Stop Posting. Start Storytelling. (Here’s How)

Author: Kelsey Potter

Once again, you're putting off creating your brand's social content for some good old-fashioned scrolling when you see yet another post about how you need to focus on storytelling in your captions.

Yeah, so I've heard. You think to yourself. But how?

Simply put, stories bring us together. They help us create both community and meaning. Their importance is evident when we think about the many ways stories have been used, told, and retold since, honestly, the beginning of time!

•  Cultures that use storytelling to pass down information from their ancestors. In a village lit by firelight, elders gather the children and speak the stories of their ancestors—no books, just memory. They tell of migrations, seasons of struggle, and moments of joy, passed down through generations. These stories aren’t just entertainment, they are a thread of identity, survival, and connection to the past.
•  When you’re visiting with your relatives, and your mom and aunt start reminiscing about the dirt fight. You’re sitting around after dinner when your mom and aunt start cracking up about a long-ago backyard dirt fight. It was all laughs until someone got hit in the head with a rock. And even that’s funny now, softened by time. You weren’t there, but the way they tell it, you can see it all like a movie.
•   Bedtime stories with your kids. After a long, exhausting day, you’re curled up in bed with your kids, half-asleep yourself. You start reading the same silly book they always pick, doing the voices just right, and suddenly everyone’s laughing.  And for those few minutes, the exhaustion fades. This is the magic moment.
•   The friend who tells a story like you were there. Your friend’s telling a story over drinks about a disastrous Zoom call, complete with dramatic reenactments and perfectly timed punchlines. You weren’t there, but by the time they’re done, you feel like you were; cringing, laughing, and hanging on every word. That’s the power of a good storyteller.

...and so on.

That said, we know the vague advice of "tell stories in your captions!" isn't helpful. What you really need are some concrete steps for creating better storytelling. If you hear, "use storytelling in your social media!" and find yourself wondering…

• What does that look like?
• What types of stories should I be telling?
• What should I include in my storytelling captions?
• Who is doing this well? Can I see some examples?

...then this blog is for you. Keep reading!

Here are five ways to create better storytelling in your social media captions:

1 - Grab their attention

Your high school English teacher had the right idea. Introductions that grab your reader's attention still matter. Use strategic and attention-grabbing sentences at the beginning of your caption to draw your reader in so they want to read more.

Maybe you’re trying to tell a personal yet relatable story about juggling running a business with raising kids. Consider telling a funny story about parenting:

“You won’t believe what my 5-year-old said to a stranger at the grocery store.”

Perhaps you’re a business coach empowering clients and introducing them to a service you offer. In this case, you could begin by sharing something like,

“My client was ready to quit her business, but two weeks later, she doubled her revenue.”

A wellness coach or therapist might start a post with, 

“Burnout doesn’t always look like a breakdown; sometimes it looks like perfectionism.”

On the other hand, if you’re a brick-and-mortar business, yours might look something like this,

A local bakery could share about a top-selling treat: “The line out the door wasn’t for a sale, it was for that cinnamon roll.”

Or a dental office might share about a client whose life had been changed by great dental care: “He hadn’t smiled in photos for five years, until one visit changed everything.”

2 - Make it relatable

Create a picture with your reader in the center. Your stories should be so relatable to your ideal audience that they can raise their hand and say, "Yes, that's me." Think about what they struggle with and what they really desire. While each person is living their own unique story, your brand should have some that overlap with your audience. Those are the stories you should focus on.

Pro tip: Building a client avatar will help you make your posts relatable. A client avatar is a detailed description of your ideal client or customer. Imagine your avatar as an imaginary best friend for your business. You will want to highlight their demographics (age, gender, location, job, etc.), psychographics (interests, values, lifestyle), goals and aspirations, challenges or pain points, and buying behavior.

Want more help with your client avatar? Check out this blog on boosting your brand voice!.

3 - Get descriptive

Now we're going back to your elementary school literacy lessons, but think about adjectives! You want to use descriptive words in your captions to help your reader imagine themself in your story. Feeling and emotion words are especially important here.

We’ve noticed that we tend to default to a lot of the same feeling words. One of our favorite resources for digging deeper into emotions is the feelings wheel. Bookmark the feelings wheel for quick references when writing!

 4 - Know the problem

Every good story has a conflict, and so should yours. 

Think about it this way: first, what does your ideal customer want? And then, what is standing in their way or preventing them from getting it?

Is it a clear obstacle, like not having enough time or resources? Or is it something deeper, like self-doubt or frustration? And beyond that, what belief are they wrestling with, like “I should have figured this out by now”?

For example:

• A business owner who wants to grow but feels insecure about showing up online.

• A parent who wants a calmer home but feels like they're failing at parenting.

• A professional who needs dental work but dreads the pain and just wants to feel confident smiling again.
  
  

When you highlight these layers: what’s happening, how it feels, and why it matters, you’ll speak directly to your audience’s core struggles and create a story they can relate to.

 5 - Don't forget about success

It's helpful to highlight a pain point or concern your audience might have, but don't spend your entire caption dwelling on it. Instead, think about what success might look or feel like for them. What did it look like for the person in your story? Make sure you incorporate that in your caption as well.

Think back to your customer avatar. What does success look like for them? Imagine the positive change for them.

For example:

• A business owner who feels confident in marketing sees more sales with less effort.
• A parent who now enjoys peaceful evenings, no longer battling bedtime.
• A client who smiles freely in photos, proud and confident.
  
  

By showing what success feels like, you give your audience something to strive for—and inspire them to take action.

Bonus Tip: 

6 - Know the goal or purpose of your caption

Storytelling isn’t just for storytelling’s sake. Your post still needs to have a goal! 

Think about these questions:

• What do you want your followers to do after reading your caption?
• Why are you sharing this content?

Here are some examples: increased website traffic, gain social followers, and boost social engagement.

Be sure to end your caption with a call to action based on your goal above. Do you want them to visit your website? Book a call? Share your post? Follow you? Include it in the CTA.

For more information on the purpose of your captions, check out this blog on content buckets.

Now, for the examples…

If you're anything like us, learning is most helpful when it's tied together with some real-life examples. We love examples because they help us see how what we've learned can be applied successfully.

Here are three of our favorite examples of businesses and people who are excellent at storytelling:

1 - Susan Payton: Author, story strategist, and copywriter: Everything from her social media to her website tells an authentic story and invites readers in. Sometimes she writes directly about storytelling or business-related items, and other times she gives you a glimpse into her real life. But either way, we are here for it. Her posts are always authentic, and we love that we feel connected with her when we read them.

2 - Dr. Becky Good Inside: Psychologist and parenting coach: Dr. Becky is great at telling relatable stories, helping her audience feel seen in her shared experiences. When the parents on our team read her posts, they often get the "Yes, that's me!" experience we talked about above, because they're so relatable. She also does a great job of focusing not just on the problem her audience encounters, but the hope they can have through the ideal solution. Many of these posts are videos, but she does this well with carousels and static posts, too!

 3- Prepared Hero: Sells safety products your family can depend on in an emergency, like fire blankets! A lot of their ads and social media posts share stories from real families who have used their fire blankets in emergencies. Other posts include videos of firemen speaking from their real experience, which moves the fire blanket from being just a product to something we can see ourselves and others using.

We know the idea of storytelling can seem kind of vague and hard to put into practice. Here's our recommendation: take it one post at a time. Now that you've read our five ways to create better storytelling in your social media captions and seen some examples of people doing this well, take one of your upcoming social media posts and add some storytelling elements. See what happens! When you do this, tag us so we can give your post some love!

P.S. Did you find this blog helpful, but also find yourself wanting more? We've learned a lot from fellow marketers and storytellers. Here are some resources we love on this topic:

•  The Business of Stories by Susan Payton
•  Building a StoryBrand 2.0 by Donald Miller
•  They Ask You Answer by Marcus Sheridan