Posted by Everything that conveys something more than it shows — gathers our attention. Undoubtedly, social media has elevated its game through marketing that talks more about the brand than just mediocre advertisements. Social media storytelling has become an innovative and effective method to connect with the target audience.
Since it is the era of small businesses and budding startups, social media has provided a platform for high-quality marketing powered by content and aided by algorithms. For the most part, stories help people feel like they’re part of something larger than themselves.
Social media storytelling has become very popular amongst large and small organizations as a marketing tool. Many companies use it to make announcements, entice audiences to upcoming events, connect with customers, and share more insights about their company plans.
Let us read more about social media storytelling and explore ways to do it the right way.
Why does storytelling matter?
We’re all primed to enjoy a good story because we’re human. Putting ourselves in the main character’s shoes aids our comprehension of complex ideas. It stirs up our emotions and awakens our sense of human compassion. Since it has long been shown to hold people’s interest, storytelling has emerged as the most potent digital marketing tool available today.
If you don’t give people a reason to care about your product, you can pitch it all you want. Show them how your product can improve their lives by placing it at the story’s center. You stand out more on social networking sites than a commercial ever could because of that extra layer of emotional value added to your product.
However, you need to consider and work on various factors, such as choosing the best time to post on social media, developing a strategy for using stories across various platforms, creating effective content for storytelling, etc.
1. Visual synchronicity of Instagram
The quality of Instagram’s visual content will be the first thing that stands out. The stunning visual synchronicity of each image reaches out and grabs you. A top-down view of the feed shows a story that each image is a chapter of, one that is as beautiful on its own as when seen as a whole.
According to the current trends, some of the most popular and successful brands on social media have carefully curated collections of beautiful images on the internet.
As a result, the Instagram app’s UI and UX are designed to showcase images in perfectly symmetrical squares. It’s a polaroid photographer’s dream come true. Consider Facebook as a counterexample.
The world’s most popular social media platform has visual quality, with stunning cover photos and striking product photography, all finding a place on the site.
Instagram prioritizes photo quality, while Facebook prioritizes the message over the picture. With just a pretty picture, you won’t get far.
In comparison to Facebook, Instagram has a more closed ecosystem. As a result, many small businesses and startups choose Instagram to commence their advertising and marketing journey.
Snaps and videos can only be shared with friends via Facebook or Messenger, but not within Instagram’s app. When it comes to sharing photos on Instagram, each has its worth. Unlike Facebook, where images can be shared and reimagined by other Facebook users, this is a more private experience. One can write interactive lines and headlines to personalize their content.
How to go about it? You can reward your Instagram followers for using your branded hashtag by reposting a few of their best photos or sending a small gift to the person who submitted the winning entry.
2. Building a social media business community by storytelling
If you want your audience to pay attention to what you have to say or show them, you must do so engagingly. To keep someone’s attention on social media, you must be able to pique their curiosity in the few precious nanoseconds you have at your disposal.
Knowing how effective storytelling is as a branding and marketing strategy, let’s think about the kinds of stories you can tell your followers on social media in order to foster a sense of community around your company’s online presence.
Explaining what you do, how you do it, and why it’s important is an effective strategy for connecting with your audience and establishing a human connection with your brand. To have a variety of interesting and varied content to post on social media, break this down into a series of posts. For this purpose, many businesses use a social media management tool to organize their posting schedules.
Finally, it’s time to put yourself out there and show the world who you really are! Authenticity and honesty are the only ways to create the kind of connection, trust, and relationships that people crave.
3. Develop a connect
Everyone is intrigued about what’s happening in others’ lives. Introduce yourself to your online audience. What sets you apart from the rest? Incorporate photos of the people who make up your company, especially yours! This will not only generate leads but also help in retaining the existing customer base and improve customer engagement.
Explain why you believe in your company’s values rather than simply stating them. Don’t just ask for a donation if your company supports a particular charity. Clarify why you believe in this cause and why you support it. Understanding how to create an infographic and using it to connect with your audience can go a long way on social media.
When you open up about your business goals, you’re helping to bridge the gap between your company and your customers. To better connect with your customers, you’re giving them access to your company’s inner workings and stories. You can also create private videos to help you present your message clearly. Using effective video marketing strategies, you can create a better impact.
4. DM (Direct Messaging)
Some companies do use email marketing for follow-up. However, in email marketing, there are a lot of factors like Gmail apps, email verification, and email deliverability which make the process time-consuming and the trends have changed since the mode of communication is more effective when done on social media. Moreover, reaching your audience on social platforms has a personal appeal.
Hence, more e-commerce businesses use DM as a quick and real-time follow-up. As much as it’s great to celebrate success, and you should, it’s also important to share the less-than-shiny moments with your online audience because it helps build empathy and relatability.
5. Customer-led content
As an online business owner, it’s important to recognize and reward those who contribute to the success of your organization. Your audience will become more familiar with your company and its employees if you post content like PowerPoint templates that focus on them. In addition, it makes you appear more like an organization than a business.
Tips, insights, and advice — share what you’ve learned along the way and detail the experiences you’ve had to learn them.
Don’t just share a testimonial; go into detail about your customer’s experience. How did you help your client overcome their obstacles? What did they hope to achieve and value most?
Promoting customer-led content will help you convert more sales in the long run because people tend to follow those they admire. There are numerous conversion tools that can help you turn your posts into monetizing and make them market-friendly.
6. Recognize the importance of user-generated content
People of all ages and demographics value user-generated content (UGC) more than traditional media.
That’s because it’s made by people who are devoted to your brand. These statements are taken to be free of bias and sincere. Nearly half (47%) of millennials and 36% of baby boomers say they trust user-generated content, while only 25% of both groups say the same about brand-created media.
Users are also more likely to trust user-generated content than any other form of media. Shoppers are influenced by Instagram photos more than two-thirds of the time (72 percent) compared to direct messages. Seeing the reviews of other actual users is more enticing to the audience these days.
Consumers are more likely to believe user-generated content (UGC) than traditional branded content. You don’t have to wade through a sales pitch, and it has more of human touch.
Key Takeaway
Storytelling is what enthralls a community and gives brands a voice in the marketplace. Simply informing potential customers about your brand’s mission and values through a compelling tale generates curiosity and trust; it is not designed to generate sales but rather to pique their interest and capture their attention.