Social news gathering

Social media is playing an ever increasing role in news gathering, according to Dennis Powell, senior producer at ABC News. Powell spoke at a recent Minnesota PRSA-Social Media Breakfast Minneapolis/St. Paul event held at Best Buy headquarters.

For its coverage of Hurricane Sandy, Powell said that ABC News went through 300 pieces of social media. One piece that ABC News used was "Hurricane Sandy 3 Trees Fall and Fire!!" from YouTube.

"HootSuite is a wire desk of sources for a particular beat," said Powell.

While tweets can be published without permission, Powell emphasized the importance of authentication for other social media posts. For instance, ABC News will not run a YouTube video on air until it has the real name, phone number and e-mail address of the person who posted the video. This ensures that nothing fake is aired.

"Social media is an addition to the other news gathering tools," said Powell. When a news event happens, the ABC News "1440 Social Media Desk" follows these tips in order to determine appropriate social media content:

• Put yourself in the place of the event.
• What would someone say?
• What would someone who knows someone say?
• Where would they say it?

Dennis Powell, ABC News Senior Producer

Sources that the ABC News team uses as part of the social media news gathering toolkit include:

• Twitter search
• Twipho.net
• OpenStatusSearch.com
• Topsy.com
• Reddit
• Facebook
• ABC News staff

Not every event has social media commentary, though. For instance, Powell noted that the Newtown school shooting was not a social media moment.

Insight into Red Bull marketing

Felix Baumgartner

With the sponsorship of Felix Baumgartner's recent supersonic skydive, Red Bull marketing really can't go any higher.

According to Red Bull Event Marketing Manager Lou Galasso, Red Bull is exploring all other appropriate avenues and has become a 360 degree media business. The brand has expanded into music, film and more.

Galasso was in St. Paul Jan. 8 to talk about Red Bull Crashed Ice marketing and brand strategies to Minnesota Public Relations Society of America members.

While the first Crashed Ice events were held in Europe, they have become increasingly popular in the United States. In Minnesota, Crashed Ice started out as a stunt in Duluth.

The event returns to St. Paul on Jan. 26. There is so much buzz about the St. Paul Crashed Ice event that there already are 15 million media impressions nationwide about the event.

"We hope that Crashed Ice is in the X Games or Olympics someday," said Galasso.

Galasso said that athletes are one of the main ways that the Red Bull story is told. The brand also has a grassroots focus on college campuses with 300 student brand managers who know how to share Red Bull with the "in" crowd.

What about all of the alcoholic drinks made with Red Bull? "Bartenders have concocted those, but we don't sponsor them," said Galasso.

From promoting BMX to floating a skate park all the way down the Mississippi River in 32 days, one thing is sure:  Red Bull will be part of the next "big thing."

Social media for business: LinkedIn

Maccabee, the Minneapolis-based national public relations, social media and content marketing agency, recently released a fun infographic.

Called "A CMO's Guide to Marketing with LinkedIn," the infographic is filled with many facts centered around eight "amazing things CMOs can do with LinkedIn":

1. Engage with the most influential figures in your industry.
2. Boost your company's search engine page rank on Google.
3. Sit down to an all-you-can-read buffet of market research.
4. Monitor your prospects and customers.
5. Clarify what your company stands for.
6. Learn about the media covering your industry.
7. Position your company as an industry thought leader.
8. Engage potential customers with LinkedIn-hosted content.

To download the infographic, visit http://info.maccabee.com/CMOS-guide-to-LinkedIn.