What I remember clearly in his version is this "If you sow long enough, your idea will fall on good people (soil)". I think the same applies to the Social Media Marketer. If he/she keeps sowing the seeds, they will eventually fall on good people (soil) and give him/her the results desired. Thanks for sharing this, once again, Mike.

Imagine if someone were to speak at an affiliate conference and talk about ways to reach our audiences in a fuller and more meaningful way while putting revenue to the wayward. Those with a hard heart might look at this speaker and boo them off the stage for disregarding the fattening of their wallets. But those with a good heart might take this message and become inspired to work more as a humanitarian rather than a business person. For me this post definitely inspires me to look at this business in a more meaningful way so I can do more than just fatten my wallet.

This parable (as most of Jesus' parables do) has a surface reading that is easy to get at and expound upon. However, these parables weren't cute bedtime stories. They were (perhaps still are to some audiences) frequently loaded with insider language meant to cause a startling reaction to the original hearers (1st century residents of Galilee/Judea as well as we can reconstruct them… remember, this parable alone appears in three of the canonical Gospels and they've all been transmitted, edited, etc for the last millenia after being written down 50-70 years after Jesus might have said them). The parables go beyond simple story telling with a moral into something unqiue (hence, we use the term parable instead of story to convey that) that has a startling and unexpected hook. There's one here too.

With this particular parable, there is a fairly widespread consensus among more mainstream scholars, priests and ministers that the parable should be called the "Parable of the Hearers" rather than the "Parable of the Sowers." That has great implications for your point of the post and how marketers should approach social media.

Brad Young, a widely respected professor on the parables and their connections with earlier forms of literature from Hebrew University, says it best in his work "The Parables":

"The traditional name, parable of the Sower, focuses attention on the farmer. The whole story, however, revolves around the reality illustrated by sowing seed into four different types of land, and its title should reflect the essence of its message. The parable should be called "the Hearers," because Jesus, in a word-picture describing seeds' growth in various soils, portrays four different types of disciples who hear his teaching. Their response to the message is the primary focus of the parable, rather than the sower, who represents the preacher, or the seed, which referes to the word of God. The condition of the soil determines the growth of the seed and the success or failure of the harvest. The good soil produces a hundredfold return." (page 251)

In other words, this isn't necessarily a parable about spreading your seed around and hoping that someone will respond. Instead, this is a parable directed to people who need to consider how receptive they are to receiving messages.

So, you could still use the parable as an analogy to your point. I'd call it "The Parable of the Social Media User" and talk about the different types of users present on these platforms and how receptive they might be to marketing messages (both good and bad).

Personally, I've scaled back dramatically on the number of people I follow on Twitter (from around 3,000 down to around 80) and the number of feeds I read in Google Reader. The reason is that I'm more interested in ideas rather than egos. If you're talking about something that I'm interested in, I will find you through my Track combination of Yahoo Pipes, RSS, Google Alerts, etc. And I'm not alone… there's a big "social media" backlash coming in the next year or two as people who use these platforms heavily continue to be bothered with "contextual" advertising and brand marketing on social networks.

Just as this parable asks us to shift our mindset from the sower to the hearers, "social media marketers" need to re-consider the mindset of spurting seed all over the place and think about their hearers as well.

Somewhere in there, since I'm definitely a "less is more" type, it occured to me personally (and I mean no offense by this, and I hope I offer none) that Jesus was a spammer.

Jesus aside (perhaps in his case, they did all need to hear his message), to assume that everyone needs your message, to me, is horribly presumptuous. At times, it can also be rude and leads to a mentality that I see leaves the message deliverer yapping more and listening far less. Listening for need, hunting it, finding it, mining it, has been very productive for me in my sales and marketing career. Trying to create need, for me, hasn't. Yep, on the less-is-more-OR-more-is-better spectrum, I'm WAY over on the "less" side.

I try with high intent to understand and respect my brethren and sisteren on the "more" side of the spectrum, but to be blunt, I often feel that those at the very far end of the "more" spread don't listen very well and sometimes see the "less" end of the spectrum with some patronizing disdain. I think this is to be expected and isn't a tradegy of course, nor is my view of the "more" end. But it does come up fairly often when people ask me why I don't blog or do much self-promotion or why I choose to remain anonymous in certain places or why I do certain things for others under the cover of an NDA and so on… it's just my nature. I have a bent in me that says… do something, don't talk about it, talking is the opposite of doing it… and it's a trait shy people understand well. I've grown well beyond my childhood shyness on the exterior, but the underlying thinking is still there. Always.

And I know my "more" sistas and bros think another way, the opposite of the shy-bent… if I am to do something productive here, talking about it to others means I will do more of it, talking is an integral part of doing, so talk.

So like I said, no tradegy here on either end, just style. And style happens to make my journey full of flavors, I wouldn't want it any other way!

Baskin Robbins has over 1,000 flavors in their library… imagine how much the world would SUCK if there were just one flavor!

Social Media Marketing is just the opposite. It’s the pull of the tribe. The tribe already has your trust so the actions they take are ones you align with. On a larger scale, it’s the allure of belonging in the group as you take action together. “I am doing this so why don’t you do it with me?” On an individual level, the attraction is to behave the same way to get the same results that benefits your fellow tribeswoman or tribesman. “She looks hot! I want to look hot too. I want to go to her hairstylist” and you do. Social Media Marketing uses the power of attraction.

While advertising tries to use the same tactic, with a billboard for instance, of a gorgeous woman telling you the benefits of the salon, it doesn’t have the same impact because it’s pushing you to go. It is not pulling you in as a trusted friend. Your friends have your best interests at heart and advertisers do not. Social Media Marketing is based on building trust and that foundation will make Social Media a dominant player in Marketing.

Also, I think it's a good idea to secure your brand all over, in the event you decide to scale to a bigger presence.

A good resource for this is http://usernamecheck.com/ to see if your preferred username (stay consistent with it) is available at the various sites.

To me, a good approach is to sprinkle seeds all over and then tend to those that start showing growth and promise.

I guess it comes down to what you're comfortable with.

well done!