In a video entitled Social Media in Plain English, Lee and Sachi LeFever of Common Craft introduce viewers to the fictional Scoopville, "a town famous for ice cream." For a long time, one large company dominated Scoopville's market with the three basic flavors: chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.

One day, inexpensive ice cream makers appeared in Scoopville, and the population began to experiment on a small scale with flavors like pineapple and pecan. "Soon, every kind of ice cream imaginable was being made by Scoopville's residents at very little cost," says LeFever.

"Over time, people started to think differently about ice cream," says LeFever. "It didn't always come from a factory; it also came from friends and neighbors. It became something to share, something to bring people together, something to celebrate."

Visitors poured into Scoopville, but were soon overwhelmed by the array of choices. "They needed ways to find the new, the popular, the flavors that were interesting to them." So a resident set up a bulletin board in front of his house that allowed visitors to describe his ice cream, rate it and leave messages for others. "Over time, each resident had their own board." The feedback enabled residents to improve and market their ice cream, and helped potential customers find exactly what they wanted.

The Common Craft video uses the story of Scoopville to explain social media in a way anyone can understand. What a cool summertime Marketing Inspiration treat.

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