The biggest lesson I have learned in this course is that storytelling isn’t just an important component of great digital content, it’s the framework for great digital content. In other words, the key to having successful digital content isn’t to incorporate elements of storytelling, it’s to embrace your story and use your digital content to tell your story throughout.
The way I see storytelling in the context of social media is that your social media is like your book, and the posts you publish are the pages in your book that tell your story to your audience. Studies show that people often read the first few pages of a book to decide if they want to keep reading or not, and social media is the same. If you are able to capture your audience’s attention with one great social post, they will likely want to see more, thus following your story.
I think it’s simple to guide your social media content with your story. The way I see it, things happen in an order, just like your story. If you post outside of that order, or there’s a post in your collection that doesn’t fit with the others, your story loses its flow. As an example, consider a student blogger. Imagine the vlogger participates in Vlogmas, but on Day 3 of Vlogmas decides to post about their recent Thanksgiving trip. It just wouldn’t make sense and it would disrupt the audience’s understanding of the blogger’s story. Using your own story’s chronology is important.
Besides chronology, I also think it’s important to let your story guide your content in terms of authenticity. There’s something so frustrating about social media accounts that portray a persona that you know is far from their reality. I think if your social content is genuine to your true story, the audience will feel the authenticity and will relate to it and you more deeply.
In terms of what stories I would want to tell, I think it really comes down to authenticity and personality. Social media is about connection, interaction, engagement, and exploration. If your stories are authentic and reflect your personal brand, there are going to be people who relate, and want to engage with that. For me, I like to be silly and have lots of fun, but I am also not afraid to show emotion. The stories I like to tell are those that make people feel who I am, while being relatable, or even just entertaining.
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 