Insights and Ingenuity

Sharing Stories In A Modern Society

November 20th, 2008

One definition of storytelling is as follows “storytelling…relating a tale to one or more listeners through voice and gestures.”

Sounds like content distribution, doesn’t it?  In today’s terms, that might include blogs, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, FriendFeed, the list goes on.  It’s about sharing what you know and think.  About opening doors in the imagination and sparking creativity.  Or for that matter, sparking debate.

The art of storytelling has a rich and complex history.  Generations of cultures matured under the influence of stories shared by family and friends.  Stories evolved because they’d been shaped and distributed among trusted groups.  The geographic influence of the story was far and wide.  Telling stories—communicating concepts, sharing ideas, prompting discovery, suggesting solutions—served mankind throughout the ages as we learned the world around us. How to survive, how to solve problems, societal dynamics and interplay.  How to dream.

Today, storytelling serves marketers by fueling environments created for distributing and directing messages or objectives. As historically audiences may have sat in rapture or curiosity as a story was shared, in the here & now, engagement of the mind, exploration and discussion inspiration are goals for crafting compelling content.  Like a good actor, a (good) brand can capture attention, entertain, comfort, and resolve stories–for its customers, and customers-in-waiting.

Authoritative use of a stage (channel) can be an effective tactic when used as part of a more comprehensive marketing strategy.  One simplified scenario, for example, could be if a brand sought to build some interest around a new or repositioned service offering and developed some intriguing video with well-scripted footage. [disclaimer: assumes discovery, planning, research, and other examination/validation steps in process] The video could be posted, a few blog posts or Twitter updates (from an established presence) could bring the material to the light of consciousness, and the opportunity is borne.  Let the audience get lost in the story (and yours WILL be a good story, won’t it?).

By sharing a branded product or service story, maybe as described above, a marketer effectively prepares the stage for publicity and interest by presuming there’s an inherent entertainment value in what s/he has to offer.  Strong strategy has the marketer recognizing the viral opportunity is more about exposure, entertainment, and experience than it is about education, persuasion, and conversion.   Make sure your viral program has clear focus and objective, and doesn’t get reconfigured to try to achieve too much, or the program is at risk for being diluted.  There has to be a compelling, likely emotion-based reason for someone to become involved. To comment.  To forward.  To believe, or even be annoyed.

Once the seeds of awareness have been planted, it’s time to carefully cultivate the growth of the program through sustained, but not oppressive, methods.  If there are public personalities with a good match to your service, then they could serve as new voices of content distribution, and add credibility to the cause or topic.  Maintain momentum, but do not overwhelm or inundate your target market with “sales” messages for a viral program, lest you suffer backlash from what might appear as a deceptive maneuver.  Consumers expect advertising on search engine results pages.  They do not want it from a trusted resource purportedly directing them toward something of interest.

Plan (what’s your one thing?), maintain focus, cultivate, and self-monitor—those are some keys to a successful viral story.

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