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You can learn a lot from movies. Really. Some of the stuff you learn, you can even put to use in everyday life. I’m not talking about useless stuff that’ll never help you, like learning that the guaranteed way into Angelina Jolie’s heart is to be a ridiculously good looking guy with bulging muscles, jillion-dollar abs, and a bank account that doesn’t quit. I’m talking about actual, obtainable goals. Like picking up handy clues on how to run your social media marketing campaign. The best type of movie to watch for these pointers? Car thief flicks. Yeah, that’s right.
Pointer #1: Go Big or Go Home
Forget what you think of car thief movies. Whether you like them or not has nothing to do with this. You’re here to learn, anyway. And the first thing that you learn when watching car thieves in action on the silver screen is that they’re daring. The anti-hero of our story doesn’t think twice about going after the big shiny prize car guarded by iron gates and gun-toting henchmen because he’s got guts like nobody’s business. Launching a social media marketing campaign for your business requires the same kind of guts and daring. You’ve got to have the audacity to think that you’re going to succeed beyond your wildest dreams in order to stand a chance at doing so. And if you hit bumps in the road? You persevere just like the hero in the movie when his foolproof plans are thwarted, and you don’t let setbacks get you down. Without them, there’d be no drama. Where’s the fun in that?
Pointer #2: Get Some Taste
No good thief steals a Ford Taurus. The real daredevils go for the Maseratis; those “holy grail” type vehicles. They do so partly because they have an innate instinct to “go big” but also because they know a Maserati will net them a killing, whereas a Taurus will bring them the offended glares of their cohorts in crime. No offense to anyone that drives a Focus Taurus; My boyfriend has one. It’s a cute red one with a dent on the left rear bumper that’s been for years. I like that dent because it helps me pick his car out among the sea of a hundred other red Taurus’s that you can find in most large parking lots on a Saturday afternoon – but I digress. Getting taste in social media marketing basically requires that you know what will appeal to people, in particular those people that you want to make repeat customers. You’re in the business of making money, after all, and a big part of that is knowing what you have to offer that will sell, and knowing what you have to offer that you couldn’t give away. When you hit on something that resonates with people, keep hitting it. Put lots of thought and effort into determining what your customers want so that you’ll be able to deliver on a regular basis.
Pointer #3: Don’t Stray From the Plot
The best movies always have simple, straightforward, non-convoluted plots. Anyone who’s a fan of car thief movies already knows this. The good guy thief’s mission? Get in, get out, and deliver the goods for the payoff. Easy-peasy. And that’s the same way you should operate your social media marketing campaign. It’s not rocket science, and you shouldn’t convince yourself that it is. In the end, it’s all about connecting with your audience and making it fun in the process. If you feel that you’re working too hard, you might be. Check your bearings to make sure you’re not spinning your wheels unnecessarily on tactics that aren’t working for you. If this is the case, break it down. Simplify. Just like a great movie plot.
Pointer #4: Plan Your Getaway Route
Once you’ve made your daring getaway in 60 seconds or less, what then? A smart car thief doesn’t just drive off with the goods then pull over to the side of the road to figure out what to do next, just as someone running a social media campaign doesn’t get everyone’s attention through a brash viral campaign only to freeze under the stare of a million eyes. You’ve got to have a game plan that involves what you’re going to do with the proverbial golden ring after you’ve got it in your possession. Without that, you won’t be able to capitalize off the momentum of your social media marketing campaign and you’ll end up petering out before the fun’s really even begun. Whatever your plan ends up being, make it up before you hit your launch point. No auto thief worth his weight in gold plated key-chains would ever dare pull of a heist without having a pre-planned getaway route, just as no social media marketing campaign worth a million re-tweets should ever be launched without a plan in place to seize upon the new interest of potential customers.
Incredible, the things you can learn from movies. Did you ever think you’d live to see the day when your guilty pleasure would actually help you become a successful social media marketer? Probably not. It kind of makes you wonder what else you can learn by watching movies. With that in mind, I’m off to see what possible secrets to winning customer loyalty I can discover in the new Final Destination movie. I’ll report back if I learn anything worth sharing.
