We see it all the time in our personal feeds – B2B brands playing it safe, using the same stock imagery and the same language to tell the same stories. This lack of distinctiveness, emotion, and creativity in social content is costing businesses big time. Don’t believe us? Just give “The Extraordinary Cost of Dull” a read.
And we get it. No one wants to see a 0.001% engagement rate on their posts, and no-one wants to get cancelled for a bad joke. But doing nothing, posting the same boring content without personality or value, is the quickest way to get your brand forgotten.
Are you not entertained?
When it comes to your organic social calendar, a key component of your strategy should be entertainment. Yes, you read that right. Entertainment.
Let’s take LinkedIn as an example. Right now, its algorithms are pushing posts that drive meaningful engagement higher up the feed. They want users to consume valuable, authentic content that speaks to their interests. They don’t want brands sending users off channel (or spamming people’s feeds with high volumes of AI-generated content).
Ultimately, they want people to feel engaged, inspired and entertained by social content. That doesn’t mean you can’t talk about your product or drop in some promotional content into your calendar. You just need to focus more on your post’s creativity and storytelling, regardless of its content.
Lessons from the box office
Who better to look to for inspiration than the Hollywood hills – an industry whose sole purpose is to entertain. Here, we share four lessons all B2B marketers and brands can use today to create more engaging, valuable and creative social-first content.
Pulp Fiction is not only a 1994 Tarantino classic, it’s also the name of low-fi magazines that tell big, bold stories and are easily produced.
When it comes to your content calendar, you don’t need to invest in high-end production videos to tell a great story. Self-shot reels, carousels, and text-only posts are great ways to differentiate your content and hook people in.
Take Upwork’s ‘Break the Rules of Work’ campaign on TikTok. Their low-fi videos and tongue-and-cheek approach to jumping on the #WorkTok trend is one to add to your bookmarks tab.
It’s relatable. Funny. And importantly, still gets their brand message across without the Hollywood budget.
Our review: 5* stars.
Films with multi-strand narratives like Love Actually can teach us a lot about social media.
The film, for those living under a rock, explores interconnected themes of love and loss from a variety of different character perspectives. These plots eventually overlap, bringing everyone together and wrapping up the story in a nice little bow.
B2B brands can replicate this on their social channels, using their platforms as an opportunity to bring people together and unite them through a shared experience. Rather than talk about everything and anything, your content calendar should reflect the interconnected interests of your audience – that way you can spark meaningful conversations and drive real engagement.
A campaign that did this beautifully is ‘The Chat’ from Breast Cancer Now. As the UK’s first WhatsApp drama series, it set the standard for emotive storytelling by exploring how four best friends navigated an unexpected breast cancer diagnosis together.
It deserves a 10/10 IMDB score.
Batman and the Joker. Holmes and Moriarty. It would be hard to find someone who isn’t familiar with these two hero vs villain narratives.
Archetypes like these are found repeatedly in stories across time, cultures, and beliefs. They’re instantly recognizable and relatable, which makes it easy for audiences to connect with the story. An extra bonus given our incredibly short attention spans on social media.
When it comes to social content, archetypes are your friend. They’ll help you craft stories across different formats that resonate with your audience.
‘Meet The Client’ by Teamwork.com delivered this perfectly with their video campaign. It taps into the very real pain points of agencies, balancing humour and real product features to bring it all together.
No Rotten Tomatoes over here.
Press tours. Red carpets. Magazine interviews. It’s part and parcel of an actor’s job these days. That’s because production houses know that if people like the cast, they’re more likely to go and watch the film.
The same is true for B2B buyers. They’ll engage with social content more if it comes from an individual rather than a brand, because they trust it more. They want to hear from real people about their real experiences.
So, for your next campaign, think about how you can use your cast to tell its story. Can you partner with brand ambassadors and influencers to promote your new report or video? Do you have technical experts who can answer Q&As on LinkedIn, or share their top tips through Youtube tutorials? Will your CEO film themselves announcing a big company update in a Reel?
Trust us. You’ll see greater engagement rates when your cast entertains your audiences.
Who doesn’t want to become a fan-favourite?
Queue the credits
Ready for more? Whilst you wait for our highly anticipated sequel, you can get even more social-first ideas and insight here.
Selbey Anderson Group of agencies