Storytelling has been receiving a lot of hype lately both as a marketing strategy and as an effective way to engage audiences on social media. Brands and businesses are getting their stories out there – stories about their origins, their values, their customers. In this increasingly competitive landscape for customer attention and support, getting people to notice and to hear your message can seem impossible.
Digital and visual storytelling tactics such as photos, videos and infographics can help your business cut through the clutter. This seminar will detail key steps that you can take to craft your story using digital tools like social media, blogs and video.
2. About Me
Using online tools such as social
media, blogs, and email
marketing, I help small
businesses and nonprofits grow
and reach their customers and
supporters.
I offer solutions to your social
media problems – through
training and coaching.
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
3. 73% of online adults use at
least one social networking
site daily.
Facebook remains the most
popular social media site –
72% of online adults are
Facebook users, amounting to
62% of all American adults.
70% log on daily, 43% do so
several times a day.
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
Social Media Is Still Growing
Source: Mobile Messaging and Social Media 2015, PewInternet.org
4. 35% of Americans 65 and older
use a social network.
90% of young adults, ages 18-29,
use social media.
23% of online adults use Twitter.
Instagram has 400 million
monthly active users.
87% of Pinterest users have made
a purchase because of something
they saw or pinned on Pinterest.
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
Social Media Is Still Growing
Source: Mobile Messaging and Social Media 2015, PewInternet.org
10. The Myth We Were Sold
Step 1: Sign up for Facebook.
Step 2: Post something.
Step 3: Watch the money roll in!!
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
11. 3 Keys to Social Media Success
Diversification
Multi-channel
Where are your customers?
Where is your tribe?
Multiple forms of content
Video
Photos
Infographics
Stories/blog posts
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
12. 3 Keys to Social Media Success
Dedication
Slow and steady
Build trust and affinity
Spend money
Spend time
Don’t set it and forget it
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
13. 3 Keys to Social Media Success
Dynamic content
Providing value
Interesting
Entertaining
Useful
Helpful
What will people share?
Why do people share?
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
16. Why Storytelling?
People don’t
remember bullet
points.
People respond to
emotion.
Feelings, not
analytical thinking,
drive actions.
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
17. What Storytelling &
Social Media Will Not Do
Fix bad management.
Fix a lousy product or
service.
Replace other tried-and true
marketing and sales tactics.
BUT if done well, it will
augment all other efforts!
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
18. How To “Do” Storytelling?
“As the majority of corporations start thinking
of themselves as publishers, the defining
characteristic among the successful ones will
be the ability to not just spew content, but
to craft compelling stories.”
– Shane Snow, HubSpot
http://blog.hubspot.com/opinion/why-
storytelling-will-be-the-biggest-business-skill-
of-the-next-5-years
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
19. How To “Do” Storytelling?
Think of your
audience FIRST and
ALWAYS.
What is important
to them?
What will inspire
them to action?
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
21. Marketing Mission Statement
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
Home Made Simple: "Enabling women to have more
quality time with their family."
Audience? Women
What will be delivered? Quick and easy recipes,
parenting tips, party ideas, crafts etc.
What’s the outcome? Strengthening the family bond
through quality time
23. Marketing Mission Statement
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
"Welcome to Inc.com, the place where entrepreneurs
and business owners can find useful information,
advice, insights, resources and inspiration for running
and growing their businesses."
Audience? Entrepreneurs and business owners
What will be delivered? Useful information, advice,
insights, resources and inspiration
What’s the outcome? Running and growing their
businesses more effectively
24. Don’t Build On Rented Land!
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
25. Website
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
Each page leads a reader from one story to another:
Who these people are.
How these people can help.
Why you need these people.
Why you should buy.
About Us
Homepage
Testimonials
26. Marcus Sheridan’s Story –
Or, Why Your Business Needs a Blog
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
River Pools & Spas
Economy tanked in 2008,
demand for pools and spas
dropped.
Started writing blog posts.
“They ask, you answer.”
Looked at SEO.
Addressed the most
popular questions –
price/cost
27. Blog – News Stories
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
Use the news – tell a story as if speaking to a friend
Make sure it defines the problem
Encourages the use of YOUR solution
31. Blog – Historical Anecdotes
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
People or historical events that inspire you
32. Blog – Biographical Stories
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
Before the Lower East Side was cool, it was a hub for
gangs. Ursula Burns was raised by her single mother in
a housing project there. Her mother ran a daycare
center out of her home and ironed shirts so that she
could afford to send Ursula to Catholic school. She
went to NYU, and from there became an intern at
Xerox.
She's now Xerox's CEO and chairwoman. She's the first
African-American woman to be the head of a Fortune
500 Company.
http://www.businessinsider.com/rags-to-riches-stories-2011-11?op=1
33. Crafting The Story
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
1. Who is the main character? What happened?
2. Open strong!
3. Set the story in the middle.
4. A solution appears (your solution).
5. Will it work? SUSPENSE!
6. Yes, it did! Problem resolved (or getting resolved).
7. Call to action
8. Headline
34. Christina
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
Looking around her new apartment in Lynn, 25-year-old
Christina — who didn’t want her last name used —
can’t believe how far she’s come in the past four years.
During that time she’s gone from jail to working full-
time as a medical assistant and living with her three
kids.
“Four years ago, are you kidding me?” she says, as tears
stream down her face. “I couldn’t do anything, and I
know it sounds horrible. I’m sitting here crying about
something that I had control over, and I chose to
destroy it. ”
http://www.wbur.org/2015/12/01/project-cope-women-substance-use-treatment
35. George Vlagos
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
When George Vlagos was in middle school, his father, a
cobbler, would have him come into his Chicago shop
to shine shoes every Saturday. John Vlagos, a Greek
immigrant, was hoping to show his son that working
with your hands is difficult and that he should find a
different profession. Well, it backfired. When he
realized how hard it was to find a pair of quality
shoes to wear to the kind of jobs that required them,
he went back into the family business to design his
own. Today, there is a six-week wait list for a pair.
http://www.inc.com/ss/10-inspiring-small-business-success-stories
36. Pencils of Promise
It began with a question. A
small boy begging in the
streets of India. “What do
you want most in the world?”
“A pencil,” he replied.
I reached into my backpack,
handed him my pencil, and
watched as a wave of
possibility washed over him.
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
https://pencilsofpromise.org/
37. Denver Rescue Mission
There was a point in time
when Eddie didn't want to
live.
"I was standing on the verge of
death," he says.
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
https://www.denverrescuemission.org/story/eddie
38. Have A System
Always be looking for stories and story ideas.
Collect and save your stories.
Dropbox, Google Docs, Notes feature on your
phone
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
39. Where To Find Stories?
Everywhere!
Everyone is responsible!
Requires a big change of
culture.
No silos!
Get on the front lines.
Talk with people.
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
40. How To Get Good Stories
Look over all of those thank you notes!
Ask clients & customers.
Include a “share your story” page on your website.
Conduct surveys and focus groups.
Networking events.
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
41. Promote Your Stories
If you tell it, they will hear it!
Right??
Putting the stories on the
right channels and then
promoting them is HALF
the battle!
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
42. Mine The Gold
“Think of the story itself as gold. You mine the gold,
capture the story.
Then you bring it back to your office and you need to
pound that gold into different shapes and sizes
depending on whom you’re talking to, or also
where you’re telling it.” ~ Andy Goodman
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
43. Go Multichannel
Print, electronic, mobile and everything in between.
Be where your customers are, not where you want
them to be.
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
44. Channels for Storytelling
Website
Blogs
Email newsletters
Publications
Social media
Public speaking, community education
User-generated – how can you encourage your
online community to share their stories?
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
46. Use Video
Think about stories that are shareable.
Don’t say too many things! Simple is better.
1-2 minutes, lose viewers every 10-20 seconds
How will you visually tell your story?
Who will guide the narrative?
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
47. Use Video
Beginning – What’s at stake? The before
(“I was hopelessly overweight; I had
tried everything”)
Middle – What has changed?
End – What does the future look like?
Call to Action
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
48. “Here’s how to know if you’re
on the right track: if you
stop (your) story in the
middle, the audience will
insist you finish it. Isn’t
that what you want?”
~Seth Godin
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2013/09/words-sentences-
paragraphs-stories.html
49. My Two Cents
Marketing has
changed.
We can’t fight it – we
must join it.
We need to start
thinking visually.
We need to think in
“micro-content”
format.
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial
50. My Two Cents
Think of using social
media as showing
the world what you
do and why you do
it, in a compelling,
interesting and easy-
to-share way!
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial