Narrative can best be described as “a spoken or written account of connected events; a story”.
We all tell ourselves stories about who we are, what we do, where we have influence … the list goes on. Too often, though, I find clients struggling with connecting their branding and their identity to their social media channels.
You Are Who You Are
You are the sum total of your background, your experiences and feelings about those experiences. So, take a moment to run a brief audit on every experience you had with social media channels…
Were they positive, negative, or both? When you first got on social media, did you feel confused, uplifted, depressed – or did you feel like you could own the world?
The way you first feel about something often filters into future action, so take a moment to reframe your thinking about social media.
A great examples is taking ‘Social Media is a waste of time’ and turning that thought into a positive – ‘I will use Social Media as a tool to grow my business’.
Once you figure out your feelings about social media you will be well on the way about breaking down the “myths” or “barriers” that are holding you back in social media, and instead can replace those false beliefs with beliefs about “how” social media can work for your business.
After all, social media is here to stay.
Get Clear On Your Branding
Just like you have a business card, and a website, so too, you need a social media presence.
No, you do not have to be on all the platforms. If you are on the platforms though, please make sure your branding truly reflects who you are and what it is you do.
Quite often there is a huge disconnect between what I see on socials and then meeting those same highly qualified, professional and experienced business owners in person.
If you’re confused about your brand, your audience is confused with you.
So get clear on your brand guide (style guide, colour palette and brand voice), and do a quick audit of all your channels.
- Are your colours, style, branding in sync with your authentic self?
- Or do they seem confused, or like they have multiple personalities.
A great tip I tell clients is to open their wardrobe.
How does it look? Are their multiple colors or a triage of simple items and colors? Using these colours you can craft a look and feel that is all yours. For example, my wardrobe really only has blue, black, white and pink in it and I love traditional, rather than modern, classics. This is the style you’ll regularly see on my channels.
Share Your Story
Your audience won’t remember your business, won’t remember your product and won’t remember your name. What they will remember is YOUR STORY.
Be clear with your audience through addressing their needs and understanding what keeps them up at night and then sell them your brand through story.
Let me give you an example…
I have a client who sells courses and programs in investment. They were struggling to connect with the outside world through their online presence and marketing. Finally I sat down with the business owner and asked him what impressioned him to start the business.
He shared not one, but several stories of times in his life early on when he was “put down” by family members about his dream to have more money and a better lifestyle. I told him to share these stories on his social channels. Through doing this, it allowed his audience to authentically connect with him and helped him get more clients as his audience started to understand his true motivations for his product, as well as the fact that he was “just like” them, once upon a time.
Hate Talking About Yo’Self?
Don’t we all? The answer to this is DON’T. No one wants to know about your qualifications, your resume, your Ferrari (just kidding…but not really).
Here’s what they want to know: How You Are EXACTLY Like Them.
- How you were in their shoes once and what you did.
- How you overcame the challenges and obstacles in their way, and how they can too.
- How you built your thing from the ground up.
When your clients connect with you on that deep personal basis, the know-like-trust equation has started, meaning those customers will start to become your best online friends and buyers.
If you are struggling to convey the value that you offer the world, I’d ask you to be vulnerable, authentic and honest.
Look at the achievements that you’d like your audience to know about and then tell the story that led to those achievements, as well as highlighting the highs and lows of your journey (good things never come easy!). Clients will easily understand what your achievements have been but they will also see you as an authentic and real brand because you are simply sharing story instead of “bragging” about what you have done.
Admit your mistakes, and challenges and be real about how you got to where you are and why you decided to start your business to begin with…. What was your defining moment when you thought – “yes, I am going to throw in the towel and follow my passion!”
So, how do we sell that?
Once you have defined your Top 1 to 3 stories about yourself and your business that showcase or highlight your success (remembering that success looks different to everyone – and sometimes even just launching your business is the success story!) then get them out there on the channels. Repurposing is the key.
Select every channel where your audience is watching. From one blog post, you can create shorter posts for Instagram or Facebook; from one video you can create YouTube videos, post in your groups or have transcribed and turn into a blog. The possibilities are endless.
Honestly, the world needs YOUR STORY on social media so that they can authentically and honestly connect with your brand, learn more about you and choose your business based on your unique, authentic and trustworthy connection with them.
CONNECT WITH DANIELLE:
Facebook: Social Media Supermum
Instagram: @socialmediasupermum
Website: www.socialmediasupermum.com
ARTICLE BY
DANIELLE ARKIT,
SOCIAL MEDIA SUPERMUM
Danielle Arkit, the Social Media Supermum is a mumpreneur who created and grew her online business to $10K days while managing two kids under the age of three and a husband away half the year with no babysitters.
Danielle is passionate about teaching mumpreneurs how to get their priorities right, book out their diaries and attract leads effortlessly to their businesses.
Danielle holds a Masters of Business Administration with majors in Marketing and IT and has over 20 years experience in strategic and digital marketing. She works with e-commerce, service-based and coaching businesses to empower them in understanding and implementing marketing strategies to get and close leads into sales.