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My Version of the Social Media Release

I’ve been following the Next Big Thing in press releases: the advent of the social media release. Now, I share my version with the world.

In many respects, a “social media” release not that much of a leap. Including hyperlinks to related content, direct links to stock photos and logos, and ready-to-use quotes makes it easier for the end user, a writer or journalist, to do their job. In a world where electronic distribution of information is the norm and hyperlinked, rich content is in demand, the term “no-brainer” comes to mind.

I’m following the del.icio.us links from SHIFT.Communications for more information on the SMR.

Read on for my version of the social media release.

[logo]

Contact: Kara Kane
[address]
[direct phone / cell]
[email address]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / Date, Year

A Good Headline Should Be Between 70-100 Characters and Include the Organization Name

CITY, ST – Summary sentence of who, what, where, when, why and how.

• Fact 1
• Fact 2
• Fact 3
• If there are fewer than 4 facts, why are you doing a release?

Quotes

Attributable to [Name, Title]
“Lorem ipsum uno dos tres.”
“Morbi vel ipsum vitae diam egestas gravida. Praesent in nisl. Donec iaculis luctus diam.”

Attributable to [Name, Title]
“Aliquam lacus eros, tempor eu, bibendum quis, imperdiet sed, erat. Proin turpis. Morbi quis ligula eu erat convallis condimentum. Curabitur facilisis posuere mauris.”

Media Assets
Photo: Name, Description
http://link to high res image
Right click and “save as” to your computer
Photo: Organization Logo
http://link to high res image
Right click and “save as” to your computer
Video: Name, Description
http://link to video on youtube, other location
Fact Sheet: Organization Name
http://link to PDF of organization fact sheet

About Organization
Boilerplate with a link at the end.

Contact
Kara Kane
[Organization Name]
[Address]
[direct phone, cell phone] | [email address]

###

Editor’s Notes

RSS Feed for Organization
http://link to RSS feed
Organization photos on Flickr
http://link to Flickr
Add this to del.icio.us
http://del.icio.us/post?url=http://LINKHERE
Digg this
http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://LINKHERE

And going back to my response to a LinkedIn question about appropriate fonts for press releases, my “go to” font is Calibri, with the caveat that simplest is best, and my emails rarely use fancy formatting.