The days of the typewriter and the 3-martini-lunch may be over but the wisdom of everyone’s favourite 1960’s ad men is still relevant. Here are a our Top 5 social media lessons from AMC’s Mad Men.

1. 5 SOCIAL MEDIA LESSONS
from

2. “I know you can. You're
a gifted storyteller.”
“I can explain.”
[The Gypsy and the hobo: Season 3, Episode 11]

3. 1. TELL THEM A STORY
While facts and figures are quickly forgotten, stories endure. A story is an emotional
connection or a feeling that stays with a person, long after they’ve forgotten the details
or exactly what happens in the end.
Your company has two different stories to tell – product stories and an ongoing brand
story. Product stories are like an episode of Friends – they need to be short,
entertaining and able to stand alone. A brand story is more like Harry Potter – an
ongoing narrative that tells the customer who you are and invites them to grow with
you.
The key to good storytelling is to talk like a human, make the
content personal and engage with what’s happening in the
world around you. Make it memorable.

4. “People tell you
who they are,
but we ignore it
because we
want them to be
who we want
them to be.”
[The summer man: Season 4, Episode 8]

5. 2. LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMER. THEY’LL TELL YOU WHO THEY ARE.
Who are you really speaking to on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn? The person who
walks into your office isn’t the same person who ‘Likes’ your #ThrowbackThursday
Facebook post or the person who Tweets your brand account to complain about bad
service.
Facebook and Twitter followers are most likely to be existing customers who are
interested in upcoming promotions, new products or just a bit of industry-related fun.
LinkedIn is more likely to be where you’ll find potential new customers and those
who are really interested in the nitty-gritty of your product
offering. Pay attention to what type of content your customer
is responding to and appropriate your brand message to fit
the audience on each different platform.

6. “The greatest
thing you have
working for you is
the imagination
of the consumer.
They have no
budget, they have
no time limit.”
[To have and to hold : Season 6, Episode 4]

7. 3. THERE IS NOTHING MORE VALUABLE THAN USER-GENERATED CONTENT
It doesn’t matter how many campaigns you run, how many followers you have or how
many clicks you get. Nothing you say about your own brand will ever carry as much
weight as the voice of the customer. Celebrate your community of fans and the passion
they have for your brand by encouraging and rewarding user-generated content. They are
the most important people to your company and their words have an authenticity that
the best agency in the world couldn’t replicate.
While the pictures uploaded by customers may not look as slick as the product shots in
your catalogue and the comments are likely to be riddled with
spelling mistakes, this is all part of the authenticity that makes
user-generated content so valuable. Perfection is boring.
Get a bit messy.

8. [Blowing smoke : Season 4, Episode 12]

9. 4. STAND OUT FROM THE NOISE
Every time one of your fans opens Facebook there are approximately 1500 stories
that could make it to the top of their newsfeed. Every day the sheer volume of
social content is growing and it’s important to stand out from the noise. On social
media you’re not only competing with other brands in your industry, but with every
other content creator your fans may follow.
Don Draper found a way to stand out from the crowd with an open letter to big
tobacco. He offered a new take on a current issue and did it in a way that was
bold and authentic. Make your posts stand out by saying
something contrary to the same old conventional wisdom or
package it in a way that’s different from your competitors.

10. “There is a rare
occasion when the
public can be
engaged on a
level beyond
flash –
if they have
a sentimental
bond with
the product.”[The Wheel: Season 1, Episode 13]

11. 5. FIND THE EMOTIONAL CONNECTION
It’s important to make a connection. On Facebook, your brand post is sharing real
estate with photos of newborn babies, birthdays, weddings and nights out with
friends. These are all personal moments that have a real emotional tie to the user
and it’s important to ensure your brand is able to slip seamlessly into this space.
Most people are on Facebook to keep in touch with friends, to be entertained or – if
we’re being really honest – to escape the tedium of work.
Ditch the generic product shots and stop cut-and-pasting the title of your latest blog
post. Social is not the place for the hard sell or for a list of
product stats, it’s where people come to connect. Make
sure that your social content has the capacity to illicit an
emotional response.