Why has the concept of brand storytelling become such a hot topic in company conference rooms around the world? Quite simply companies have been forced to look at their marketing efforts from a different perspective than was necessary prior to this age of business social media. Fighting for consumer attention on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube requires a commitment to connecting with the public on a human level, treating the concept of brand as a living, breathing and evolving thought-leader and source of daily inspiration. Establishing this emotional connection with your targeted base of consumers is what separates you from your competitors. It is the only way to build a community. It is the best way to build brand loyalty. The mantra of our social media agency is that every brand has a story. However, not all brands have done a great job at telling it.

Content from companies merely pushing product features and benefits like an infomercial is just an annoyance to the people these companies should be doing whatever it takes to recruit into their social media community. In this age of social media marketing, each and every company fighting for consumer attention must keep in mind that consumers are scanning their social media streams to remain connected to their family and friends. This is not the place to directly sell products. It is, however, an exceptional opportunity to share thoughtful and well-crafted brand storytelling with your consumer.

Brand Storytelling with Purpose

Any company seeking to develop their brand storytelling strategy must first make sure they know the moral to their brand story for social media. In other words, is there a higher purpose beyond selling products and a brand image? Brand storytelling can be as simple as sharing what inspired the genesis of the brand and how their customers continue to inspire innovation and improvement. The purpose might be to become the disruptive educator in your industry, providing continual streams of information that genuinely benefit people, their lifestyles and the family and friends that surround them.

The brand purpose is the foundation of brand storytelling, that without which, your company will develop the inclination to push and sell. When the focus is on being authentic and real with your audience, positive results such as lead growth, online conversations and improved brand perceptions will naturally follow.

Brand Storytelling that is Relatable

If your brand was a person, would you want to hang out with him/her? Brand storytelling should strive to be relatable. We surround our daily lives with friends and co-workers that we relate and identify with the most. Consumers pick the brands they follow in much the same fashion. If we’re going to spend our precious time with a brand each week on social media, the brand must feel relatable to our personal identity, our personal lifestyles, and our personal interests. Even the most boring and technical of industries can infuse their brand storytelling to the level of being relatable. No one wants to watch a pretentious brand video telling us about how awesome they are. We want video marketing with real people sharing passions and interests that we can relate with.

Brand Storytelling with a Strategic Brand Personality

Has your brand taken the time position their brand personality relative to the rest of its competitive landscape? It is quite common in certain industries where every company just falls in line with the perceived status quo for their brand personality. What they miss is the great opportunity for their brand storytelling to stand out from the pack with a strategic brand personality.

Below are the five dimensions of brand personality that your brand can decide to use for its brand storytelling strategy:

Brand Personality #1: Brand Competence

Brands with the personality of brand competence exude intelligence, success, reliability, and expertise with their brand storytelling.

Brand Personality #2: Brand Sincerity

Genuine, honest, wholesome and cheerful come to mind for brands showcasing brand sincerity.

Brand Personality #3: Brand Excitement

Who doesn’t love a little excitement in their social streams? Brands focusing on brand excitement are playful, daring, imaginative, and spirited with their content.

Brand Personality #4: Brand Sophistication

Charming, refined, elegant, and poised are the attributes which highlight brands with brand sophistication as their brand storytelling personality.

Brand Personality #5: Brand Toughness

Is your brand powerful, forceful, potent and/or outdoorsy? Brand toughness might be the personality choice for you.

Is the brand storytelling in your industry presently using one of these five dimensions? Can you imagine your brand carving its own path with a brand personality unconventional to its industry?

When we develop social media content ideas for our clients, we are guided by what we call the “4 E’s of brand storytelling.” Is the content EDUCATIONAL? Is the content ENTERTAINING? Will the content be ENGAGING enough to spark social media conversations? If the first 3 E’s are accomplished, the content should be EASY to share on social media. We can do all the profiling and targeting of your content to reach the appropriate audience. However, the strongest link for your brand and conversions on social media occur when we reach people that SHARE and TAG this content to their friends that they personally know are in the market for what your brand offers.

Brand storytelling and a social media marketing strategy are completely dependent on one another. Without quality brand storytelling, your social media community has nothing to share with their friends, families, and co-workers. These social shares can make a huge difference in who ultimately gets impacted by your brand story.

The Key to Great Brand Storytelling

It doesn’t matter how often a story has been told in the past. The objective of brand storytelling is to retell the story BETTER than what we’ve seen, heard and experienced before. If your brand can accomplish this successfully, your story will seem as though it’s the newest idea ever presented! That is the genius of brand storytelling.

The possibilities are wide open for brand storytelling on social media. It’s an exciting time for brands in all industries to make an impact much larger than the usefulness of the products and services they provide. Is your brand finally ready to share its story with the world?