Last month I wrote that telling your brand’s story was the easiest way to build brand buzz online. Here are two pieces from that blog post that I’d like to reiterate:
The brands that are getting the most buzz on social media are the ones that are taking the time to creatively share their unique stories. They understand the importance of being genuine, and they legitimately care about the communities they’re sharing content with.
If you want to stand out on social media, if you want people talking about your brand over all your competitors, if you want to get anything back from your social media efforts at all, share your story. Sometimes it’s the only deciding factor between you and the other guy for consumers like me.
To illustrate the power of brand storytelling, I decided to start featuring brands that get it. A few weeks ago, I shared the story behind Sweet Leaf Tea.
This week, I’m featuring Panera Bread.
“Panera Bread bakery-cafes showcase the art and craft of bread making, helping customers truly appreciate and enjoy a great loaf of bread by studying its crust, crumb and craft. Panera Bread understands that great bread makes great meals, from made-to-order sandwiches to tossed-to-order salads and soup served in bread bowls” (Source).
As with Sweet Leaf Tea, Panera break stands out to me as one of the brands that gets it because of the following reasons:
- They make and serve great food.
- They do a fairly good job of telling their story on social media.
Specifically, the brand has a great website, and a strong and interactive presence on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Like Sweet Leaf Tea however, I couldn’t find the brand on Instagram! But I hope they’ll read this post and jump on the insanely popular mobile photo sharing app.
I’ll ask that you spend some time looking through the links to their social sites above to get a better idea of what they are doing right as a brand. But just in case you don’t have time, I wanted to share a few videos from them right here on this page for your convenience. These videos illustrate perfectly what your brand should be doing on social media: showing why you’re different. Giving people something they can to relate to. Expressing passion. In them, you’ll meet and hear from a few of their bakers—the people behind the brand. Watch now:
Are you telling your brand’s story? If not, start planning. If you have questions about the best ways to move forward, ask me! I’m @RobWormley on Twitter.
Want to suggest a brand for me to spotlight? Shoot me an email.
