When I think of the ways we can share a story about our brand I think about ice cream flavors. We go to an ice cream cafe or even a supermarket and our eyes become big, excited about trying new flavors! My children love ice cream and we love to be creative – tasting new flavors and creating new experiences and family memories!

When it comes to sharing a story about your brand, your products and  your name people love to hear stories. Customers love to hear stories. However,  not every business owner is talented and skilled at storytelling.

Storytelling is an art. It requires inspiration, passion and determination to get the point across without sounding like a promotion. It takes digging DEEP into your soul to find what makes your heart sing and finding courage to show this passion to your audience! Think about storytelling times with your kids at your local bookstore! It was not about what you said, but how you said it!  It came from your heart !

Show your customers you are here for them to tell a story that will matter to them. Old rules of PR have changed. It is time for us to embrace the social media and learn the art of storytelling.  A good story requires some personalization. I mentioned many times that bloggers, editors, journalists are HUMAN! They want human connection. They are not hiding behind the cover of your favorite magazine. With new rules of PR storytelling is a huge factor in how your brand is being perceived!

You can humanize the process of writing your stories, your press releases, your pitches and you can improve the readers ability to connect with you and share what you have!  With major changes in the world of PR and social media one thing never goes out of fashion- your story. It might have different flavors, new twists, and you might attract new clients and new business relationships!

Remember very important thing when you are writing a press story.

1. SEO releases are designed to reach buyers and they are for customers to brings solutions

2. Social media releases are  for press, bloggers and customers.

3. Traditional releases announcing your event, product launch can also reach media and customers.

The most innovative “flavor” of a press story is a social media release. For many old school PR pros it brings controversy but for the risk takers, innovators,  creative minds this type of a press release is a perfect way to tell a story! You must learn how it can become a part of your daily business activities.

It is your rare diamond that can shed new light on how your customers view your product. It is a great way to add videos, audio clips.

A well crafted social media release has very important elements:

1. your story

2. videos

3. supporting docs

4. company contacts including social media profiles

5. social book marking sites to get more viral traffic

6. Images you can add to your story.

7. you can make it optimized for search engines to increase traffic

Often people share such stories on their blogs but I recommend Pitch Engine PR and Social Media Platform

Write a story, or retell a  story, link the original story and place it in Pitchengine. You can integrate with Facebook business page if you think it will save you some time!

 Very important factors to consider...

Your social media release is not a traditional release and it will never be. It is more easy going, more engaging and not as official as a traditional or SEO release. I think it can work great if you write a good optimized story! It is not to be shared via wired services.

You can use your social media release when your goal is to create more buzz about what is happening in your business. Get some conversation going.! Then the readers can share your story and link back to your site.

One thing…share it and ask people to share. By including fun photos and videos and links to other important content you are building your brand awareness! Sometimes we must plant the seeds before we reap the harvest!

Have a great day!

Tatyana Gann