5 Step Process for Social Media Success

Focusing on step 2, storytelling humanizes company. What this really means is storytelling "humanizes" or makes more cuddly a company's image, not the company itself. Humanizing the image is generally good for marketing a company's product or service. I am not convinced that this can have any humanizing impact on the company. If it could - that would be something, really would be something. And, humanizing a company's image while probably good for the company, may not be good for its customers, who will be misled into believing the company has human traits, like caring and empathy, which could well make the customers vulnerable. They might believe, for instance, that the company cared about them, which is unlikely.
This also applies to the kinship idea, in which people are feeling like family to a solely legal entity. Kind of scary.

We harvest stories by seeing what's going on in the industry and taking a different spin/approach to it. We share our knowledge and continue to learn more through research. It's a constant learning experience. Trial and error is a good way to put it.

Good comment Simon. I agree that the title was a bit off the topic of the graphic but putting that to one side, I think the basic point about story telling is a good one although its power isn't restricted to social media of course. Nor do I necessarily think that you need to harvest the stories from social media; they can be harvested from a variety of places and social media channels are just one place to use them to spark reaction and dialogue, which sparks engagement which sparks more stories etc etc. I think what's refreshing though is the suggestion of a concern about an authentic story, vs the apps, followers, and range of other paint by the numbers social media approaches.

For what it's worth (and only a mini-shameless plug here but totally on topic I think) we have a process for this that we use with small business owners called True Story Mining. You can check out our approach at: www.sydneysmallbusinesscentre.com/truestory

I think Social media has helped even the bigger companies to be amongst their audience, which wasn't possible for them earlier so easily.

Great infographic - should be in marketing textbooks across the country!

(the only change I would have made is more emphasis on the repeat...it's the most important part but it's tucked away in the corner)

I like it though, a lot. People spend a lot of time talking about how social media levels the playing field, but this shows another side - how big companies have a lot to gain from social media.

Excellent, excellent comment. I have to say I agree with you. I struggled with the headline on this a lot more than the actual graphic. Because you're right, it's more of a consequences sequence than a step-by-step. Thanks for pointing that out. Delighted to have you as a first time visitor, and hope to see you again Simon.

The elements of this, with the focus on storytelling, are great.
But surely this is actually just one 'step' here, and the step itself isn't necessary about social media, and it is no guarantee of success?

Step one is the only action you can take. The rest are hoped-for consequences. So for social media success the big question is HOW you harvest. What type of relationship do you have with your clients? Who within your org has that relationship (could be multiple people)? How do you gather the story (informally? interviews? via SoMe?)? What about client confidentiality? ... These are all interesting and challenging questions about gathering stories. And actually none of them have to do with social media, per se. They're the basics of marketing. So the question is how is social media specifically used to gather and share those stories?

Maybe I'm reading it all out of context, I'm a first-time visitor here. But '5 steps to social media success' doesn't seem the right title for this graphic.

Love the infographic! Breaking it down like that makes it seem like such an obvious process.

Storytelling and creating content is what most marketeers forget about. When the focus is on getting more sales, social media channels tends to work in the opposite way for them. Stories, stories, stories... and TALK to your customers

You can't know how true this storytelling flow is until you do it, and as the graphic points out, repeat it! Jay, you captured it precisely as it happens, although I'd add a second flow precipitated by storytelling.

The first flow, as you said: stories beget more stories in a virtuous cycle - and stories impact sales! For those who don't buy this, take a look at this empirical experiment: http://ripple100storytelling.tumblr.com/post/1118917348/value-of-stories

But there's a second flow: stories inspire involvement and advocacy, enabling community to coalesce. I really don't think you can "build community". You can enable communities to coalesce around brands, then you can nurture and grow from there.

Stories can do all that.

Andre Yap
Ripple100 The Storytelling App | Agency

Jay,

I have actually just finished my thesis on Twitter for CRM. The results were 7 guidelines, specified for Twitter but are similar to your 5 steps. :)

Nice post. :)

Jay

Fantastic infographic. Love it. Simple yet telling. Years ago I had worked on a campaign that was all about the residents (it was fora home builder) and whoa was it a hit. It was before the birth of social media and was heavy print, tv and billboards. It had the residents buzzing, created a "have to live there" by those outside the community. People wanted to be a part of it. Taking that into social media would have only increased and expanded upon this.

Customers, clients, patients, etc are the lifeline of any business and giving back to them by making them a part of and not just a part of the cha ching empowers them. People want the attention and talk about the attention they get and then others want it too. This is not the main focus of a strategy but a part of it does make a difference.

Thanks for reminding brands that the customers need some attention as much as the product/service.

@SuzanneVara

Good infographic. Thanks for sharing.

For a full day of social media plus storytelling, watch for a Social Story Conference near you. Next one is in Greenville, SC 9/24.

Helpful infographic.

For a whole day of social media and storytelling, watch for a Social Story Conference near you. Next one is in Greenville, SC on 9/24.

I love this image. It is absolutely perfect. Well done Jay!

We are both recording and creating stories to cover both sides. One of our projects is "Mission Igniter" where I interview both Church and Cause leaders in the northwest to build a content archive of stories.

I'm a huge proponent of storytelling.

I see the process of finding stories akin to mining for gold.

You know they're there. It's just a matter of doing another digging to bring them out.

One final thought--

There can be a tendency to focus the "digging" with senior executives when the seed for some of the best stories is often buried elsewhere.

Love the infograph Jay. Humanize your business and turn clients into friends which in turn become advocates for your business. Customers are people too.

I'm a freelance B2B copywriter and I've noticed in the last year or two in particular, companies are noticing the need for customer stories. Case studies are one of the most popular forms of collateral. The Internet has raised the bar for the quality of content companies produce and the glossy, self-serving, text-heavy brochures just don't work anymore. If we want prospects to read about us and our products, we need to offer true value in a piece that either educates or entertains. Case studies offer the perfect mix of both.

Thanks Red. The key is getting companies to understand that the stuff they find boring is actually fascinating to a subset of their customer base.

Absolutely. You gotta wanna. That's key in social media. If it's not a good cultural fit right now, no amount of prodding or info graphics will fix it.

You nailed it Rick. We never had control. We just didn't have the magnifying glass to see that the way we do now.

Thanks Donna. I appreciate that.

Thanks for stopping by Finn.

If your standard is that everything you read has never been said
before, you must have an extremely narrow reading list.

Oh hey, another "social media blah blah" that describes and lists the same shit that people have been saying for the past 4 years... really insightful.

I love the 5-steps and really like step number 2. It will "Convince & Convert."

Truly is a great graphic.

And repeat...

I love how simple this is and the graphic. It's so obvious if you know the basis for social media. Focus on the people. But sometimes it's the most obvious parts that we never get. Thanks for sharing. I'm keeping this as a reference.

Ditto on the LOVE for the graphic - spot on, easy to explain, and makes tons more sense than the gurus trying to "help you gain more followers for less $$".

Thanks for this Jay - great motivator.
Being only a two week old startup, the only stories we have to harvest are stories about the process of starting up and launching. But you've made me realize there may be others in the same boat, or thinking about starting up, that would want to hear about this... And this sharing may also bring advice from others.
Another story that just came to mind is our current plight to 'gain traction' with the site, re: http://rww.to/dfjR6P - from what you've illustrated above, I can see that sharing our strategy and struggles may certainly help others, and again also bring advice from others who have been there.

Thanks again, mate!

Thanks Jay...Your chart is a good description of how the "process" of Social Media Marketing should be viewed by most companies.

I believe we should all view ourselves as Social Media Toddlers. We can see other companies taking advantage of Social Media; but, we are still trying to find the best way to develop more meaningful relationships as we integrate social media strategies into our own marketing mix - http://www.stellarpointgroup.com/social-media-marketing.html

The key to the process is "willingness." By integrating willingness into the process, it keeps the entire process moving forward. Good Post...thanks again...

Jay - in love with the infographic!

You've hit on something that I'm sure PR pros deal with all the time: helping clients determine "their story." And yes, social media allows the giants to become approachable again - but how do you keep finding those stories to share and encourage clients to share them?

I ask my clients to share everything. From quirky to board room "boring." Sometimes it's the intersection of stories inside an organization that resonates best at the right end of the arrow. By encourage your clients to include you, they're doing themselves a favor because the onus lifts off their shoulders to qualify the stories as they have a team to help them run them through the funnel. Share/Rinse/Mix?/Repeat.

This is always a challenge (I work in an agency, so I'm thinking now of how we do this with clients). One basic, simple thing is frequent contact with as many people - executives, managers and front-line employees - within the organization as possible. Just by regularly talking to those people, asking them what they're doing, what successes they're having and what they're hearing from their customers, you'll start to hear stories bubble up. The key is to recognize when you're hearing those stories and then know to stop, ask more questions and get all the details.