How to Tell Intentional Stories on Social Media

“That’s what we storytellers do. We restore order with imagination. We instill hope again and again and again.”

― Kelly Marcel & Sue Smith

Introduction

Most people probably use social media for entertainment purposes. It’s something to distract them from discomfort and numb their brains when life is frustrating. I can understand that. I don’t even blame anyone for doing it. But I think we should use our time intentionally. We have limited minutes in a day – are we doing something to build ourselves up? Are we learning anything? Better yet, are we sharing what we have learned with others? A great way to share what you know is through intentional stories on social media.

Intentional storytelling on social media takes some thought. You have to be deliberate. But it’s a great opportunity to learn how to tell a good story. I think we should all strive to be storytellers in some capacity, and since most of us are on social media frequently, why not learn to tell intentional stories there? Most of us long to create something and not just be a passive consumer. Offering something to the world by creating making meaningful content is one way to overcome that.

Stories should offer questions, introspection, lessons, and catharsis. Don’t simply become another entertainer. There’s enough of those. But share your story and experiences to others so that they might see it and learn from your life. Even sharing a fictional story to provide something thought provoking could be beneficial. I would love to see more people take the route of fictional storytelling on social media.

Let’s delve into some aspects of being intentional with your stories on social media.

Strengths to Storytelling on Social Media

After music and songs, social media has be one of the shortest storytelling mediums available. In a matter of a minute or less, an idea must be conveyed to your audience comprehensively, You have to present the premise, adversity, and conclusion in a super fast turn around time. Not every social media platform requires super short content, but most certainly encourage it. This is where you have to practice being creative. How can you get an idea across in such a short amount of time and have it resonate?

Stories on social media also present the opportunity for interaction. You can tell your story and through comments and reactions, people can respond to the story right away. They can add an ongoing dialogue to the story that you can participate with. It’s a unique way to stay immediately engaged with your audience. You get immediate feedback and the means to know how your story is providing something valuable to others.

It is my opinion that social media content can be very clever. People come up with crazy ideas and execute it well to draw audiences in. I believe there can be a marriage of cleverness and intentional storytelling. Come up with something funny or thoughtful, and through words that shock, entertain, (or no words at all) grab your audiences’ attention. They will be hooked and curious to know where the next point is leading.

Why You Should Tell Stories on Social Media

Part of this boils down to what sort of stories you want to tell – thoughtful, comedic, educational , inspiring, etc? What sort of content do you wish you were seeing more often? Based on that, you can create some of those types of stories yourself. Your why should be inspired from a place of selflessness – a desire to be a blessing to other people and not bring ourselves attention. If you can provide something beneficial for someone to take away from your stories, you have accomplished the mission of telling an intentional story.

If you’re authentic in your stories on social media, that will very likely will encourage others to share their stories too. Their stories may be primarily shared in the comments section, but people will open up and share their experiences and the community can come around and encourage them. Your storytelling can create a safe place for others to share theirs. If you’re taking that first bold step of telling a story, be it personal or fictional, people will relate to it and share their own. And if we all are sharing stories, we are all connecting.

The idea of an interactive community around a story shared on social media is unique. A single post can have its own thriving community of people responding to or sharing said story. It may not be genuine community, but people do gather around something they like to talk about. Through comments and sharing of a post, your story is being handed off and built up by the people consuming it in real-time. Your seeing the immediate results of how it is affecting people and hopefully building them up. And that should be encouraging to yourself. Who wouldn’t want that?

How to Tell Stories on Social Media:

There are a few things to consider when telling stories on social media. The first one is the structure of the story itself – whether it’s marketing, a vlog, or fiction, the most affective stories have a 3-act structure. This 3-act structure can be found in the vast majority of stories ranging from books to movies to theatre. It starts with a setting or a context for your character. For example “Jim wants to have clean teeth”. The second part would be the adversity or obstacle(s) our character has to overcome. “But all of the toothbrushes in his house are too uncomfortable.” The 3rd act would be the resolution or conclusion. “So Jim created his own toothbrush that is comfortable but still cleans his teeth well.” This is a very rudimentary example, but you get the idea.

A huge aspect of storytelling on social media is the visuals – people want pictures and videos. Your visuals should complement the story well and build upon it. I would encourage storytellers to be thoughtful about the visuals they are sharing with their story – is it slapped together last minute or is a thoughtful visual that elevates the story and shows intentionality behind it? Is there a purpose to every aspect of the visual?

The last part to consider is what you are trying to offer though your stories. Are you offering a product, entertainment, or inspiration? Whatever it is, the story itself should be one that is well thought out and leaves people resonating. You can tell a story with intention but it not be an intentional story. You can use the right formula and do all the right things to tell a story – but what is the greater purpose behind it? Are people coming away resonating? Are you offering people something to leave with? Or are you in it for views or likes? Intentional storytelling seeks to offer something of value to the audience. Without a purpose to your stories, it may be too easy to fall into the trap of creating content for the sake of personal gain.

Conclusion

The vast majority of tutorials and blogs online about storytelling on social media is business focused – and sure, there is a place for intentional stories for businesses, I would love to see more authentic storytelling on social media happening. That’s not to say the stories you share for your business on social media are inauthentic, especially if the product is one you are passionate about – but when people are telling their personal stories, they should consider the purpose in sharing their story. Is it for attention or to share an idea? Is it a lesson learned, or a complaint about how hard life is?

It really is too easy to make our stories on social media about us. That’s human nature. We want attention and recognition. And we may get it, butting so means we’re lacking intention. We’re not seeking to feed the souls and minds of people by making our stories about us. It’s a hollow pursuit. But if you use your social media platform to pour into others and build people up through your stories, now that is intentional.

Your authentic and intentional stories should make you stand out. People should stumble across your content and come away feeling like they gained something and didn’t waste their time. It will stand out to them – and they will come back to it. Your motivation in standing out is to bring people back to your stories should be for the right reason. So that they can keep benefiting… Not so that you can keep benefiting. It will take time and effort for you to master your craft and may take time to stand out. But if you are doing it for the right reasons, you’ll keep it up. And eventually, your stories will stand out.