Who doesn’t have at least one favorite song of summer that you play as part of you’re beach rituals? As summer draws to a close, it’s a good time to reminisce with those magical tunes of summer and the lessons they hold for social media.
Here are social media lessons paired with the top thirty summer tunes of all time as compiled by Billboard Magazine.
- Surfin’ Safari by The Beach Boys (1962) This title fits a social media newbie’s experience on social media networks where you can spend hours building your social media tribe and looking at content created by others. The image is so perfect that two marketing blogs incorporate this idea. One is Social Media Explorer and the other is Social Media Examiner that uses a jungle design.
- Summertime by Billy Stewart (1966) Just as this song was one of the most widely covered tunes, you can find many copycats on a social media platforms. For example, last summer’s social media hit, the Old Spice Man, gave rise to many knockoffs including Cisco’s poorly executed version.
- Wipeout by Fat Boys and the Beach Boys (1987) This title is a great description of how overwhelmed social media participants can feel after trying to keep up with all of the various platforms and networks.
- Cruel Summer by Bananarama (1983) Social media has an inherent social responsibility. Participants need to understand that there are real people behind the profiles on Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn and Twitter.
- Summertime Blues by Eddie Cochran (1958) Social media networks make it difficult to be blue since they enable participants to connect with their family, friends and social media tribe. For example, on the 24/7 Twitter chat, the gang around the virtual water cooler is always welcoming.
- A Summer Song by Chad & Jeremy (1964) While this song is about saying goodbye to a summer love, social media, especially with some of the enhanced features of Google Plus, enables people to keep their real life relationships alive spanning long distances with a sense of immediacy.
- Suddenly Last Summer by The Motels (1983) Like this song that talks about the fact that summer doesn’t have to end, social media allows your communications to stay alive and accept interactions in lapsed as well as real time.
- Surfer Girl by The Beach Boys (1963) Social media doesn’t discriminate. Both men and women can surf to their heart’s content.
- Summer Breeze by Seals & Crofts (1972) By contrast to this song talks about simplicity and clarity during the Vietnam war, social media platforms require a level of transparency.
- School’s Out by Alice Cooper (1972) With social media’s transparency and ability to deliver messages quickly, you need to train your staff tasked with social media execution to understand how to use these platforms effectively to build your business. The reality is that a college student with a popular Facebook page isn’t going to cut it. Additionally, you can’t overlook the fact that there’s always something new to learn as the platforms and networks continue to evolve.
- Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days Of Summer by Nat King Cole (1963) Want to be entertained? Check out YouTube for it’s share of entertaining and funny videos. Many musicians use online videos to break new songs and build a fan base.
- Summer Love by Justin Timberlake (2007) This danceable hit underscores that music like social media continually reinvents itself.
- Saturday In The Park by Chicago (1972) Social media isn’t limited to online social media networks. Social media connects participants and brings them together in real life. The #UsGuys are a great example of this.
- Summer Girls by LFO (1999) Initially, social media networks targeted the college set like this song.
- California Girls by The Beach Boys (1965) Regardless of where you’re from, it’s possible to use social media networks to locate your friends, classmates and/or others you want to associate with. Once you do you can build your own social media tribe.
- Summer by War (1976) With social media you don’t need to cruise around town like the lyrics of this song suggest. You can engage with your social media posse without every leaving your computer. If you do venture out, you can connect with them via a variety of location based services.
- Under The Boardwalk by The Drifters (1964) This song brings to mind those social media lurkers who are reticent to come out and show themselves on social media platforms.
- Summer Of ’69 by Bryan Adams (1985) Since social media is no longer just used by teens and twenty somethings, this song could be written for social media’s Boomer users.
- In The Summertime by Mungo Jerry (1970) This song let you dance to your own drummer. Similarly, social media empowers participants to be themselves. In fact, many businesses hope that their customers will share their feedback and other creative content.
- Boys of Summer by Don Henley (1984) While social media’s used more by women than men, it’s the men who dominate the top of the social media lists and blogs. Maybe it’s their love of techno gadgets but don’t let that fool you, the women can teach the men a thing or two about how to communicate.
- Summer Nights by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John (1978) While this song is an evergreen classic that makes it onto playlists for bar mitzvahs and karaoke bars, for an effective social media marketing strategy, you need a variety of content, particularly evergreen content that continues to attract new readers.
- Surfin’ U.S.A. by The Beach Boys (1963) Just as the Beach Boys only surfed in the USA, despite other great locations in the world, some social media platforms are targeted to special interests such as Ravelry or Spiceworks while others are open to a mass market.
- Hot Fun In The Summertime by Sly & The Family Stone (1969) At its core, social media is about, well, being social and having fun just as this song says.
- Summertime by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (1991) Just as this song’s rap style is a special form of music, social media microblogging platforms use their own abbreviated language.
- Endless Summer Nights by Richard Marx (1988) On social media platforms, there’s no need to pine for the summer. Conversations and content are served 24/7 365 days a year on social media networks. They’re communicated in real time and in lapsed time. Further, you can schedule your communications to be distributed all day.
- Surf City by Jan & Dean (1963) Just as this song talks about gathering at Surf City, the same is true of social media networks, which account for one out of every four and half minutes online according to The Nielsen Company.
- Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini by Bryan Hyland (1960) While a bikini was daring in 1960, on social media platforms, it’s what you communicate and share. Of course, if you or a friend uploads and tags photos, that’s another matter.
- Wipe Out by The Surfaris (1962) For businesses, whether you have a social media presence or not, one disgruntled customer can cause your firm to wipeout. To this end, it’s advisable to monitor the social media landscape, have social media guidelines, and create a crisis management plan.
- Summer In The City by The Lovin’ Spoonful (1966) This song could be the theme for Meetups and other real life gatherings. Don’t underestimate the ability of social media to start and enhance real world connections.
- California Gurls by Katy Perry feat and Snoop Dogg (2010) Unlike this song’s breathy vocals, on most social media platforms it can be difficult to get the audio. Don’t let that hold you back since you can use your cellphone, camera or computer to shoot a quick video that can be uploaded or imbedded in a variety of social media sites.
Just as the warm rays of summer make it easy to get out and meet people, so do social media platforms. The difference is that the social media networks continue to provide connections and content 24/7 all year long.
Are there any other summer songs and related social media lessons that you’d add to this list?
Happy marketing,
Heidi Cohen
Here’s a related article about Elvis Presley.
Photo credit: buckle1535 via Flickr.
