In January I wrote about how social media marketing works best when you have both the correct marketing mindset and the right online tools to accomplish the strategy.

With all of this in mind, watch the video below. It wasn’t intended to be a parable about social media in business, but I think it works really well.

The new tools and technology are red.

The new marketing mindset is blue.

Change is purple.

Ironically, this is a great endorsement for Seth Godin’s book Purple Cow.

Blip from Sean Mullen on Vimeo.

Social media conversations are no different from going to a party in real life.

In the same way that you look for good conversations at a party, people seek the same thing online.

In the same way you avoid people who dominate the conversation at the party, the same thing happens online.

In the same way you remember the meaningful encounters at the party, the same thing happens online.

In the same way you stop paying attention to the people who only talk about themselves at the party, the same thing happens online.

If you have ever been to a party, you already know the rules for social media. You’ll either be someone people enjoy talking to, or someone people avoid. Maybe it’s time to look through your Tweets and Facebook profile as if you’re on the outside looking in. I just did. I think I’m doing all right on Twitter, but I need to do better on Facebook.

I’m going to assume this video is legitimate and if so it’s that much more tragic. I’m not sure if the lesson here is to really think more carefully about where you put the bride and groom in an outdoor wedding, or if it’s to pick a more coordinated best man. Either way, this was a wedding nobody would forget.

In January, 2007, I posted my first video of the week on this blog. Over the last two and a half years I’ve posted a video each Friday. It’s turned into quite an archive as I look back over it.

How It Started
At first I just wanted a recurring feature on the blog. There were too many good videos out there that just needed to be shared so it seemed like a good fit. In time, I realized the weekly video was sometimes the only thing people were paying attention to on this blog. That wasn’t what I wanted ideally, but I’d take it.

After about a year I started getting feedback that some readers looked forward to it. That was both a nice surprise and quite affirming, but some people wonder why I do this at all.  This is supposed to be a blog about social media marketing. Not only that, this is the official website for MicroExplosion Media. So why post a video each week has almost nothing to do with social media?

Why I Still Do It
The reason I post a video of the week is to earn attention. Blogs (and other social media tools) only work as a marketing platform when they receive attention. They are good for short-term attention, but they’re great for long-term attention. I believe that if you do something people find valuable long enough, you’ll earn their attention. That’s why I do it. I want to earn your attention next Friday and the Friday after that.

I follow the EIEIO plan for creating content. That means I want to entertain, inspire, educate, inform, or outrage readers with each post. Most of my social media related posts lean more toward the educate and inform side. Occasionally they get into the inspirational or outrage sides. They don’t often seem to cross into the entertainment area so that’s another reason I like the videos of the week. It just seems to me that if I can have a little fun each Friday with a funny video, I’ll be able to contribute to that aspect for readers as well.

It’s part fun and part strategy, but it’s all to get your attention time and time again.

I have been seeing a lot of posts and articles about the role of technology, social media, and Twitter in particular, in the Iran election demonstrations. One of the most interesting perspectives I’ve seen contends that the old Iranian social and political system simply doesn’t know how to deal with the social media.

They have no category for it.

They don’t know how to control it.

They don’t understand how it works or why it flourishes.

And this isn’t just a technology thing either. The Iranian government has only now begun to see the mobilization, expression, collaboration, and informational sharing aspects of social media. The technology allows that to happen, but the emerging online culture is the soil where these technologies take root.

This isn’t so different from some companies in the United States today. I’ve heard several CEOs in the last few weeks talk about how they limit employee access to sites like YouTube and Facebook. They think by blocking the technology they are protecting what would otherwise be wasted productivity. They don’t have employees demonstrating in the break room or riots around the water cooler, but revolution is happening all around them…without them. They have an old business and marketing mindset that doesn’t know how to deal with social media.

They have no category for it.

They don’t know how to control it.

They don’t understand how it works or why it flourishes.

Why Social Media Works

• Social media works because it connects like-minded people more easily than ever.
• Social media works because everyone who wants to have a voice gets to use it.
• Social media works because it doesn’t force people to pay attention to the things that don’t interest them.

Why Social Media Works In Business
All of this can apply to your business. You can connect with like-minded people (meaning the people who are interested in what you do, sell, stand for, promote, etc.) more easily than ever.

Your employees can have a voice to connect with these people if you’ll trust them (and guide them) to do so.

Your current and future customers will appreciate that you didn’t interrupt their lives with marketing tactics that don’t work, and instead you sought to earn their attention with interesting content and conversations.

That’s how social media works and how it can work for your company. Don’t keep on marketing your business the way the old regime did. If it’s still working for you, great, keep it up. If not, it’s probably time for a revolution.

It’s amazing what college kids will do to pass the time. These guys from Olivet Nazarene University took their ping pong ball shooting skills to entirely new places.

[HT to the Connect 3on3 blog for the video.]

Back in April I wrote a post that turned out to be the most commented blog post I’ve ever written. It was about five kinds of people I identified on Twitter that I want to avoid turning into. I also want to encourage other people not to fall into one of these five categories.

A few weeks ago Nathan and I talked about this on an episode of The New Mediology podcast. You can listen there online or check it out on iTunes.

If you want a good laugh (in a sad but true kind of way) check out TweetingToHard.com. You’ll find a few of the five kinds of people to avoid on Twitter there.

I’ve noticed an unfortunate trend among some people on Twitter. They retweet compliments, as in someone Tweets something nice about them and they in turn RT (retweet) that person’s original complimentary tweet.

It looks like this:

First, Joe_Niceguy tweets:
@Bill_Needslove sure did a great job on that project for us. He’s the man!

Then a few minutes later Bill_Needslove tweets:
RT @Joe_Niceguy: @Bill_Needslove sure did a great job on that project for us. He’s the man!

Who thinks this is a good idea?

We don’t do this offline. It’s not as if you meet someone in the store and the first thing you say is, “Joe says my company is awesome. He thinks we’re a great value and have first rate customer service.” You wouldn’t do that face-to-face, so why would you do it on Twitter? That just doesn’t make sense.

If someone says something nice about you on Twitter just thank them and trust that people will see it. When you RT of a compliment undermines the sentiment entirely. Just say thanks and move along.

[HT to Dan Miller who showed me the above image last week. Shirt available here.]

I’m a big fan of stop motion video and this is a creative senior project from a student at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Well done. Here’s the “making of” video too. I just hope Post-It doesn’t rip off his idea like they did with another guy a year ago.

Today I observed an organizational tipping point for social media. I was meeting with the Chief Operations Officer of a company I’ve been working with a few months now and we were at a strategic social media crossroads. He had a key decision to make.

On the one hand they have been very successful doing things the way they’ve always been done. They don’t have to change today. They have controlled everything from customer interactions and sales leads to which employees are permitted to access YouTube and Facebook (which until recently was almost nobody).

On the other hand they can dive fully into social media where the lines of professionalism and personal life are blurry, where trust and authenticity are key, and where sales and marketing involve conversation and earning attention rather than demanding it.

The COO admits that he doesn’t fully understand all the implications of  social media, but he’s smart enough to know that it’s something to investigate. That’s why they called me a few months ago. Now he’s convinced they need to move forward, but the organization doesn’t fit with this new stuff. As the fog lifted today he saw clearly that they’re at a crossroads. Would they keep on doing what they’ve always done or take the other path?

The Internal Evangelist Tips It
For a few minutes I wasn’t sure which way he was going to decide but then the COO invited the internal social media evangelist into the meeting. The social media evangelist isn’t a high ranking manager or director. He’s just a well respected guy who works there and knows about social media and has started using it on his own. He’s even seen it pay off for him several times. He’s been leading by example and taking every opportunity to talk about the need for change when given the chance. He was the difference today. Without him in that meeting, I’m not so sure the COO would have chosen this path.

Why the Internal Evangelist Is Gold
So here’s why I’m writing this: almost every organization I know of has at least one social media evangelist right now. In many cases it’s not a vice president, director, or even a manager. It’s usually someone down in the ranks who sees the opportunity for change and has already started doing small things under the radar. These people are gold.

They’re gold because when a CEO, COO, VP, or some other executive type comes to that crossroads, they’ll call the internal evangelist in. It’s the moment the evangelist has been hoping for and it’s exactly what the company needs. It’s what the company has really been paying the person for all along and they didn’t even know it.

Internal social media evangelists are all over the place.

Becky is one. She even had a blogger take notice of her efforts this week.

Ray is too. He has a social media success story that’s becoming legendary within the company (and is quietly empowering and encouraging fellow employees too.)

Chris had one of those crossroads meetings a few months ago. Now the company is enthusiastically doing things they didn’t support even six months ago.

If you’re the social media evangelist in your company, be encouraged. The day will come when you’ll get the call or the email to attend the crossroads meeting. It may be sooner than you think. Be ready. They’ve never needed you more.