It’s no surprise I’m a BIG fan of the 80’s.

And in particular 80’s movies. I mean I even have a poster of the Princess Bride in my office for goodness sake!

Slip on those nostalgia shades as we disappear down an 80’s movie rabbit hole! Yep I‘m in my element (sorry, not sorry).

SO what CAN 80’s movies teach us about how to run a modern organisation and specifically how to leverage social?

Well EVERYTHING actually 😂

Contained within these amazing movies were some grains of absolute gold.

Let’s start with Daniel Son.

#1 The Karate Kid - "If Come From Inside You, Always Right One."

Mr. Miyagi's first life lesson to Daniel came in the first film, when the latter went to thank the former for repairing his bicycle. Mr. Miyagi invited him inside to show him how to trim Bonsai trees, hoping to capitalize on his curiosity in order to boost his self-confidence.

Right off the bat, Daniel doubted himself, and was prepared to quit before he had even tried. Miyagi told him to focus within, and trust himself.

This is one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) things a large organisation needs to get over.

Trust in their employees, trust in their values and trust in their culture. When you take that leap of faith (together and as a team) the benefits are HUGE.

More opportunities generate revenue and commercial interaction but not just that hiring opportunities, marketing opportunities and employee advocacy too! As well as a shared sense of purpose.

Talking of trust (see what I did here).

The 2021 LinkedIn-Edelman B2B thought leadership impact report is an excellent report which saw Edelman and LinkedIn collaborate on the fourth annual B2B Thought Leadership Impact Study to examine how thought leadership influences perception and buying behaviours among B2B decision-makers (link below).

The report says…

"64% of buyers say that and organisation thought leadership content is a more trustworthy basis for assessing its capabilities and competency than its marketing materials and products sheets”.

It then goes on to say:

"63% of buyers also say that thought leadership is important in providing proof that an organisation genuinely understands or can solve your business challenges".

We can’t hope to achieve this level of connection and qualification with brochureware. This needs new thinking and a new approach.

Think beyond ‘visibility’, think beyond ‘being seen’….When you are doing what you need to do to have you buyers trusting in your capability and competence and believing that you genuinely understand and can solve their business challenges….is the beginning of you turning mere visibility into qualified relevance…

#2 The Lost Boys “"One Thing About Living In Santa Carla I Never Could Stomach...All The Damn Vampires." 

What a movie, this final line is uttered by Grandpa. (the only rational person in the film). He takes on the air of the wise sage.

With all the craziness taking place under his own roof, Grandpa (Barnard Hughes) seems somewhat impervious, choosing to focus on his taxidermy. 

Looking back, there are some subtle clues he knows more than he lets on: his wariness regarding joining Max for dinner and those fence posts conveniently carved into large spikes.

It's such an unexpected and perfect way to end the movie.

And guess what, every organisation on the planet seems to all be racing to look the same just like those damn vampires.

Getting their employees to share company content (some of the worst performing content on Linkedin, and we have the data to prove it).

Getting their employees to post brochure content (that’s a marketing stake in the heart if ever I saw one).

Stop it with the sales vampires!

How about letting them be human and express themselves (shock horror). Bringing people towards them, allowing them to want to be part of their tribe and digital community.

You might just be surprised at the results!

And not a piece of garlic or holy water in sight.

#3 Ferris Bueller's Day Off - "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it."

I couldn't dig in the crates without bringing up the maestro Mr John Hughes. This man defined the brat pack movie and dominated the 80s’ movie scene.

Ferris Buellers day off is one of the high watermarks. A streetwise kid who decides to make the most of his final authorised sick day from school.

The line "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it," comes up a couple of times during the movie, and it can teach businesses an important lesson about how covid and the move to digital has forced a new trend in thinking.

Check this out!

Those numbers keep going up and up every single year. Your customers aren't in the places they used to hang out. BUT they are on here.

Data reportal says that people will be spending more than 4 trillion hours using social media in 2022. Or to put it another way, that's 457 million years!

Life (and social media) is pretty moving fast. So how about we try and keep up 🤷

#4 The Breakfast Club - "We're all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it, that's all."

Another John Hughes classic, this coming-of-age tale of six mismatched students sharing a Saturday detention is one of the defining movies of the 1980s.

The moral of the tale is that these seemingly incompatible people find that they are all unique and that their differences should be celebrated and encouraged instead of denigrated and used as ammunition to attack one another.

Businesses can embrace this philosophy by making sure to have diverse teams, where each member brings something different to the table.

Needless to say, this is especially powerful in marketing, where diverse teams can work together to create promotional material which speaks to all people.

And this diversity bleeds through to their personal brand. Attracting a much broader subset of people that want to...

Buy from you...

Recommend you...

And work for you...

One of the main differences we see with smaller companies who are Social Selling is the whole team approach, you are all in this together. 

Some larger companies will restrict this to their Sales teams, you are different. 

You will have your board members, your management team, you operations people, your technical people and your sales and marketing people…all of these brilliant, talented people growing networks, creating engaging content and engaging with your prospects. These are your superhero's and rockstars!

The beauty of social is that you are rewarded ten fold for having diverse teams as that diversity of thought bleeds through to each of your star players personal brands and unique voice.

Meaning your overall brand appeals to as many people as possible...

Phew you made it to the end.

I’ll leave you with this quote from Mikey from the Goonies.

"But right now they gotta do what's right for them, 'cause it's their time. Their time, up there. Down here it's our time. It's our time down here. That's all over the second we ride up Troy's bucket.”

If you made it this far don’t stop looking and don’t stop imagining a future where your company can be better than it’s ever been!

A social one.

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