Content and storytelling: why your website should come first

I was recently asked if websites and blogging are still relevant in 2023. I understand the premise of the question: often, marketing departments at corporate companies and small business owners alike get consumed by the hungry social media monster. Feeding that beast could be a full-time job if you let it.

 

But I’d argue that your business storytelling and content strategy shouldn’t put social media first. Here’s why.

 

Tell your stories around your campfire: why your website should come first in 2023

 

Storytelling is the core of human history. Early stories, poetry, fairy tales, myths and legends were how our ancestors shared important news and lessons. Shared around the campfire, stories recorded important cultural events and helped connect people.

 

Today, we have many ways to communicate stories and ideas. Books, videos, audio, graphics and images can all be used in combination or alone to tell a story. And how we share those stories has evolved, too; there are websites and blogs, social media, print, podcasts… I could go on.

 

Storytelling is an ancient tool, and sharing our stories around the proverbial campfire is easier than ever before. These days, in the business world, we’ve given storytelling the broad-brush name of ‘content’. It’s a fantastic way to market your business and build your brand, but many Kiwi businesses underutilise it.

 

One of the main issues is that we’re not telling our stories around our campfires.

 

Many Kiwi businesses take a social-media-first approach to telling their stories.

 

Social media is a valuable storytelling platform because:

  • It’s free or inexpensive to start

  • It has a large, ready-made audience

  • It’s easy to create and upload content


The downsides to a social-media-first approach are:

  • You don’t own the platform

  • The algorithms that determine performance change often

  • You’re competing with millions of other storytellers

 

Own your campfire stories. When building a content strategy, start with channels you own – like your website.

While active, vibrant social media storytelling is integral to any business content strategy, it shouldn’t come first. Your website should. Using Facebook to primarily tell your stories is like using Marc Zuckerberg’s campfire – the audience are his guests, and he’s invited another hundred thousand storytellers to share the floor.

Small businesses tend to skip creating a website because, in the past, it was a difficult (and potentially expensive) task compared to setting up a Facebook page. But there are now many affordable plug-and-play website builders like WordPress, Wix, Squarespace and Shopify. Depending on your business’s needs, a bespoke-built website is worth the investment if you want to go further online – but a simple, one-page Squarespace site could be all you need (and it’s better than nothing).  

 

Marketing teams in larger businesses tend to put their website and blog content on the back burner for a similar reason. Website content takes longer to produce; it’s trickier to do well and can take up more resources and budget. The hungry mouth of social media exacerbates this – it’s always shouting: Feed me! Feed me now! And the rewards are similar to using social media: instant gratification through quick results. It’s also much easier to engage the boss with a screenshot of a million views on a TikTok video than some dry-looking analytics.

 

But the time, effort and resources it takes to create website content could offer you a much better return on investment.

 

A website-first content strategy

 

Having a content strategy and plan is a must. There are different approaches to and definitions of what these are, but here’s mine:

 

A content strategy is your content WHY and WHAT and HOW. Why are you doing this (your goals)? What sort of content will you create (think: form, style and medium)? How will you make and share your content (your chosen platforms)?

 

A content plan is your content WHEN and WHERE. When you’re going to post each piece of content and where you’re going to post each piece of content.

 

Creating a strategy and a plan that puts your website content (whether that’s blog posts or updating a static page) first has several advantages:

 

  • It helps with search engine optimisation

  • You can recycle long-form website content into short-form social media content

  • It creates a destination for your stories, so your content efforts won’t get lost

  • Website content can have a longer shelf-life, reaping better rewards over a longer period (think: a well-written lead magnet versus a TikTok dance trend that’s old-fashioned before your final twerk).

 

Your website should have your key call to action on it, too: it’s where your audience should be able to buy your stuff, find your business or hire your services.

 

To return to the ancient art of storytelling: your website should be your campfire. This is where you should gather your audience and tell your stories. You can share your stories or snippets of your stories on social media, but you want to keep sending your audience back to your campfire (not leaving them lost at the big bonfire that’s Facebook, Twitter, et al.).

 

Your website should be where your audience can experience the full, unabridged version of your business’s story.

 

From there, send sparks of your story to print, podcasts, other people’s websites and, yes, social media. But remember that your website is your campfire – tend to that first and build from there.

BusinessBethany RogersComment