A three-step guide to telling better stories.
Storytelling is now a buzzword.
There are countless articles and posts on the importance of storytelling for businesses and personal brands. It’s common knowledge now. So why is it still neglected?
Think back to the last major social media post that caught your eye. It was most likely one of three major things –funny, visually appealing, or interesting. People resonate more with someone they understand or empathize with.
Something that catches your interest must have a solid story behind it. No matter how short. Maybe you saw a lady running across a room at midnight with one sock on, and you stuck around to see where she was going.
Maybe a man with a serious face sat oddly dressed at the edge of a room in a video, and you wanted to know what made him stand out. That’s interest.
Interest is also a crucial part of the AIDA model (Attention-Interest-Desire-Action) popularly used to describe a simple customer journey. When done effectively, storytelling can elicit the first three from your audience.
Now let’s break things down. How do you tell a captivating story?
1. Keep things short and simple.
Use short sentences as much as you can. If it’s a visual story, stick to short and powerful clips where applicable, they will keep the viewer more engaged. Have you ever watched a video so short but impactful, you feel the urge to watch it again? And again?
Aim for that response.
Short stories leave the reader feeling like they need more. They will hold on to that message you just passed across like their lives depend on it, because they were engaged throughout.
Avoid excessively long articles, videos and posts. At the end, your audience won’t know what to take out. Keep your stories short and impactful when you can.
Also, be concise with your message. Leave out any symbols, words, or visuals that have more than one meaning. Why waste resources putting together a good story when the message isn’t clear to the audience?
2. Listen, then speak
Some storytelling efforts feel forced. Businesses come online to talk ‘at’ their audience, not ‘to’ them. This is a habit of bad listeners.
My GST101 course in my first year of University taught me that listening involves active attention, understanding the speaker, and responding based on the message received. Hence, a business that does not know its audience’s pain points and motivations cannot tell an effective story.
My favourite channel on YouTube — The School of Life — remains my best because they teach emotional intelligence using stories I can relate to. The author didn’t concoct those stories in a cave. He was patient enough to talk to therapy clients, have online Q&A sessions, and search for trending emotional intelligence questions online.
He is an active listener; hence he can tell the best stories.
Be honest, when last did you listen to your audience? Through social media, direct contact, your website, etc.? Find a constant means to do so from now on and watch your storytelling efforts improve.
3. Highlight emotion
The best stories make you cry.
Just kidding, but this is the reality for some people. But you don’t have to make anybody sad to tell a good story. Just evoke a strong emotion.
Strong here means the push to take action. The emotion could be:
Satisfaction — A prospect can decide to buy your product, seeing clearly how it can improve their life and wellbeing.
Determination — Your short film on drug abuse can make a 16year old swear to never do drugs.
Joy — 32-year-old Kemi can be motivated to be more intentional about doing things that make her happy.
Anger — An upcoming activist can decide to take up a new fight against plastic pollution after seeing how it kills millions of sea creatures every year.
There are so many emotions you can tap into. Whichever you chose, drive a strong reaction.
It always pays off.
Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comments section.
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