In our client workshop today, we touched on this and the ultimate failed efforts of those following “how to” lists and tips.  There will be many who’ll ultimately proclaim that Social doesn’t work when in fact it’s the formulaic list approach that has failed them.  Social isn’t an item on your todo that is marked “done”. It’s a different way of doing business altogether. No doubt part of why Cluetrain is subtitled, “the end of business as usual“. Please read the excerpt below. What is being said is absolutely sound and applies directly to the moment.

Quoting directly from Cluetrain:

Well… OK. Because you’ve been so patient and read so bloody much, we’ll let you in on the Secret of Our Success. Just follow the twelve easy steps below and you’re sure to be on your way to fame and fortune in the exciting new world of Webusiness. (Caution: It is vital that you follow these steps precisely in the order given. Otherwise, we are not responsible for the mutant hellspawn you may inadvertently call forth from the realm of the undead.)

The Cluetrain Hit-One-Outta-the-Park Twelve-Step
Program for Internet Business Success

1. Relax
2. Have a sense of humor
3. Find your voice and use it
4. Tell the truth
5. Don’t panic
6. Enjoy yourself
7. Be brave
8. Be curious
9. Play more
10. Dream always
11. Listen up
12. Rap on

Do these things and you just can’t miss.

Of course, there’s as much distance between this advice and the decisions you make every day as there is between “Go forth and multiply” and “100 Ways to Pick Up Hot Chicks and Radical Dudes.” Still, we yearn for easy advice. It’s so hard to give up the old wish for stimulus-response marketing and management. Hard to go back to the days of the “talking cure” when psychotherapy meant years of slogging through memories and dreams instead of a slap on the back, and instructions to “nurture the inner child” and eat two bran muffins every day. Hard to forget the televised version of Anna Karenina that goes from start to finish in two hours (the train comes to a screeching halt just in time) and reopen the musty volume and soak into every snow-flecked page.

Look, we’d love to derive twelve happy instructions from the wash of ideas swirling around us. Really. We could market those puppies like Tang in a sauna. Seminars, workbooks, T-shirts, coffee mugs…

But it doesn’t work that way. This is an existential moment. It’s characterized by uncertainty, the dissolving of the normal ways of settling uncertainties, the evaporation of the memory of what certainty was once like. In times like this, we all have an impulse to find something stable and cling to it, but then we’d miss the moment entirely. There isn’t a list of things you can do to work the whirlwind. The desire to have such a list betrays the moment.

There may not be twelve or five or twenty things you can do, but there are ten thousand. The trick is, you have to figure out what they are. They have to come from you. They have to be your words, your moves, your authentic voice.

—

You might read or listen to Cluetrain. Then refer to the site as a reference.

Extra low on time? Start with the 95 Theses.

"LaunchMemphis Startup Weekend" by LunaWeb on Flickr.

One of our favorite things about last year’s Startup Weekend was that many of the ideas pitched include major online social components – ways to let the audience participate. This, of course, suits our disposition towards social media (we founded Social Media Expedition out of love for the technology) – but it speaks more broadly to the importance of participation in today’s tech and economic environments.

It’s becoming obvious that no single one of us can achieve greatness on his or her own. We live in a world that requires us to work together – and in a world that makes that easier than ever.

It’s no surprise that such a large proportion of ideas presented at last year’s Startup Weekend shared that social element, but it is very reassuring to know that people understand the importance of each other. We hope that the trend continues this year.

Startup Weekend’s challenge – and fun – centers around the deadline. The participants will have 72 hours to volunteer their energies to ideas chosen by other participants to work on. By Sunday night, at least one new business will be up and running.

For more information about (and to register for) Startup Weekend, visit LaunchMemphis and the Startup Weekend blog. We’ll be there to cover the event. To see some nice shots from this year’s pre-event mixer, check out our Flickr set from that evening.

Two clients we have created social media presences for are BTE Racing and Mantia’s restaurant-two very different businesses in two very different industries. Therefore, the plans for each varied quite a bit.

Mantia’s, owned by Alyce Mantia, is a local mediterranean-style, cozy restaurant/international market that also hosts cooking classes and wine tastings. To show that friendly atmosphere to the online world, we wanted videos and photos galore. By promoting a Facebook presence in the restaurant, as well as using Facebook ads, we were able to grow the number of fans of the Facebook page. In less than one month, Mantia’s, the small, local favorite, had over 40 fans. The page itself was getting a great number of views, ranging from 20-150 per day, which we were able to find out using the Facebook insights. 

The short video (18 sec.) below appeared on Mantia’s Facebook page following her “Turkish Delights” cooking class.
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BTE Racing, is an international company, manufacturing race car automotive parts for customers across the globe. To enhance the online presence of BTE, we created a Facebook page-also promoted by Facebook ads-a social network, blog and YouTube channel. BTE representatives maintain the creative content of the various entities, while we designed the customization of each platform and monitor the activity.

This morning, the Memphis Child Advocacy Center had a Flag Raising as a result of yet another needless death of an innocent child. Six-year-old Charlis Flemming and his seven-year-old playmate were playing with a gun inside an apartment, when Charlis was shot in the face and killed. Parents and caretakers must remember to take all measures to keep kids safe.

Sadly, for the first time ever, two flags are now flying side-by-side at the Memphis Child Advocacy Center on Poplar Avenue, after last week’s Flag Raising for the Dotson children who were brutally killed in their home. Below is an excerpt from the Children’s Memorial Pledge, which is read aloud at each Flag Raising.

“We promise to protect the children in our care. We promise to believe children who say they have been hurt. We vow to tell the authorities if we suspect child abuse. We promise to do everything in our power to keep children safe.”

Their young lives, as well as the lives of 4 adults in the home, were taken by the hands of their uncle, who now stands accused of their murders as well as the near-fatal assault on their three siblings, ranging in age from 2 months to 9 years old.

The Memphis Child Advocacy Center, a non-profit organiztion providing therapy for children who are victims of sexual and severe physical abuse, raises the Children’s Memorial Flag any time a child in the Memphis/Shelby County area dies as a result of abuse. The flag not only memorializes the child who died all-too-young, but also increases community awareness about the rampant problem of child abuse. Visit www.MemphisCAC.org to learn more about this organization.

We’re leveraging video for the purposes of promotion, the product itself, and as ongoing training in unique ways conceived by Dr. Clay and his father. Seriously. Where else can you do this?

Upload a video of your Karate routine and receive an online video critique of your performance by a World Champion.

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