There is no product without a customer and the best way to bring in lots of customers is by using storytelling. The secret truth of marketing is – ‘Great storytelling sells a product’. A meaningful story is what teaches the important lessons of life in an interesting manner. Storytelling is the art of telling your story before your audience in a manner they love the most.
One of the world’s greatest footballer, Lionel Messi had a problem with growth hormone in his childhood. This was the main reason he joined Barcelona as a 13-year-old kid. Adidas used his story to promote its brand message “Impossible is Nothing” before the audience.
When people like Messi can overcome such difficulties and become a great footballer then why can’t you? Stories like this one motivate us and make us believe in the brand. Ultimately we start following the brand and fall in love with it. This is what brand storytelling is all about. You craft a story and present it before the audience in a manner that makes your audience fall in love with your brand.
The Essentials of Storytelling on Social Media
Social media offers you a variety of options to tell your story before your target audience. There are different channels where you can share your story in a format your audiences will love the most. But, before we discuss which formats work best on which channels, let’s learn the essentials of social media storytelling. These are the fundamentals that remain the same irrespective of the social media channel you are using to share your story.
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You need a good story! This is clear and simple. Adidas used the Messi story while Spotify gathered data related to how students listen to music. Without a good story, you can’t move ahead with storytelling.
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You need to show to the people that what you are telling actually works. Don’t tell without showing them that what you are telling is actually true.
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Make sure your story is meaningful to the world. Your story should have a narrative, lots of visuals and meaningful data.
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Make your audience, the hero of the story. People like to put themselves into the shoes of their favorite heroes.
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Start your story with a problem and share insights that people can’t ignore to read or watch. The idea lies in saying the ‘unpredictable’, something that people haven’t heard of or can’t believe to be true.
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People readily accept brands that do good to others. Hence, engage in community welfare, help people and craft a story around your experience. It will spread like fire.
Top Social Tools That You Should Use
The major social tools that you need to use for brand storytelling are:
1- Facebook Posts and Facebook Live
You can share longer Facebook posts that convey an entire story. Longer Facebook posts that share the complete story receive an incredibly high engagement. Have a look at the below post from ‘Humans of New York’ that received around 129K likes, 2.1K comments and 7.7K reshares.
Another great way to receive a good response is to go live on Facebook. Dunkin Donuts shared a holiday-themed Facebook live video that had a wedding cake made entirely of donuts. The video was liked by the audience with over 44K views.
2- Instagram Stories
Instagram is the best channel to share compelling visual stories. All you need is to grab a story template and make an Instagram story to promote your business. You can share a story from history, ask your employees to share their best moments, show what actions your business is taking to help other people etc. The more creative you are, the better the response your story will receive on Instagram. Have a look at how Charity Water generates engagement by sharing visually compelling images of people who have been helped by clean water. Working on a noble cause can generate a lot of positive publicity to a business.
3- Snapchat Stories
Similar to Instagram, Snapchat stories also lets you showcase your content before a group of relevant audience. With Snapchat stories, you can create filters and set custom filters to present the most relevant content before the audience.
MailChimp, the leader in email service, shares impressive stories on SnapChat. MailChimp shares stories as a collection of images from their latest events or funny videos that can entertain the audience. Each and every piece of content is creative and eye-catching.
4- Tweetstorm
Who says you can’t create stories on Twitter? You can create tweetstorms which are a series of Tweets on Twitter that together resembles a story with a powerful message.
To create a Tweetstorm, you need to login to Twitter and click on the Tweet button. After you write your first tweet, do not click on the Tweet button. Instead, click on the ‘+’ button and compose a new tweet. Now, continue composing as many tweets as you like to create a new Tweetstorm in the same manner as I did below:
5- YouTube Videos
Storytelling will remain incomplete without the mention of YouTube. To get started, you can follow the videos uploaded by famous storytellers on YouTube like David Sandberg and Tom Smith. Notice the kind of involvement they have with their audience and what makes their videos inspiring and entertaining.
CrossFit is extremely impressive when it comes to YouTube storytelling. All of their videos convey the story and benefits of their brand. They share documentaries, tutorials, events, and testimonials all clubbed together into a great story that motivates the audience.
Conclusion
If you want to become a successful marketer then you need to include social media storytelling into your existing marketing strategy. Always remember, your stories should be about the audience and not your brand. They must help people and win their hearts. If you make your audience fall in love with your brand then you can acquire more sales in the future. Happy storytelling!