The Tactic Your Brand Isn’t Using in Facebook Video that Could Make a Big Difference
Why aren’t more brands turning to the art of storytelling in their Facebook video content?
It is one of the mysteries of social marketing that companies forgo storytelling in their digital presence. Even if you are creating branded content, telling a story can augment your message and highlight the best parts of your business. And every company has a story to tell. Whether it is the business’s origins, its community involvement, the history of its industry, or customer profiles. There are thousands of stories and unlimited angles on how to bring them to life through Facebook video.
Admittedly, the art of storytelling can be intimidating, particularly given the parameters of social media. Therefore, companies often find the “shop here” approach easier when developing a social media strategy.
Yet, the truth is companies leave a great deal of potential on the table when they choose to limit their use of Facebook video to sharing stories, instead of telling them. At Hurrah, our starting point is always “what will be most interesting for the layman?”.
If you are looking for a strategy to overcome some of the difficulties of storytelling in the digital age, contact our digital marketing agency in Singapore
Why Our Digital Marketing Agency in Singapore Believes in Storytelling
Our digital marketing agency in Singapore has developed a staunch belief that storytelling has a real place on social media and other forms of digital marketing. In fact, we feel our digital content is effective because our team is built of passionate storytellers.
Storytelling is nothing new. The art of telling a narrative is one of the most recognizable forms of human communication. Whether it is a fable steeped deep in your country’s culture or a grandfather recollecting a childhood memory, humans enjoy telling and hearing stories. However, constructing a visual story for a digital medium is different than how stories have been told over hundreds and thousands of years. Yet, it still works.
In a made for Facebook video, the audience is looking for a personal connection with the content. Generally, this is true across mediums, but when it comes to Facebook, this can be more difficult to establish. The barriers between the brand and the viewer are more substantial.
Plus, video is already highly effective on Facebook. There are more than 1.3 million pieces of content shared on Facebook every minute. It is both the biggest audience and most crowded room for your company’s content. A video is absorbing, interesting and is what Facebook users will remember, not a set of bland information.
The “Real Beauty” Campaign Takes to Facebook Video
Even though storytelling is effective in Facebook videos, few brands are delivering this visual content. One brand that has figured it out is Dove.
Dove sells soap products. Specifically, Dove sells soap products to women. In 2004 Dove rebuilt its brand around celebrating women’s natural beauty and positive body image. The longevity of the “real beauty” campaign shows how well the takedown of modern, stick-thin advertising has worked for the company.
The concept includes a series of Facebook videos that are intended to broaden the definition of beauty. How does Dove do this? By telling the stories of the women who use their brand. The narratives these women tell have nothing to do with soap or shampoo, but the content is coherent with the rest of Dove’s platform. These strong women make Dove memorable, relatable, and human.
Capitalise on Branded Content with Sequential or Perpetual Storytelling
When a company creates branded content, there is a tendency to sacrifice the storyline in favour of marketing tactics and content that references the brand. Often, digital agencies argue there isn’t room for both, given viewers’ short attention span and the limited timeframe that does well when it comes to Facebook videos.
Perpetual and sequential storytelling on Facebook provides an opportunity to provide branded content, tell a great story, and see better conversion from the advertisement. Facebook took a look at sequential storytelling in a case study featuring the women’s lifestyle website Refinery29. The case study determined that if a brand started with a narrative, before providing a direct call to action, the ad performed better on Facebook. Funneling an audience through multiple videos actually led to better return on investment.
Here is how this strategy works in a sequence. You can create a video that is brimming with personality. Allow the character to take center stage and own the visual story, without worrying whether this visual content will sell your brand. That comes later when you have developed an anticipatory audience. As the campaign draws to a close, you provide the call to action in a simple, straightforward way that as always, reflects your other branded content.
Tell Just Tell Any Story Through Facebook Video
Facebook isn’t the right platform for every story. Some stories are too lengthy or too detailed for the format; others won’t stand out amongst the plethora of Facebook content already on a “news feed.” Choose a story that is personal to your brand, fits with your broader marketing, and showcases the benefits of your company to the audience.
If your business is ready to maximise its use of Facebook video by incorporating the art of storytelling, our digital marketing agency in Singapore is ready to create the content.
Visit the Hurrah website to learn how we craft visual storytelling on Facebook, other social media sites, and across visual platforms.