The same rules apply to the millennial as to the baby boomer client: To get the very best out of social media, brands need to embrace the art of storytelling. If this storytelling is done right on channels like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn, you will find that more people will follow your story and thus, your brand.
But how do you effectively create a visual story for your senior demographic brand? And exactly what is brand storytelling? By definition, brand storytelling in social media influences clients by increasing brand awareness, reach and attracts new followers. This story is how your company will be remembered. If applied correctly, with a strategic plan and consistency, the results can be exhilarating. Not always an easy task, the challenge is to figure out the best way to tell the story within the confines of your brand and translate that to social media.
The good news is that this engagement doesn’t have to be a mystery and it can be achieved. When you tell your brand narrative on social media in a way that resonates with your target clients who will use your product and services, the follows, clicks, tweets, and likes will come.
A survey by The Manifest and Smart Insights says that 24% of social media marketers are missing a formal strategy for their brand. Another 24% say building a community of followers is a social media marketing challenge. “Social media is an essential but complicated part of a business’s marketing strategy,” writes Kristen Herhold, senior content writer and marketer at Clutch.
To help you formulate a plan, here are some elements to consider:
Start with Why: Why is it important to share your stories on social media? What would success look like if you achieve these goals? What problem can you solve with your stories?
Know your audience inside and out and most importantly, what do they care about?
Start collecting stories of your customers, staff, volunteers & community. Bring the h2h (Human to Human) connection into your search. What element of joy, compassion, action does this person bring to your organization?
Craft the story by gathering together a list of questions that tease out the story from each individual. Have fun interviewing these people and then tie your findings into a story that your customers will find interest in. There may be many parts to one story and if so, break the story into small bites for individual posting that creates a full story when complete.
Turn the Stories into Google ‘gold’ to help to boost the google web with images, video, and attention grabbing taglines. Distribute the content far and wide across the internet. For example, you can take the original post, create an article and post it to applicable sites within your industry.
Create a call to action. It might be to encourage the user to answer a question that was in the post or a button or ask to connect by going to your website.
Over time, crafted content and consistency, your brand’s story will engage customers and lead to awareness and drive traffic to your website. First define what that story is, next plan and execute to make sure that your customers know too. Good storytelling always wins.
Human to human (H2H) Marketing is here to help you weed through the digital options to create a plan that is easily executed through a trusting, transparent partnership. We offer solutions for businesses that are seeking an expert in the 55+ industries including senior living, healthcare and non profit industries with whom they can collaborate and are fully invested in their success.