Recently, Coca-Cola® pulled what would have once been known as a “stunt.” These days, it is nothing short of marketing genius: The Happiness Machine. Click over to YouTube to watch the video

The event happened on the campus of St. Johns University in Queens, New York. A Coke machine appeared to be on the fritz in the student union and instead of stealing your money, this machine was defective in your favor. A student would put in their money and an ice-cold Coke would plunk down. Then another unexpected plunk. Followed by another. And another. And another. The bewildered and amused student would then begin passing out Cokes to other passers-by. Giant grins would appear on everybody’s faces. And all of this is captured on film.

But that is not the end of it. This fun, guerilla event is then posted on YouTube and then it goes viral. Somebody tweets me about it. I write a blog on the event. I e-mail the link to a few friends. And pretty soon, just like the generous Coke machine, the marketing message just keeps on flowing and flowing. No stopping it.

Integrating Social Media into your marketing mix is essential these days. But it is not just something you tack on. It is something you strategize and maximize. It is something you get creative about and you leverage. And it doesn’t take a giant brand like Coca-Cola® to do this. Social Media is the great leveler. Every brand has access to it. The question is what are you doing about it? Get your company thinking about ways to turn to Social Media. It could turn Social Media Marketing into a happiness machine of your very own.