The Art of Storytelling on Social Media: Building a Connection with Your Audience
Social media is one of the most powerful tools in your marketing arsenal. Social sites like Instagram and TikTok allow you to show the human side of your brand and connect with customers. They also give you a chance to express your creativity by using the art of storytelling on social media and prove that you understand consumers’ needs.
However, building a connection with your audience takes time and effort. This can be frustrating if you’re new to the social world and are struggling to create engagement with your followers.
Boost your chances of going viral by leaning into the art of storytelling on social media. Approaching social sites as a storyteller will foster stronger loyalty in the digital realm and convince your followers to stop scrolling. Telling a story on socials adds value to your audience’s life and helps you build a stronger brand presence, too.
Tools for Storytelling
Effective storytelling on social media requires proficiency with a host of content-creation tools. Fortunately, most of these tools are intuitive and user-friendly. Get started by using tools for graphic design, post-scheduling, and content generation like:
- Canva: Potentially the most powerful free photo editor online, Canva lets you edit creative assets without a subscription. More powerful options are available if you want to upgrade to the paid version of the app.
- Hootsuite: Hootsuite is a social media management platform that lets you schedule, edit, and track posts. It’s perfect for small businesses but can be scaled up as your brand grows.
- Brandwatch: As your brand grows, you need to know what’s being said about your business. Social listening tools like brand watch keep you up to date with mentions so you can pivot your storytelling to better reflect your audience’s values.
These tools help you produce content that resonates with your audience. This is key if you want to tell a story using your social media presence. Lean heavily on tools like Hootsuite to schedule your posts and track your engagement. Once you’ve gathered some insights, start to plan video-based short-form storytelling content that packs an emotional punch.
Video-Based Content
Video content is king when it comes to storytelling on social media. Creating videos online is easy, too. You can use built-in tools to shoot and edit your content within the same app where you intend to post your production.
Before you start to shoot short films, try to get into the mind of your audience. What kind of content will they want to see? What will resonate with their interests and values? This kind of empathetic reflection is key if you want to publish story-based content that piques your audience’s interest.
If you’re struggling to understand your audience, try to cultivate empathy by actively listening to them. Conduct surveys and encourage customers to fill out feedback forms. Empathizing with your audience increases your emotional intelligence by putting yourself in their shoes and being self-aware of how your decisions and actions could impact your audience. This ensures that you don’t accidentally publish content that offends and helps you build a sense of community.
Creating Community
Social media encourages community building and high engagement. As a social media manager, you can tap into the power of community-based sites by organizing groups associated with your firm. And these do not have to be traditional social media hubs like Facebook or Instagram. For instance, Discord is revolutionizing online spaces by providing the following features on its servers:
- Bots: Automated programs that moderate serve and protect users and provide additional information for folks on your server.
- Message Filters: This helps you maintain your brand image and helps you maintain a safe digital environment.
- Integrations: Discord can be integrated with YouTube, Spotify, and Twitch meaning you can push social content straight through your Discord server.
Folks who join the server can play games, instant messages, and video calls, and share their screen while on your server. Leverage the power of community by creating an authentic brand image for your business. Authentic, emotionally driven social media posts encourage people to participate in your brand story and join your community platforms. This naturally increases engagement online, as folks who join your Discord server care about your company.
Remember to reward folks who embrace your business and champion your brand story. These followers bring new customers into the fold and are usually highly qualified leads. Treat them right by following up on story-driven content with prizes and giveaways for folks who engage with your content. This builds brand loyalty and shows customers that you care about their participation online.
Using Data
Data-driven storytelling may sound like an oxymoron. However, if you want to make the most of your social presence, you need to follow up on story-based posts with data analytics. Data analytics gives you objective insights to guide your progress and track your reach and engagement.
Start leveraging data by making the most of in-built features. Most social sites have their internal analytics pages that will give you access to raw data like impressions, reach, engagement, and follower growth. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook use the meta-suite, which can be integrated with the rest of your business analytics, too.
You can also use data analytics to stay up to date with trends. This is particularly important if you want to tell a story on sites like TikTok. Use the TikTok Trend Discovery page to find out which sounds and influencers are making waves today. The Discovery page is powerful if you need to publish a few more posts this week but are completely out of ideas.
Similarly, you can use analytic tools to track competitor’s social presence. This is important if you notice that they are pushing story-based content that outperforms your own. Pay attention to the subtle differences in post time, length, and tags. Addressing these factors can ensure that your post gets seen by as many people as possible.
If you’re an experienced social media storyteller, consider investing in tools like HootSuite or SproutSocial. These programs give you access to more advanced analytics like amplification rate, social share of voice, and virality rate. This is key if you want to continue to outperform the competition with story-based content as your business grows.
Conclusion
Social media gives you a direct connection with your consumers. This is key if you want to build engagement by using the art of storytelling on social media. Start by investing in simple tools like Canva and Hootsuite. Next, conduct some market research to find out which stories will resonate most with your audience. Track the success of your posts online and try to replicate posts that produce the most engagement for your profile.
