Digital storytelling
Did you ever hear about storytelling? And what about digital storytelling? How can digital storytelling improve your brand awareness and brand engagement with your audience? Let us make some basic clarifications for you.
Storytelling
Basically, storytelling is the art of telling a story. According to the National Storytelling Network, storytelling is „the interactive art of using words and actions to reveal the elements and images of a story while encouraging the listener’s imagination.” We are going to highlight some key elements of this definition, that are important for the further clarification of the digital concept of storytelling.
Storytelling is interactive
Storytelling involves a two-way communication between a storyteller and one or more listeners. By telling a story, we want to stimulate listener’s interaction with a storyteller.
Storytelling presents a story
Storytelling always involves the presentation of a story—a narrative. In some cases, it involves spontaneity and improvisation and in some situations, it is well-organised, strict repetition of a story.
Storytelling encourages imagination
Storytelling, in its original shape, encourages the active imagination of the listeners. Listeners imagine vivid images of actions, characters and events of a story in their minds. With a digital era and a development of the digital tools, storytelling grew to the next level – a digital storytelling. In the case of online storytelling, listeners do not have to imagine elements of the story anymore – storyteller already visualizes them.
Digital Storytelling
It is the art of telling a story via multimedia. Digital stories are stories made by digital-based tools like videos, infographics, blogs, vlogs, digital essays, electronic memories and other visual and audio formats. Often these formats involve more than one media – pictures, text, music and movement. Combined media attracts more attention, and consequently more engagement of an audience than just a single media. Since the engagement of an audience with a brand is a key goal of the branding process, online storytelling becomes a very interesting branding tool.
Storytelling as a branding tool
A brand story is more than a narrative
Brand story is the concept of introducing an image and personality of a brand to the audience. Everything you do as a brand or company effects on the way people see you. Each element of your business or brand, from the colours and texture of your packaging and business cards, to the staff you hire and products you launch on the market is part of your brand story. But, don’t fool yourself – you brand is not fully under your control, neither your brand story is told only by you. Your brand story is effected by feelings and interpretations of various audiences – fans, investors, consumers, employees and opinion leaders. Your brand story is a mixture of facts and carefully planed brand identity made by company itself and thoughts, perception and feelings about brand made by audience.
You have to know your audience
Before starting with a creation of a digital brand story, you have to be familiar with your audience and their habits – primarily with the channels and social networks they use. Channels for telling a brand story need to be coordinated to appeal to the audience. Media of a brand story need to be easily sharable, accessible and user friendly in order to engage audience to interact with it. If a brand story is appealing enough, meets the standards of a brand image, is presented trough the right channel and a user-friendly media, audience will engage with it, effecting and changing the story itself.
Two way-communication
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Dorotea Knežević is a community manager and a content marketer at TheBrandiac. She is trying to predict human reactions on visual and textual stimulation, in order to evoke positive brand emotion. Get in touch with her via e-mail.
