Social Pros: How to Maximize the Storytelling Impact of Your Social Media
Published on Sept. 19, 2019
In this episode of Social Pros, co-hosts Jay Baer and Adam Brown interview Kindra Hall. Not only a great public speaker and thought leader on storytelling, but Hall is also a published author and works for the Stellar Collective in NY.
Throughout this podcast, Hall talks about how she was introduced to storytelling and how social media can utilize it. After participating in a speech team in high school and winning a national storytelling competition, she looked for a post-secondary educational option that involved storytelling. Hall obtained a master’s degree in organizational storytelling, which studies how cultures develop through stories. After graduating, she got a marketing job but quickly realized that storytelling is an important part of business. She started to do consulting work and then ended up with her current occupation.
The rest of the podcast doesn’t have a main theme, so I’ve summarized some of the most valuable points:
- There are several kinds of stories: values stories, founder stories, purpose stories, and customer stories. Each brand should be conscious of what story they would like to tell, especially through social media. In that environment, Hall recommended telling value, founder, and customer stories.
- Quality and quantity: social media allows for mass production and sharing. However, Hall has noticed that some brands are not telling adequate or intriguing stories. She cautions companies to think posts out. Social media allows us to share beautiful photos or flashy videos that tell a story but the caption does too. It should build off of the media shared.
- Hall has also noticed that some companies are attempting to inflate their brand’s story to a bursting point. A story, especially for a company, should and can be repurposed. With a constant influx of new customers, you don’t need to expand your business’s story. The same story can be repeated thousands of times as long as you use new graphics and texts to tell it.
- To encourage consumer stories, ask for a story in a very specific way. Consider asking customers questions like what made you decide to try our product? What were you previously struggling with before using our product? Hall especially recommends asking customers about the first time they used something and the feelings they had then.
Hall closes with advice on how to know if a story is working. While increases in sales after a specific campaign or post is made suggest success, she says that consumer responses are indicative of a good story. When your company starts telling stories and consumers starting sharing them back, you’ll know you’ve succeeded. In other words, if your company posts something and customers post about their positive, personal experiences and gratitude, then a story is successful. There’s not (usually) an incentive for consumers to post a review on a brand’s social media, so you know that they genuinely support the brand and accept its messaging if they take the time to make a positive comment.
Published on Sept. 19, 2019
In this episode of Social Pros, co-hosts Jay Baer and Adam Brown interview Kindra Hall. Not only a great public speaker and thought leader on storytelling, but Hall is also a published author and works for the Stellar Collective in NY.
Throughout this podcast, Hall talks about how she was introduced to storytelling and how social media can utilize it. After participating in a speech team in high school and winning a national storytelling competition, she looked for a post-secondary educational option that involved storytelling. Hall obtained a master’s degree in organizational storytelling, which studies how cultures develop through stories. After graduating, she got a marketing job but quickly realized that storytelling is an important part of business. She started to do consulting work and then ended up with her current occupation.
The rest of the podcast doesn’t have a main theme, so I’ve summarized some of the most valuable points:
- There are several kinds of stories: values stories, founder stories, purpose stories, and customer stories. Each brand should be conscious of what story they would like to tell, especially through social media. In that environment, Hall recommended telling value, founder, and customer stories.
- Quality and quantity: social media allows for mass production and sharing. However, Hall has noticed that some brands are not telling adequate or intriguing stories. She cautions companies to think posts out. Social media allows us to share beautiful photos or flashy videos that tell a story but the caption does too. It should build off of the media shared.
- Hall has also noticed that some companies are attempting to inflate their brand’s story to a bursting point. A story, especially for a company, should and can be repurposed. With a constant influx of new customers, you don’t need to expand your business’s story. The same story can be repeated thousands of times as long as you use new graphics and texts to tell it.
- To encourage consumer stories, ask for a story in a very specific way. Consider asking customers questions like what made you decide to try our product? What were you previously struggling with before using our product? Hall especially recommends asking customers about the first time they used something and the feelings they had then.
Hall closes with advice on how to know if a story is working. While increases in sales after a specific campaign or post is made suggest success, she says that consumer responses are indicative of a good story. When your company starts telling stories and consumers starting sharing them back, you’ll know you’ve succeeded. In other words, if your company posts something and customers post about their positive, personal experiences and gratitude, then a story is successful. There’s not (usually) an incentive for consumers to post a review on a brand’s social media, so you know that they genuinely support the brand and accept its messaging if they take the time to make a positive comment.
Love the art of story telling. It's become a bit of a buzz word in business right now for social media as well as management. People relate more to feelings and stories...so if you can articulate and share experiences in a skilled way you can connect and motivate on deeper levels.
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