Craft your company’s story using social media
Like any form of marketing, content marketing is fiercely competitive. Not only does a business have to compete with other marketers, but also all the other users constantly vying for attention. Within ten or so years, social media marketing has skyrocketed to the top form of advertising, with 71% of marketers stating that it’s a very effective marketing tool.
With that in mind, it’s important to stand out from the other fish in the pond.
One of the best ways to capture the eyes, minds, and hearts of users is through brand storytelling.
What is brand storytelling?
The two main things to have in any story are a plot and characters. Within the plot, you need an inciting incident and then a goal for the characters to resolve the issue. In brand storytelling, one can understand those two things as the need that the business is fulfilling and the target consumer.
No matter how complicated the plot or what storytelling devices are used, the basic synopsis to any brand storytelling always ends up the same.
The story then is set thus:
Our protagonist, the target consumer, has a problem. They go on an epic hunt for the resolution, a great MacGuffin chase. Your service/product is the MacGuffin, the thing that resolves the problem.
Important things to keep in mind for brand storytelling
Not everything regarding brand storytelling goes without saying. It’s good to keep in mind a few “rules” to stick to when you’re crafting a story.
It’s not about you
It’s the most important rule. Just as your service shouldn’t be about you, your brand storytelling shouldn’t be about you either. You’re trying to solve other people’s issues. When you frame your story, always remember that. It’s about meeting the needs of others, not about getting your take home paycheck.
Of course, there’s the unspoken truth of it all: It is about the paycheck. But it’s best to take part in the masquerade and dance around that reality. Unless you’re so good a storyteller you can effectively wield cynicism as a marketing tool, breaking the fourth wall in such a way rarely works.
You must build an illusion around the customer, that the company and its services are there for them in specific. It’s there for that single person’s problems, to meet that single person’s needs. And the more you can bring them on board with that illusion, the more you’ve captured their custom.
Define the audience
In crafting a good story, you need to define who’s reading the story.
When I teamed up with someone to write a story collection, our first question was: Is this is a young adult or adult book? And the second, for hard core fantasy fans or for newbs?
Each one of those further defines what kind of story you’re going to tell, and furthermore *how* you’re going to tell it, including non-story aspects, like what kind of media you will use, the colors, the images, and so on.
The most important marketing meeting you can have with your staff is on defining that target audience. Then when you have a good example of that target audience, you can create the principal character, who is your ideal customer.
This ideal customer becomes your main protagonist. In all the stories you craft, the commercials you broadcast, the pictures that you release – they’re all shaped around the needs and wants of that principal character. Again: Not around you.
Bring the consumer into the story
If you’ve crafted the principal character right, then the consumer can already recognize themselves in that person.
You can also pull consumers into your brand stories by getting their own stories and broadcasting them. Ask for customer stories and how your service or product solved their issues. With real people, tagging and displaying them, you give the message to others that you have successfully done what you have promised to do. And that message is the number one intention of all marketing, isn’t it?
Choose the right medium
The world is constantly expanding with new venues to tell your stories. Magazines, journals, and even television are becoming less and less relevant. Social media has risen to the top and is constantly expanding.
There are still the big three lakes in which to cast your rod though: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. TikTok is another productive pool. Each story has its own corresponding media, or you can craft a narrative that spans and uses all three/four.
Writing your story
Both Facebook and Instagram have strong advantages in storytelling: You can write as many characters as you’d like. With a simple ad, you might want to craft the message to cut off before the “Read more” hits.
But with storytelling, go beyond. The more you can grab attention with that lede line and get the reader to click on that “Read more”, you’ve already ensured a certain level of engagement. And rest assured, the algorithm is watching.
Twitter of course, limits you in characters, but the hashtag tool, and using it to bring people into your story, is that much more effective.
Filming your story
With TikTok, along with Stories on both Instagram and Facebook, you’re able to create short, visual stories that can build brand recognition. Keep in mind it’s not about your product, make stories around our imaginary protagonist.
Podcast it
Don’t discount podcasts. Podcasts are both a great and popular tool for spreading your story, and also an easy tool to create engagement. Getting high profile customers to be featured on your podcast is often a fairly easy thing. Also feature any contractors you’re working with, and the podcast will automatically expand to their audiences as well. A fantastic way to build word of mouth.
#Hashtagit
Use hashtags. If you can craft a relatable story, maybe something about the problem (without mentioning the product necessarily) and get people to start using the hashtag on their own, you’ve already created a powerful marketing engine.
With hashtags, people begin telling their own stories, and using your hashtag. When you’re ready to reveal the relation between the hashtag and the product, you’ve already got thousands of stories and people to pull from.
Brand story (not about what you offer)
The one time you can flex the rule of “it’s not about you”. Tell your brand story. Make it personal. Make it so that people can relate. The days of the cold, faceless corporation are over. People now want to know who’s behind the business – in the case of smaller businesses – or at least how the business empathizes with people.
If the business is small, this is easy. Tell the stories of the founders and the team.
If the business is large, it becomes more difficult. The business needs to engage with social issues *that reflect its brand*. Off-brand issues that don’t make sense don’t help promote the brand. But if the issues are on brand – for example a faucet company donating to Habitat for Humanity – then social issues can be powerful tools that don’t come off as mere pandering. And most importantly, it humanizes the company.
Don’t forget your soundtrack
If you’re doing video editing, be sure to not forget about your sound. Music is another mighty proponent in crafting your voice and mood.
Smartsound Cloud has a large list of audio tracks at your disposal, and each track is easily adjusted to your content. You can change both the mix of the instruments and the length with just a click of the mouse. Check it out!
Wrap up
Don’t get lost in your social media marketing. Craft a story. Create your character, build your plot, and engage that audience. Use all the tools you have and always listen to the customer. It’s about them!
