“I Ate Some Cornbread and Pinto Beans Last Night and Blew Up 10 Minutes Later” . . . and other Useless Facebook Postings

Dear Biz whiz Friend,

Come on, what are you thinking? Some of the things I see on Facebook are nothing shy of ridiculousness. Waaay too much information . . . and useless information at that! Need I say, some things should not be said in public or at least on social media.

Sometimes I’m tempted to close down my Facebook account.

Hey, don’t get me wrong. Yes, I am a strong believer in Freedom of speech but there’s a time and place for everything! 

Too much information,right? What possible value comes from this crap? 

Do your readers, fans, and friends really give a rat’s ass what you had for supper? Or that you are hung over and puking your guts out? Or the preacher got caught screwing the teenage gal down the street, or  . . .? 

I’m thinking . . .

“HELL NO WE DON”T, or Do We?”

Ok, simmer down, simmer down a bit here. I promise that I am not going to rant on and on about this! That’s no better and you reading all the useless Facebook posts, right?

Besides, it’s not fair to you my dear reader. And ya’ll don’t wanna hear me rant in the first place. 

The real gem of Facebook is the human side of this mad, mad social media. And yes many of us DO want to know about the entire goings on (be it very personal or superficial). Only you can answer that.

These Facebook timeline submissions let you see a glimmer of what is on people’s minds . . . despite how scary this can be it can be great for your marketing toolkit.

In order to sell your stuff you gotta tune into to your prospects self-interest. And Facebook can be a great place to tap into what’s on people’s mind. You know what their problems, concerns and hotspots are.

But Keep This In Mind: Many of the Facebook friends may not be your target market. But someone in the world of Facebook is and you can reach them easily. I’m getting a little off base here. Reaching prospects via Facebook is not our topic today.

Today storytelling is our subject. And we as marketers do want to share interesting stories that appeal to our prospects basic instincts.

Most of us want to read and hear about human interest stories. We do want to hear about your successes or how you kicked that drug addiction demon’s ass or you discovered something really cool (that your friend’s would dig). 

During my little Facebook ‘rant’, a little flicker of light sparked a constructive thought about storytelling. 

While studying copywriting I learned that many veteran marketers refer to storytelling this as “the million dollar step” in writing killer sales copy.

It’s no surprise. You’ll find that most top gun marketers and copywriters all have a distinct voice and style in their writings. Once you’re hip, you can spot it a mile away.

So you’re job as a top-flight marketer is to develop your own ‘voice’ and use it in all of your marketing communications. And shortly I’ll explain how you can do this . . . easily. 

But first dig back into your personal timeline and think about how a good story fueled your enthusiasm for learning a new task, or how it piqued your interest . . . and kept your interested during the entire time that you listened to the story.

Many of my family members are great storytellers. My grandfather especially told great stories. As I write this, I reminisce of the many times that I’d sit by the fireplace listening for hours as he spun anecdotes of the Great Depression, the difficulties of finding steady paychecks, working odd but interesting jobs like building bridges and barracks for the US Military (he was a carpenter and cabinetmaker), and life growing up the youngest and only male sibling during the early part of the 1900’s.

Storytelling has been used for ages to entertain, educate and yes . . . sell stuff! Great storytelling goes hand and hand with finding your writing “voice.” You should start think about your “voice” before write a single word of copy.

You’ll notice a certain personality, tone and style in nearly every high-end marketer or entrepreneur writings. This is their “voice”. And their voice is like a tossed salad of credibility, attitude and their personality.

And why is this good? For starters, you become the “go-to guy” (as my mentor John Carlton says) in your market place. You’ll soon become the “chosen one” that prospects and clients trust and want to do business with.  

How To Develop Your Story Telling Chops.

I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m not a natural story teller. Way back in the day as a young teenager, all the stories I so carefully crafted and delivered to my Mom as to why I missed curfew failed miserably. 

Heck I even tried to learn from the great Eddie Haskell from Leave It To Beaver but that was useless. . . Mom could see right through me and knew I tried to BS her. 

I learned later in life that our beloved Eddie was more of a BS artist that a story teller. And adults can easily tell the difference.  

So, even though storytelling did not come naturally to me, I did finally get the jist of telling a decent story, thanks in large by awesome mentors like John Carlton and Gary Halbert (among many others). 

The key to telling good stories in your sales copy, articles and all your other marketing materials is pay attention to what’s going on around you. Read good fiction (essentially a long story written out) and see how the writer tells the story. Copy out by hand proven direct response ads. 

I had to learn how to tell and write good stories. Through practice and more practice I got better. I am still learning and continue to hone my chops. 

One short style guide I refer to occasionally is The Elements of Style (for general writing help) by William Stunk & E.B. White. It’s a great writer’s tool to have on your bookshelf.

Hey, wake up! I learned to start paying attention, really seeing what was going on in my life and others around me. You know ‘wake up and smell the roses’ sort of thing. What helped me was to keep a written journal of my daily events. Use all of your senses . . . take in all the colors of your world . . . smell the crisp, fresh salt air while you’re at the beach, and taste the spices as you bite into that steak.

Read some good fiction. To be completely honest I really didn’t read much fiction. I am naturally more of a non-fiction “how-to” reader. Now I mix it up, reading both fiction and non-fiction. I learned many fiction writers are great story tellers . . . and they write their stories down. In fact many of the greatest fiction authors started out as copywriters. So how could I lose by reading some good fiction? 

So now I read fiction as well as my usual nonfiction. Some of my favorites are Ray Bradbury and John D. MacDonald. But when friends recommend others I at least give them a try. 

Copy (literally hand write out) proven ads. This powerful step makes a neurological imprint to your brain. So you’re essentially “writing” killer, sales generating ads. Many top-shelf copywriters did this important step during their early days of learning how to write sales copy. You’ll find many of today’s marketing teachers (and practitioners) recommend that their students do this while learning how to write copy. 

Alrighty then. Now you are ‘armed and dangerous’ with a few great ways to inject ‘voice and style’ in your marketing materials. Give these ideas a go and see if they don’t improve your marketing efforts. 

Until next edition, stay cool!

Warmly,

Emette Massey

P.S. Want a electronic copy of The Elements of Style? Just hit me up at eemassey@yahoo.com with the word “Elements” in the subject line (so I know that it’s not spam) and I’ll email you a copy for your library.