Storytelling is how we connect with people; it’s how we invoke humanity in every little thing that we do. Creating a brand is creating a story for audiences to follow, to believe in, to trust.
While a company’s statistics might be impressive, it’s the people behind the corporation that make it happen. As consumers, we want to know why we should put our faith – and money – towards a particular business. We want to know that the people behind this business care about us; we want to feel seen.
In my current position, it might seem advantageous to tell stories of success. Being that our business provides resources for women creating their own businesses, it might seem like a safe decision to focus primarily on letting our audience know that we create success.
However, that’s not the story I want to tell.
The story I want to tell is about the women who struggled to balance home and work life; that felt neither here-nor-there, always juggling, always unsatisfied, until they were able to start their own business and become their own boss. I want to amplify the stories where women finally felt happy in their careers, and where they felt that they could manage it all because of our business.
The story I want to tell is one of care and compassion.
Growing up, my mum ingrained in me her greatest piece of advice when it came to finding employment. As someone who did not have the opportunity to attend post-secondary school and pursue her own passions, she took a job that paid the bills. For me, she wanted more. She always said:
“Find a career, not a job, and you’ll always be satisfied.”
To me, this has always meant influencing people’s lives, whether it be on a small or large scale. I want to make an impact on someone’s life, even if it’s creating a positive experience for them while engaging with an online service.
Waking up every morning, I know that I get to help people. In my customer service role, I spend my day meeting new people, answering their questions, and helping them with their problems. For women who are facing the financial uncertainty that comes along with creating a new business from scratch, I am given the opportunity to put them at ease; to make them feel a little more secure in what they are doing.
One of my great passions is uplifting women and allowing them the opportunity to explore their full potential. Every day, I get to go to work and support female entrepreneurs in a way that allows them to be confident in their business ventures. This is what truly fuels and fulfills me.
In the world, there is no cookie cutter person. We all have our unique abilities which not only allow us to stand out among the rest, but also to bring something different to the table. In life, whether it be professional or not, we are able to connect with one another through our different capabilities and strengths.
My greatest ability is that which allows me to connect with people. I grew up with a curiosity about the world around me. I love to hear people’s stories, and this has really helped me develop my interpersonal skills. In a wide variety of settings – be it academic, personal, or career – I can really connect with other people.
Being in a customer service position, this has really allowed me to excel in my career. When someone seeks assistance or requires support in any way, they want to be received by someone who will understand not only their issue, but also the emotion behind it.
For instance, if someone is unsatisfied with a product, they want the customer service specialist to understand that they have spent their hard-earned money and want to be satisfied with the result of this transaction.
My goal in all arenas of life is to create positive impressions with everyone I encounter, especially in my job. Something that I pride myself on is being able to make someone feel seen and appreciated, even in the briefest conversation.
I love the feeling of knowing that someone has been impacted by just the smallest of gestures, even if it’s asking someone how they’re doing!
In the last decade or so, brands have taken to social media to grow brand awareness as well as create a unique connection between the brand and the consumer, which we have yet seen replicated elsewhere. When looking at B2C, or Business to Consumer businesses, we can really see brands branching out into the digital world and planting themselves a spot on the wider stage of social media.
One such brand is ColourPop Cosmetics, an affordable California-based makeup brand that targets a younger audience in their late teens and twenties. This brand is interesting to study through this lens because their success on social media is integral to their overall success and ability to reach their target audience effectively.
They have been able to create an extensive presence on the social media stage. They have claimed their brand online by using the same handle across social media platforms, only making minor changes to adjust to certain platform restrictions. Their largest platforms are TikTok, where they have 831.7k followers, and Instagram, where they have a whopping 10m followers.
The way in which they manage to gravitate such a massive following is by utilizing memes and popular social media trends to create relatable and entertaining content. On Instagram, for instance, they utilized a meme of Bugs Bunny to promote their sitewide discount, adjusting it to make it relatable to makeup lovers (ColourPop, 2021b). Due to the versatility of these memes, you can edit anything you want into actual image to customize it to your post, which makes memes a great source of engagement for brands.
Additionally, ColourPop has branched out into TikTok. TikTok is an interesting platform due to its algorithm, which allows posts to appear on a user’s For You Page feed, without the user ever engaging in that user’s content. Hence, a brand has a better chance of their content reaching a wide audience. To promote the same sitewide discount, ColourPop posted a popular audio that’s typically paired with a clown-face filter (ColourPop Comestics, 2021a). This audio has over 1m videos paired to it on TikTok – no small feat!
In the future, I expect to see more brands carve out a space in the social media realm – especially TikTok, as it grows even bigger and more influential than it already has.
ColourPop Cosmetics [@colourpopcosmetics]. (2021, May 29) Did we mention the best sale of the year is literally happening RIGHT NOW 😏 because it is. – 30% OFF SITE WIDE HAPPENING NOW. [Instagram photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/p/CPdnlk6A96u/.
I have been an avid reader my whole life. However, I have recently become interested in not only the books themselves, but also how those books end up in my hands – in other words, the process by which pen touches paper, words are bound together, and books are marketed to the masses.
Bookstores may seem like a thing of the past to many, especially those which cling dearly to their brick-and-mortar shops. However, there are still various chain and independent booksellers carrying on the tradition of selling books to curious readers around the globe. However, best intentions are not enough to make sales. It is essential that these companies find new and exciting ways to market their books and most importantly, connect with their audience.
The demographic for readers these days is vast and diverse. In recent years, reading has been promoted to all age groups, becoming even more than a pastime to many. When setting up a shop, it is important to consider who you will be marketing your products to. For instance, it would be useful to know that there are many families in the region, as then the bookshop can promote their books for younger age brackets and even host special events for children.
At present, one of the best ways to engage with readers is by using social media as a tool of communication to not only learn about one’s audience, but also to garner interest in the product – books. One such social media platform which can be useful in running a campaign is TikTok. This bite-sized video sharing platform has taken the world by storm in recent years, particularly gaining attention among young adults. According to the director of books at popular bookstore chain Barnes & Nobles, TikTok has created a wave of sales unlike any other social media channel (Cortez, 2021). Using TikTok to share book-related content that can evoke emotional responses in viewers is a highly effective strategy of connecting with one’s target audience.
We have always had stories to tell – but it is how we tell these stories that have transformed throughout time. Today, it is crucial for any writer to note that the average reader has a very short attention span; for this reason, it is essential that the most important information of any piece of writing to be provided right off the bat.
There is a few tips and tricks you can use to make sure you’re making the most out of your writing! First, you should start by ensuring that you haven’t “buried the lead”. This means that you should place the most important information of your piece at the start. Furthermore, it is more engaging to write in the active voice, as opposed to the passive voice, and to ensure clarity and proper grammar throughout your writing.
When approaching your writing, you should reflect on your own experiences as a reader. Consider how you interact with written material, particularly online. When faced with a large chunk of information, do you read the entire piece from start to finish? Or do you find yourself scanning through the paragraphs, only taking in what you consider to be the most important details? By reviewing your past experiences, you can better determine how to communicate with your audience and therefore keep your audience engaged.
Yes, yes – call me a Disney adult. I’ve heard it all before. But Disney has always had a special place in my heart. The magic runs through my family, weaving us together and providing the backbone to many of our favourite memories. It’s a happy place for me, and more so became one when my snowbird parents bought themselves a home in Orlando.
So, you can only imagine how overjoyed I was when I met a small but fierce future lawyer at my university’s freshman Welcome Week who insisted in no uncertain terms that she was the biggest Disney fan. Little did I know then that I had just met the girl who would become my very best friend and my future Maid of Honour.
Flash forward to July 2019. After months of organizing, planning, and scoping out the best deals for Canadian residents, my best friend, Lexi, was on a plane to Orlando for our first trip to Disney World together. The moment we had dreamed of for 3 years was finally happening! Standing in the Arrivals terminal at the Orlando International Airport, it was all I could do to keep from bouncing on my toes and looking over the heads of debarking passengers as I anxiously awaited her arrival. And then – there she was! Screaming and laughing, we ran at each other, drawing attention from nearly everyone in the terminal, as Lexi shouted: “I’m finally here!”
We had our whole trip planned down to a T, as she was only able to get time off work for 3 days. We knew what parks we wanted to visit, which attractions we wanted to see, and we even planned a special dinner at a French restaurant to celebrate our first ever girls’ trip. But in the spirit of Disney, we were in for some magic that neither of us could have anticipated.
On our first day in the parks, we were weaving through shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, trying to escape the stifling 100ºF Floridian heat by entering an Air Conditioned ride, when a tall figure nearby caught my eye. Lo and behold, standing a mere five feet away from us was a YouTuber called Tim Tracker who we had bonded over as we planned our trip! We couldn’t believe it. Luckily, he had already stopped to meet with a few fans, so we were able to go over and chat. Tim was kind enough to take a photo with us, forming an unforgettable experience to mark our first trip. We joked that Lexi was good luck and would definitely need to come on every trip to Orlando from now on.
In the end, it isn’t how much money you spend or what lavish destination you visit the makes a vacation memorable. For us, a 3-day escape to Walt Disney World on a discounted park ticket with a best friend became a holiday to cherish forever.
Have you ever travelled with a friend? What was it like?
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 