337: How to Use a Story-First Approach on Social Media

Hey movers, it's Sally Z with Be Moved. Let's go create some talks that will move this world. We're going to talk with amazing speakers, share tips, tricks, resources, and we are going to be moved so that our audience can be moved. This moved me. What is moving We are talking today about a story-first approach. Here's what I mean by that. Most people know how important stories are, but most people are also not putting stories to work in their business in a way that is actually based on persuasive theory. So in a way that actually takes advantage of the persuasive power of stories. They are so powerful. They do so much work for us if we put it in our business in the right location. Now, I don't mean like on a meta level. Okay. Some people, my coach yesterday was talking about how important story first is, but he was talking about it from a meta perspective. In other words. Making sure that the story, your story is driving your approach in your business as a whole. I'm talking about it, when I say story first, I'm talking about it from the every day, every context you have. I want your story to be the first thing that you share and you talking about the story coming afterwards. And this became very, very clear to me. When I spoke to teenagers. So if you don't know, if you're new to me or you're hearing about this for the first time, I've been talking a lot about it, partly because teenagers are an amazing audience. I loved working with them. I love speaking to them because I always knew what was working and what wasn't. And I have vivid memories of moments where I was up in front telling a story and it was like electric, tingly. They were so with me and this sense of connection, of empathy was so powerful. I also remember moments that did not work because I was not leaning into stories and instead I was leaning into the talky part of speaking, which is where we're sharing our brilliant ideas and we're making our point. And we as speakers tend to think that that is the part that's gonna be like, whoa, people think I'm amazing. And the truth is, that is super important, but without the story before that, without leaning into a story first, approach, all your brilliance can land flat and be missed in some instances, completely missed. So the story-first approach opens people up to hearing what you have to say. Now, this is all built around and reflective of the Simple Story Framework that I've been talking about a lot. So if you haven't grabbed yours yet, Don't worry, you still can. bmoove.com/ssf for Simple Story Framework. It's a very simple PDF that talks through the MMM framework, right? And the MMM stands for moment, meaning, and move. You've heard this already. I'm just reviewing because it's a fun little easy acronym that you can take with you. And apply in the everyday. And that is what we are talking about today in the short time that we have together. We are talking about how to leverage MMM on social media. Now, some of you are like focused on getting on the stages and you are ready to really leverage the power of speaking for your business. To grow your authority and your impact and your revenue. Awesome. This is still important in the everyday. The free stages that are available to us all the time are critical because it supports your eventual stage speaking life, world business opportunities. Okay. This builds your authority, which builds your opportunities. To be that known keynote speaker, that sought-after expert that people go, oh, I wanna bring you onto my stage. Now, some of you are not at that place, which is totally great and fine. You're like, I'm just trying to gain confidence. I'm trying to get clear on my content, okay, before I think about making more money with my speaking or really leveraging it. That's great too. Okay, this is powerful to help you practice the skills required, the engagement, the stories, really learning how to tap into your own expertise and figure out like, what do I have to offer people? And how can I take advantage of the moments that I have? If you're not being asked to speak on stages yet, guess what? You have the free stage of social media at your disposal every day. So how can we truly take advantage of it? That's what we're talking about today. Isn't that great? Woo-hoo! I'm so excited. A few weeks ago, I was at the Movers Lab retreat, leading this retreat for those folks who are with me in my Movers Lab experience. So it's this year-long mastermind where we are scaling their speaking. Now these are people who have said, I'm pretty sure I have my content. We're still finessing it. We're always finessing our content. You guys, we're always getting it clearer, but they've got the heart of their message. And now they're like, get me out there. I want to speak more. I want to make more money. I want to bring in more leads with my speaking. So that's what we work on together for that year. And we cycle through some really powerful curriculum and we get together a few times a year. On this retreat experience, which is just so fun. It's so amazing. Even those speakers who are at a high enough level that they are investing in their development and focused on growing their impact through speaking, I was pushing every single one of them to do more of this and show up more consistently to build their authority on the free stages. So this is not just for the beginners or people who you might call yourself an emerging speaker, which is great. This is helpful for you. But even if you see yourself as a more seasoned speaker, I am here to challenge you to use this framework because it will make those moments that you do show up, that you are building your authority, you're going to do it in a way that is more engaging, more persuasive. More fun, more entertaining, and it's gonna have a more powerful punch to what you do. Okay? So thank you for being here. But what does it look like to really leverage the NNN framework in the everyday? So I wanna share with you a strategy that I think will be helpful. So if you're like, I know I need to do this, Sally, you're pushing me. I know I need to show my face. More and speak more words. Okay, that is ultimately what we're talking about. If you want to build your authority on social media, we need to see your face. We need to hear your words. Okay? If you're just sharing other people's stuff again and again, we don't really see you as the expert. We see you as the conduit, and we want to see you as a thought leader. That is what we are talking about. So if you want a little extra nudge to show your face and speak your words, along with grabbing the Simple Story Framework, which will help you, okay? And you'll get some additional support and resources along the way when you sign up for this, okay? And it's free. It's just there to help you if you want it. What I wanna talk to you about are these 3 C's. Okay, first C is clarity. Okay, so we are going to tap into the MMM framework to get clarity on what we're gonna say before you show up. This is not, I'm not talking, you gotta take half a day to figure out how you're gonna show up on social media for the month. I am talking 3 minutes. Take 3 minutes before you are ready to show up and press go. And you're gonna take a piece of paper and you're just gonna write some notes down. Okay? Very simple. You're not gonna script anything out, but you're going to take a moment and think about what your MMM is for this moment. And really importantly, you are going to contextualize your MMM to the moment you are in right now. Okay, so moment meaning move. We know this, but let me review really quickly. Your moment is simply a story. If story feels like too weighted, like, oh gosh, I don't know, my life is boring. I like the word moment because it helps us really hone into one specific thing that happened. It can be really little, can be a little thing. So moment. Then you're going to align that moment with your audience. What do, what do you want them to pull from that moment? What is the meaning you want them to take from that moment? You can sometimes start with the moment that you took from it, but you've got to keep the filter on for what does your audience need from this moment? And then of course you tell them what's next. What is the next thing that they want to do? From that moment. So moment, meaning, move. Okay. If you want to dive in deeper on the MMM, grab this, grab that Simple Story Framework, or I've got lots of podcast episodes about it, especially in the last few months. So go check those out. There's lots of resources for you around that. Okay. But we're just going to take 3 minutes and get clear on how you want to approach it. You're not writing a script, just 3 minutes. You jot some ideas down and voilà. Then you are going to focus on consistency. Okay? Consistency is more important than awesomeness. Consistency is more important than quality of delivery. Consistency is more important than production quality. Consistency trumps the goal of perfection, okay? All the time. You guys know my mantra, perfection kills connection and connection is the point. Okay? You can't connect with people if you're not showing up on a consistent basis because it lowers the level of trust and engagement. Okay? If you want to be seen as an authority, you've got to be consistent in the way in which you show up. Now, it doesn't mean that you have to do something every day. Okay, if that is too much for you, that is totally okay. But I want you to make a decision for yourself on what that consistency is. So, look at your calendar, block out some times, right? If you have decided, on Thursdays at noon, I'm going live in my Facebook group. Thursdays at noon, you're going live in your Facebook group. A great way to hold yourself to this consistency is to tell people what you're going to be doing because they will hold you to it or note when you didn't quite make it. I love it when my schedule's gotten the best of me and I'm like, nobody really cares and nobody's really watching and I kind of downplay all of it and I'll get a little DM from someone who's like, oh, weren't you doing this thing? Where did it go? And I'm like, mm. That is a break in trust. So focus on consistency. All right? So you're gonna take 3 minutes, you're gonna get clear, and then you're gonna show up on a consistent basis. One of my favorite things, along with my Perfection Kills Connection mantra, is to hashtag show up anyway. You all know this, right? We are going to show up anyway, not at all cost, not at the expense of our self-love and care and health, but we're not gonna let our fear of judgment, fear of rejection, fear of failure keep us from showing up on a consistent basis. And if you have your MMM figured out, it'll be a piece of cake. All right. Now the last thing that you're gonna do to really take advantage of this on social media is you're going to focus on courage. So we were just talking about the importance of showing up anyway. And what I would suggest for you is to focus on one platform. If you are feeling overwhelmed and like it's too much and I can't do it, and we, we can come up with a lot of excuses that get in the way of us just simply saying yes, like I'm gonna do this. If you want to be seen as an authority, you need to show up consistently and then in the moment have some courage and go for it anyway. What I think helps is focusing on one platform, one thing. Keep it small. One of my amazing speakers in the Lab is named Emily Perrin. Emily is a productivity expert. She works with creative entrepreneurs to help them really make good on their dreams and like make life and work a little more doable. And one of the ways that she does that is by taking out the overwhelm of the huge goal and that like, I wanna have a bigger impact. And I like, I love a big dream, people. I love the idea of just pushing all of you out on the biggest stages and sharing your voice and stories with the world. And I recognize how debilitating that can be, especially when it feels like it's so far away. It's like, what does it even matter? What does it even matter then that I'm doing this little kiddly thing that nobody's watching? Well, those are the moments when we just wanna dial the goal down to the one platform once a week, courage in the moment, that one little thing will pay off because it builds on itself. Speaking is iterative. The more you speak, the more you speak, the more you show up and do anyway. The easier this all becomes, and you start to look back and see the evidence of what you've done and go, actually, that was pretty good. Or it wasn't very good, but I survived it and people still found value in it. Or that was a train wreck and I'm not gonna do it like that again. We learn by doing, and so we need a whole huge dose of courage in order to do the work that we want to do, in order to have the impact that we want to have. So courage is one of the most important factors in your success. I gotta tell you, I work with some incredibly talented people, and the only difference between their success and other people's success is their level of courage. It's not about talent. Everybody's got something to share. It's about gumption and courage. The word I use in the lab a lot is pluck. How much pluck do you have where you're like, you know what, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna give it a go. I'm gonna see what happens. Here I come, world, right? That's what it's all about. Clarity, consistency, and courage. Okay? And apply that in the everyday. So pick your platform, contextualize your content for that platform, define your M's. Okay? And if you need some ideas on your content, if you're like, I can't find anything around me that feels inspiring or that's moving me that I want to apply and hand off to my audience. I've got a bunch of resources that you could use. So there's a bingo card with prompts and ideas. If you sign up for this, you'll get a series of emails that kind of onboard you into this whole process. Feel free if you're like, Sally, that's a lot of emails. Feel free to ignore them. Okay, but hang with me because one of those emails has lots of additional resources for you to give you ideas for how to really take advantage of it. Okay? As always, discard what isn't helpful and lean into what is. Right? This applies to everybody a little bit differently. All right, friends, I am already proud of you, and my request is that when you are showing up, and using your MMM, a moment meaning move. Take me on social so I can cheer you on, right? That is really important to me. It's my favorite thing to do in the world is to cheer on my speakers as they're being brave and sharing their voice and stories with the world. So let me know so I can cheer you on. Yay. All right, friends, this was fun. I hope everybody had an awesome rest of your week and see you next week. Bye!