Digital Identity, the Story of Chasing Clout
Not everyone on social media is seeking to be the next big social influencer. However, individuals, companies, and other organizations are all after some kind of recognition. They want other people to see what they post, react to it, and possibly show others.
In Gary Vaynerchuk’s article, two very important points stuck out, the importance of story telling on social media and the importance of documenting vs. creating.
Telling a story that conveys a reaction from your audience is essential for success on social media. An inability to do so will cause your audience to lose interest, and then move about their day. Story telling is an art, those who are able to master it are extremely valuable. Long gone are the days of two or three minute ads, people will give you seconds to catch their attention before they move on. Same goes for content on instagram, if you aren’t able to put out a picture or video that grabs peoples’ attention, they are highly unlikely to look through more content or share it with others. Unlike movies or TV shows, most people are not likely to be actively seeking social media content. They are not as willing to devote their full attention to the content for a prolonged period of time, in hopes of some kind of emotional reaction. Content distributors/creators must be able to capture and hold an audiences’ attention in the first couple seconds of a video or upon the first glance of a photo.
Many people and organizations often forget that some of the best stories are playing out in front of their eyes, seven days a week, 365 days a year. They think that telling a story means they to create one, but in actuality they just need to find one. On social media platforms many people are often more interested in having a real life story about real people and real events presented to them, as opposed to seeing something that was carefully written out and planned. This somewhat explains the rise of everyday vloggers, they document their everyday lives and edit them in such a way that it feels more cinematic and story like. This also explains the rise of popularity of reality TV (even though we all know some of it is obviously scripted). There is a place for carefully engineered stories, but most of time people have to be seeking them and will go where they need to see them. Audiences are able to detect if a story is a authentic or not, be it at initial viewing or after a bit of research.
Being able to tell a captivating and authentic story in a short period are crucial to success on all social media platforms, regardless if you are using it for personal or business reasons.
