These 5 storytelling tips will keep your readers hooked - How to write a catchy blog post

by Tine Dührr, Guest Contributor

You probably recognize this from yourself. You pay way more attention when a co-worker is about to tell you a story than just plain facts.

As human beings, we are basically programmed to love stories. Ever since drawing on cave walls, the written story has been our primary source of information. So why not use storytelling as part of your communication strategy?
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Think about this. People consume massive amounts of stories every day. If it is really engaging, people will engage with it and remember it. By using storytelling as a strategy, you can convert readers to leads, and leads to customers, and maybe even loyal customers.

Here are five effective tips to write a catchy blog post using storytelling as a tool.

1. Always remember the 5 C’s
What makes a story stand out, is the inclusion of the five C’s, known as: Circumstance, curiosity, characters, conversation, and conflict. When doing storytelling well, you need to set a scene, so your readers know what they are about to read about and can follow your line of thoughts. At the same time, you need to make then curious on what is to come. You can do this in countless ways - for example: Use a catchy headline or make the story conflicting.

2. Meet people at their level
The readers need to be a hero of your story. That doesn’t mean that you need them to be in the story, but they have to able to identify with your story. This is also why you shouldn’t make yourself seem superior or heroic. Your readers would much rather read about your mistakes and fails, in this way they get a feeling of being equal.

3. Speak to their emotions
Your readers need to feel something when reading your blog. The emotional connection makes them remember the story a lot better. Think about, what kind of feeling you want to generate within them, and then write your blog post from that perspective. It doesn’t really matter if you want them to feel happiness, disgust, surprise or something else - this is determined by the purpose of the story.

4. Include all of the senses
Your reader's senses are as important as their emotions. Make sure you are appealing to both vision, smell, touch and taste, with these you free their fantasy. By playing their senses, your readers will get a different share in the narrative, as they remember - hopefully - positive memories from your story.

5. Start from the middle
Start from the top, start from the beginning, no actually start from the middle. This is a golden opportunity to catch the attention of your readers, as the middle of the story often is the most exciting. Stop thinking about the chronology of the story and begin where the story really picks up!
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Another great rule is picking three points in the story, that you want your story to center around. By writing in this way, you don’t lose the attention of your readers with unnecessary details and information.
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Author bio:
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The article is written by Tine Dührr, digital content manager atFinduddannelse.dk and Studentum.dk – a Danish search engine for further education and education media. The company is a part of Educations Media Group, a multinational organization, with search engines in both Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany, France, UK and USA.

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