct message and let them know about your report, and link to the press release on PRWeb.
       
8. Finally, how about creating a short video, about two and a half minutes, discussing the report?  You can do this with an inexpensive Flip video camera and upload the video to YouTube, which can pull more traffic to your blog or website.

Kevin might also consider a subscription to Expertclick, the Online Yearbook of Experts. A subscription puts you in their experts directory and lets you post up to 52 press releases per year.  You can then link to these releases from your blog or the online press room at your website. That’s what I do.  Learn more at Expertclick.com.

How do you use press releases in conjunction with your blog?

Posted In: Blogs, LinkedIn, Pitching the Media, Publicity for Niche Markets, Social media marketing, Twitter, Video, YouTube
posted On: 3/8/2010: 12:32 am: By Joan
Comments: 1 Comment

Patti Chavet of Frisco, Texas writes:

“I’m a sales consultant and I want to brand myself as an expert in active adult lifestyle living in Texas.

“My target market is Baby Boomers, age 55 and older, who want to downsize to a maintenance-free home so they’re free explore personal hobbies, interests, public service, education, travel, etc., all in the company of others who share the same lifestyle.

“I work for Del Webb, whose communities traditionally have targeted retirees looking to downsize. I’m new to marketing, and I’d like ideas and advice on how to use traditional and social media to become the go-to person in Texas who can help Baby Boomers move from big houses to easy-to-manage single-family homes in Del Webb communities.

“Where should I begin? I’ve been in this niche market for more than 20 years, so I’m already an expert. My challenge is to now spread the word throughout Texas. I’d love to hear suggestions from your Publicity Hounds.” 

Posted In: Advertising, Business Promotion, Publicity for Niche Markets, Social media marketing
posted On: 3/2/2010: 11:12 am: By Joan
Comments: 4 Comments

Gabrielle Javier-Cerulli, of Rochester, New York writes:

“I just launched the Global Network of Expressive Arts Facilitators and need to get the word out about it and attract new members on an international scale.

“It’s a membership-based organization for facilitators, all non-therapists, who use the creative process (painting, drumming, singing, journal writing, collage-making) with their clients with the intent of self-discovery, clarity, enjoyment and healing.

“Our mission is to build community for these heart and soul-centered facilitators and also to publicize our members and what they do via listing them on the online directory, by highlighting them in the Member of Week, a BlogTalkRadio show, and opportunity to submit their articles on videos to the website.

“We have Twitter and Facebook pages and a blog. I’d love to hear other ideas of getting the word out to this global niche market. Also, how do we go about finding speaking engagements to talk about the network?”

Posted In: Blogs, Facebook, Social media marketing, Twitter
posted On: 2/16/2010: 10:44 am: By Joan
Comments: 8 Comments

If you’re a guest expert, or a PR person who represents an expert, and you’re looking for radio talk shows and podcasts that need guests, don’t pitch only the big shows.

Many of them are difficult to book, and you might be far better off trying to get onto shows that reach niched audiences.

Check out RadioGuestList.com.  You can use this site several ways.
       
      

How to be on a show

Experts, authors and PR firms searching for the right shows can sign up here. Whenever a talk show is looking for guests, RadioGuestList will notify you.
  
     
How to find guests for your show

If you’re a radio show booker, podcaster, talk radio host or TV producer who needs guests, submit your talk show booking opportunities here. RadioGuesetList will email its list of guest experts, authors and PR firms so that experts who are a good fit for your show can email you directly.
     
    
How to see which shows are available 

On the homepage, you can see a list of categories on the right side. I clicked on a few of them and saw lots of opportunities for authors, musicians, small business people and Internet marketers to appear as guests. If you have an area of expertise, you’ll find something here that’s a good fit.

The site is maintained by Scott Fox, an author and Internet marketer. Check out his 10 tips on how to use social networking to market your product or service. You can also follow RadioGuestList on Twitter.

Never done a radio interview before? George McKenzie, a former radio talk show host, offered tips galore when I interviewed him about how to get onto drive-time radio shows and ace the interview so that the host invites you back.

Have you used RadioGuestList.com? Share your success stories here.

Posted In: Authors & Publishers, Business Promotion, How to Interview, Media Leads, PR Consultants/Publicists, Pitching the Media, Publicity Resources, Radio Publicity, Social media marketing, TV Publicity
posted On: 2/11/2010: 9:29 am: By Joan
Comments: 9 Comments