26 Apr It’s Time to Tell a Story.

It’s a question that has haunted marketers for generations, and seems to have only been amplified in the oversaturated digital age – how do you get your consumer to stop and pay attention to what your post or tweet has to say? Even better, how do you convince the people scrolling through their newsfeed on their lunch break to spend precious moments clicking through to your content? The answer is something we thought we left behind in Kindergarten – Story Time. Whether they’re buying a home or picking a face wash, your social audience wants to hear a story not a sales pitch. And in an era where consumers can cherry pick the brands they allow in their newsfeed, the only way to successfully engage them is to give them what they’re looking for.

There’s nothing new about storytelling as a marketing tactic. Fans of Don Draper in Mad Men know that his storytelling abilities were selling everything from cigarettes, to shirts, to cars, to his own persona back when the only tweets came from birds. And his real life counterpart David Ogilvy used that same story telling to create some of today’s best-known brands. But as storytelling makes its resurgence, instead of a 30 second radio spot, a man in an eye-patch, or the tagline on a print campaign, your story needs to be able to stand up to critique and stand out among its competition. To be truly successful, your story needs to be cohesive and Individual, while also being simple yet substantial across multiple platforms.

Cohesion

Just like branding standards, the story you’re telling through your social media efforts is a large part of your company’s hallmark. Taking a measured approach to all aspects of your social posts – think longform content, images, graphics, post language, and video – will create a recognizable brand that your fans will seek out. And, taking that brand ‘offline’ to incorporate with print and other traditional advertising efforts will only serve to bolster your story.

Individuality

It’s not enough to have a story to tell, that story needs to be individual. Think back to your brand statement – what is it that makes your brand so unique? As long as it’s authentic and inoffensive, social media is the best place to push your brand to the hilt. The nature of social media is such that you don’t necessarily need to worry about your story having a broad, all-encompassing appeal – be over-the-top about who you are, and you’ll engage the audience who is looking for exactly what you’re offering, and it’s likely they’ll attract others like them to follow you too.

Substance and Simplicity

Not every brand is going to have a heart warming (or wrenching), story to tell. But, every brand can craft a substantial story that makes engaging with the page worth the user’s while. Don’t just make up a story you think will sound good – users will see straight through that. Instead, think of your strongest sales pitch and ask yourself how that sales pitch came to be. Now you might just have the basis of your story. And keep in mind that social media has curtailed the consumer’s attention span, so while there needs to be some depth to your story, the overall theme of the story should be simple to catch, even when the user is scrolling through a feed.

If you’re looking to tell your story on social, let Idea Associates help! Click here to visit our website!
 
“Story” (CC BY 2.0) by  DaveBleasdale