Social is NOT Storytelling

***This blog post is dedicate to Mr. Christopher Bartik at Gemalto.

News Alert: You are not telling a ‘story’ with social media posts. Every ‘storyteller’ may want you to believe content is a ‘trend.’ I challenge you to tell me when content was ever NOT important, or sorry, I mean when ‘content wasn’t king’.

There’s a time and place for every story (see: BLOG). And sure, everything about a company’s ethos can (or you can make the argument for ‘should’) be reflected in anything ‘client-facing’.

But please don’t think you’re telling a story on Facebook. People aren’t going to your page to see your posting diary. If you’re lucky, they’ve paid enough attention to ‘like’ what you had to say, and if you’re good, they’ve even shared your post. Imagine what it takes you to share a post. It either is a) flattering to you (see causes.org) or b) flattering to you (see Oprah Winfrey).

Each post now needs to be a ‘call to action’ in disguise. Funny or useful—start there. Add on top of it that no one who intended to go on Facebook, Google+, Instagram, etc wants to be directed to another page. You have to create an environment that’s conductive to sales. Maybe not directly but instead of storytelling, make it memorable. Memorable enough for your sales cycle (what Facebook likes are now) to grow organically.

So lose the ego, and you’ll be a better marketer. Leave the stories to real writers, filmmakers and poets.

And this could all change tomorrow. Two years ago, you could tell a story on a social channel. Now, there’s an art to a post. If a ‘social media expert’ tells you need a storyteller, tell them to save it for VH1. Social is NOT storytelling; social is personality.

END OF STORY