Eyeballs and Eardrums, the currency of 2019

If you want to become a successful entrepreneur, lead salesman, marketing manager, teacher or app developer our world revolves around storytelling and the most successful of us are generally very good at telling stories.

Whether you agree or not it’s not going to change and if you want to make an impact then you are going to have to start practising your storytelling.

SOCIAL MEDIA STORYTELLING IN 2019

With the constant influx and flow of images, text and audio on our social media platforms, storytellers have to get better to tell stories in a limited time period.

Adapting the story to the platform they are telling it on because the moral of the story is the same but the distribution changes to match the platforms intended use an audience on the platform.

Storytellers in 2019 have to come up with creative ways to tell a captivating story in the 60s or less

Eyeballs and eardrums are the new currency and therefore finding ideas and ways to grab and hold the interest of the eyeballs and eardrums of people is what the most successful spend a lot of time and energy on.

Society no longer can be forced to watch your fluff filled advert that offers them no value and is totally one-sided so storytellers need to adjust their game plan in order to be successful in 2019 and beyond because it's only going to get more difficult.

Gone are the days of being forced to consume content on the channel's schedule, now a consumer has the choice to consume an entire Netflix series in one go or as slow as they like. The point is storytellers need to adapt to this because as time goes by this offering will go from a USP to an industry standard.

Peoples time becomes ever so valuable and we have now transitioned from loving the fact that we can get a phone call whilst on the move to the point where we are like “why are they calling me, send me a text – so that I can answer to your message on my time.”

Giving your audience the power to watch, listen or read your content makes you more valuable.

Storytelling is like art, if it evokes a reaction then it did its job!

Reactions tap into the emotional power that all the best storytellers have and allow a storyteller to hold their audience for long periods of time.

Think about it, when you go to the movies you can sit there glued to the screen for the 120mins and not think of WhatsApp, youtube or the person next to you but on the flipside, if you sit in a room your hand starts to itch and you begin scrolling looking for that next great story.

Stories done right are what bind us together as a race with the ability to transcend cultural barriers and connect on a deeper level.

Like many other things, stories that are told on the right time on the right platform will evoke a far deeper reaction than if the very same story was told on another day to the same audience.

For example, if you come home with a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates with a special note for your partner in the middle of the week when they weren’t expecting it, it will evoke deeper reactions of surprise and feeling loved than if you did the same thing on Valentine’s day because they would be expecting you to do it.

Meeting expectation is the standard, exceeding expectations is what separates those who want to tell stories and storytellers.

The important thing to remember is, who your audience is, the context and distribution method. For example, you would tell a story to a three-year-old in your backyard very differently than you would write an email to your great aunt Doris.

THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE

Sometimes they greatest of all storytellers are able to transcend ages and connect all to the same story, in the same context and using the same distribution method and these are the stories that have the most impact because they allow all ages to connect to something.

PRODUCE, PRODUCE, PRODUCE.

There is no time to over think the content that you are creating because the point of impact can pass by so fast and the time you spent on creating that perfect piece could be wasted if the market doesn’t notice it.

We now live in a world of daily vloggers who thrive on spending more time documenting their lives rather than crafting the most beautiful video on youtube and that’s the point. People connect to what they connect to.

Just keep producing content and posting it to your social sites like Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin etc.

Stop over romanticising the content and spend more time documenting, posting and evaluating your audience’s needs and expectations.

Pay attention to industry updates, mediums change, distribution channels and methods change. You can’t win in 2019 with a 2010 game plan. Update or die.

Who are some of your favourite storytellers? And which social media site do you spend most of your time on? Let us on in the comment section.