How Storytelling Connects Us
We've previously discussed visual storytelling and its essential role in our brand and marketing. Storytelling can be a very successful marketing tool across various mediums. These include but are not limited to, visual and written media.
Traditionally, we don't think of social media platforms as places where storytelling plays a big part in the content we post. But, like in most aspects of marketing, storytelling is essential. When it comes to communication, visual or text, having a central story or message in the communication is the critical element that will make a piece successful.
Why Should We Care About Storytelling?
Storytelling serves two significant purposes within the type of content we consume. The first is entertainment. As humans, we crave stories to pass the time and be entertained. As modern humans, these stories can come in various formats across digital and analog platforms.
But the entertainment factor alone is not enough. The second purpose of storytelling is the role it plays in our emotions. Compelling storytelling makes you feel something, and it makes you care about the message being conveyed. Without storytelling's impact on our emotions as people, we wouldn't seek it out as often as we do. Music, films, and books wouldn't surround us.
The Role of Social Media
Thinking about storytelling within social media is different than when we think of storytelling in long-form content like the ones mentioned above. Instead of regaling stories about characters and their complex journeys, we're using social media to tell your brand's story.
Be it Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, or even LinkedIn, these social media channels can be used to share your brand's narratives with an audience in an entertaining and informative way. Pictures, videos, and the written word have always been vital to traditional storytelling. However, adopting this type of content into short and easy-to-consume pieces of content for social media platforms will effectively help your brand connect with its target audience. It will cause them to become invested in your brand's journey and can even influence their behavior.
How Can We Achieve This?
The first step to using social media as an efficient way of sharing your brand's story is knowing who you want to be sharing your story with in the first place. A particular product or service is not going to be for everyone. As marketers or content curators, you must determine who you want to communicate with to realize the channels you wish to achieve.
For example, if your target audience responds better to content through images and videos, your ideal platform might be Instagram or TikTok. While others prefer words, in that case, something like Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn might work better.
Above all, you need to be sharing meaningful content. No matter the platform or medium, if audiences can't bring themselves to care about what you're posting about, all the effort put into content creation is lost.
You have to look into your brand and determine what about it will make people care and what will tap into people's emotions. Consider that people connect with people, not companies or corporations. Here we talked about intent when it comes to creating content. We know that the key to connecting through social media is building trust with your audiences, so the stories we tell should reflect that.
They should highlight our humanity and willingness to reach out to people. They should bring out our values while providing some engaging and entertaining factors. Most of all, they should be authentic to the true essence of our brands. Storytelling has always been a large part of being human, and social media has just become an extension of that.
