HOW TO ADD STORYTELLING TO YOUR BLOG
How to tell your story that reflects your brand
You may ask why do I need to tell a story when I have all the facts that my reader needs? Before answering this, let me tell you a story. When I was a kid I never ate green vegetables, whenever I saw them, I always felt like I’m going to throw up. On the contrary, I loved ice cream. So my parents used to make a deal with me, eat the veggies and you get the ice cream, I almost always finished my meal when I thought I was going to get ice cream. See how my parents gave me both, what I need and what I want. That’s exactly what you should do while writing a blog, your readers want entertainment but they need the facts as well. When you combine storytelling with your informative blogs, you give them both!
The second question you may get is how am I supposed to tell a story, I can barely write a blog.
Fret not, you don’t have to write a 500-page bestseller, a 100-150 word story is enough. Now that I’ve covered the why you may ask how? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered! Below are some tips and tricks you’d want to learn while writing an interesting blog with an interesting story.
Start with an interesting opening story/anecdote.
Stories connect with people and the more you connect with people, the more they are willing to trust you. The first few lines of your blog determine whether the reader will read the whole blog or not. So your blog needs to have an interesting start, the start of your blog is mostly an introduction to what you are going to tell the reader in the latter part of the blog. Including a short story that is related to your blog and to which, people can easily connect and relate, will maximize the chances of people connecting with your blog.
Use the 4 elements of storytelling
You need to identify the character, problem, plot, and message in the context of your story and the topic of your blog. These are the 4 elements of storytelling, there are other variations of this method but they are very similar to each other.
- Character: Every story has a set of characters, who have a set role to play in that story. You need to find out what role which character is going to play. For example, Goku is the main protagonist in the show while Yamcha is a side character
- Problem/Conflict: To capture the attention of your audience and make the story interesting you need to have a conflict in your story. For example, in the movie “2012”, the destruction of the world was the conflict in the story. Some of the key conflicts are:
- Man against Man
- Man against Society/Institution
- Man against Nature
- Man against Machine
- Man against Self
- Man against God
- Plot: The progression of the storyline is called the plot. Once you have decided who your characters are and what conflicts they are facing, you should then focus on how your story will progress.
- Message: Arguably the most important part of your story is the message you are trying to convey or the conclusion of your story. Without the conclusion’, there is no point in telling the story.
Write from the reader’s view.
Writing from the perspective of the reader is very beneficial as the reader connects more if he thinks the story is about him. Make him feel that the story was written just for him, understand the point of view of your reader.
Use Google to find stories.
Writing a story is hard, writing a story that is interesting and relevant is harder. But fret not Google is here, you can find any type of story you want on Google, but in the rare case you don’t find one, there are a thousand directories and millions of websites, you can find relevant stories there.
Start with an image.
Post an image at the beginning of the blog that is related to the story you are about to tell, give the reader the taste of what is about to come. Images are a good way to communicate with the reader, it’s your job to make the reader immerse in your storytelling, using images that are depicting what you are trying to say can be a good way of communicating with your
Start with a video that tells a story.
Just like an image, a video can serve the same function but in a more immersive way. Try to find a video about the story you are trying to tell if you can’t find one, an image would work as well.
Story Arc.
Story Arc is the start and end of the story and everything in between. A story arc is said to be good when it contains a good start, a solid mid, and a conclusive end, but before the end, there should be some kind of a climax.
Character Arc.
Remember how Peter Parker did not acknowledge the fact that he is responsible for his actions and how the death of his uncle made him realize how important it is to take responsibility for his actions, that was his character arc. Your character needs to have a compelling character arc for the story to be interesting.
Conclusion.
Human beings are hardwired to look for conclusions in things, if your story does not have a good conclusion your reader might get irritated. Having a good conclusion is one of the main things in making a good story. To conclude this blog it’s very important to understand the concept of storytelling and incorporating that concept into your blog. Keep your readers engaged and keep writing.
Want to know more?
Want to learn more techniques about making your content more interesting or do you need some professional assistance, Wecraft can help!