WHAT IS YOUR SOCIAL STORY?

Your Social Story is the narrative you want to share about yourself and / or your brand. Aside from having a specific brand persona and personality, there is an element of storytelling and consistency that should be told through your social media marketing efforts.

DISCOVER

However, what is the story you would like to tell? More importantly how authentic is the story and how will it resonate with your intended audience? Are you a Real Estate Professional only sharing your current listings or industry trends? How many other industry professionals are sharing the same uninteresting content? How about sharing content with a consistent theme / story about how much you love the city you work and live in? You will still reach your location demographic but also appear as someone who genuinely has an affinity for the area, knowledgeable and can produce interesting content related to your field but not only about that. 

CREATE

What forms of media will you use to tell your story? Will you use photos, videos, blogs, infographs, listicles, live videos, the list is vast. Moving forward, videos will rule but I know for sure even producing quality photos can be tricky. In digital marketing, content is so important for so many reasons. Great, unique content encourages engagement between you and your target audience. What type of content will cause them to pause, perhaps consume the content, understand your message and ideally comment and share? People who genuinely enjoy your content will become brand advocates and support you consistently. Good content affords you a position of authority in the market and also drives people to your website, increasing leads and sales. Content that is useful to the consumer will always be valuable and keep them engaged. At the end of the day, social media is about building relationships and reaching people on somewhat of a personal level. 

share

Where is your story best told? Today's social media landscape includes so many platforms it would be impossible to reach them all, nor is it even necessary to reach them all. Choose 2 to 3 platforms where you can win and best suits your business. Visually driven businesses absolutely require Instagram as a platform. B2B professionals definitely need to build relationships on LinkedIn. Choose the platform where you can win and do it well. Decide how much content is sufficient, how many times you will post per week and at what times. Have you clearly identified your target market? Facebook and Instagram have extremely powerful targeting tools. Once you've shared, don't forget to engage! Respond efficiently and keep in line with your brand persona, but most importantly try to build authentic relationships with those you reach.