Everyone loves a good story. It’s why we binge on Netflix and watch an average of an hour and a half of online video a day. We listen with rapt attention whenever we hear someone recounting an experience they’ve had, watch the news or hear the latest buzz.
Storytelling is our instinctive mode of communicating and is a natural memory-booster. According to Stanford University social psychologist Jennifer Aaker, Stories are 22 times more memorable than facts. When facts and stories are used together, people are affected both intellectually and emotionally, which often motivates them to take action. That’s why storytelling is so effective in marketing.
The goal of marketing is to sell a company’s ideas, knowledge and reputation. Stories go beyond merely selling a product or service by connecting the audience — often emotionally and psychologically — to the brand. And these connections lead to brand loyalty and product sales. We see this clearly in marketing statistics:
- Storytelling boosts conversions by 30 percent when used to answer customer questions (Atomic Reach).
- Ninety-two percent of consumers want brands to make ads that feel like a story (Atomic Reach).
- Instagram Stories are viewed by 500 million users per day (Statista), as are Facebook Stories (The Verge).
- Over 30 percent of the most-viewed Instagram Stories are from businesses. (Embed Social).
- A marketing experiment conducted by Walker and Glenn showed the price of thrift store trinkets increased by 2,706 percent when stories were attributed to them (Medium).
- When information is shared through stories, people retain 65-70 percent of it. They only retain five to 10 percent of information that’s shared through a dry presentation of data and statistics (Tenfold).
Brand storytelling is a tactic you should be engaging in across your social media and content marketing strategies to generate brand awareness. However, to really harness the power of brand storytelling, your story must be amplified. And who better to share your story than influencers?
How Brand Storytelling Relates to Influencer Marketing
Influencers are masters at engaging their audience members. And they’ve already built a loyal audience who trusts their opinion. When an influencer mentions your brand, their engaged audience is going to pay attention. Storytelling with influencers builds a community around a brand, not just customers.
Social media influencers are also natural storytellers. Giving product reviews from their own experiences using an item, testimonials about a brand they like and sharing unboxing experiences are standard protocol for influencers. They’re also keenly aware of how impactful it is to use visuals and videos on platforms like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Facebook.
Also, storytelling is not a one-off approach to marketing but a long-term commitment. It fits easily into taking on an influencer as a brand ambassador. An influencer can become the face of a brand and tell its story over a period of months or years. Consider these additional benefits of brand storytelling through influencer marketing:
- Influencers personalize a brand’s story. Influencers can reach different people on different networks and have different viewpoints but deliver the same story for your brand.
- Influencers reach a wider audience. Influencers have already established an audience that’s interested in your niche. Their followers are likely to follow the brand they’re endorsing. Influencers are considered genuine and credible and relatable to their audience.
- Influencers have access to Millennial and Gen Z consumers. These groups rely on social media for the information they’re looking for. Eighty-five percent of Gen Z uses social media to learn about new products, reports Viral Nation. And over 90 percent of Millennials are active social media users, according to eMarketer.
How to Use Storytelling in Your Next Influencer Campaign
Influencers are an easy fit for brand storytelling. It’s no coincidence that of the 51 brands that ran commercials during Super Bowl 2020, most of them included celebrity or professional sports influencers. Social media influencers starred in a few Super Bowl 2020 ads too. YouTuber Lily Singh is featured in Olay’s ad, and hummus brand Sabra features several influencers, including TikTok star Charli D’Amelio and influencer dog, Doug the Pug. And Twitch gaming influencer Tim Betar, better known as Tim the Tatman, got a cameo in NFL’s Next 100 commercial.
Consumers pay attention to a brand when it’s connected with someone they like, admire or have a connection with. While celebrity influencers can be very expensive to work with, the variety of social media influencers can fit into just about any budget. And more importantly from a marketing perspective, social media influencers have more influence on their audience because of their higher engagement rates and niche focus.
The collaboration between tech influencer Tynology and Moen is another great example of brand storytelling. Flo by Moen is a product that allows homeowners to monitor water usage through a mobile app, making them feel more aware and connected to their home water consumption. In order to generate buzz around Moen at CES 2021, a popular tech trade show, Tynology told a narrative in which he connected with Water on LinkedIn and drew parallels to how you can also connect with water through Flo by Moen.
You can use influencers in any storytelling campaign for your brand. Get inspired with these ideas of how to use storytelling in your next influencer marketing campaign:
- Partner with an influencer as your brand ambassador to tell your company’s story, how it came to be.
- Tell your customers’ success stories through social media influencers who are already using your brand or whom you partner with to use your brand.
- Have influencers show how your products are used and give testimonials.
- Create inspirational videos by interviewing influencers within your niche.
- Promote your brand through humor with comedy influencers.
- Identify the music culture of your target niche and create videos featuring music influencers.
- Have influencers show your customers what’s behind the scenes of your brand.
- Identify influencers in your niche and have them share data-based information about the success of your brand or product.
- Create a mini web series starring social media influencers in your niche.
- Ask blog influencers to create long-form storytelling articles for your brand.
- Have influencers create audio storytelling through podcasts and recorded interviews.
