A friend of mine recently visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and came away a little disappointed because, he said, there were a lot of cool individual displays, but there wasn’t much storytelling.
I toured the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last spring and I too remember to various individual displays – The Edge’s guitar, a dress worn by Tina Turner, Bob Dylan’s harmonica, purple gloves worn by Prince in 1984 and the red jacket Michael Jackson wore in the “Thriller” video. Great stuff.
If These Walls Could Talk… What Story Does It Tell?
I personally thought there was some storytelling, but my friend had a point. He saw some great items on display, but he didn’t feel they contributed to a connected story about rock music history.
There’s a lesson to be learned here.
Brands of all kinds use social media, in particular, to post a variety of images and videos and messages. The question is this: do those posts contribute to the telling of a broader story about the brand? Or do those posts, like my friend’s impression of the individual displays at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, exist as “one-offs,” individually appealing and interesting but ultimately independent of a greater story?
It could be argued that the musical instruments, famous outfits and hand-written song lyrics in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame come together organically to form a story of rock music. There are multiple floors in that museum and there are awesome things to see and do on each of them. Maybe the hope is that customers leave feeling like they’ve had a good experience, learned something and made a souvenir purchase on the way out. If so, they succeeded with me. I check all those boxes.
But there should be some intention behind the storytelling. Sports teams post all sorts of images, graphics and videos. Buzzer-beaters, highlight-reel goals, great catches, post-game locker room celebrations, news conference comments and athletes doing community service.
Plenty of outstanding content. But what’s the story they’re trying to tell? What do they want their customers (fans) to know about them? And why?
There are hours and hours of tremendous content out there whether online or in museums. All of it can be an opportunity to tell a broader story about your organization and the people in it. Be intentional about what that story is and how you want to tell it. Then tie every piece of content, every display, every message and every appearance in the community back to that story.
Need help sharing your story? That’s where we can help. Master your message, share your story, deliver with confidence. Ask us about programs that can help you elevate your communication.