Storytelling is an effective marketing strategy for brands seeking to establish an emotional connection with their target audience. On social networks, storytelling can be particularly powerful, as it allows brands to tell their story in a visual and engaging way. In this article, we’ll discuss three ways you can use storytelling on social networks to build brand awareness.
Creating authentic content
Storytelling on social networks must be authentic to be effective. Today’s consumers are highly aware of advertising, and can quickly spot content that isn’t sincere. Brands can use storytelling to tell authentic stories about their company, culture and employees. By sharing this type of content, brands can humanize their brand image and build trust with their audience.
Using images and videos
Images and videos are powerful tools for telling a story on social networks. Brands can use images to tell visual stories that capture the essence of their business and culture. Videos can also be used to tell longer, more complex stories. Brands can use videos to tell stories about their products, history or mission. Videos can also be used to tell stories about the brand’s customers and their experience with products or services.
Sharing inspiring stories
Inspirational stories are a great way to capture your audience’s attention on social networks. Brands can share inspiring stories about people or organizations who have been positively affected by their product or service. Brands can also share inspiring stories about their employees and their community involvement. By sharing inspiring stories, brands can reinforce their credibility and reputation with their audience.
Conclusion
Storytelling is a key element of any successful social network marketing strategy. Brands that use storytelling can strengthen the emotional connection with their audience and boost their brand awareness and credibility. Using these methods, brands can create a strong, lasting brand image that resonates with their audience.
Chances are that everyone has heard the phrase “call to action” before. It is used frequently in marketing as a tool to generate action from consumers, whether that comes in the form of clicks, sign ups, calls, purchases, or something else. Here are three reasons why you should use a call to action (CTA) in your digital publications.
What is a Call to Action?
First, a definition! In a general sense, a call to action is a statement that encourages people to do something – or take action – about a problem. In marketing, it’s a term for a word or phrase that gives your customer directions for the next step to take. CTAs are used in both traditional marketing and digital marketing. In a printed flyer or catalog you might see “Call now” or “Visit our website”. On a digital channel you might be likely to see phrases such as “Click here” or “Sign up today”. It could be in the form of a clickable button, banner, graphic, or text. Once clicked, the CTA redirects the user to the next step, for example a page with information about the product or a registration page. So what are the benefits of using a call to action?
1. They attract attention
The CTA is there to attract attention. If you are running a digital marketing campaign, you will most likely have specific goals for your campaign, whether it’s sales or sign-ups or something else. Your CTA can help you reach these goals by directing users to take the desired action: clicking to learn more, reserving a table, starting a free trial, etc. Having this visual element will attract website visitors or publication readers so they go down the right path along the customer journey (or sales funnel). They are also useful in digital content marketing strategies.
Visitors to your website or publication should be able to recognize the CTA. You can stick with your brand guidelines and use your company’s colors, or you can use a bold color that stands out from the rest of your content. Either way, you will want the CTA to be visually engaging. You can add arrows or other graphic elements to encourage clicks. Reduce the clutter around the CTA so it is very clear that you want people to click. It should also be concise, so make sure that your text isn’t too long.
2. There is a clear path for users
A good call to action will direct the user to the right place. If there is no CTA, then it’s possible that the user will just leave your webpage (or publication) without taking the next step. A strong CTA should clearly define what the result will be when the user clicks. The words in your CTA should match exactly what will happen afterwards. “Learn more” should take the user to more information, not a shopping page, for example. In the publication below, the Calaméo Magazine, we have a CTA for readers to try a PLATINUM account. Before you click, you know that you will most likely be directed to a sign-up page or a page with information about the different account options.
3. They are trackable
Another great reason to use a CTA in your publication is that they are trackable! They provide a lot of information about your audience and your campaign. You can measure whether a campaign is successful by tracking how many clicks your CTA receives. Then you can see how many of these clicks turn into purchases (or sign-ups or reservations, etc.). A strong CTA can also help boost your click-through rate.
You can find the statistics of the links in your publications on your Calameo PLATINUM account or connect your account to Google Analytics.
Adding a call to action to your publication
We’ve covered the “why” of CTAs, now let’s address the “how”. Adding a CTA to your publication is easy to do with Calaméo. Here’s how: first, your CTA graphic (banner, button, or text) must already be part of your publication. Once your document is uploaded to Calaméo, simply add a link on top of your CTA using our Editor tool. This link will make your CTA clickable and will take your viewers to the desired destination. Make sure in the Label field you write a short and clear phrase that matches the existing CTA on your page. Paste your link and… voilà! Your CTA is done and ready to go.
Using a call to action can make a big difference in marketing. They draw attention to your campaign, they help guide potential customers through the sales funnel, and you can easily track them to monitor if your campaign is successful. In addition, inserting a CTA in your publication using Calaméo is easy. We hope this guide to CTAs proves useful for you!
In the world of social media, Pinterest stands out. Instead of a chronological feed of posts, Pinterest shows its users a mix of content curated to reflect their interests.
Pinterest users can follow friends or topics like “Travel,” search for more specific subjects and create their own posts called “pins.” Then they save ideas for later by organizing posts on personalized boards. And there are a lot of them: more than 200 million Pinterest users have posted over 100 billion pins.
Although Pinterest is a little bit different it can be a great place to promote your business’s online publications. In this article we’ll explain three opportunities for digital publishers on Pinterest and how you can take advantage of them.
Drive Traffic
Don’t underestimate the power of pins to drive traffic: in 2017, Pinterest was the biggest social source of referrals after Facebook and has continued to show impressive growth. Creating pins that feature your publications is an easy way to help Pinterest users discover them.
First set up a Pinterest profile, then get pinning! Since each pin on Pinterest has an image, a short description and a link, every post is a golden opportunity to bring more readers to your publication. Here’s an example from Wedding Vibes pinned to Calaméo’s page:
You can create posts in Pinterest or pin a publication directly from Calaméo—it’s a breeze! First, go to your account’s Publications tab, select Share for the title you want to pin and click on the Pinterest icon. This will take you to Pinterest, where you’ll be able to choose an image for your pin and add a description.
We recommend that digital publishers dedicate a board on their Pinterest profile to pinning every issue of their publication. This example shows how 95° Magazine encourages curious Pinterest users to browse its archives:
Get Audience Insights
Posting your digital publications to Pinterest as pins can grow your audience by bringing in new readers who find them in their feeds. But establishing a Pinterest profile for your business can bring you valuable insights about your existing audience, too.
Chances are, your publications may already have been shared on Pinterest by your readers! Find out with the advanced statistics in our PLATINUM plan: our analytics include a breakdown of your publications’ social media shares by platform, so you can see how many times they have already been pinned.
The results might surprise you!
To get more information about your audience on Pinterest, we suggest that you set up your account with a business profile. This gives you access to statistics about your audience on Pinterest, including gender, location and interests. Armed with insights about your Calaméo readership and Pinterest reach, you can tailor your online publications to build stronger connections with your audience.
💡TIP: Connecting your Calaméo account to Google Analytics lets you analyze traffic from Pinterest to your publications in detail. Upgrade to PLATINUM to enjoy this feature!
Engage New Clients
Pinterest is a destination for users researching purchases. It has been estimated that 87 percent of the social network’s users have bought something that they saw on Pinterest first. This makes Pinterest a natural platform for posting products, but it’s also a reason to post inspiring content. Inspired users are more likely to become readers, who are more likely to become customers.
To make the most out of your business’s Pinterest presence, pin a variety of interesting material. Pinterest users look for vacation and travel planning, recipe ideas, professional development materials, home design and more. Try posting individual features, photos or articles from your publications to different boards, like in the example below from Hamilton Island:
Organizing your content by subject maximizes the appeal to potential readers and helps engage potential buyers.
These basics should give you some ideas for how to get started sharing your business’s digital publiations on Pinterest. We can’t wait to see you there!
We love covering social media here on the blog. Check out our tips for digital publishers on Facebook and YouTube, or have a look at our guide to polished shares on any social media network.
