“Here’s Johnny!” – 16 Movie quotes to inspire your social media marketing

“To be or not to be..” – classic one liners are nothing new – they’ve been around for as long as stories could be told, and the most memorable have become part of our every day language. What makes them memorable is that they’re draped in emotion – sorrow, pain, joy, laughter, inspiration, shock, horror, fear, or just plain nostalgia. The classics may last forever.

Who doesn’t love a good one liner? Hollywood in all its story telling grandeur has become the place to conjure up those classic moments of cinema that will be remembered and repeated for years to come. We’ve had some epic deliveries from true Hollywood legends over the years. Script writers’ hearts must dance with glee when they realise they’ve come up with a magic bullet which will live on far beyond the box office takings.

I don’t claim to be a movie buff by any stretch, but a modest love of films mixed with a passion for using social media in the right way for business has led me to come up with a few ‘lessons to be learned’ from some of Hollywood’s great one liners. And if the lessons can help along the way, even better! Enjoy…

1. “Go the distance” – Field of Dreams

One of my favourite movies!

The fact is, social media is not a fad. It’s not something that will work overnight either. If you expect to get a return on social media for your business, you’ve got to commit the time and energy. As Kevin Costner sat in that Iowa ballpark with the wonderful James Earl Jones, he realised there was more to this than first appeared. As is the same with social media – you mustn’t quit after a week when you don’t see the results. Perseverance is essential – keep plugging away and you’ll eventually crack the code. Don’t sell the farm prematurely – you may never know what you’ll be missing..this is for the long haul!

Getting Bitchy on LinkedIn: Another Social Media Cock-up

The power and influence of social media still seems to have passed some people by, even those who should know better, as the case of an intelligent and influential businesswoman from Cleveland, Ohio and her response to a young job seeker highlights.

Kelly Blazek runs a job centre for Marketing professionals, and has access to over 1,000 LinkedIn connections which any dynamic job seeker would be keen to unlock.

I can only imagine that someone in Blazek’s position frequently receives requests to connect from individuals she doesn’t personally know. I also imagine she understands the etiquette and potential power of LinkedIn and of any form of networking, given her position and her recent achievement of ‘Communicator of the Year’. One wonders how she managed with all this wisdom and experience at her disposal, to get it so wrong when responding to Diana Mekota, the 26 year old recent college grad.

Blazek’s reply was condescending, sarcastic, and downright rude:

We have never met. We have never worked together. You are quite young and green on how business connections work with senior professionals. Apparently you have heard that I produce a Job Bank, and decided it would be stunningly helpful for your career prospects if I shared my 960+ LinkedIn connections with you – a total stranger who has nothing to offer me.

Your invite to connect is inappropriate, beneficial only to you, and tacky. Wow, I cannot wait to let every 25-year-old jobseeker mine my top-tier marketing connections to help them land a job. Love the sense of entitlement in your generation. And therefore I enjoy denying your invite, and giving you the dreaded ‘I Don’t Know’ [scribbled-out name] because it’s the truth.

Oh, and about your request to actually receive my Job Bank along with the 7,300 other subscribers to my service? That’s denied, too. I suggest you join the other Job Bank in town. Oh wait – there isn’t one. Don’t ever write me again.

Mekota posted the response on one of her social networks, and it has since gone viral. The story has gone global, with coverage from the likes of CNN, the BBC and The Guardian, and Blazek’s reputation has been shredded in a matter of days.