How to Use The Hero's Journey for More Effective Social Media Content

Social Content Is Storytelling

In your social media content you are telling a story, whether you realize it or not. The sum total of your content on each platform and across platforms works together to create an overarching story.

The question is, are you in control of how that story turns out? If you're not consciously directing the story... then that story is open for interpretation by the reader.

It doesn't have to overwhelm you though. All you need is some sort of overarching framework for your story. Then, when you create content, do so with one question in mind: how does this fit into our story?

The Hero's Journey

One such framework is The Hero's Journey. Identified and written about extensively by Joseph Campbell, The Hero's Journey is a naturally recurring storytelling template that has popped up in countless civilizations throughout thousands of years of human history.

The Epic of Gilgamesh, the Iliad and the Odyssey, King Arthur, the creation myths of countless cultures across continents... right down to Tom Sawyer, Star Wars and Harry Potter... these tales are all takes on the same story.

You have an ordinary person living an ordinary life, but something is somehow off. There is a call to adventure. Reluctant, the hero, aided by a friend or two and a wise old mentor, takes up the quest. He crosses a barrier to retrieve a totem of power. He fights and defeats a monster. There are consequences to be dealt with. The hero returns to a new status quo.

Most stories use these archetypal characters and events to build narrative that resonate with the human condition. Our lives are a series of calls to adventure, and we see ourselves in them... and them in ourselves.

Use It In Your Content

You can use these elements to create an overarching narrative that each piece of your content fits into. You can use them to tell your story... or you can make them even more effective with one key shift in perspective: you shouldn't be the hero of your Hero's journey.

DON'T BE A HERO!

If you make yourself the hero, there's a good chance your audience will resonate with you to a degree. But... there's a more powerful approach: let the audience be the hero. You play different supporting archetypes in different contexts.

Be the companion: see the potential in them. Challenge them to make more of themselves. Recognize that, not only CAN they do this, but it seems they were born to do this. It is their destiny.

Be the mentor: give them the key bit of information they need to figure out how to start. Allow them to believe it can be done by showing that similar feats have been done in the past… or that it was preordained by the stars.

Be the wizard: There is a tool or totem that will lead them to the successful completion of the quest: give it to them, or tell them where they must go to a acquire it.

Issue the call to adventure: right now, the hero is stuck in the status quo. They may or may not have an inkling that something better is out there. In any of these roles, you can be the one to issue the call to adventure.

Hey, there ought to be something more. You should be the one to find the solution and save us all!

Identify the stage of the journey where you can help, and take on the mantle of that archetype

Depending on the journey and how people in different stages of your funnel are moving through that journey, you don't need to confine yourself to a single archetype. Identify where avatars within stages of your funnel are along the journey, and take on the mantle of the supporting archetype appropriate to that segment. Produce content befitting the companion, the mentor, or any other character as appropriate.

Explicit storytelling

One track to take would be explicit storytelling. That is, describe the whole process as a journey the reader/ viewer/ followers is going through. This could be a unique, entertaining way to approach the contribution you could make to that adventure, providing colorful context to what might possibly be an otherwise mundane interaction.

Implicit storytelling

Implicit storytelling has the potential to me more persuasive, however. The reason The Hero's Journey resonates with us is because humans proscribe narrative structure to our lives in retrospect. We see ourselves as the hero of our own journey in hundreds of iterations in our lifetime.

Try this: create avatars of your customers in the various segments of your sales funnel. What stories is each Avatar likely to be living out, and where are they in those quests (you could have multiple for each Avatar).

Once that's done, what archetypal roles can you legitimately play in those narrative? When you create content, do so as a companion, encouraging them and showing that you see what they're truly capable of; or as the mentor, sharing the experiential knowledge that gives them the confidence to take the first step. Be the wizard and clue them in on the weaknesses they can exploit to slay the dragon.

Here you aren't TELLING the story, you are simply playing your part IN the story as the hero moves through it. The narrative structure simply serves to give you context to know what sort of content to put out and who to target that content for.

Since it is based on an avatar that is a composite of your current prospects and customers, then it has every likelihood to attract new members to your audience that will themselves be ideal prospects.

These are a few ways ways marketers can use the elements of the Hero's Journey to produce content that resonates, encourages engagement and is inherently shareable. After all, we humans have been doing it for at least 6,000 years.