Build & Grow Your Brand With Micro-Storytelling - Fundamentals of Social Media Micro-Storytelling

Standing out on social media and being memorable is getting more challenging. Micro-Storytelling is one way to be different...

Standing out on social media is becoming more and more of a challenge. Algorithms, platform features, and creative tools are changing and developing at great speed.

It is easy to feel overwhelmed and lost. Navigating social media has become a complex endeavour as change is still accelerating.

One thing, however, that has remained constant over hundreds of thousands of years, is storytelling.

The playing field has changed. The art of storytelling has moved from long-form storytelling in books and movies to micro-storytelling on social media.

Storytelling principles have remained the same, but the delivery has changed.

Storytelling is still one of the most powerful marketing tools – but it has changed its shape.

In this article, I am exploring the phenomenon of micro-storytelling and how you can use it to build and grow your brand on social media.

What is Micro-Storytelling?

Micro-Storytelling is a form of storytelling that involves crafting concise and engaging narratives that work within the limitations of social media and are part of your overarching brand story.

In other words – you are serving bite-sized stories at numerous touchpoints to contribute to the whole picture of your brand.

Why Telling Micro-Stories?

However short – stories connect on a deeper level. They engage humans differently than other social media posts like polls, educational posts, sales posts, motivational quotes, or fact sharing, just to name a few.

Stories ensure bigger information retention, they fascinate because of our natural proclivity to storytelling, and they trigger emotions.

Stories take the audience on a journey that leaves them changed by the story they have consumed. There’s always learning within a story that aids the audience to move closer to their goals and closer to your brand.

Micro-stories are strategically contributing to the overarching image of your brand with snippets that add to the bigger picture. They are a vehicle that contributes to your thought leadership, the culture that you cultivate around your area of expertise, and your personal and business brand.

Lastly, social media information consumption habits require shorter content (as does the character restriction that some social media platforms have imposed on posts).

The Challenges of Micro-Storytelling

Just as writing short and impactful content, it is harder to tell micro-stories, because…

You need to fit a whole story into a very limited space
Every sentence has to be meaningful
You have to follow the 3-part structure of a story in a limited space
You have to limit yourself to delivering one core message
Each story has to be aligned with the overarching brand story
You can’t embellish your story with many details
Your audience has to be able to see the story’s relevance in a glimpse

In essence, you have to have absolute clarity of your message and construct your story around that – without any fluff.

That requires you to have some knowledge about:

Storytelling theory
Your audience’s needs
A clearly defined brand
How to write a strong hook
Ruthless proofreading & editing

If you miss out on any of these points, then I advise you to fill these gaps.

The Kind of Stories Your Audience Needs to Hear

When telling stories to build and grow your brand, your stories always have to be related to your brand. Even personal stories serve the purpose of giving your audience a detail that tells them something about you. Your beliefs, values, struggles, causes that you support, things you stand up for and against, your personality…

Anything that helps your audience to relate to your brand on a human-to-human basis. Stories are a connection point for your brand and the services that you deliver. They are essential for building trust.

You can do that through stories that help your audience to…

Be or become someone
Have something
Build skills & knowledge
Change their current mood
Trigger reflections that lead to deeper insights

Anything from personal stories to client success stories goes. The only caveat is that each story has to have a significant message and add another piece of understanding or knowledge that they need to succeed.

Achieving Brevity

Just like copywriting, micro-storytelling is easier when you follow the 4 C’s of writing:

Clear
Concise
Compelling
Credible

With that in mind, you can craft micro-stories that your audience will read, engage with, and remember.

And over time, these stories will take your audience through their customer’s journey.

In Conclusion…

Today, micro-storytelling is becoming a must-have skill that sets you apart from other content creators. It requires some knowledge and practice but when used skillfully, it is extremely powerful in helping you attract the right people to your brand, position your brand, and grow your brand.

If you have questions about micro-storytelling and want to hear more about how you can use it in your content marketing and fit it into your content strategy – then send me a message and we can talk!

Categories: Brand Messaging, Brand Storytelling, Branding, businessfoundations, businesskills, Content Creation, Content Creation tips, content marketing, content writing