Social media storytelling brief (final project)

Project Guide: Strategic Storytelling Brief (Final Project)

Task: You are creating a strategic storytelling brief for a local client for your final project. A strategic brief is a document that outlines crucial information that lays the foundation for the rest of a project. You give a client a brief before creating a full social media campaign.

Purpose: A social media professional is responsible for creating a strategic plan. This assignment gives you real-world experience in a hands-on way. Through the brief, you present your client with a report on how best to use social media to tell their story.

Directions: You will propose a strategic storytelling brief for a client based on the research you conducted this semester. You will select Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitch, Snapchat, or TikTok as the platform for this brief (pick one). You will use Adobe Creative Cloud Express to create at least two samples in support of your brief. Think of this project as the type of report created by a social media agency. It should be highly professional and polished. Some ideas for how to use social media strategically for a brand would be by using Instagram Stories, promotional videos, contests or sweepstakes, paid social advertising, behind-the-scenes footage, unveilings of new products/campaigns, exclusive content from events, and introduction to team members/VIPs. You will conduct research about your client through a client proposal. You will also complete exercises about your client and you may refer back to those when completing your project without having to cite your previous work.

Final strategic storytelling brief components: ● Introduction to your selected platform ● Overview of your client ● Key audience ● Strategic mindset ● Goal and objective statements ● Content ideas ● Best practices ● Creative ● Backup your information with a minimum of 3 sources

Introduction to your selected platform:

● In 1 paragraph, give an introduction to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitch, Snapchat, or TikTok (select just one)

● Who started this social media platform/app, statistics of users, and how many active users are there on the app

● How has this platform been used strategically? ● What are some prominent campaigns and brands using the app ● Make sure to cite references to these figures; sell your client on why

they should be using this app

Overview of your client: ● Develop a 1-2 paragraph overview of the organization (Basic

background info, who are they, who do they serve, and what is their mission)

● The overview can be pulled from the Client Proposal project ● Is your client on your selected platform? What is the rationale for them

to be on this app?

Key audience: ● Who do you want to reach with your campaign? In 1-2 paragraphs,

identify a primary audience. Identify a secondary audience, if desired ● Primary audiences are those you want to target directly and that have a

meaningful relationship and connection to the client ● Secondary audiences are supportive and potentially viewed as

influencers by the primary audience members ● Your audience on social media should be narrow, not broad; if you try

to reach everyone, you won’t reach anyone ● Demographic and psychographic insights are key to point out here for

this particular audience who is not only using your selected social media platforms but would be relevant to this particular initiative

● Module 10 should help you complete this section

Strategic mindset: ● In 1-2 paragraphs, identify the story you want to tell on social media

along with a call to action (CTA) statement ● What is the story you want to communicate and share with your

audience? ● What is the CTA you want the audience to take after this campaign? ● Learn how to formulate a CTA for social media from Hootsuite ● Establish a brand voice and/or writing style for your client

Goal statement: ● In 1 single sentence, identify a goal statement ● A goal statement is a broad statement that captures the overall focus of your

social media plan ● An example goal statement is simply: "To create brand awareness" or "To

increase donations” ● Goals in social media are standardized and must be measurable;

Objective statement:

● In 1 single sentence, identify an objective statement ● An objective is a clear statement of how you plan to accomplish your goal ● Your objectives should be written in the SMART format , meaning specific,

measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-specific ● An example objective statement is simply: “To increase Anderson University's

social media followers by 10% by July 1.”

Content ideas:

● In 3 paragraphs or more, detail 3 different content ideas you want to create with social media to tell the story

● How are we going to accomplish the objectives? With what resources and communication tools/tactics?

● Table 10.2 in Chapter 10 and Table 12.2 in Chapter 12 are great starting points

● ● Examples of content ideas include creating a branded hashtag, hosting a Facebook Live Q&A, creating a series of promotional videos, creating Instagram Stories highlighting volunteers, or developing an influencer ambassador program.

● This is the heart of your plan; use this section to show your knowledge and understanding of social media strategy

● Consider content ideas that fit one or more pieces of the PESO model ● There should be a logical link between the content you choose to the

objective. Make sure the client would understand how the content ideas you have chosen to fulfill the objective

● Describe each content idea with sufficient detail so that the client will understand your ideas. For example, if you propose creating Instagram

Stories of donor testimonials, tell us how often the postings will happen, how many you plan to create, and what kind of messaging the content will contain

Best practices: ● Include 3 best practices for using your selected social media platform

strategically ● Your client is retaining you for your knowledge and they may not know this

information ● This section should be sourced from at least one reputable publication to back

up your expertise ● You may use the textbook, any of the supplemental articles in the readings

pages of each module, and/or conduct your own research using trade and popular press

Creative:

● You will use like Canva to create at least two sample posts/graphics in support of your brief, based on your content ideas section

● Make sure you are considering best practices and proper etiquette when doing these for the assignment

● Insert the graphics directly into your document

Research requirements: ● Backup your information with a minimum of 3 sources ● Sources include the textbook, a library source (book, trade source, scholarly

source), and a popular source ● Cite all outside sources used, including the client's website ● Optional: Use popular press, internet sources, etc. on top of these 3 sources

Project formatting:

● A document in essay style (minimum of 5 pages long; not counting title or references page)

● Use the template on Canvas if you wish Format your document in APA Style 7 guidelines (page header, double-spaced, 12-point font, cover page; you do not need an abstract)

● double-spaced, 12-point font, cover page; you do not need an abstract)

● Voice: Use the first-person (I, me, my) or third-person (reference your client by name throughout)

● If creating a more visual style document, you may omit the title page, margins, and double-spacing requirements of APA Style

● Use subheads for each section of your project