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Ron Ploof is a content marketer who has been interested in social media since 2005 when he started his podcast called Griddlecakes Radio: The Lost Art of Audio Storytelling. Over the years, he’s started his own agency and even headed up social media for Epson America. While he didn’t start his podcast to get into the social media industry per se, he did see the value in his ability to utilize social media to publish and distribute content via audio formats. Ron recently joined AMP UP Your Social Media’s host Glenn Gaudet to discuss marketing automations solutions on social media.

[quote]  “[Your social media and storytelling success] will all come from empathy.”  [/quote]

Ron discusses tips for using storytelling as a social media connector: 

1.  Create great content by developing a great story. Storytellers have great empathy with their audience, and a business storyteller has an audience that is a customer, vendor, or partner. By understanding them and their problems that they have to solve, you can create effective solutions to help them think through their issues through utilization of your content.
2. The B2B space is a story in and of itself. Characters and conflict are the very essence of B2B negotiations. There’s risk on both sides, and sometimes politics even come into play that enhance and develop the story. The act of doing business is a story, and having empathy for your audience will dramatically improve your story’s artform. 
3. Even ‘inactive’ products can tell a story. Ask what functions a potentially ‘inactive’ product serves. What problems is that product solving? What have other similar products provided in the way of benefits and even disasters that can help tell the story about YOUR product? There are bigger reasons as to why someone might purchase an item than the simple fact that it exists and ‘can get the job done’. 
4. Look at your product through your customers’ eyes. Marketers tend to focus on their product, the ‘right words’ and terminology, and their strategies. Oftentimes, the empathy for their customers and viewpoints of their customers tend to get left behind. Write about what your customers care about and not what your company cares about if you really want to create engaging content. 
5. Content generators need to be more active with their customers. It seems so simple, but take time to talk to your customers directly. You may not necessarily use your products as much as your customers, and then your customers could have more information about your products than you might! You can learn something about your product by speaking with your customers directly. 

Ron would love to hear from you! Connect with him on LinkedIn, Twitter, or through his company website. 

Subscribe and get the AMP UP Your Social Media podcast on iTunes or listen below. Tweet about the show using #AUYSM or Tweet at us @AMPUPSocial. AMP UP Your Social Media is a proud member of the FIR Podcast Network.

Listen to the podcast here.

About Ron Ploof

As a graduate of Merrimack College, Ploof has spent many years perfecting the art of storytelling. As such, he’s taken interest in many radio talk shows and storytelling venues, and is responsible for writing, recording, and editing a family/work safe storytelling/entertainment podcast on Griddlecakes Radio. Additionally, his labor-for-love quest to tell the story of Lizzie Milligan consumes much of his spare time in a project lovingly entitled Project Lizzie. 

AMP UP Your Social Media is sponsored by:

• GaggleAMP – Empower your employees, partners and resellers to amplify your social media.

About Glenn Gaudet

Glenn Gaudet, host of AMP Up Your Social Media, brings over 20 years of comprehensive experience in both strategic and product marketing for technology and media companies ranging from startup to $1 Billion in sales. Full bio