A great story tells a tale about ‘who we are’ and about ‘what gives our lives meaning’. When your audience understands your context, where you are from, the obstacles you are facing, the efforts you are making to get to where you are going and to achieve your ‘why’, they develop empathy for your brand. The goal with your story is to make them care – whether this is emotionally, intellectually, or aesthetically. How do we make them care?
Make it relevant. To capture attention, start by making your message relevant. It’s important to show your audience why your story is going to worth their time within the first 10 seconds in order to make them care enough to stop scrolling.
Static stories are dead stories. Life is not static, and so a great story will not be either. Change is fundamental to stories. Hold your audience breathless in moments where anticipation mingles with uncertainty.
Give 2+2 not 4. Humans are born problem solvers. We are born to deduce and deduct, and so its the absence of information that draws us in. Allow your audience to take part and complete the sentence for you by giving them 2 + 2 instead of 4.
All about your ‘why’. Everything in your story is an integral part of the mission. Every action, event, message, pivot point should relate to your end vision, your organisational missions towards achieving your ‘why’.
Your digital stories are a chance to connect with your online audience by getting them to experience the similarities between your brand and themselves.
Stanton Witherspoon 