Communicating your brand effectively on social media is essential for building brand awareness, engaging with your audience, and ultimately driving more results for your business. The benefits are clear.
As social media evolve and change all the time, in our recent research what we have noticed is that people on the platforms like familiarity but don’t appreciate predictability. This means that your goal is to be relatable and magnetic, inspiring, consistent and also creative in the way you communicate with your audience. Using your unique authentic voice, personality, style and visual communication ensure that customers (existing and new) can identify themselves with your brand. In turn, this gives you a competitive advantage, point of difference and longevity.
Here we share 3 creative ways to communicate your brand on social media:
1. Storytelling through series
If you are working on a design project, new collection or an art series, you can create serialised content that tells a story over several posts, videos or highlights. This not only helps to create an anticipation and engagement but also gets your followers and audience excited for the final result.
Top tip: Plan your content before you start the series. Think about the points of the story that will make your audience curious and engaged enough for them to come back for more. Ask yourself: What would make our followers look forward to the next instalment? Why would they want to come back?
2. Content with a cause
Brand storytelling can be also utilised in a different way on social media. If you have a strong purpose as a brand, with a good cause attached to it, or perhaps you have something educational and informational to share, you can create a buzz on your social media account through sharing this type of content. One of the best brand examples of content with a cause is Patagonia. Through their thought-provoking imagery and educational captions they are storytelling pioneers you can get inspired by.
Top tip: If you haven’t got a firm cause, research your industry or market and find out what’s wrong with it. If you’re in interior design can you educate your audience on some “more sustainable, greener” alternatives in lighting or surfaces, for example? If you’re an artist, how about exploring the topic of toxic paint, or why you limit your art prints to a certain number? What paper do you use and why? How does these actions help people, planet and your customers?
3. Host a fun game or a challenge
Now, this might sound like an impossible idea. But bear with me. I recently came across this fun and highly engaging idea on Instagram – an interior designer posted in Stories “Send me your design dilemma and I will answer it”. Not only this gave the designer content ideas for her content bank, but with her humorous side she answered each design dilemma, giving her followers a chance to get to know her better while giving them simple but useful design tips.
If you are a small brand, a fun challenge might be a better option for you. How about getting your audience to style your products? The winner could be highlighted in Stories or proudly featured on your grid.
Top tip: Remember, customers want to feel special. If they love what you do, they want to be taken on a journey with you, and feel recognised and appreciated. If they do a good job, acknowledge them and reward them.
In conclusion, the evolution of social media platforms may continue into unknown territories, but it is clear that brands who use creative storytelling in communication will have a significantly higher competitive advantage. Do you want to be one of them?
Inside our KNOWLEDGE SHARE membership we delve into specific ideas covering each area in much more detail, giving you the tools, templates and processes which you can apply in your business straightaway. If you want to find out about it more, please click or tap here.
Written by Karolina Barnes, brand storyteller and strategist at STUDIO/ESTILA, a marketing and design studio for design & lifestyle brands, artists and interior designers.
