Guest Column: Social media & storytelling - A great mix

The ultimate reason that defines how a marketer knows what to do in the right way is his understanding of the consumer psychology, where he actually stood a decade or two ago and where he would be few years later. Marketers, yes they do get stuck sometimes with their ideas. They spend millions on direct mail, billboards, print, radio, TV, etc. But why? Many of these mediums are already breaking up in terms of getting a genuine attention of the users. Well, if you can tell us the last time you were really excited to open an email, or stopped by to look at a billboard or outdoor media or you didn’t forward that commercial then you can surely email it to us.

The value proposition is not the same as it used to be. There used to be a day when consumes were excited to buy a particular item on online stores or e-commerce sites at half the original price, but now you do not show any interest to such offers and actually mark it as spam before it even hits your inbox because you have been already bombarded with lots of them since years now. The solution? What would one do when the ROI of billboards, television and emails deteriorates in comparison to what it was in the early 90s?

It comes down to a fact that every single marketer is a storyteller, it becomes their job to tell their value proposition, give value and ask for business, what their story is to the customers along the lines of purchase. Period.

And therefore, to be a good storyteller one needs to get the attention of the customer to get that chance. And to be very precise, their attention is shifting, shifting at a very fast pace. Time and attention have now become like commodities, which are the most valuable in the game.

Now, when you talk about social media, many marketers just treat it like a distribution channel and another medium or way to shower the consumers with the same messages. They are missing the fact that social media networks are the platforms or mediums with actually a two-way conversation.

For instance, if one looks at Twitter, it is nothing less than a cocktail party of the internet. And what makes one a great cocktail party guest is not talking about oneself all the time. In fact, to be clear, more percentage of tweets should engage with other users, which, in turn, brings value to your brand. The truth, rather the ultimate truth, is in order to succeed and provide a great value – learn to tell a story in each platform (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Instagram, to name a few). The most important thing is to respect and understand the psychology of what makes the Facebook user different from a Pinterest user and more from an Instagram user.

Storytelling is something more than just telling the story about your brand. When it is about social media storytelling, it is way more than just promoting the brands on social media platforms. Authentic brand stories not only symbolise the brand, but are unique and in turn motivate the people to engage with your brand, talk about it, share and ultimately purchase it or entice profits. Storytelling is knowing in reality what your audiences want. It is about relationship building. Determining the core story of the brand first will help you know who the audience is, how their interaction with the brand is, what and how many people are talking about the brand, how your brand differs from that of competitors, your social response parameter and time, etc.

People find value in platforms and those who cannot tell their stories on today’s social media platforms are the ones that will go out of business sooner or later. Storytelling on social media and marketing have now blended together and play on the fans’ emotions. With these stories, brands connect with their readers on a more human level. Future not just holds churning out content, but also crafting compelling stories. So, are you ready to strike a chord by making your brand voice resonate with the consumers on social media?

We all love stories, right? Whether it is around a campfire, or in a room with friends or on a phone call with an old friend, we love it all the time.

If so, then what about leveraging this most basic aspect (of storytelling) of human nature to your advantage on social media?

In order to go ahead with digital storytelling on your social media platforms you need to keep in mind a few things.

Your brand needs to tell a story
In order to stay connected with your audience or customers you need to show your brand’s human or personal side, your brand needs to tell a story. The brand personality should ideally resonate with your fans on social media. While doing so, make sure you don’t make the brand voice too personal and also ensure that whatever you are sharing, you are comfortable with the whole world knowing what you are sharing.

Your brand’s story – Share it!
It’s a normal consumer behaviour that they usually don’t just buy brands, they largely consider the story behind brands too. Highlight your brand’s message, the story and the attributes like you do on your website and blog on social media also. When you post content keeping this in mind, then your communication builds a strong credibility for your brand and makes your content relevant and relatable with the audience.

The best way of storytelling is to actually do that!
Yes, you can do this on Facebook by converting your updates into small blog posts or narrations. And on Twitter also with a limitation of 140 characters, too, you can be amazing in telling your story encouraging more creativity. Using Instagram is another great way to tell a story. Wonder how? Just post an image with interesting captions.

Consecutive post can be another way
Sharing the posts or tweets in parts makes sharing the story a way more captivating. Consecutive post after post or a tweet-after-tweet fashion works great on social media as it builds positive anticipation for what’s going to happen next.

The next generation audience and even the audience of this generation are acquiring a great level of control over the information they see, talk about and share. Brands, therefore, should know the art of creating compelling stories to reach them.

Shifting from messaging to storytelling ensures successful brand stories, just as in the case of Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches, which invited around 150 million YouTube views in just a few months, in turn leveraging the brand’s awareness and loyalty across the platforms and within the audience.

Watch the Dove ad here…

What Dove did was, it used myth components that matched with the women that have the same thinking. Here’s a brief description of their storytelling:
• The explanation was that the society makes women believe that they are less beautiful than they are.
• The meaning was: ‘You are more beautiful than you think”.
• The story: Dove showed this through people with whom their audience could relate to.
• The result was that Dove’s story was shared across the globe compared to the competitors or other shampoo advertisements.

When brands cast their fans or audience as the hero, their story works best. For example, Apple’s “Think Different” or Nike’s “Just Do It” or for that matter Obama’s “Yes We Can” didn’t have brands talking about themselves, but their people and how great they can be. And this is what excites and attracts the masses these days and inspires them to share your brand content. And will keep doing in the times to come too.

Storytelling, therefore, is not a matter of a day; it requires great thinking and committed time & effort to be crafted. How strongly do you know your brand’ story? Do you plan to understand your brand’s core story and audience and then create a content strategy keeping in mind the brand’s core? Storytelling on social media holds a great future only if you understand the heart of your brand and tell it in a way that people appreciate it and further share. Do share your thoughts on the same and how have you made efforts to discover it!

Read more news about (internet advertising India, internet advertising, advertising India, digital advertising India, media advertising India)