* Their press releases were picked up by 40+ online sites and media news stations.

* Their press release placement brought additional credibility to the launch of their new books, products and services.

* They started to dominate the search engines – and “own” their keywords as search engines love optimized press releases

* They doubled and tripled their website traffic

* Multiple reporters and media professionals contacted them for additional interviews and media opportunities that give them more exposure.

* Their website now ranks higher on Google – because online press release distribution is a powerful link building too.

Here’s an additional benefit of online press release distribution that no one else is talking about…Online press release distribution will help you with your overall LinkedIn marketing efforts.

6 Ways Online Press Release Distribution Can Help You With Your LinkedIn Marketing Efforts

1) The press release generated publicity can provide you with instant credibility with your LinkedIn profile visitors.

For example my client Sara LaForest’s headline reads like this: “Top Management Consultant Featured in Business Week, Fast Company & WomenEntrepreneur.com – Connect and Find Out Why”. This shows readers immediately why they should trust her and why they should trust what she has to say.

Here are some of the other ways you can highlight your publicity on your LinkedIn profile:

* Create a quoted media positions

* Showcase your media mentions within your summary

* Add the publications section to your LinkedIn profile

* Create a media kit on your LinkedIn profile using Box.net

2) Showcasing your press release generated publicity will prove to journalists that you are media worthy.

On LinkedIn you should be looking to connect with journalists, editors, online radio show hosts and other media professionals. Now for those media professionals to accept your invitation, you have to prove you are credible and newsworthy. When your press release is published by a top publication, you have completed half the battle because you have given yourself expert status. Now, you just have to build a relationship with the media professionals you connect with and show them that your information is relevant to their audience.

3) Use press releases to promote your LinkedIn group and community.

We recently created and distributed a press release that promoted Skip Weisman’s Workplace Communication Strategies group – and it was published on CNBC.com. This helped him:

* Increase his LinkedIn group membership by making more people aware of his group.

* Give him a reason to re-announce his group again to his email list as well as any LinkedIn connection that were not already members of his group. Any time you have a success, you should be letting your connections know.

* Give new connections a reason to join his LinkedIn group when we sent out group invites.

4) Your press release placements can position you as a thought leader in your LinkedIn group – and those other groups you belong to.

I like to create discussions around a topic and link the discussion to a press release or article I’ve written that gives more information on the topic and is featured on a top website. This automatically gives me a third party endorsement which offers more credibility than if the information was just placed on my own website or blog.

5) Use your press release placement as a springboard for discussions.

For example, I distributed a press release titled “More Journalist on LinkedIn Than Any Other Social Network, Study Shows”. I then created this discussion within LinkedIn group: “How are you using LinkedIn to get you more publicity?

In the LinkedIn discussion summary I put “In the press release below, I reveal that 82% of journalist are on LinkedIn and that is more than any other social network. So now I am asking you, how are using LinkedIn to build and maintain relationships with media professionals to get you more publicity?”

I then linked the discussion to my press release on Yahoo News.

This helped me:

* Get more exposure for my press release

* Create a discussion among publicity professionals as they provided their insights. I then responded to their feedback with other ideas and explained to them how I can help them with their LinkedIn publicity efforts

* Start a discussion among small business owners and other business professionals who wanted to learn how to get more publicity by using LinkedIn

6) Getting published or featured all over the Web on top websites and blogs will give you access to more people who will want to connect with you on LinkedIn.

You will have people coming to you seeking your advice. They will see your press release and then look you up on LinkedIn wanting to connect with you. For example, as I was writing this article, I received an invitation to connect that said, “Hi Kristina, I just read your tips in Canadian Advisor’s Edge Magazine – I’d like to connect with you and learn more.”

Your Next Steps

Now that I have shown you how online press release distribution can help you with your LinkedIn marketing efforts, it’s time you take action and start writing your press releases. If you need help, check our my Instant Press Release Templates at 40InstantPressReleaseTemplates.com

LinkedIn marketing expert Kristina Jaramillo helps small businesses and organizations get more publicity, prospects and profits using effective LinkedIn. Now, at http://www.HowtoGetMorePublicitywithLinkedIn.com, you can gain full access to her FREE 14-Day LinkedIn Publicity E-course that shows you how to create an expert LinkedIn profile the media will love, how to build relationships with the media plus sneaky ways to get more PR using LinkedIn.

The lack of sales leads to depression. Perhaps feeling desperation, we mention our books on Facebook. One friend, most likely somebody living in Bahrain, asks how to get a copy. Fighting back the impulse of gratitude that would take us to the nearest UPS store, we go to our Amazon pages, copy the links, send them. Of course living in Bahrain, our friend doesn’t have an Amazon account anyway, but we have started our careers marketing. Social media becomes our new home. We trudge electronic highways and byways like the old time Bible salesmen, going door to door and offering to personally sign each copy.

I’ve been trudging for a while now and I thought I’d share a few things I’ve learned along the way.

1) You can’t sell if you don’t get in the door. Those two thousand friends on Facebook, those fourteen hundred and thirty-two followers on Tweeter: they all have to think of you as a friend. Let’s face it, you aren’t the Fuller Brush man, you don’t have a product they want. They have to want to buy something from you. That means you have to be friendly before you pitch.

2) People start to sing to themselves when you repeat too often. You know – like the little kid going la-la-la when you’re lecturing him. They heard you the first time. You wrote a book. (They immediately thought they could write one too, assuming they haven’t done just that.) Now tell them something they don’t know. I follow an 80-10-10 rule. Eighty percent of my posting is about non-writing stuff. Ten percent is about writing, but not necessarily mine. I mention my friends, I mention something I’ve read. Heck, I’ll mention the Gutenberg Bible if I find something interesting to say, and I know none of my friends are buying that one. The last ten percent is for my writing. Some of that is about my novels, but some is about everything else I manage to get out there. For example, I’ll post about this blog.

Which brings us to a real problem, while people may know your name and that you wrote a book, they need to see your name and that title a lot of times before they actually act, before they go to Amazon and click that link.

3) Marketing is not a one time effort. I loved your website, but you’re still going to have to convince me that I want your book. Your book, who are you? Do I know your name? Round and round the prospective reader goes. This is a game of blind man’s bluff, and you are it. Come up with more ways to get those social network friends and followers to think about you until the sheer weight of your presence snowballs them right back to that Amazon page.

I hope this has helped you. Now, go buy one of my books. Think about it. You enjoy my style and my ideas. What more can you ask?

Life itches and torments Kenneth Weene like pesky flies. Annoyed, he picks up a pile of paper to slap at the buzzing and often whacks himself on the head. Each whack is another story. At least having half-blinded himself, he has learned to not wave the pencil about. Ken will, however, write on until the last gray cell has retreated and there are no longer these strange ideas demanding his feeble efforts. So many poems, stories, novels; and more to come.

Check out Ken’s website at: http://www.authorkenweene.com
For Widow’s Walk visit: http://vidego.multicastmedia.com/player.php?p=wbgzb2yk
For Memoirs From the Asylum visit: http://vidego.multicastmedia.com/player.php?p=nqm74a8k
To hear Ken read a chapter from his upcoming book, Tales From the Dew Drop Inne: Because there’s one in every town visit: http://soundcloud.com/kenneth-weene/in-the-army

First, what is Google+ and why was it created? Essentially, Google+ wants you to create more intimate “circles” of contacts to share news, information and passions (including books!).

From Google:

Not all relationships are created equal. So in life we share one thing with college buddies, another with parents, and almost nothing with our boss. The problem is that today’s online services turn friendship into fast food—wrapping everyone in “friend” paper—and sharing really suffers:

• It’s sloppy. We only want to connect with certain people at certain times, but online we hear from everyone all the time.
• It’s scary. Every online conversation (with over 100 “friends”) is a public performance, so we often share less because of stage fright.
• It’s insensitive. We all define “friend” and “family” differently—in our own way, on our own terms—but we lose this nuance online.

In light of these shortcomings we asked ourselves, “What do people actually do?” And we didn’t have to search far for the answer. People in fact share selectively all the time—with their circles.

From close family to foodies, we found that people already use real-life circles to express themselves, and to share with precisely the right folks. So we did the only thing that made sense: we brought Circles to software. Just make a circle, add your people, and share what’s new—just like any other day.

Here is the link to learn more and to sign up to Google+.

If you are on Google+ and you want to let others know about a book, especially one already in Google Books (we wrote about how to add a title to this in a recent newsletter, here is a link to starting), here are simple steps from Abe Murray, Product Manager, Google Books explains how it’s done:

• Simply click on the Google+ Share box on the About the Book page or in a Google Books preview, enter your message, then select which circles you’d like to share details about the book with, and click “share”.
• The book cover, description and title linking back to the Google Books About the Book page will appear in your Google+ stream with your message.
• You can also simply paste the About the Book or Google Books preview URL into your Google+ Share box. This will show the cover and book details, helping your friends know exactly what you’re sharing with them. While you’re sharing books, you can also +1 them, and the titles will appear in your profile on the +1 tab.

Here is a great article on promotional tools for authors on Google+ This link will show you how to join a growing writer’s network, advice on creating Google+ writer profiles, using Google+ to organizing a book party or find a writing job, and how to share your Google+ posts across your other social networks.

At Smith Publicity, we will be keeping a close eye on Google+ and how we can help authors explore the newest social networking tool!

Sandy Diaz is the President of Smith Publicity, Inc. Beginning in 1997, Smith Publicity is one of the world’s leading promotional firms, specializing in book publicity. Fueled by a passion for making good things happen for clients, the company has worked with over 900 individuals and companies–from authors and entrepreneurs to publicly-held companies and businesses representing a wide range of industries. The Smith Publicity reach is international with offices in New Jersey, New York City, Los Angeles, and London. For more information about Smith Publicity, Inc., please visit www.smithpublicity.com.

STEP 1.  Create a “Fan Page” for your book

What is the first thing you do after reading a good book?  You tell people about it!  Creating a Facebook Fan Page allows your readers to easily share with their networks the great book they just read and provides you with a free, “mini website” to interact with your fans.

Using the link above, select “Entertainment” then “Book” and follow the step-by-step instructions to begin completing your page. Once you’re done, users will be able to list your book on their info pages, interact with you, the author, and other fans on the Fan Page wall, and share the link with their friends through email and other social networking sites.

One important option to take advantage of is giving your page a username (after you reach 25 followers you’ll be able to do so). For example, https://www.facebook.com/stieglarsson  goes to the fan page author Stieg Larsson. Having a username in your URL will be much easier for people to navigate your page than suggesting they search for you on Facebook. Plus, your link looks much cleaner.

STEP 2. Keep your page updated

Once you’ve created your page, you need to keep it up to date with fresh content.  It’s standard practice to post three to four times a week (Tuesdays and Wednesdays having the highest click through rates) being conscious not to “overshare” or fans will unsubscribe from your page.

When fans post on your wall, be sure to respond to them in a timely fashion and respond to their comment or question.  Facebook is a conversation and that means both parties have to participate.

STEP 3. Give your fans content they can’t get anywhere else

You’ve accumulated some fans, now you need to keep them coming back.  Providing them with content they can’t find anywhere else rewards them for liking your page and can help you at the same time.

In the “discussions” section, you can post excerpts of your work, allowing people to read and comment on your progress. This also allows you to keep your fans up to date on whatever it is that you are working on. You simply click the “discussions” option, select “start new topic,” fill out the topic title and then write a post about it. Your fans will be free to read and reply to all posts on the discussion board.

STEP 4. “Like” it

A page allows people to “like” your book’s page. A fun fact is that when people “like” your page, it helps in your search engine rank. Google figures that if people are “liking” your page, it must be pretty good and worth seeing. One note about liking things; make sure that you click around to other author’s books and pages and “like” them. Odds are, they’ll “like” you right back!

STEP 5. Promote your book signing and speaking engagements

Say you have a book signing or a speaking engagement coming soon. Sure, you’ll post it on your blog and your website. Another option you should utilize is the Facebook “events” tool. Using the “event” function, you can create an event, like your upcoming book signing or reading, and invite all of your Facebook friends to join. You can list information like the time, location, and even directions of how to get to your event. Adding a photo to an event is always a nice touch. List as much information as you can so people will be well informed and more likely to attend. People can RSVP and even if they don’t, the event will linger on their Facebook mini-feed as a constant reminder. Use this example for inspiration. http://tinyurl.com/3lfa9oo

STEP 6. Show appreciation

Once you start to rack up Facebook friends and fans, a nice gesture of appreciation for their support might be to offer some incentives. For example, update your book’s page status to something like, “2,986 people like my book’s page so far! If I can get to 3,000 I’ll be giving away a signed copy to one of my wonderful fans!” People like free things. More importantly, people will keep checking your page not only because of your literary masterpiece, but also to see when you’re giving away more prizes. Giveaways generate interest and will help maintain and produce more fans.

Step 7. Badge and advertise

To let the public know you’ve created this fantastic Facebook page for your book, be sure to add a Facebook badge somewhere on your blog or website so people can click right over to it. Finally, consider utilizing Facebook’s advertising space. You can buy ad space on Facebook. You’ll be able to create your own custom advertisement by filling out the URL, title, and body of your ad. Then, you just have to add a photo and preview. Facebook ads allow you to choose your audience by age, sex, location, interests, even by place of employment. You’ll also be informed how many are in each demographic, which will allow you to target your advertisements to the exact market you want to reach. Facebook allows you to set a daily budget and you can also adjust it at any time, so you won’t break the bank.

So, be sure to hop on over to your Facebook account and set up a page for your book. It is an effective way to market your work and it will allow you to connect with your fans.

Book publicist Scott Lorenz is President of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that has a special knack for working with authors to help them get all the publicity they deserve and more. Lorenz works with bestselling authors and self-published authors promoting all types of books, whether it’s their first book or their 15th book. He’s handled publicity for books by CEOs, CIA Officers, Navy SEALS, Homemakers, Fitness Gurus, Doctors, Lawyers and Adventurers. His clients have been featured by Good Morning America, FOX & Friends, CNN, ABC News, New York Times, Nightline, TIME, PBS, LA Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Woman’s World, & Howard Stern to name a few. Learn more about Westwind Communications’ book marketing approach at http://www.book-marketing-expert.com  or contact Lorenz at scottlorenz@westwindcos.com or by phone at 734-667-2090. Follow Lorenz on Twitter @aBookPublicist

The real payoff from readers only comes if you can make them lifetime fans who:

• Buy all of your books for themselves and their friends and tell everyone they know that they must read them.
• Come to all of your talks and book signings.
• Can”t wait to purchase whatever you create.

You can’t pay someone to do that. It can only happen because of their passion for your books and their pleasure at being involved with you and your career. Your Web site is the perfect weapon for staying involved with your readers and for them to stay involved with you.

Every time new readers buy one of your books, they are investing in you. If they invest the time to read your book and like it, you have the opportunity to invest your time in them and start an enduring relationship.

Use your biography or a page in the back of the book to invite them to become involved with you as a member of your literary community by:

• Attending your talks
• Contacting you at your Web site
• Following you on Twitter
• Becoming a fan of your books on Facebook
• Writing you at the address in your books
• Calling you at the (preferably toll-free) phone number in your books

You can show your involvement with your fans by being cordial when you contact them, by being helpful to them, and by asking about them.

From “Guerrilla Marketing for Writers” http://www.guerrillamarketingforwriters.com

Reprinted from “Rick Frishman‘s Author101 Newsletter”
Subscribe at http://www.rickfrishman.com and receive Rick’s “Million Dollar Rolodex”

The first thing you need to do is create an account with a not-so-boring username. In my case I used what I do in the name @aBookPublicist, you could create something clever or about your book. Then you’ll need a picture or headshot, it better be a good one too, it’s the only image people will have of you so make it clean, clear, and simple

Twitter is reminiscent of the schoolyard playground, so play nice and make friends.

Upon entering the world of Twitter, your mission is to create a following. If people aren’t reading your tweets, they won’t read your book. The best way to gain a following is to follow people. Hopefully, you’ll pique their interest so they follow you in return. It won’t hurt to do a Twitter search for the subject area of your book. If you wrote a romance novel, search topics like “love,” “relationships,” and “romance,” Follow those people, pages, or groups and maybe they’ll want to follow you.

Look up magazine editors and tweet them specifically (using the @ function) to steer their attention to you and your literary masterpiece.

You should make nice with the book industry folks like book store owners, book reviewers, librarians, and your wonderful friends at Westwind Communications @aBookPublicist and let them know what you’re up to by following them. If you have a new blog post, find an article about your genre, or have new information on a speaking engagement; let them know about it by tweeting it.

You’re an author. You should follow other authors. That way, you can get tips on what is happening in the writing world, outside of your area of expertise. You’ll learn while you are promoting and what’s wrong with that?

About writing actual tweets: You’ve written an entire book, don’t ruin it all with a bad tweet. It is important, while tweeting, that you use a catchy headline and include a link. If your tweets are stupid, boring, annoying, or uneducated, no one will read them; or worse, people will unfollow you! We simply cannot have that nonsense. So, you should be sure to use keywords that relate to you and your book, attracting “tweeps” to your page and thus gaining your book recognition.

DO NOT make every single tweet a shameless self-promotion. People don’t like that. If people don’t like your tweets, that means they will not like you or your book. Tweet interesting things you come across, your genuine thoughts, and save the self-promoting tweets for about 20% of your total tweets.

Since tweets are limited to 140 characters, each letter is very valuable. Use www.tinyurl.com to shrink up those lengthy links containing fascinating information. This will give you more room to convey your personal message and to add your own touch to the tweet.

Once you gain a following, you should reward those who were kind enough to give a hoot about you in the first place. Reward your “twitterverse” by announcing a “giveaway” and give a prize to a follower selected at random. You could make them earn their prize, perhaps by re-tweeting a tweet of yours.

Remember how I said be nice and make friends? Well, Karma will help you survive in the land of social media. Re-tweet posts from people you follow. They’ll probably be flattered and thus, more inclined to re-tweet the things you post; especially if they’re interesting and relatable!

Still not convinced all this tweeting is worth it? The media follows Twitter posts as they are searchable by Google. If someone is commenting on a current event in the news and a reporter finds your tweet, you can get quoted directly or they may call you for an interview. Trust me, as a publicist I know it works.

The bottom line: Twitter is becoming a very useful tool that all authors need to utilize. Get tweeting today.

Book publicist Scott Lorenz is President of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that has a special knack for working with authors to help them get all the publicity they deserve and more. Lorenz works with bestselling authors and self-published authors promoting all types of books, whether it’s their first book or their 15th book. He’s handled publicity for books by CEOs, Navy SEALS, Homemakers, Fitness Gurus, Doctors, Lawyers and Adventurers. His clients have been featured by Good Morning America, FOX & Friends, CNN, ABC Nightly News, The New York Times, Nightline, TIME, PBS, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Family Circle, Woman’s World, & Howard Stern to name a few. Learn more about Westwind Communications’ book marketing approach at www.book-marketing-expert.com or contact Lorenz at scottlorenz@westwindcos.com or by phone at 734-667-2090. Follow Lorenz on Twitter @aBookPublicist.

Now, while you think whether or not your LinkedIn profile should be regarded as a resume, let me ask you: When was the last time you read an interesting and intriguing resume?

Most resumes tend to be boring and bland. Now, how is this going to help you attract viewers and prospects? Simple, it can’t.

As a small business owner or a business development executive, you have to start thinking of your profile as a marketing tool and not a resume. Since you have to change your mindset about this, I have developed six distinct reasons why your profile should not look like a resume.

Why You Should Not Think of Your LinkedIn Profile as Your Resume

Reason #1: A resume is not personal enough.

The goal of LinkedIn is to connect with people and build relationships. The only way you will connect with prospects is to personalize your profile. To do this you need to tell stories and share information that gives a better scope of:

* Who you are.

* What makes you tick.

* How you can help the prospect.

* What new and exciting information you have to offer them.

Make viewers want to learn more about what you and your business can do for them. Be creative and use all the applications that LinkedIn provides you can show videos, presentations and documents.

Reason #2: Remember LinkedIn is a social human network.

Most resumes lack that human touch that LinkedIn can provide if used correctly. You need to make your profile interesting and enjoyable to read. You have to keep in mind that if you want others to read it, you should want to read it too. Here is an excerpt of my summary to give you an idea of what I mean.

With over 80 million professional members in over 200 countries, LinkedIn offers small business owners and internet marketer’s unlimited opportunities to build, and nourish profitable relationships online.

However, out of the 80+ million people on LinkedIn, only a FEW successful companies and internet marketers are using LinkedIn to its’ fullest profit-making potential.

Do you want to know some of my top secrets on how to get more business using LinkedIn? As a Social Media Expert (not a self-proclaimed expert, the New York Times called me that) who specializes in LinkedIn, I’ve uncovered…”14 Underground Secrets to Making Money And Taking Complete and Total Control Of Your Industry and Niche on LinkedIn” Here I reveal mistakes that other LinkedIn experts are even making.

Reason #3: The goal of LinkedIn profile is to get people to connect with you so that you can funnel them back to your website.

Your profile is a way to tell prospects what you and your business can do for them. Your LinkedIn profile allows you to show the different areas of your business and then lead prospects to the appropriate webpage to get even more information. The goal of a resume however, is to list accomplishments, achievements and jobs held. It simply lists your job descriptions, past and present. A resume does not mention the kind of person you are and why someone should connect with you. And, a resume doesn’t allow you to focus on the here and now and what you can provide your potential clients today like your LinkedIn profile should.

Reason #4: Resumes are usually limited to 1-2 pages while a LinkedIn profile is not.

While it’s usually not a good idea to submit a resume that is more than 2 pages long, you don’t have that kind of restriction with an online profile. You can include more information, more details, more accomplishments, more strengths and more keywords. The more information you include the more credibility you will gain, the more connected to your prospects you will become. Once you gain their trust, it will become much easier to sell your products, services or even the idea of joint venture relationship.

Reason #5: A LinkedIn profile enables you to brand yourself much better and much easier than a resume ever could.

Everything from yourself, your company to your products and services can be branded on your profile. For example, if you are the best at selling widgets, then make sure your profile clearly articulates that – and reinforce your brand throughout the profile. LinkedIn recently added some new sections that will further enhance your ability to sell yourself to potential clients. What resume will allow you to include postings about your publications, certifications or skills. Those sections usually get edited out due to space.

Now, do you think of your LinkedIn profile as your online resume?

Do you now realize the marketing potential LinkedIn gives you – if only you’d change your mindset?

Great! Now, I invite you to check out what other LinkedIn marketing mistakes you are making and opportunities you are missing. Grab my free special report at: http://www.GetLinkedInHelp.com

LinkedIn Marketing Expert Kristina Jaramillo creates online marketplace opportunities for small business owners who want more website traffic, prospects and profits. Now, with her free special report, you can uncover how you can become “the trusted source for your industry on LinkedIn” fast plus learn how to avoid the top 14 mistakes. Get this information for free at: http://www.GetLinkedInHelp.com

* CEO & Founder at XYZ and Associates?

* Business Owner at ABC Consulting?

* Speaker at YourName.com?

3 Reasons Why Your Profile Should Not Be the Same as Your Position

1. Think of your headline as your first sales pitch to people who want to connect with you. If I am unfamiliar with you or your company, how does mentioning your company name and your position show me what you do and why I need to connect with you? It doesn’t! These headlines are too general, simple and straight forward. They are too vague and too broad. In order for your headline to be effective, it needs to grab my attention. It needs to make me want to read the rest of your profile. As a potential client or potential referral source, I need to see right away how you can help me or my clients.

2. When I am invited to connect with someone, I view their profile before I choose to accept. The first thing that I look at is their headline to see if there is any possible synergy between the person who wants to connect with me and my business. By doing this I can see if it is worth my time and energy to view the rest of their profile. Make your headline enticing so I will want to read your profile and connect with you.

3. If someone is going through people search or through the groups to see who they should connect with, they are looking at hundred to thousands of opportunities. You need to make your business stand out to entice others to want to click on your name to read your profile and learn more about you.

Now that you know that you need to drastically improve your LinkedIn profile headline in order to attract more clients, the question is, how do you fix it?

4 Questions You Must Ask Yourself When Creating Your LinkedIn Profile Headline

1) What can you say in your headline that will give your instant credibility?

One of the easiest ways to gain that instant credibility is to use any media attention. For example, I was recently called a “Social Media Expert” by the New York Times. Look how I use this media mention in my new LinkedIn profile headline to give me instant credibility:

“Read my profile now and discover LinkedIn secrets from the woman the New York Times called a social media expert”.

2) Does your LinkedIn profile headline command action?

The best way to get someone to read your profile further is to tell them to do so. Just look at my example above. Notice I’m giving you a call-to-action. By stating read, view or learn more by reading my profile, you are instructing the reader to do so. And, guess what – chances are they’ll listen. You just have to tell your prospects what to do – and why they need to take the action.

3) Does your LinkedIn profile headline show why you are different?

Go to people search on LinkedIn and type in your career description. Look at how many people match your description. For example, when I type in “internet marketing consultant” into people search it gives me 139,041 results. The phrase “life coach” gives me 83,847 results. The phrase “business coach returns” 224,274 results. In your headline if you show how and why you are unique chances are your prospects will explore your business further than that of your competition.

For example Article Marketing Experts Eric Gruber’s profile headline was: See how we can get you published on websites like About.com – instead of just article directories like our competition.

4) Does your LinkedIn profile headline show a benefit to the reader?

By implying there is an advantage to your reader by viewing your profile you are telling them that there is a benefit of using your products or services. The reader needs a reason to accept a connection with you. By giving them a benefit you are instilling confidence in your business. For example:

* Help My Website Sell Founder Adam Hommey’s headline is: Top internet marketing consultant and expert webmaster reveals how to make your website sell more products and services

* The Global Institute of Visionary Executives Founder Carrie Jacobs has this as her headline: Read my profile and learn from a champion visionary executive coach how you can profit from your own brand of success

LinkedIn Expert Kristina Jaramillo creates online marketplace opportunities for small business owners who want more website traffic, prospects and profits. Just by fixing your LinkedIn profile headline, you will begin to attract more prospects and referral sources. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, in my free special report, I reveal 14 mistakes that most internet marketers and small business owners make – and the opportunities they are missing. I invite you to get this free report at http://www.GetLinkedInHelp.com

5 Questions You Must Ask Before You Hire Your Next Social Media Consultant

1. When engaging in social media marketing will you keep my targeted audience in mind?

Most social media companies will focus on making the connection. They do not care whatsoever who that connection is. What good is having thousands of connections if they do not become prospects, new clients, referral sources or possible JV partners. When I help my LinkedIn clients, I focus on their target audience. I research each individual potential connection to see if they could be a future prospect, referral source or joint venture opportunity. I focus on the quality of the connection, not the quantity because my clients do not care how many people I connect with them. They care more about how much money they are making from LinkedIn and their social media efforts.

2. Do you create a system to take the online conversation offline?

Many consultants do not take the most crucial step of any online social media connection — They fail to take the online conversation offline. If you think you are going to sell high-end products and services just by having a social media presence, then I have a Brooklyn Bridge to sell you. You need to have a system in place that consistently gets your website and information in front of your prospects. You need to engage with them on many levels. And, you need to find ways that you can get them to take the next step in your relationship – and have a phone conversation with you.

3. How engaged are you in social media conversations?

Anyone can post content to groups – a five year old can even do that if you show them how. If your social media consultant does not understand direct response copywriting techniques that encourages conversation, then it’s time to move on. If your social media consultant does not regularly monitor the conversations that’s happening online every day, then move on. The person you choose to handle your social media needs to know how to assess the conversations and find ways you can contribute. I spend time every day, scanning the LinkedIn Q & A boards and the different groups that my clients belong to. I look for opportunities that my clients can add value. I look for ways to spark healthy debates. That’s what effective social media marketing is all about.

4. When focusing on social media profiles do you focus strictly on keyword optimization and being found first for you niche?

If you go to LinkedIn and do a search on internet marketing, you will see the number one person has only 145 connections and the number 2 person has 154 connections. Now internet marketing is a popular key phrase. In fact, the search gets 487,100 results for that phrase. So imagine how many people check out their profiles. One has to wonder why they get so few connections. It is because the person who handles their profile forgot, if you want to create a connection, you need to have prospect focused copy within the profile. You cannot just have it stuffed with keywords. Your profile has to show me why I want to connect or do business with you.

5. How can you ensure that my social media messaging stays consistent with my branding?

One of my clients, Adam Hommey, Founder of Help My Website Sell, started to create content that dealt with how to work effectively with your website team. How does that relate to a brand that is heavily focused on increasing website conversions? Most companies would have distributed his article on their social networks without any concern. But I pushed backed and told him that this did not match his brand and this should not be sent out. I asked him point blank, how does this relate to website conversions and how will this persuade legal firms, management consulting firms and corporation (his target audience) to want to connect with him? You need someone who will keep your brand in check and work to reinforce it through social media.

By asking these 5 questions, you will avoid the mistake of hiring the wrong social media consultant or company. For additional social media help, I invite you to go to GetLinkedInHelp.com and check out my free LinkedIn special report revealing the 14 mistakes that most businesses make.

LinkedIn Expert Kristina Jaramillo creates online marketplace opportunities for entrepreneurs who want more website traffic, prospects and profits. Now, with her free special report, you can uncover how you can become “the trusted source for your industry on LinkedIn” and along with easy ways to gain more connections fast by avoiding the top 14 mistakes. Get this information for free at: http://www.GetLinkedInHelp.com

When it comes to social media, understand this: sometimes more is not better; it’s just more. You don’t want to push yourself to too many sites because that can lead to fragmenting yourself too much online and, when you get fragmenting, you often get site abandonment. Meaning that you populate content on a (social media) site, only to forget it even exists.

1.      Skim: the first phase of online promotion is often reading. This can be anything from Twitter posts to Facebook updates, blog posts and online articles. Here’s a tip: skim. You’ll want to be very selective with anything that you feel is worthy of an in-depth read. Save your time for the real important stuff and skim the rest.

2.      Subscribe to RSS feeds, but only those you actually read: it’s tempting to subscribe to a whole bunch of RSS blog feeds (just like it’s tempting to get an email box full of newsletters but save yourself the hassle and only subscribe to content you can actually read). The same goes for people you follow on Twitter, if they don’t add value, let them go. You don’t need the noise.

3.      Keep a timer nearby: if you are allocating time each day to your online activities, it’s safe to assume you’ll go over time unless you really police yourself. Get a kitchen timer and keep it near your desk, when the buzzer goes off, stop!

4.      Automate whenever you can:  automating can be the key to your online happiness. When you have autoresponders or auto content generators in place they can save you scads of time. An easy and quick way to implement example of this might be your newsletter sign ups. There are a variety of systems, one of them via Constant Contact that will allow you to easily automate sign ups. Even if you have a giveaway for signing up, the system can handle this too!

5.      Consolidate your online presence: when you use sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Squidoo, you can really consolidate what you’re doing online. Why? Because these three sites “talk” to one another, what that means is that if you update one, they all update.  Makes it easy, doesn’t it? While you still should visit each of these to populate them with content, you can also plug your information into one source and have it update all your properties. The ‘source’ can actually be your blog too. Using a site called Twitterfeed can update your Twitter account each time you update your blog, and there are widgets in Facebook and Squidoo that will do the same.

6.      Get a routine: get yourself into a social media routine. You’ll want to identify the best times of the day for you to blog, get active on Facebook, Twitter, etc., and then don’t diverge from that. Stick to a schedule and a routine.

7.      Cross-pollinate your stuff: much like my section on consolidating, you’ll want to also cross-pollinate your content. Syndicated online articles are a good example of that. You can link to these articles from a variety of places. Your Twitter account for one will really benefit from this content, and you can also upload it to Facebook and Squidoo.

8.      Do only essential things: you can waste a lot of your time online. By now you know that a million things can distract you; it’s important to keep to the essentials. This means that you define what pushes your campaign forward and what doesn’t. By doing this you will gain a better sense of where it’s best to spend your time. For example, if blogging seems to get you a lot of new newsletter sign ups, continue doing it.

9.      Don’t follow the leader: while there are a lot of folks out there telling you what to do (including moi), you want to do what’s right for you and your campaign, not what’s popular. Twitter, for example, might make no sense for you at all. So don’t just follow advice because you trust the source. Listen, learn, then do what will have the biggest impact on your campaign.

10.  Create a plan: without a direction, any path will do. Make sure you have a plan for going online, don’t just do it because it’s “hip” or everyone else is. Make sure you spend some time creating a focused outline of what you’ll do, what your goals are and what you need to attain to accomplish these goals. A plan will not only keep you focused, but also stay better on track with your marketing. A plan should include goals and a to do list so you make sure and sift through all the action items you need to create a rockin’ online campaign.

These days, social media is a must for anyone promoting anything. But it doesn’t have to mean that it’s a time suck too. Keeping a social media presence also means managing it carefully. Know where to spend your time, what needs to be limited and where your efforts need to be expanded. Sometimes the quickest way to grow traction online is to isolate your efforts, while everyone is throwing it all “out there,” you can create a focused plan that will not only gain you momentum, but readers as well.

Penny C. Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., is a best-selling author and internationally recognized book marketing and media relations expert and an Adjunct Instructor with NYU. Her company is one of the leaders in the publishing industry and has developed some of the most cutting-edge book marketing campaigns. She is the author of five books, including Book to Bestseller which has been called the “road map to publishing success.” AME is the first marketing and publicity firm to use Internet promotion to its full impact through The Virtual Author Tour™, which strategically works with social networking sites, blogs, micro-blogs, ezines, video sites, and relevant sites to push an authors message into the virtual community and connect with sites related to the book’s topic, positioning the author in his or her market. To learn more about Penny’s books or her promotional services, you can visit her web site at http://www.amarketingexpert.com. To subscribe to her free ezine, send a blank email to: mailto:subscribe@amarketingexpert.com Copyright 2010 Penny C. Sansevieri