The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

Can’t think of a story to pitch about your business, nonprofit or government agency?

Thanks to TV producer Shawne Duperon’s excellent newsletter Shawne’s TV Guide, for this timely story idea: politics in the workplace.

Shawne suggests you pitch the idea to your local TV stations, daily and weekly newspapers, and bloggers who cover your industry. It’s too late for trade publications but still a great opportunity for publicity in business journals.

Shawne suggests these talking points:

• Is it safe to talk politics in the office?
• Is it unavoidable?
• How loud and frequent is the conversation in your workplace?
• Does your organization have a policy about discussing politics with clients or customers?
• What’s the proper office etiquette?

I suggest these:

• Do you have policies governing T-shirts, campaign buttons and bumper stickers inside the office?
• Are you a sole proprietor? If so, do you ever discuss politics with your clients or customers? If not, would you consider discussing it if you knew that you and a client or customer are backing the same candidate? 
• Do you make your political affiliation known on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, and comment about things like the presidential debates and the campaigns? Have you gotten any flack from people who following you and disagree?
• What about LinkedIn, the social networking site that’s strictly for business? If somebody asks a question on LinkedIn about something pertaining to politics, do you make your political views know without fear of alientating your connections? I’ve seen a few political questions that have led to political debates that have no businesses on a site like this one. 

Keep this story idea in mind for when you’re creating your publicity plan or media plan in the years ahead, even when you have hot local or statewide contests. 

Shawne is one of my favorite Publicity Hounds. We teamed up and brainstormed more than 200 story ideas you can pitch to print and broadcast media when we presented teleseminars on 116 WOW Story Ideas from January through June and 103 Sizzling Story Ideas from July through December. 

Posted In: Blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Newspaper Publicity, Nonprofits, Pitching the Media, Social networking, TV Publicity, Twitter
posted On: 10/2/2008: 11:39 am: By Joan
Comments: 4 Comments

Publicity Hound Holly Miller of Chesapeake, Virginia emailed me this morning and and asked if it’s proper to include a Twitter address within a press release.

It’s a great idea, and it got me thinking about other ways to let people know where they can find you online.

—If you’re on MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, do you include links to your profile pages in press releases? What about other social networking sites your followers might want to know about?

—Do you cross-promote from every social networking site? for example, can people find your Twitter address on your LinkedIn profile? 

—Does the home page of your website include links to your social networking profiles?

—What about your email signature?

—What special applications do you use at social networking sites that help pull traffic to your profile?

Let’s see how many ideas Publicity Hounds can suggest.

Posted In: Blogs, Business Promotion, LinkedIn, Publicity on the Internet, Social media marketing, Social networking, Twitter
posted On: 9/16/2008: 12:07 pm: By Joan
Comments: 15 Comments

The more addicted you become to Twitter, one of the fastest and easiest-to-use publicity tools, the more time-consuming and confusing it can become.

Answering the question “What are you doing?” within 140 characters is the easy part.

The hard part is figuring out the Twitter culture and etiquette, understanding the Twitter lingo (Tweeple means people who use Twitter), and knowing which of the hundreds of applications and other Twitter-related websites are worth your time.

Deborah Micek, who goes by @CoachDeb on Twitter, has teamed up with Warren Whitlock, aka @WarrenWhitlock, to write the Twitter Handbook, a 169-page ebook. On a five-star system, I give it five stars and an enthusiastic recommendation for Publicity Hounds everywhere, regardless of what you’re promoting. You can claim your free copy here. (If you don’t receive it immediately, be patient. You’ll get it within the next week.)

I wish this had been available when I started Twittering less than a year ago. It would have saved me from sending my Twitter followers embarrassing questions like “What’s a Tweetdeck?” and “Somebody just asked me a question. How do I reply?”

What you’ll learn

The book assumes you know nothing about Twitter, which is great for newbies. But longtime Tweeple will find it just as valuable. Deb and Warren provide thousands of tips on how to navigate the Twittersphere and adopt specific strategies that will help you meet your business goals, whether you’re a sole proprietor or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. (Yes, CEOs should Twitter, too.)

Especially helpful are their recommendations on what to do first.

For example, instead of trying to amass a huge army of followers, you’d be better off spending time just posting. Then, when people start following you on Twitter, they might be curious enough to see what you’ve been writing about and whether it’s worth coming back for more.

My only suggestion is that I wished the authors would have created bookmarks within the PDF document. I read the book quickly without taking notes. Backtracking and trying to find certain sections so I can follow through on tips I remembered reading was time-consuming. I suggest you keep a “to do” list while reading it, and note the page number where a particular tip is located. Don’t try using the fancy applications until you’ve tackled the basics, like knowing where to find replies to your messages, how to reply to people you are following, and how to read your direct messages.

5 cool Twitter tips

Here are five tips from the handbook:

1. Still confused about who’s twittering and what they’re writing about? See tweets from all over the world and in real time on Twittervision, an interactive map.

2. How well do you Twitter? Check your Twitter Grade, within seconds. I was astounded to see that my score is 93/100 because, well, there’s still so much about Twitter that I didn’t know until I read the Twitter Handbook. And I still feel like a Twitter nerd.

3. Deb and Warren are only two of millions who Twitter. Even though they did extensive research via Twitter before writing, they want lots more input on how other Tweeple use it. You can read 101 More Reasons to Tweet.

4. TwitterFone, a free service, lets you update your Twitter feed using your voice from any mobile or cell phone. You call it, speak your tweet, and hang up. A short while later, your tweet will be posted on Twitter.

5. Create a “Twitter badge” and put it on your websites, blogs and other social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook, letting people know you Twitter and sharing with them your most recent tweet. Once you’re logged into Twitter, go to http://twitter.com/badges and choose the type, color, shape and size of your badge. It will automatically create a code for you depending on where you want it to be seen. Put that code on your website, blog, etc.

If you’ve gotten this far and you’re still saying to yourself, “I don’t get it. Why is everybody wasting all this time?” check out my “Special Report #52: How to Use Twitter for Business to Network, Promote, Sell, Recruit & Profit.” It will give you lots of examples of how companies and nonprofits large and small are using Twitter to amass loyal followers, solidify their brand, and make the cash register ring.

Then dive into the Twitter Handbook, keep it nearby, and commit to following at least one recommendation each week. Soon, that tweeting sound you hear will turn into ka-ching, ka-ching.

Follow me on Twitter.

Posted In: Blogs, Business Promotion, Publicity Resources, Publicity on the Internet, Social media marketing, Social networking, Twitter
posted On: 9/15/2008: 2:24 pm: By Joan
Comments: 4 Comments

Too many Publicity Hounds are still chasing after top-tier newspaper reporters, national magazine editors, the highest rated TV talk show hosts and major market radio deejays, hoping that if they mention you, you’ll make it big.

Problem is, so are thousands of other publicity seekers. And because lots of those big media outlets reach a general audience of millions, you’d better have a damn good pitch.

Sometimes you’d be far better off targeting niched newsletter editors, ezine publishers, discussion forums, bloggers and Internet marketers who have a decent-size email list of people who are also your target audience. Many of these “journalists” and “publishers” have followers all over the world, unlike many mainstream media that reach regional audiences, or mostly people in one country.

BL Ochman’s 12 Tenet’s of Social Media Marketing is sort of 12 Commandments for those seeking publicity online. Tenet #2 reads: Though shalt cover all media.

Today media is a collective term for the producers of content for mass and, yea, also for niche consumption. Thou must niche or be niched. Thy niches may include surly teenagers in fly-over states, as well as disgruntled consumers. To communicate with them successfully you must approach them from the right perspective.

Thou shalt not piss them off by ignoring or patronizing them, for if thou do, they shalt bite you on the ass.

If you pitch big-time media you need to have big-time story ideas. However, despair not because these days everyone with a web site, newsletter, blog, e-zine, Mail List or forum is a journalist.

So how do you find these niche audiences? Here are a few suggestions:

—Asked a question on LinkedIn. For example, I would ask, “Can someone recommend the best print newsletters, ezines, blogs, discussion forums and websites that target people who want to promote a product, service, cause or issue?” The LinkedIn community responds quickly, and many LinkedIn users provide thoughtful and very helpful answers.  

—Ask the same question on Facebook and Twitter. The more friends and followers you have, the more responses you’re likely to get.  

—Google. Do a search for keywords and keyword phrases and see what you can find.

—Search at Technorati. This search engine will let you know which bloggers are discussing your topic.

—Create Google Alerts for your topics. You can read more about how to use Google Alerts and how to Google reporters, bloggers before pitching. (Also see Let bloggers create publicity for you.)

—Search for electronic newsletters. New-List.com lists almost 9,000 ezines.

Follow through on just one of those suggestions and you’re likely to find new media that are dying to hear what you havce to say.

Posted In: Blogs, LinkedIn, Magazine Publicity, Newspaper Publicity, Pitching the Media, Publicity Resources, Publicity for Niche Markets, Publicity on the Internet, Radio Publicity, Social networking, TV Publicity, Twitter
posted On: 9/14/2008: 7:47 am: By Joan
Comments: 4 Comments

Maybe it’s just me, a grumpy former newspaper writing coach.

But I fear our love affair with Twitter, text messaging and even those ubiquitous emoticons is poisoning the English language. Mari Smith’s Twitter Lingo Demysified includes a list of the most popular terms that many active Twitterers use in everyday tweets, to help them keep their posts within the 140-character limit.

Even if you don’t tweet, you’re certainly familiar with these:

OMG = Oh my God/gosh

4U = for you

b/c = because

Thx = thanks

BTW = by the way

I plead guilty to using those abbreviations not only in my tweets, but in emails, too. Somebody, slap me!

They’re also showing up all over the Internet—in comments at blogs, on classified ads on Craigslist, and on people’s Facebook walls.

That’s not the worst of it. An article in the Wall Street Journal said hiring managers are seeing a frightening number of too-casual job-hunters, mostly college graduates and recent grads, writing email messages such as thank-you notes ”that contain shorthand language and decorative symbols, while others are sending hasty and poorly thought-out messages to and from mobile devices.”

Recruiters say that will immediately kill your chances to be hired because they hint at immaturity and questionable judgment. The Chicago Tribune reports that those same abbreviations are even showing up in college essays and term papers.

Yesterday, on Day One of the Social Media Summit in Chicago, sponsored by Ragan Communications, I attended an excellent break-out session on writing for the web and print. Jim Ylisela, a longtime writing instructor, demonstrated how words matter, whether we’re reading a magazine, skimming a website or blog, listening to a podcast or watching a video.

After his session, I told him my concerns about the dangers of Twitter-speak and text-speak and asked him to share his thoughts. That’s one of the reasons, he said, companies are hungry for writing classes for their employees, particularly younger hires.

If you tweet, do you find Twitter lingo and text-speak accidentally slipping into other things you write?

Do you get annoyed like I do when you read tweets that are so jam-packed with Twitter shorthand that they resemble Chinese hieroglyphics, and you have to read them three times before you finally figure out what the writer is trying to say? Or do you simply give up and move on?

Doesn’t this sort of defeat the whole purpose of using Twitter to amass an army of followers who can hardly wait to see what we have to say?

Posted In: Blogs, Social networking, Twitter
posted On: 9/12/2008: 1:41 pm: By Joan
Comments: 10 Comments