In celebration of our expanding social media department, we’re creating a series of social media anecdotes for you, our devoted readers.

And, like any good story, we’re starting at the beginning—the place where many find themselves when starting to sort through the social media clutter. Everyone knows the top social media channels—unless you’ve been on a deserted island the last few years—and everyone knows that, as a business, you need to join the conversation. (Actually, even if you were on a deserted island, you and the palm tree probably had a Facebook profile.)

Needless to say, we know social media is a must-do. But that isn’t reason enough to drop everything and start building a profile here and a RSS feed there. There are a few things you should do first before creating your social channels:

• Clarify your overarching business objectives—not social media goals, but business goals
• With your goals in mind, craft a clear story for your audience
• Listen to social media channels to see where your story fits and determine the right platforms to use

We’ll be discussing these topics further as part of our ongoing social media series.

If you take away one thing from this newsletter and this series, it’s to be sure not to jump the gun. Don’t create multiple accounts and profiles without doing your due diligence. We’re not saying it’s not good to learn by doing. It is. Just don’t drag your brand along with you. Instead, create a test account—a personal or dummy account—to learn the nuts and bolts of a platform first. You want to have a strategy firmly in place before letting your brand wade into the deep, dark waters of social media.

Next post, we’ll tackle goals and stories as they relate to your social media marketing.

Halloween is the one night when normal rules don’t apply. When the kid in all of us gets that rare chance to be anything he or she wants. It’s also one of the biggest sales opportunities of the year for Goodwill. In the thrift industry, October is one of the largest months for sales. It’s the equivalent to Christmas for general retailers.

This year, Park&Co puts Goodwill at the epicenter of fall fun and creativity with the “Official Sponsor of Halloween” campaign. The fun and anticipation of dressing up comes not from what we can purchase off the rack, but from what we can invent with our imagination. Goodwill is much more than a place to simply buy a costume; it’s a place to discover a hundred possibilities for creating one. The elements of this campaign consist of TV, radio, print, outdoor and online executions, all depicting one simple message: most ready-made, ill-fitting, store-bought costumes are so lame, it’s almost frightening—and not in a Halloween sort of way.

The concept of the Goodwill Halloween campaign allowed us to take advantage of the creative surroundings here at Park&Co, lovingly called our “Creative Campus.” We transformed our offices into a studio for the all-day TV shoot. Our staff willingly served as extras, dressing in everything from chicken costumes to rodeo chaps. We built a “dressing room” for our main talent in the Creative Garage and held a photo shoot in our very own Combustible Kitchen. While this may seem unconventional, it made the campaign that much better as it was truly an all-agency effort.

And now that Goodwill has a whole new look for Halloween, what about you? What are you going out as this year? Better head to the Official Sponsor of Halloween pronto before someone snatches that green mohair suit before you do.

I stepped onto the stage, throat dry, underarms moist. My adrenalin level rivaled that of a hyperactive 3-year-old hopped up on Lucky Charms. This was the largest gathering I had ever trained on how to amplify success in sales and marketing through The Power of Story.

Over 3,500 entrepreneurs had flown from more than 140 countries, most arriving the night before. They gathered in the ballroom of the Gaylord National Resort in Washington DC for Forever Living Products’ annual International Super Rally. The three day event of awards, company announcements, new product launches, and distributor recognition was kicked off by my training. No pressure.

The Power of Story Part I: “How Stories Sell” from ParkHowell.com on Vimeo.

The storytelling training was presented in two parts. We first explored the nine essential beats that make up the structure of every great story. Do you know them?

1. Who’s your hero?
2. What’s at stake?
3. The inciting incident.
4. Obstacles & antagonists.
5. The sidekick and/or love story.
6. All is lost.
7. Victory!
8. Anchor your audience.
9. To be continued… (Your sequel)

Storytelling workbooks were handed out to what’s essentially the United Nations of network marketing. Forever Living is the world’s largest grower, manufacturer and distributor of aloe vera-based health and beauty products; a $2.5 billion operation with millions of Horatio Alger stories. Our job was to help these distributors bring their unique experiences to life… in three minutes or LESS.

Using the workbooks, the audience outlined their stories as the training progressed.  Some of the Forever faithful even found the gumption to come on stage and share their journeys to demonstrate the power of well-told tales. You can view an abridged version of the presentation on SlideShare.

Where you tell your story is as important as how you tell it.

The second part of my Power of Story training explored ways to share your stories with the world using social media. We discussed how your blog becomes mission control for your social media universe, and how six primary online communities work as both utility and outreach channels. I’m using the utility channels of Vimeo (I prefer it over YouTube), SlideShare and Flickr to embed and share video, PowerPoint and photos respectively through this blog.

We then covered how to push or broadcast your blog content out through Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. You can connect with me by clicking on any or all of these links and see how I’ve used them to promote this article. I’ll go into greater detail on the social media portion of storytelling in my next post.

After nearly two hours on stage in front of these engaged and delightful distributors (The presentation was simultaneously translated into 10 languages and was also webcasted), my character arched from a chrysalis of nerves to an unbridled enthusiast for The Power of Story. It was affirming to watch business men and women from every imaginable metroplex and distant outpost on our planet embrace the universal form of narrative that propels our individual stories forward.

I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to share my thoughts on storytelling with this world-class audience, and I hope you found it as rewarding as I did.

Thank you.

We’re hardwired for fear. No matter how irrationally it functions, it’s our primary motivator. Fear helped our ancestors avoid being a saber toothed tiger’s brunch. It caused seemingly good, God-fearing Christians to barbecue people at the stake. How else could Congress sell escalating defense budgets at the expense of funding our schools?

Is fear losing its grip?

I recently attended the Sustainable Brands Conference in Monterrey, CA, and the one theme that dominated the three-day event was the concept of having fun. Optimism and a youthful sense of silliness were a close second and third. Big brands were everywhere, including Coca-Cola, Kimberley Clarke, SAP, Nike, Adidas, HP, and Park&Co. Did I mention that wild-eyed optimism was also abundant?

What large and small brands are finding is that consumers are so tired of feeling a lack of control with world events — what, with the collapse of Wall Street, spastic oil prices, never-ending Middle East conflicts and global warming — that they’re intensely focused on what they CAN control: their lives. Trust has vanished for authority figures and large organizations, and that includes anyone trying to sell them something.

The consumer has a greater voice now than ever before. And they’re using it. Look no further than the relatively peaceful revolutions in the Middle East sparked through the use of social media. Consumers are giving the finger to status quo, and they are redefining the rules. Fear, in many respects, is losing its relevance. You can see it reflected in sentiments like this one from a young Nike wearer: “I’ve been living in code orange since I was 14. Give me a break.”

“I’ve been living in code orange since I was 14. Give me a break.”

The first rule of this new game is to find fun ways to involve your customers as you make an honest, concerted effort to better their world.

Dave Cobban, Nike’s Mobilization Director, presented a study showing how their young adult markets were emphatic about wanting a better world and implored Nike to help them create it in part through their products. Nike has responded.

Volkswagen’s “Fun Theory” was center stage, demonstrating how they crowdsource their customers to come up with the most engaging ideas to affect positive behavior change. I was fortunate to spend time with Kevin Richardson, this year’s winner of the Fun Theory contest with his “Speed Camera Lottery” concept. The stunt turned the negative loop of punishing speeders with tickets and fines into a positive loop of rewarding drivers who obey the speed limit. (You can read more of the story here.)

Pay what you want

 Taking consumer empowerment to a seemingly absurd  new level, Panera Bread founder Ron Shaich introduced the Sustainable Brands crowd to the backward business model of letting people pay what they want at his restaurants. This “Take what you need, pay what you can” concept is based on the belief that people are generally good. Those who truly can’t afford a meal pay little to nothing. Those who can voluntarily pay their fair share and then some.

Gaming the system

No matter what you might think of the time-suck apparatus called “Farmville” or it’s hipper cousin “Angry Birds,” they are testaments to gamifying consumer engagement and making it fun. Civilization has been playing games as long as its been telling stories. Marketers are beginning to make cheat sheets on how to master this new trend of customer engagement. According to Gabe Zichermann, author of Game-Based Marketing, Inspire customer loyalty through rewards, challenges and contests, “Games are becoming the new mass media eating up the oxygen of engagement.”

“Games are becoming the new mass media eating up the oxygen of engagement.”

Games are so prevalent that sometimes you’re caught up in one and don’t even know you’re playing. This happened to me the other day during Safeway’s prostate cancer drive. That’s right. Your gorcer is trying to make prostate cancer fun, or at least raising money for it. Zichermann’s rules of engagement were being played out both with the customers and the checkers who were responsible to keep the action moving. Like Safeway, brands you wouldn’t normally think of as fun and frolicking, including Wells Fargo and AT&T,  are adopting games to motivate employees and retain customers.

Michael Kim, a Harvard/Yale educated technologist, recently left his post as Microsoft’s director of XBox Live to create Kairos Labs and pursue his mission of helping people build positive habits through online games. His first venture, Livn.it, makes it fun to grow sustainable daily habits essential to living a better life. You compete with friends on Facebook to keep pace with the promises you’ve made yourself to lead a happier, healthier life.

Time and again throughout the week at SB11, the story of having fun with your customers ran through nearly every presentation. They had us playing kickball in the foyer during breaks. And Specialized Bikes’ First Gear program gave away a dozen two-wheelers to the local Boys & Girls Club following its presentation, “A Hands on Experience with Brand Activation for Good.”

Finally, the winner of the Sustainable Brands Innovation Open was One World Futbol and its indestructible soccer ball that provides children in developing nations a ball that simply won’t deflate.

So all of these wonderful and disparate people, products, companies and causes got me thinking: are we doing all we can to inject fun and customer engagement into the brands we represent? If you’re a marketing partner at Park&Co, then you know all of this new inspiration is coursing through our creative veins right now, and it’s only a matter of time until we bring this even more refreshing brand of marketing fun to you and your enterprise.

Ready to play?

I have a confession to make. I don’t know jack about Google+.

It may be the fastest growing social network of all time and further evidence that Google will one day control literally everything I do, but right now it holds about as much fascination for me as the latest social app featured on TechCrunch.

But the thing is, at some point I’ll have to start caring about Google+. And I’ll have to learn fast. Why? Because there are segments of my clients’ audiences that do care about Google+. And if they care, I need to care.

This is the new reality for agency creatives. As emerging media continues to emerge and communication channels multiply faster than self-serve yogurt shops, staying on top of the latest developments in digital, mobile, social media and game marketing is something we just have to do.

Does this mean that art directors and writers need to become “social media gurus” and commit Facebook’s latest photo tagging guidelines to memory? Is Mashable suddenly the new Communication Arts?

Of course not.

As always, creatives need to focus on the message first, then the medium. We need to stick to our creative guns and remember that words, images, ideas, emotions, humor and storytelling are as important today as they ever were—if not more important. Let’s keep making great ads when called upon. But let’s also learn how to captivate in 140 characters or less.

So if dipping your creative toe into new media waters still makes you uncomfortable, stop fighting it and jump right in. Splash around a little. Wear your floaties proudly. But start to follow and be followed.

After the initial jolt, I think you’ll agree; the water’s just fine.

Location-based marketing is arguably the next big thing in social media. Have you checked into a place of business using Foursquare, Facebook Places, SCVNGR, Gowalla or Loopt? If not, you could potentially be missing out on customer loyalty rewards, discounts or a fun points accumulation game among your friends.

What started as a silly game to keep track of the places your friends frequent around town has quickly turned into a multi-billion dollar industry. According to Pyramid Research, it’s expected that in 2015, global location-based marketing services will be worth $6.2 billion, which is about 35% of total mobile advertising revenue.

All you mom-and-pop shops take note of what the big boys have already discovered: taking advantage of these free services can add value and top-of-mind brand awareness for your customers whenever they step foot in or around your establishment. To turn awareness into longer-term relationships, however, these mobile apps need to be incentivized. Find out who’s visiting and what they’re interested in, then use that input to design offers and events that might bring them back. Include these new customers in your other marketing efforts and invite them to sign up for your email newsletter or join your Facebook page.

There’s a certain excitement when social media takes to the streets. People aren’t simply blogging away while holed up in their bedroom anymore. GPS-enabled smart phones have allowed anyone to become a mobile marketer. While location-based social media adds another dimension to pure social networking, business owners should keep in mind that giving back via points, specials, deals and upgrade services can help their businesses exponentially in the long run, especially if coupled with some good old-fashioned positive word-of-mouth from happy, satisfied customers.