“There’s something about hearing a person’s voice, listening to how they present, hearing their stories, that gives me a bit of insight into who that person is”

 

STORYTELLING STRATEGIES

Below you find some strategies and examples that help you to create your own stories. The social media examples showcase how to apply these strategies into practice, and of course can serve as your inspiration. The same strategies can be used in presentations, articles and any other content you produce.

 

BEFORE - AFTER - BRIDGE

Start by describing a problem there is, then imagine a situation where this problem does not exist anymore. Bridge these two situations together with the solution your project offers to the problem.

 

WHY - HOW - WHAT

The idea is to explain why something exists / why it is important / why you want to work with it. After, explain how you achieve / have achieved the goal, and sum up the story by describing the benefits or achievement.

 

 

 

ATTENTION - REASONS, FACTS, BENEFITS - CALL TO ACTION

This method can be used, for example, to encourage engaging in action whether it is to follow your social media page, subscribe a newsletter, share their experiences or take action in some other ways. Start by an opening that catches your audience attention, then move on to facts and reasons that turn their attention into desire, and end it with a call to action.

 

 

INCIDENT - ACTION - BENEFIT

This method allows you to share personal experiences. It is a good idea to get personal whenever possible and, let the people working with the project tell about their work: maybe they have had some problems or challenges? How have they solved them? If possible, describe how the problem solving has benefitted the whole project.

 

CREATE CONNECTIONS AND LINKAGES

Connections and linkages can be created between your project and other projects, the EUSBSR objectives or current events and topics in the media. You can start by asking “Did you know that..?” which offers you a simple way to build bridges between your project and other topics. In general, asking questions is an effective way to catch attention and engage your audience.

 

 

 

VISUAL STORYTELLING 

Human brains process visual contents 60,000 times faster than reading words. On Facebook, over 4 billion videos are being watched every day. Tweets with images receive 18 % more clicks, 89 % more likes and 150 % more retweets. These are few resons why you should use photos, videos and other visuals in your storytelling.

Even a single picture can tell your story. And as we know, if a picture is worth a thousand words, what is video worth then? Don't hesitate trying for example Canva to make your own visually compelling material suitable to your specific purposes.