Imagine you are faced with the decision of purchasing one of two products. They’re identical in price and features. One bills itself as the “all-in-one tool for all your needs.” The other comes packed with a story about the ethics of its founder, and how the company is trying to change the industry for the better.
Some consumers will go with Product A for its straightforward product description, but the emotional resonance of Product B makes it a more compelling purchase.
Brand storytelling is a way to shine a light on all of the amazing aspects of your company, values, people and more, expressing these in relatable ways to your customers. And Twitter can be a powerful medium for telling this story.
Why Storytelling?
Telling your brand’s story on Twitter is a fantastic way to connect with your audience on an emotional level. It goes beyond describing features and touting price. Storytelling is about passion – passion for a product, a service, a customer story, employees… whatever the core of the story is about.
How to Tell a Great Story on Twitter
It might seem daunting to tell a compelling story in just 140-characters, but it can be done. Here are some tips for telling a great brand story on Twitter.
1. Highlight the change
Stories are not static. They change, grow and adapt. Think back to fairy tales, great novels or your favorite movie – each of them takes the audience from Point A to Point B, with plenty of great “stuff” in between.
A brand is not necessarily a story on its own, but think of the ways your brand has changed over time. Consider some of the challenges it has faced, some of the opportunities it has risen to, and some of the people whose lives it has touched.
2. Create a character
It is extremely difficult to tell a story without a central character. Your audience needs something or someone it can relate to, and whose eyes the story can be told.
Branded stories can choose to create a mascot to tell a story, or go a less obvious route like using its customers to tell the story. If the brand itself is the character, you will have to give it all of the aspects of a flesh-and-blood person for it to be relatable – beliefs, attitudes, desires and more.
3. Time it right
Stories unfold over time, and nowhere is this more important than on Twitter. Because Twitter is real-time, stories must be told strategically. Tweets too close together will become a burden to your followers, and too far apart might make the story difficult to follow.
4. Use multimedia
While many great stories of the past have been told using text alone, why limit yourself? Leverage all of the multimedia that is available to you to tell your brand’s story, from photos to videos to memes to graphics. Multimedia performs well on Twitter, and it will help give your brand’s story more depth.
(Once upon a time image via Shutterstock)
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