Continuing on the subject of storytelling and social media I thought I’d share some strategies for implementation.
Again this is all leading up to my big talk on ideas for visual storytelling at the 2017 SM Tulsa Social Business Conference later this week, I thought I’d share why storytelling on social media is so effective.
If you are within driving distance of Tulsa I encourage to attend 2017 SM Tulsa this Thursday and Friday. It’s going to be a blast!
Storytelling Strategy
In my last post, I talked about why storytelling is so effective. In this post, I hope to share a few strategies for implementing storytelling in social media by answering some common questions.
Whose Story Should I Tell?
One of the first things to consider is whose story are we telling. While every brand has a bit of a different perspective on this, more often than not the focus will be on your brand hero.
Your brand hero is your average customer, the target you are trying to reach. This is where creating customer personas can help to identify that character.
Once you have a hero you can start to build your story.
- You have a customer, his name is Luke
- He has a problem. The Empire is Evil
- Your brand is Obi-Wan Kenobi, a mentor to Luke.
- You provide the solution (product), use the force.
Be a mentor, solve with your product, tell your customers story
So, what did we learn here? Speak to your customer as a mentor ( Obi-Wan), use your product (the force) as the solution. But always remember that this is your customers’ (Luke’s) story.
What Types of Stories Appeal To My Audience?
As I mentioned above creating customer personas will help you develop a story that appeals to your target group.
It’s also okay to tell stories from different perspectives as long as the stories all have the same message.
Dove is a great example, their storytelling features both young and old depending on the story. However, their message is always the same “making beauty a source of confidence”.
Dove features women of different ethnicity, size, and age.
When Does My Story Take Place?
A lot of people are confused how to use storytelling on social media since so much of our social media feed is presented in a non-chronological order.
When developing your story you should start with the big picture, think of it in a linear format.
Then break the story into “micro-moments”. These “micro-moments” tell their own story, but are all a part of the larger story.
Where Should I share My Stories?
The simple answer to this is everywhere! The long answer is to share your brand stories on the platform that makes the most sense for your business.
If you are just getting started with social media I suggest starting off with only one or two social networks to start building a presence on.
When sharing your brand stories it’s important to understand the platform you are sharing your stories on.
Each platform has a unique way of allowing you to share your stories. For example:
- Twitter is great for “micro-moments” quick bits of the whole story
- Facebook is excellent for “passages” longer detailed parts of the story
- LinkedIn is a good way to summarize stories as with a resolve.
How Should I Tell My Story?
Digital analyst Brian Solis says that “Stories need to be meaningful and shareable”.
Stories need to be shareable
This is a two-way street, if your story is meaningful it will be shared.
How do we make our stories meaningful? We make them genuine and provide a human perspective.
Telling Your Story
Hopefully, I’ve answered some basic questions to help you get started telling your story.
The next step in social media storytelling is to develop a unique story that helps to establish your brand. How do you do that? Well, in my talk at SMTulsa, I will be sharing ideas for visual storytelling. I hope to be sharing my presentation with you guys later this week so stay tuned.
Have questions about storytelling on social media? When it comes to storytelling on social media what are your biggest hurdles?