In addition to guest posting on the UpCity blog, PBJ Marketing is featured as one of the Top Advertising Agencies in the United States. Check out their profile here.
Do you remember the last time you craved (insert favorite food here), immediately Googled the nearest restaurant, and then headed there for dinner? Or perhaps you were scrolling through Instagram and saw a video story of someone who was lunching at (your fav restaurant) and their burger looked luscious.
Either way, you were impacted by a micro-moment in time: your decisions about what to crave or do were guided by something that you found on the internet or social media. While capitalizing on your SEO prowess will net your business clicks for searches, it takes calculated effort to infiltrate customer micro-moments on social media. In this post, we’ll teach you how to leverage social media stories to stay relevant, engaging, and visible with your audience.
The Rise of Micro-Moments
Google recently released multiple thought-leadership pieces on micro-moments that provided fascinating insight into shopper actions around purchasing. These are the few seconds which can shape decisions and preferences throughout the buyer journey, a crucial fork in the road for shoppers.
Mobile is the digital playground for brands wanting to capitalize on consumer micro-moments, as these searches are increasingly happening as people are on-the-go in their daily life. From determining if there is a “drugstore near me” to getting their oil changed or grabbing some pizza—micro-moments are defining the way we shop for and consume content, goods and services.
Leveraging Social Media Stories
Instagram is the latest brand darling for its outright number of influencers as well as the transparency the platforms provides to connect brands with the buyers who love them. The use of social media stories has grown 842% in the past few years, and that number continues to grow as video stories are incorporated more vigorously into the platform.
Brand managers and marketers should see Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, SnapChat and Instagram stories as exactly that: storytelling opportunities that can feel less scripted, more authentic—and more actionable. Unfortunately, many marketing teams simply aren’t yet equipped to do justice to stories in the way that influencers are using them: to create a flood of micro-moments in the life of the brand and their followers. This evolution of storytelling can help savvy storytellers bridge the gap between brand engagement and ultimately a purchase.
Seeing Brands From a New Perspective
What makes stories so shareable is that they allow consumers to see the brand from a new perspective: fresh, engaging and delighting for users. While the stories format is still being perfected on various social media platforms, there are benefits to getting your brand into the mix as soon as possible.
For now, stories from friends and professional creators are still intermingled, making it feel a bit more earthy and raw—something that brings the brand a more human touch. Stories are inherently fleeting in nature, so you have to look for ways to make a big impact in a short period of time. The good news: the majority of Instagram users are watching stories with their sound on, making it a bit easier to capture attention.
Some of the best ways to implement video stories into your marketing plan include:
- Keeping it natural by mixing high-quality user-generated content with messages from your brand like Glossier did in their Resolutions campaign or Urban Decay did with this review based story campaign.
- Stalking your customers by looking for great uses of your products—then sharing them (with credit to the creator, of course!). Forever21 and other fashion brands do a great job of this!
Keeping the dialog open with your customers starts by meeting them where they are, and they definitely can be found consuming stories on social media. Creating a micro-moment with your customer is all about having your brand visible in their split-second of decision-making—and social media stories will get you there!
About the author
Phillip Reinhardt
Based out of PBJ’s Washington D.C. office, Phillip oversees the agency's day-to-day business operations; however, he loves working with PBJ's clients the most, which is why he insists on being involved from pitching and onboarding to the overall aspects of our client's projects at every step.
