A recent post by Chris Brogan focused on a simple question, “How do I get people to care?”
We are bombarded with information 24 X 7, often self-induced (hello, smartphone).
Trying to cut through the noise often feels like a trek through a jungle with a dull pocket knife.
Chris’s answer to the challenge –
- Tell bigger stories.
I’m not so sure the stories have to be bigger.
Just telling stories of any size helps others get to know you.
After all, you have to know the person before you’re going to care about him or her.
The same thing applies to companies.
We naturally gravitate toward personified companies over faceless machines, as articulated by the likes of Twitter CEO Dick Costolo.
Considering this, Chris offered five storytelling techniques:
- Connect with an emotion
- Share something useful
- Create a valuable resource
- Give without asking as often as possible
- Be brief and/or entertaining
If you think about it, what cultivates a relationship in the physical business world is the same thing that works in the digital world.