Do you remember that as a kid you would never sleep without listening to the little stories that your mom and granny would tell you? Years have passed, and we tell those stories to our kids now. That’s the power of stories. They make us feel connected and they are always a great success because of good narration. Years have passed, but people’s connection to good narration never seems to fade. An infographic by Idigic- Social Media 101 – How To Turn Your Small Business Into A Huge Enterprise tells us that it is possible to connect to users on a personal level by sharing the day to day happenings and difficulties you face at your company.

Today, the concept of storytelling is widely used in online marketing and again it’s proven to be a big success. To illustrate it with an example, let’s say your friend had just bought a new mobile and he is happy with it. He tells you about the features and why it’s the best phone in its price range. You take the phone in your hand, and have a look at it and then you start thinking… “this could be the best gift for my wife. I have to buy this for her”. Here, your purchasing decision was influenced by your friend’s review and not a salesperson ‘buy now’ pitch.  

What if the friend in this scenario is a company that’s actually selling (but without selling) the same product. Wouldn’t it deliver better results? Now that’s what effective brand storytelling is all about. Here are some tips to brand your company more effectively on social media.  

1. Know your BRAND POSITIONING

Before you start promoting your company on social media, there is a pretty good chance that people already have a predetermined outlook on your business based on your previous promotions or customer reviews. Now, it’s important on your part to understand what people are saying about your business and why. This is called knowing your brand positioning.

The reason why you should know this is not to stay in the same level but take progressive steps to develop over time and give a unique personality to your brand.            

2. Think about the CORE VALUES of your company

Before tossing any marketing stuff around on the Internet, make sure to determine the requirements and basic values of your company. Ask yourself if the essence of your story aligns with the values of your company. If so, then go ahead.             

3. Why YOU are telling your story

What do you wish to accomplish through your story? Do you wish to cement your brand’s position in your customers’ heart? Are you looking to get your name registered in the mind of new audience? Well, targeted stories are the ones that lead to more leads and sales for businesses.        

4. Know your AUDIENCE

Before the social media era, it took a lot of time and effort to get a brand’s story out to the world. But now, it’s not quite hard to post an awesome story and be seen by millions of customers from around the world.

Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean storytelling success is a piece of cake. Failure is common if you tell your story to the wrong audience. Take the first baby step by filtering out groups and communities where your target audiences are most active. Even if you have only 1000 people to tell your story to, do not hesitate to go ahead. If you wish to look outside of social media, then retargeting could be a great option. For this purpose, make sure to look into demographics and accordingly narrate your story to the people. This increases your odds of connecting with them.       

5. Make sure your story is WORTH SHARING

The aforementioned points do have their own benefits, but this one needs more attention. Before sharing your story, think from a customer’s perspective and analyze the possibilities whether the content is worth sharing or not. Does your story connect with your audience on an emotional level? Are they impressed? Is it worth sharing with friends? Does your story elevate the interest of your audience to learn more about your products and services? Once you tick off these questions, you will be in a better position to create shareworthy content.

6. Get your customers to TALK about your story

One of the most effective ways to increase the shareability of your content is to talk less about your own stuff and instead make your customers talk more. Make sure your story acts as a window to let the people know how your business will make a positive difference in their lives. User-generated content on social media can help take your marketing success to the next level.

7. LEVERAGE the benefits of viral video marketing 

A picture might be worth thousands words but a video… it’s worth a million. Videos are the future of Internet marketing and as we have seen in recent times, a lot of brands have been able to drive their audience’s attention by using viral video marketing. Probably you could use your videos to show the human side of your business and connect with the audience even better.   

8. Use TOOLS

Considering the huge number of social platforms people are using today, it can be really hard to run a targeted storytelling campaign on every network. This is where tools can prove to be invaluable. All you need to do is find out where your target audiences are spending more time (using tools, of course) and find the marketing gaps and put your story out in those areas. Facebook’s “Milestones” and carousel ads are a couple of great options you can tap into in order to reach the right audience.

9. Be CONSISTENT and AUTHENTIC

Have you listened to people narrate stories and change the details multiple times even before it’s over? This is one of the wrong ways of telling a story. It creates confusion and loss of trust. Make sure you outline the complete details of your story even before the first part is out. Always be true and honest when you share stories relevant to your brand.   

Remember these tips and develop a story that is truly narrative, interesting, and worth sharing. You’re on road to success.

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