In the constantly shifting digital realm, content marketing remains a consistent and powerful approach. Nick Brogden, the founder of Earned Media, shares his insights on how to master the art of crafting compelling narratives.

Is your small business looking to increase your social media engagement but need help figuring out where to begin? There is no need to break the bank on expensive marketing specialists. Let’s go back to basics and discover what resonates with your audience. 

Whether crafting captivating blog posts, strategically scheduling your content in bulk, or embracing the latest trends in digital marketing, I’ll explore the ins and outs of creating emotionally appealing content to help your business better connect with your audience.

Step 1: Connect with your target audience

Using experiences and characters your audience can identify from their lives ensures your ad resonates with them. You want your audience to look at your content and think, “That could be me.” 

Before launching the highly successful Dove Real Beauty campaign, the brand found the upsetting fact that only 4% of women consider themselves beautiful. 

So, Dove decided to create a campaign that addresses the issue that all women — a huge chunk of its target audience — know to be true. Feeling beautiful can be challenging. 

Image source: Time

The brand launched a series of billboards promoting “real beauty sketches” featuring a combination of women in all shapes, colours, and ages, a move that not many brands had made before (this was in 2004). The campaign was so successful that Dove created iterations through the years. 

Learning from success stories like Dove’s, how can you make your audience feel seen? Learn more about your customers through surveys and polls on social media. Find out their dreams, aspirations, and issues, and use that knowledge to create content that will make an impact.  

Connecting with your target audience is crucial for all industries, including B2B marketing. By understanding their needs, challenges, and aspirations, you can tailor your messaging and content to resonate with them more profoundly, fostering trust and loyalty. Building strong connections with your target audience enhances brand perception, increases customer engagement, and drives business growth. 

Step 2: Choose a platform

While posting the same content on multiple platforms might be tempting, you must remember that each platform has nuances and perhaps even different audiences. For example, content that works well on TikTok may not work as well for an audience on Twitter.

If you want to post your content across all your owned channels, you can share a link or create a variation for specific platforms. 

Take a look at the NBA TikTok and Instagram accounts. While both platforms accept vertical video formats, the NBA social media manager still posts different types of content on each channel. The NBA account on TikTok utilises the available fonts and templates to label thumbnails because this is what works on the platform. 

Step 3: Relate to current events 

What are people talking about today? Twitter trending topics or current events are an excellent guide for moment marketing campaigns. Moment marketing leverages and hijacks trending topics — allowing content marketers to take advantage of this and create content around these topics. This technique can position your brand on top of conversations and make you’re messaging more relevant. 

Image source: Adweek

One great example of moment marketing was KFC’s “No more finger-lickin’ good” campaign during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic last 2020. The fast-food chain stopped its 60+-year-old slogan because “it didn’t feel quite right” during a health crisis. 

KFC “revived” its slogan in 2021 when restaurants started reopening. When hopping on trending topics, it’s essential to consider the implications for your brand. How can you spin it in your favour? Research the topic you plan to hijack to ensure you’re being authentic. 

Step 4: Trigger emotions

Content that can trigger highly positive emotions plus an element of surprise has a higher chance of resonating well with your business’s audience. Your content must show a deeper purpose and storyline to capture your audience’s attention. 

Image credit: Harvard Business Review

High-end department store John Lewis has mastered tugging on its audience’s heartstrings through its thoughtful Christmas ads. The ad started with a little boy who couldn’t wait for Christmas. The video campaign was so successful that John Lewis started releasing yearly Christmas ads that followed a similar formula. 

Below is a screencap from the John Lewis 2017 Christmas ad, which became a trending topic on Twitter and helped sell out the night light featured in the video in minutes. 

Image source: LS Retail

Learning from John Lewis’ content, it’s essential to prioritise storytelling over selling. If you study all of the brand’s Christmas ads, the product placements are very subtle, and any mention of the brand only happens in the end. Your ad should have a deeper meaning beyond the products or services you sell. 

Step 5: Share it at the right time

Every platform will have an optimum posting time. Review your audience insights to discover the best time for posting. Publishing content at the right time can increase your chances of standing out. 

Image credit: HubSpot

Studying your buyer’s persona can give you a clearer idea of their online habits. Suppose your target audience is university students. They have classes during the day, and the early evening might be the most active time on social media. It will also help to look at your past posts and see when the best-performing ones were published. 

Step 6: Partner with influencers and creators 

Did you know that working with influencers can help you build a stronger relationship with your audience? According to research, 61% of consumers trust a recommendation by an influencer, while only 38% trust brand content. Partnering with the right influencer can help boost brand awareness. 

Influencer marketing is vital for brands that are just starting. It’s pretty challenging to capture your audience’s attention if your brand is unknown. Influencers can give you a leg up. 

Before you partner with an influencer, consider the following questions: 

• Does this person align with my brand values? 
• Does this person have my ideal audience? 

Don’t partner with someone simply because they’re famous. Learn from Pepsi’s ad with Kendall Jenner, which received so much backlash, and the brand went viral for all the wrong reasons. Your choice of influencer can make or break your entire campaign. 

Image credit: YouTube

Popular dating app Tinder regularly partners with influencers to promote its initiatives. With the help of creators, the app created a web series called 90069, and these videos constantly have millions of views.  

Influencer partnerships don’t have to mean they will be your campaign’s star. Asking key influencers to share your content is also a strategic way to get your brand in front of the right people.

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