Storytelling connects your brand to your audience. Your customers, supporters, teammates, and admirers want to hear about your journey, latest opportunity, and even your professional stumbling blocks. Storytelling can capture all of this valuable information and present it in a multitude of engaging ways. Storytelling is more than marketing. It’s a form of education, entertainment, discovery, and bonding.

Storytelling allows us to connect with our audience in a truly unique and impactful way. No need for fairytales or claims to fame, just relevant and relatable stories that make people feel a connection with your brand! Here are three tips from Content Commanders that will enhance your storytelling skills and take your results to the next level.

Create A Relationship with your Audience by Shifting From “I” To “We” in your storytelling.

Everyone’s heard the phrase, “There’s no ‘I’ in team” at least once in life,  and that applies to how your brand voice sounds to your audience. Heavy use of “I” can leave your readers feeling like they’re reading about someone who is full of themselves and just wants to hear themselves talk. Using “we” creates a sense of community among yourself, your staff, and your audience aka potential customers.

Saying, “We would be so honored to be a part of the growth of your business and contribute to your continued success!” sounds much better than, “I will help your business grow with my special techniques!”

Ditch The Pity Party In Favor of True Connection with your Storytelling

There’s a difference between sympathy and empathy, and understanding this can help you understand why your audience may be avoiding your posts or enthusiastic engagement. Sympathy is about throwing a pity party to get people to feel bad for you. Empathy is about your audience genuinely feeling and connecting with you. No one likes a sob story, but everyone loves feeling seen and heard, and like there’s someone out there who gets it and genuinely cares.

The next time your brand experiences a challenge, instead of tucking it away, share it with your audience. The authenticity of sharing challenges and difficulties actually intrigues your audience and encourages them to engage with you beyond the “highlight reel” of social media. Every brand, regardless of how polished, professional or profitable they are experiences a rough patch. Sharing this journey makes your brand real. And real stories have more lasting power than fabricated ones.

Pop Off From The Very Start with your Storytelling

Having the right title and opening lines can mean the difference between a viewer scrolling by and being quick to click and dive right into your content. Attractive openers that grab the reader’s attention and make them want to know more are key. But don’t play with your reader’s emotions by using headlines that are not relevant, which creates mistrust and disappointment.

Let’s face it, in the current era of “clickbait marketing”, headlines are strategically developed to drive traffic. However, once the audience has arrived at the scene of what is supposed to be a tantalizing tale, they can quickly get turned off if it’s simply a fable that flops. Repeated use of clickbait or even “pump and dump” storytelling could put your brand on the spam list.

Instead of using gimmicks to draw attention to your brand, practice digging deep with wordplay, literary devices such as imagery and hyperbole and even adding dimension with multimedia content to emphasize a point.

For instance, if this quote:

“My eyes bulged wide open when I saw my bank account!” or “I sat up in the dead of night and logged into my online banking app. All payments had cleared…and I had racked up six figures my first year in business…”

doesn’t seem to hit the right note as is, use a multimedia approach to tell the story. You could put the quote on a picture and post it on your social:

Or, you could use audio:

There are so many interesting ways you can tell a story.

No matter which way you choose, storytelling can connect you to your audience. Get creative. Tell the same story in 100 different ways. Lean into your audience and share with them.

If you want to read more about using storytelling to connect with your audience, check out this Forbes article for reference and further insight and information: 3 Storytelling Tricks That Will Make Clients Flock To Your Business