When customers are on the lookout to purchase a new product or service, they will probably think back to the posts and ads they’ve seen on social media. A long list of brands will pop up in their mind, and they’ll have to make a decision between them. How do you make sure customers not only think of your brand, but that your marketing message comes to the forefront of their mind when they’re thinking about purchasing what you offer?
If you want your brand to stand out to customers and potential leads, you’ll need a clear brand message. Consistent storytelling is the key to improving your social media marketing strategy, making your business stand out and strengthening your brand identity. The StoryBrand Framework makes it easy to weave a story around your brand’s message and pull customers in. Here is how to apply the StoryBrand Framework to your business’ social media strategy.
Developing A Brand Story For Social Media
Developing your brand’s story is the first step to creating a social media strategy that keeps customers interested. By creating a story in which your customers can insert themselves, you involve them in your business and help them understand the benefits of what you offer. You can use the components of the StoryBrand Framework to create a social media brand strategy that works in the long-term and draws customers in.
Understanding The Customer (The Hero)
If you want your customers to stay engaged with your social content and to care about your product, your customers should be the star of the show. In other words, your customers are the hero of this story, and the hero invariably has a goal. The hero is where this story begins, and they need to be able to see themselves in the context of your story and your business.
In order to develop the character in your story and garner their interest, have a good idea of who your customers are and what they’re seeking. Otherwise, you may find yourself posting content that doesn’t reach the people you’re hoping for, or creating content that doesn’t fulfill your clients’ wants. Understand what your “heroes” are seeking in their journey, and what place your product takes in their story. This way, you avoid posting irrelevant content and only post media that aligns with your customers’ wants, questions and needs. You can focus on the platforms where your clients typically post and view content. You can even change the times and dates you post to better align with what times your customers are online if you know them well.
Solving The Customer’s Problem
The main character of your business’ story – your client – should have a goal, but they will likely also have a problem that gets in their way of achieving that goal. After all, what is a story without some kind of conflict? When you define the conflict your customers are facing, you put yourself in a position to clearly communicate how you can solve that problem.
Maybe you sell digital marketing services and your customers’ problem is that their website hasn’t been updated in two years, therefore netting them fewer visits and sales. This is the problem, and you have the solution. Now that you have clearly communicated what your clients’ problems are, you can address their needs more directly in your social posts.
Positioning Yourself As The Guide
Once you’ve fully understood the role your customers play in the story, you need to understand how to position yourself and your business in the context of the StoryBrand Framework. You may wonder what role you play, considering the customer is the hero of the story. The hero of the story isn’t looking for another hero, though; they’re looking for a guide. Your customers are seeking a solution to the problem you’ve identified, and you are there to help them reach their goal, not do it all for them.
Your social media strategy should be focused around depicting what you can do for the client, not what the client can do for you or what you want to do. Forceful advertising also tends to prove ineffective. In other words, your social media accounts should not only address the client, but explain to them why your content matters to them.
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Offering Customers The Plan
Now you understand the characters in your brand’s story, from your customer as the hero to your own role as the guide. So how do you position yourself not just as a guide, but as your customers’ guide? How do you show them you can help, and that your solution works?
The answer is simple: provide a clear, concise plan that explains how you can help the hero reach their goal. Your social posts should either describe this plan or explain why and how your plan could help the customer. This way, they understand not only what you offer, but how you’re going to provide it. This increases your authority, and helps customers understand that they can rely on you as the expert.
Expressing The Call To Action
Every story has a call to action, and it’s usually a very clear one. For example, Harry Potter didn’t venture out to fight Voldemort simply because he wanted to; he needed to in order to save the Wizarding World. If he didn’t fight Voldemort, disaster and chaos would have ensued.
As with every good book and movie, your brand’s story needs a clear call to action. Customers need a reason to act, or they’ll stay idle. Going back to our earlier example, if you provide digital marketing services and you know your customer’s site hasn’t been updated in two years, their reason to act is that they are losing customers because potential leads can’t find their site. Explain these drawbacks to not working with you in your social posts, and clients will realize that they don’t just want your service: they need it to succeed.
Ending In Success And Preventing Failure
Customers deciding to take action isn’t the last chapter of the story; businesses will need to explain how their service continues to help their clients grow, long after the initial purchase is over. Understand how your product will improve or change your clients’ life, then convey that information to them.
Social posts are a great way to explain how your product or service brings forth success for the consumer. Success stories, testimonials and other real-world examples of success that make for great posts on almost all social media platforms.
As a StoryBrand Certified Agency, we can nail your message so your social media tells a powerful story and attracts new customers. Schedule a call to learn how a clear brand message will improve your social media.
