What’s the difference between your company and your brand? Simply put, your company is what you do, what you make and those who your rely on to make it great. Your brand is who you are. It’s the way customers and consumers recognize you and think about you. It’s the image that pops into their head when they catch a glimpse of your logo. Or how they perceive you when they see or read your name. Your brand goes deeper than just a product or a corporate logo. Your brand is a story. And how you tell that ongoing narrative is what sets you apart from competitors.
In many industries, competitors offer the same products, or provide the same services. So what sets yours apart? What makes you unique, and worth the customer’s time, money trust and confidence? Moreover, what’s the best way to demonstrate this to your customers? What methods can you use that your competitors aren’t already using?
Here are three new content ideas that boost engagement and can help you tell your brand’s story in a whole new way.
1. Hold Group Discussions and Interactive Chats. With the rise of social media, telling your brand’s story doesn’t have to be a one way street. The best way to get your audience engaged in what you have to say is to include their input. Twitter in particular provides a great, simple way of doing that.
Choose a couple of key members from your company to talk about what they do and why it’s important to your company, and to your customers. Have a moderator ask them questions on Twitter. And give them teh freedom to answer. Honestly. Be sure to choose a unique hashtag, so your audience can follow along with the discussion as they participate.
Invite the audience to use the hashtag to submit questions and observations for discussion. The moderator can glean the best ones and ask the experts to address those issues immediately. This way, you can start a dialogue, in which your audience isn’t just listening to your brand’s story, but actually participating in it.
2. Use Live Video Streaming. Both Facebook and Twitter now allow users to broadcast a live video stream to their followers. Twitter uses Periscope, while Facebook has its “Go Live” feature. There are a number of different ways you can use livestreaming to tell your brand’s story. In fact, part of the appeal is that it can be tailored to fit with your brand and your followers.
Some brands use livestreaming to do a video Q&A with their fans, similar to the interactive Twitter chats. A rock band can livestream footage from a concert, to promote their new tour. A small business could show what’s going on at the trade show they’re attending and get the opinions of some of the people they’re meeting there. Another company could offer an inside look at their offices, factories, etc. showing behind the scenes of what it is they do and how they provide solutions customers are looking for.
The key is to make it an event and get people to anticipate it. A lot of people and companies don’t announce to their followers ahead of time when they’re going to “Go Live.” Or if they do, it’s only an hour or two in advance. By planning out your next livestreaming event and telling your followers what to expect and when, you help to build anticipation, ensuring more viewers and higher overall interest in your brand and what it’s doing.
3. Make Your Customers’ Stories Your Own. One of the most effective ways of getting your customers involved in your brand’s story is to intertwine the stories. And, one of the biggest benefits of doing this is they are the most believable.
- Take customer testimonials about how your brand has impacted their lives, and turn them into easily sharable images.
- Film customers talking about their experience with your brand, or get them to submit their own videos. Here’s a great example of how we shared unique stories from contestants participating in the Pillsbury Bake-Off, using video they shot in THEIR kitchens! It’s one of our favorite brand storytelling videos.
If the customer has a story, reenact it in a fun way, with their narration underneath. Invite your customers to share your stories about your brand. Integrate those stories into your brand narrative in fun and interesting ways to help foster a real, emotional connection to your brand.
These are just a few ideas on how you can use the latest tools and techniques to tell your brand’s story in a unique and compelling way. The way the story is told is just as important as the story itself, and the best storytelling techniques are the ones that can become part of your brand’s story.
Experiment. Find the methods that work for you, your audience and your buyer persona, Then make them their own. After all, it’s your brand story. You need to own it!