4 Ways to Use Storytelling to Engage Your Audience

The following article was cowritten by Chat GPT and Amy Marquis, who provided her expert perspective, prompt engineering, copywriting support and copyediting.

If you're a #communications professional, you've heard about the power of #storytelling. But what does that really mean? To me, it's more than just comms jargon. Humans are hard wired to learn through stories - it's how we've passed down #history and learned and retained important concepts for countless generations. So why shouldn't we look to stories to help us connect with our audiences, no matter who they are?

Storytelling is an essential aspect of #ContentCreation that helps organizations connect with audiences and bring their mission to life. Stories are at the heart of using narrative to communicate ideas, information and values, and in content creation, they're used to engage audiences in meaningful ways.

1. Storytelling Enhances Memory: according to a 1969 study by Stanford University, when building a story around a list, it became around seven times more memorable than the list alone, which highlights the power of storytelling in making an emotional impact.

2. A Good Story Helps Humanize Your Organization: by incorporating storytelling into content creation, organizations can humanize their mission and make it relatable to their audience. This tactic helps the audience better understand the mission and feel a stronger connection to the organization.

3. Stories Connect Your Audience to Your Brand: storytelling can also help organizations build brand awareness, increase engagement with their audience, differentiate themselves from competitors, and foster a sense of community and belonging among their audience.

4. Real-life Stories Create Meaning: organizations can incorporate storytelling into their content creation by sharing real-life stories from people who have been affected by their mission, using visual elements such as images and videos to bring stories to life, and creating a consistent narrative that ties together all of their content and messaging. Organizations can use this type of storytelling to bring their mission to life and engage their audience in meaningful ways.

You already know that storytelling is a crucial element in content creation, but laying out the benefits makes it easier to see what types of stories might resonate best with your audience. No matter which you choose, the right story allows an organization to connect with its audience, bring its mission to life, and engage its audience in meaningful ways. Whether it's through sharing real-life stories, incorporating visual elements, or creating a consistent narrative, storytelling is a powerful tool that can help organizations achieve their goals and build stronger relationships with their audience.

This article was originally published on LinkedIn.