Social Media for freelance magazine wrtiers

Over the weekend I spoke to a small group of magazine freelancers about social media and story packaging. Two great sessions that warranted a great deal of questions and amazement.

I used this infographic as I found it to be a great resource in defining the use of social media today. This led to my point that we, as writers, can no longer avoid its presence. Likewise, these are tools that can be, and should be, used in pitching stories to publications. Here is a peek at what I included in these presentations for freelance writers.

Diving in to Social Media in 5 steps (for the novice)

1. What is your brand and what do you want to achieve? Create your brand, your avatar, and own it on everything you use
2. Create a Facebook Account: It's the multifunction platform for disseminating content 
3. Create a Twitter Account: The micro blog that will be a resource for networking
4. Create a blog: Consider this a landing point, make a blog your new homepage
5. Be yourself. Be social. Be smart. Use your personality/be sure to engage/be wise about what you say and post

What to include in a magazine pitch/story package:

Depending on the publication (i.e. larger consumer magazine) the full written story.

Supplemental material to consider includes:

• Images and cutlines (script for online slide show)
• Signed releases (if needed)
• Social Media prompts
• HD Video
• Timeline of story production if not written yet
• Source Bios
• Estimated word count
• Sidebar material
• Breakout box material
• Maps/relative graphics
• Stats/numbers (for an infographic 

What would you add or subtract from these road maps?