By now, you are probably aware of the importance of adding social media to your marketing mix, but you may be unsure of how to begin. Fortunately, it’s not hard to get the basic principles of social media down. In fact, chances are that you already learned most of the necessary skills during story hour in elementary school!
Does that sound crazy? The following 5 classic children’s books offer some great lessons on how to use social media constructively:
This ancient Chinese story tell the tale of two brothers. The oldest brother is given a long name by his parents to signify his cherished status: Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo. The younger one is given the much more Twitter-friendly moniker “Chang.”
The two boys like playing near an old well. When Chang falls in, Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo is able to quickly summon adult help to rescue him. (I refuse to type that kid’s name out again, let’s call him Tikki Tikki for short from now on, mmm-kay?)
Because of his absurdly long name, when Tikki Tikki falls in the well, it takes Chang considerably longer to get the old man with the ladder to come rescue him. In the version of the story I read, Tikki Tikki survives, but it takes him a long time to recover from the oxygen deprivation. In the story, this incident prompts the Chinese to give ALL of their children short, easy to pronounce names .
The social media moral: If you want people to share your content, keep it short and sweet. On Twitter, 120 is the new 140.
2. Stone Soup
In this classic story, hungry soldiers trick townspeople into helping them make a delicious “stone soup.” They start with a stone, and then encourage each person that passes by to contribute another ingredient to use as a “garnish.” The end result is a pot of tasty, nutritious soup big enough to feed everyone.
Social media moral: Sharing and collaboration are key. When people ask for a little help, give it freely, and you will often reap considerable benefits in return.
In this classic tale by Dr. Seuss, Horton the elephant is the only one who listens closely enough to hear the voices of the Whos, tiny people who have built a tiny town on a grain of sand. He spends most of the book trying to protect the Whos and their town, because “A person is a person, no matter how small.”
Social Media Moral: Listening is key…have a monitoring program in place to help you catch social mentions of your company or brand. If someone complains, don’t ignore them-try to address the issue, instead. Also, be kind to people and treat them like they are important-no matter how many followers they have!
The most beautiful fish in the sea is not content until he starts giving his iridescent scales away to other fish.
Social media moral: Give to your customers. Freebies, coupons and discounts are a great way to get them talking and saying positive things about your brand.
5. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel, Mary Anne, do great things together…until the invention of electric and gasoline shovels make Mary Anne seem obsolete. But is she?
When Mike and Mary Anne promise to dig a cellar for small town’s Town Hall in just one day, everybody in the town comes out to watch them dig. They finish in time…but then discover that they haven’t left themselves a way to get back out. So, Mike becomes the Town Hall’s janitor and Mary Anne is turned into a steam heating unit for the building. They continue to work together, happily ever after.
Social Media Moral: Don’t be too quick to discard older marketing tools like direct mail in favor of social media. They are still quite useful, but you may get better results if you change the way you use them to incorporate new marketing technologies like pURLs and social sharing.
