the Creative Strategy Agency, Inc.

Social Media Storytelling: Narratives to “Shareatives”

Ken Wong — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:00:48 +0000

Podcamp Western Massachusetts Board. Photo courtesy of Seth Kaye

The 5^th Annual Podcamp Western Mass, an “unconference” dedicated to social media literacy, rocked the Kittredge Center at Holyoke Community College on March 30, 2013. A dizzying amount of panels and informative sessions occurred where knowledge and ideas served as currency. I was fortunate enough to attend a hard-hitting seminar, moderated by Leslie Rule, concerning narratives in social media and how humans translate storytelling into digital realms. Here are some of the findings we explored:

“Language shifts energy and how we perceive meaning” – Bill Weye (@billweye)

Internet communication consultant Bill Weye raised the salient point that words can dramatically alter the temperature surrounding a subject and its intended perceptions. He highlighted the recent controversy involving the National Rifle Association and the spectrum of definitions regarding “assault rifle.” Individuals and companies must be aware and knowledgeable of connotation, denotation, and context in crafting messaging.

“You have to be the best at recovering.”

Narratives on social media inherently belong to everyone else. Social media narratives are all part of a larger ecosystem, “a cumulative narrative.” There are individuals, groups, and companies at the smaller levels. A wider perspective re-frames the picture to include industries, spheres, and the societal zeitgeist (re: cultural pulse). The ability to adapt and evolve is a fundamental necessity to successful storytelling on social media. A simple example: plenty of local businesses have seen the effects of Yelp! smackdowns. Commentators with the most persistence, strongest voicing, and most mobilized audiences will dictate the course of a story which may have your organization playing catch up and damage control. Brands must remain consistent to core tenets and values if they want any meaningful conversation to stick.

“Social Media Narratives” moderator Leslie Rule

“Do what’s comfortable. Do what’s doable.”

Being the best at recovering means a superhuman commitment to social listening and reputation management. For many small businesses, this requires an astounding investment of time and labor which is not realistically possible. Steve Swanda (@SteveWanda) offered the advice that knowing where your audiences are will help determine where you should spend your time (quality). Don’t jump on a platform just for the sake of being there (quantity).

Takeaways (tl;dr):

Understand the tone and phrasing of your words or you risk misinterpretation.
You are not the only author of your story.
Successful storytellers punch and counter-punch. They change, fit, and transform to the dynamics of each situation.
Speak consistently in whichever avenues you choose.

Remember that conversation within a context serves as the real road map for building a story. Truly valuable exchanges occur when organizations understand the capabilities of each technology and how their audiences consume information.

How to Use LinkedIn Business Pages

Alfonso Santaniello — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 14:21:02 +0000

Your Social Media Crisis Plan on Marketing Crunch

Alfonso Santaniello — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 19:10:58 +0000

For more on a Social Media Crisis Plan, click here.

How to Use Vine for Marketing

Alfonso Santaniello — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 16:06:24 +0000

Here are three things you need to know about Vine, Twitter’s new mobile video app, when utilizing it for marketing.

Marketing Crunch W.1 – Facebook Graph Search

Alfonso Santaniello — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:27:21 +0000

Click here for the full article!

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Facebook Graph Search And Your Business Page

Alfonso Santaniello — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 14:54:49 +0000

Facebook announced a big change recently, it’s new graph search. I know what most are thinking, “Facebook is changing again?!”. But this change is different. The new Graph Search will focus on four things: people, photos, places, and interests.

So what does this mean? It means local marketing is going to change… again. Facebook’s new graph search is going to allow Facebook’s members to easily and quickly find the best local businesses – according to their friends, and other locals. Facebook will highlight the services and businesses that your friends like, use, comment on, and respond to like restaurants, salons, retail stores and more. Local businesses have already jumped on the social media train, but now it’s not just about presence. It’s about engagement. It’s about maximizing social visibility with stimulating content, visual and/or text, and about social media optimization. So no longer will you have to worry about search engine optimization, you have to start working on social media optimization.

So what do you need to do to get the ball rolling?

1. Likes: With little Likes, it’ll be hard to appear in social search. And while the “$50 for 5,000 Facebook fans” looks great, they won’t translate to business because they won’t be truly local. Do you have a lot of likes but no interactions? The more active, engaging and interactive you are with your followers, the higher chance of your business being found on local search. Facebook will be looking at a wide variety of social signals when determining what to show users in response to their search queries.

2. Social Presence: Facebook is becoming more than just the number of Likes you have. Being active, having good content, and participating regularly are all key. You need to engage your customers somehow and get them to participate. Increasing your engagement will increase your visibility, so interaction is the key. How do you increase engagement? You create creative content… and more of it.

3. Visual Content: Visual content is basically replacing text content. With photos being one of the biggest search results in Graph Search, what visual content are you showcasing? Are you updating each post with a photo? Photos are the most engaging content you can post, compared to video and text. And with Instagram now being a part of the Facebook family, you can surely expect Instagram photos to be included in the next generation of Graph Search.

For a long time, local businesses that have been dedicated to growing a loyal, responsive fanbase by both doing great work and being active in engaging local people via Facebook are best positioned to win at the new social media optimization. All and all, Facebook has changed the way people search for their friends, businesses and people around them. Now, how are you engaging with them?