by: Jamey Brown

When you watch a bad movie, the first things that jump out to you are typically a bad plot, poorly developed characters and/or bad acting. Social media does not have much to do with the latter, but plotting and character development are huge aspects that translate into having a good social media strategy. How? Why?

1. Branding is storytelling. Social media helps bring this story out with multimedia and writing.

2. There are various stories with each brand or organization – both behind the scenes and on the front lines. What the hell does that mean? Well, brands have internal stories about the people behind the brand. Don’t ever be afraid to tell that story. A brand’s “front lines” story is the one everyone sees on the stages of Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, YouTube, etc. on a daily basis. It is the character, logo, cause, etc. we connect with as a fan or follower.

3. Storytelling creates consistency. Fans and followers will return to your channels if they are interested in what is happening in the brand’s story.

4. It increases engagement. People want to interact with characters and plot lines they can relate to. Having a brand’s story connect to someone’s lifestyle is the ultimate win.

5. It’s just plain fun. Remember, storytelling is an art form. People enjoy sitting down and listening to something with a beginning, middle and end. Albeit, I would not advise creating an end anytime soon! Let fans and followers in on your brand story so they can get hooked.

Which brands do you think have the best stories?