You already know how to define your business goals on social media and how to put them into a suitable strategy to reach your goal. From meticulously planning your activities using the content calendar to evaluating the results, everything should be clear at this point. Now that the basic framework is in place, let's turn our attention to the story. And not just any story, but your Core Story, which should be reflected in each of your posts.
Setting up your own Facebook or Instagram account is quickly done. Every child can post content – but do they lead to the desired engagements? Your strategy is part of every single post. But for content to be appealing to your target group, it must also be of high quality and designed with the target group in mind. Authenticity is always in the foreground. To avoid just sharing some square photos or pointless links, you need one thing above all: good stories. Your "Core Story ", which runs like a thread through all activities, can help you tell your narrative.
The Core Story, the proverbial "heart" of your company, gets to the core of what you stand for: it answers the "who", "why", "how" and „what“ of your projects. But please don't start with "We as a company...believe that..., that's why we want to provide you with the best service every day" – because this is not just about talking about yourself and your mission. Phrase the Core Story from the perspective of your target group.
Experience has shown that it is easier to get to Core Stories via topic areas. One example:
Your company produces pharmaceutical products for a specific disease X. Your Core Story is not primarily about why you are doing it in the first place. Rather, you need to think about what else might interest your target group (in this case, affected persons and their families). A little tip: Imagine your topics as the different sections in a magazine. The Core Story is their common denominator. One example:
A Core Story can already be generated from only these six topic areas:
"Diagnosis X is shocking at first. Those affected are looking for reasons for their illness. They need reliable information to help them alleviate the symptoms. It's all about addressing fears and worries clearly and overcoming them. The involvement of relatives also plays an important role. Together we can help you and your family to cope with the course of the disease. In a way that you can soon live a full life again."
Don't panic: You don't have to write articles on every single topic all the time. Choose a focus or several topics from which you can create stringent content formats. Focal points can also be set differently for each social media channel:
Many talk about storytelling, but few know how to do it properly. So let's get back to basics: Storytelling is not a new phenomenon invented by marketers. It is well known that morals and emotions can be conveyed quickly, easily and above all, memorably through fairy tales, i.e. stories. After all, strong emotions stimulate empathy – and the mind. This is where our aim is: Vivid images that the target group remembers and that arouse their interest. But what do we need for this? A recipe:
An example: Industrial enterprise Meyer
Our fictitious company Meyer is planning a webinar to introduce a new product to your target group that requires a lot of explanation: It is a complex machine that can speed up the production process up to 70 %. Of course, the company wants the audience to remain attentive to the topic from start to finish, so that in the end they will buy the product. Meyer therefore opted for the storytelling method when planning the content of the webinar. The structure is organised as follows:
Now that you can choose a variety of topics and formats from your Core Story, we should consider how you communicate them through social media. On Facebook, one genre in particular is extremely popular.
Contributions that are informative, personal, authentic and fun have the greatest potential to be shared. Facebook pages that focus solely on comedy content have exorbitant interaction rates, and for good reason. However, this does not mean that you should use this content as a template for your own content – but it is always good for inspiration! As a company you have to walk the fine line between entertainment and information. Because neither highly stylized brand videos nor slapstick will sell your product. To entertain your target group, Facebook offers videos, livestreams, surveys, 360° photos and videos as well as press-and-hold formats.
For example, we have used the potential of personal posts to launch our series "The Creative Hiatus":
But it is not only the content that matters, the frequency of the activities is also of great relevance. For most companies it has become established to post three times a week. However, this guideline is no longer entirely up-to-date in regard to the declining organic reach, as users hardly ever get to see the posts. However, it is a fact that this frequency makes it easier for you to choose your sponsored posts: you simply advertise the post that was most popular last week. Easy. If posts are published separately over a long time, the scheme does not work as well. If in doubt, you can follow this rule: One highlight post every two weeks, which you push with advertising budget. The frequency you decide on depends on the amount of your content.
While three posts per week are enough for Facebook, Instagram users demand high-quality content every day. One or two posts per day is optimal, if possible you should also upload one story per day.
Twitter is a great tool to run your own agenda setting for your brand. However, you may not exceed 280 characters per post. Little space that you need to use wisely. If you succeed in producing and sharing interesting content, you will be rewarded with loyal users.
Many company bosses are holding back on Twitter. But where does this shyness come from? This is probably due to the existing uncertainties and unanswered questions in dealing with social media. But a presence on relevant channels such as Twitter is as important as your own business card. Entrepreneurs like Elon Musk show how it's done: Communication with followers at eye level that makes you smile. This makes his account one of the most popular on Twitter, as entertainment, current information about the company and news are skillfully combined. A few examples (little warning: this level of self-dramatization and exaggeration is not suitable for everyone):
Personal opinions or rather serious reports about the company? Neither one nor the other. On Twitter, the winner is the mix of interesting content that is not limited to one tonality. The channel is a place where it is all about the exchange from person to person. So don't treat it as an extended PR department! With calculated, clinical tweets you will not establish a connection to your followers. Instead, let your followers participate in the discourse. A few suggestions:
With all this chirping, you should of course always make sure that all information is in line with your corporate identity to communicate a consistent corporate image. Training the employees responsible for this is a good start.
The right choice of words, length and the right tonality – writing posts for social media can be a real challenge for companies. In the next part of the series, we'll take you by the hand so that you always hit the right tone.
Sources:
https://kresse-discher.de/blog/ist-die-core-story-im-content-marketing-ein-missverstaendnis/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4WvHJ3X7j4
Grabs, Anne/Bannour, Karim-Patrick/Vogl, Elisabeth: Follow me! Erfolgreiches Social Media Marketing mit Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest und Co. Bonn: Rheinwerk Verlag. 2019.
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