Guest post by Morgan McGregor, Owner of Hyped

While Verity and Christina work hard to discover the magic in every business story, I work hard to translate those words into something a little more #Instagram.

To be more specific, I know that it’s non-negotiable that your brand should have an amazing story to tell, but it needs to be able to tell it over and over again, in different ways and on different platforms. And I help businesses do this on social media.

You’re probably eager for your business to be present on Google, in magazines and blogs, on billboards, and across social media, but it’s also important to make sure that magical story you’re telling is consistent, and fits the platform you’re sharing it on. For example, I wouldn’t recommend you use hashtags in a magazine article. However, if your brand has a hashtag that fits its story, then Instagram would love to hear it! Just think #intelligentthinkpinkdrink 😉 So how can you achieve consistency while adjusting your content to each channel?

How to achieve consistency across your channels

Consistency means sitting down and making sure whoever is working on your social media is just as familiar with your brand’s story as the person who’s writing your website is. They’ll both know exactly how to write for their audience and platform and will put their own spin on it, but you’ll be able to make sure your magic is shared consistently across the board.

A good example of a brand who is doing this well is New Zealand Quinoa. Relatively new to the food scene in New Zealand, it’s easy to see that they’ve put a lot into their brand story. If you check out their website and social media, you can see they’ve found a delicious balance of sharing their brand story without sounding repetitive.

As you can see in a couple of their Instagram posts, they haven’t had to say in their captions that they’re “a typical Kiwi family growing an untypical crop with sustainability and health at the forefront of their minds” – because the photos say all that for them!

That’s just one example of how you can use the magic of your brand story across all platforms, without repeating yourself, or sacrificing creativity.

How to share your story on social media

On social media, you don’t want to repeat yourself, and you don’t want to sound like too many people sat around the table and dissected every word in the post. You can really let creativity and spontaneity take the lead – and it becomes a lot easier if you have your brand story clear and in the forefront of your mind.

If you’re having trouble picturing how this might work, take a look at some of your favourite brands on social media, and ask yourself:

• What is the story they are trying to tell?
• How do their images and videos tell this story? Is it subliminal or obvious? Is it through colours and props? Do they use certain scenery to show location?
• What hashtags are they using? This is usually a goldmine that can tell you who they are targeting and why.
• What do they sound like in their captions? Serious? Fun? Informal? Comedic? The way the brand talks is a huge aspect of sharing their story.
• Do they use certain words over and over? Such as “local” or “family” or “high quality”?

These are ways to inject part of your story into every caption, without sounding repetitive or like a broken record.

It might sound like a lot of work, but the more comfortable you become with your brand’s message, the more natural it becomes. It will soon inject itself into your everyday speech.

No matter how much work it is, however, it’s 100% worth it for the brand recognition and consistent messaging you will reap. Your reward will be more loyal followers, an easily recognised brand, and a way for your fans who have engaged with you through traditional media to go on enjoying your brand on newer platforms too.

Now it’s your turn to put it in practice!

At the risk of sounding too much like a high school teacher, I’ve set you some homework.

It’s really simple; all I want you to do is fill in these questions – and then implement what you’ve discovered across all your brand communications!

• What is your brand message in a single sentence?
• Where do you currently (or want to) share this message?
• What do you want people to learn or feel from this message?
• If you could pick 5 key photos to represent your brand message, what would they look like?
• If you could pick 3 hashtags for your brand, what would they be?
• Now write a caption for one of the photos you picked, and make sure that you aren’t just repeating your brand message, but rather making sure it is underlying a caption that is unique, interesting, and relevant.

Let me know how you get on, and if you have any questions or need some help telling your story on social media, my inbox is always open!

Morgan McGregor

Owner of Hyped

www.hyped.nz

get@hyped.nz