Here are some  examples of how businesses are incorporating traditional with social media.  Topics included:  Logos, press kits (press release, fact sheet, Public Service Announcement) and other tools used in social media, with templates and guidelines for media kit components used by successful NGO and business groups.  And if you’re creating an online set of deliverables, here’s how it might look.

LOGOS: Unless somebody has the skill and desire, I don’t think it’s realistic to create a client’s logo.  That said, here are some tips about creating logos, although nearly all how-to pieces will advise you to seek a designer.

MEDIA KITS:

Fact sheet:  Often known as a FAQ for online campaigns, a fact sheet is used for talking points and backgrounders. Here are some examples for a McDonald’s employee singing contest and facts about Virgin Atlantic.  Sometimes publicists describe tons of information as a fact sheet, as seen in the Romney Plan for the American Century and Obama’s 2012 State of the Union Overview.  And many fact sheets are sent on via social media, as this Twitter alert about a USAID fact sheet.  Here is the FACT SHEET RUBRIC  used in COMM 312.

Press release:  The standard piece which is sometimes picked up by a local or online media, or if you have connections to an editor.  Follows a standard format and is written with the inverted pyramid style (most important info on top, least important at end) so it’s easier to cut the story to fit the editorial space.  Here are some examples of:  ANNOUNCEMENT –A product or campaign launch (Microsoft’s Windows 7 and Seventh Generation’s First National Advertising Campaign).  FEATURE –Here’s an example of a press release by Concerned Scientists put out by Common Dreams’ newswire about upcoming East Coast wind turbines.  SOCIAL MEDIA — The Art of Creating a Social Media Press Release – note its three distinctive audiences (traditional media, online media bloggers/digital influencers, and the general public) plus its comprehension factor for three kinds of readers (humans, search engines, and social networking sites).  For Fall 2012 COMM 312, here’s the assignment and grading rubric for the CENTER for SUSTAINABILITY TEAM .  And for the COMMUNICATION STUDIES DEPARTMENT TEAM, here is your assignment and grading rubric for news releases.

Media advisory:  A quick, bulleted list of points to entice media (and others) to a specific event.  Here are examples from the 2010 U.S. Census campaign and the Centers for Disease Control  Fact sheet:  A FAQ that is often used as talking points and backgrounder.  Here are some examples for the Toyota Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle, and Facebook.

Public Service Announcements:  These short radio/TV blurbs used to be federally mandated; nowadays, they might run at 2:00 a.m. unless they’re attention-grabbers.  If submitting to a media outlet, they have specific formats and timing, usually for :15, :30, and :60 seconds.  Here’s a radio PSA from the Ad Council’s Sense of Adventure campaign to get kids outdoors and here’s the TV/youtube.com version for Discover the Forest.

Speech:  There are many online resources about how to write speeches; for instance, Forbes ran this piece — “How to Write a Great Speech: 5 Secrets for Success” — and I also like this step-by-step guide that includes outlining.  It’s a simple formula, once you know the occasion, theme, and audience:  Every speech should have a clear introduction (thirty seconds to grab attention), body (longest part with flowing, related points), and conclusion.  Here’s a 2011 “reveal” speech for the 2012 Toyota Camry Globe.  Here’s the text of Bill Clinton’s speech to the Democratic National Convention.  And here’s the SPEECH RUBRIC used in COMM 312.

Miscellaneous: 

Pitch:  This quick, customized message is exclusively directed at a blogger or journalist who you know will be interested in your soft-news story.  While pitches used to be presented at meetings or over the phone, they are increasingly sent over social media (such as Twitter and LinkedIn) yet nearly 90% of recipients prefer email pitches.

Promotion of product placement:  Damon Takes Oakley into the ‘Green Zone’; Baby Stella wearing Sage Creek Organics on Tori and Dean:  Home Sweet Hollywood.

Writing proposal:  While marketing plans can be extensive research project, writing proposals can be shorter reports that describe the need for or the advantages of a public relations campaign.  There are many marketing plan and public relations proposal resources online; while they differ in size and focus, all stress the need to not challenges within the planning process.  Simply, a public relations proposal includes the 5-Step Process:  1) Understand the marketplace and customer needs and wants; 2) Design a customer-driven P.R. strategy; 3) Construct a program that delivers superior value; 4) Build profitable relationships and create customer satisfaction and delight; 5) Capture value from customers to achieve goals..  Steps 1-4 create value and build relationships with customers, while Step 5 captures value from the customer in return for the value delivered. Here is the WRITING PROPOSAL RUBRIC used in COMM 312.

And how businesses increasingly interact with customers in the Twitterverse:  Jet Blue; Safeway; Gates Foundation; and this conference Tweetfeed:  B2B Green Forum.  Here’s a guide to Tweet-ups based on NASA experiences.