Why do people like, share, or comment on social media? People want to engage with beautiful, relatable, or socially significant posts. Social media marketers try to find the sweet spot that people will share. It turns out that one of the most effective tools is also the least-used. Using real people’s stories creates compelling content that converts.
The first step is observation. Notice what content your target audience likes in other sources. The second step is application. Observe what your customers like and are like, and then apply it to your product.
Here are 4 ways to create compelling customer stories.
1: Tell potential customers’ stories.
Creating compelling content sometimes requires taking a stand, as Dove recognized. Dove’s ad campaigns tell stories with an agenda. Women who are not actresses are speak for the brand in order to market to women who are not actresses. These women are placed in situations where they can voice their concerns about universally-applicable subjects, like beauty and femininity. Customers then associate Dove products with more than functionality — buying a Dove product can be a social statement as well as a commercial one.
2: Ask for customer stories
AirBnB curates almost all of its content. This increases consumer engagement as well as taking the burden off marketers to produce the majority of content. B2B marketers say that the biggest challenges in creating content are that it takes too much time (43%) and 33% say it is too labor intensive. For AirBnB it makes sense to ask for images of places to stay and some of the hosts. This can generate leads, better relations between the hosts and the centralized leadership, and keep existing customers coming back for more.
3: Tell visual stories.
A lot of brands do a “takeover” where a popular influencer posts from the account. Laura Ashley, an English decor and fashion brand, did a takeover with a popular British influencer. Almost all of the posts by the influencer got twice as many likes as the brand’s other posts. Telling visual stories through a “takeover” produces awareness for the influencer and your brand. Fans of the influencer will click on your posts and potentially even buy, when they may not have heard of the brand before.
How do you know what your customers would most enjoy seeing?
4: Conduct case studies.
Survey existing customers to get a sense of what they value from your brand and what new content they would like to see. Polling your existing customers is a useful tool for customer retention as well as future lead generation. Know what your audience likes and give them more of it.
By Esther Grace Ehrenman, Digital Editor and Strategist
Sources:
1. Tech Validate
