Social Media Storytelling to Grab Your Consumers’ Attention
By Emin Kara | July 18, 2023
Most people don’t realize the true opportunity they’ve been given. You see, back in the day if you wanted to tell a story you’d have to jump through rings of fire to get it published. We’re not in Kansas anymore! We’ve swapped the big screens for palm-sized, pocket ones! The world, once a stage, is now a bustling film set! And you, my friend, are not just an audience member anymore. You’ve been handed the director’s chair, the clapperboard, and the pen to write the script! Welcome to the era of self-made micro movies, where you’re not just part of the story, but the storyteller, the filmmaker, the Hitchcock of your own gripping tale!
And here’s the cherry on top, you don’t need to spend money on promotion! You could reach millions of views on these platforms for completely free! I’ve done it with 7-second videos, and I’ve done it with 30+ second ones.
But how do you do that?
I’ll warn you; this next part is rather dull. You’ve heard it before, but I really need you to solidify it in your mind! A short video (or short movie) on Tiktok, is NO DIFFERENT from a story shown on the big screen. 20 seconds to 3 hours – it’s the same!
Any good movie has these 3 simple setups:
- Set-Up: Lay down the groundwork for your narrative, hint at what’s to come as the story continues. The first 4 seconds are the most important, so either make it visually captivating or have a hook to retain their attention.
- Conflict: This is the fuel that propels the narrative, a compelling struggle or a challenge that you or your business must face.
- Resolution: This is your grand finale. This is where the conflict is resolved.
So how do you utilize this for your business?
First of all, you’re not making a Scorsese film here. These platforms are quick! It’s condensed storytelling without the fluff. Short. Simple. Punchy. Think of it like a shot of adrenaline to the heart.
Also, keep it simple. People don’t want to think, they just want to enjoy.
Now, here’s the interesting part… how do you retain people’s attention long enough? The very basic thing is to have an interesting story, right? But, something you won’t know is pattern interrupts.
What is a pattern interrupt? Anything that violates a person’s automatic/expected pattern.
The best way to explain this is to imagine your phone rings and you’re doing an important task. To protect your attention and stay focused, you’ll probably ignore it. Now imagine your phone calls with an absurdly different ringtone to normal, the chances of you looking at your phone would be much higher as it’s not an expected or recognized ringtone, thus interrupting the pattern and breaking your automatic response of ignoring it. Do you follow?
Here are some examples of pattern interrupts in videos:
Subtitles: If they’re constantly changing, it gives the viewer something to focus on.
Jump cuts: If you jump cut to another camera angle frequently, it retains the viewer’s attention.
Tonality: When you’re speaking, don’t stay in one tone of voice or one speed, change it up! If you’re telling a secret, bring your voice down to just above a whisper, and lean in. If you want to convey urgency, start speaking quicker etc. You can actually use this one when you’re talking to people in real life too.
B-Roll: This is additional footage you overlay on top of the main footage. For example, if there was a video of me talking, and I said “when I was drinking the beverage” I’d have a B-Roll shot of me drinking a beverage, or someone else doing so.
This is a very in-depth conversation, that may need a little guidance, so use your resources. I’ll be over in the Hotel Interactive threads ready to answer any questions you may have, to offer guidance in your efforts to utilize social media! If you need me to review your video, I’ll be there to lend a helping hand! So, get curious, get to work and get winning!
