{"id":5077,"date":"2013-09-14T15:17:06","date_gmt":"2013-09-14T15:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/?p=5077"},"modified":"2013-09-29T15:29:30","modified_gmt":"2013-09-29T15:29:30","slug":"7-ways-to-humanize-storytelling-for-business-brands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2013\/09\/7-ways-to-humanize-storytelling-for-business-brands\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven Ways to Humanize Storytelling for Business & Brands"},"content":{"rendered":"

New post series by Anneliza Humlen @ADHumlen<\/a> exploring the evolution of storytelling and themes.<\/p>\n

\"story\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cStorytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it\u201d \u2013 Hannah Arendt<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Prior to the emergence of social networks, brand stories would typically unfold as a controlled narrative told from the perspective and interests of the business\/brand.\u00a0\u00a0 As traditional media such as TV, print and digital brought such stories to life, distinct traditions formed in how stories were communicated and the content of the stories themselves.\u00a0 \u00a0The combination of absolute control and the limits imposed by such traditions, would often limit the growth and appeal of the stories.\u00a0 Many of the story themes that were once regarded best practice and believed to be useful, we now know via social media as ineffective in generating meaningful and enduring interest. \u00a0\u00a0The new tradition of storytelling for business\/brands evolves from what \u201cTHEY (corporation) want people to know,\u201d to the stories that people can relate to on a human level.\u00a0 The story themes that support a more \u201chuman\u201d centered form of storytelling have now become the\u00a0 \u201cnew traditions\u201d in growing business\/brand interest.<\/p>\n

I’ve been working with brands for 15+ years. \u00a0 Over that time, I have crafted my fair share of “traditional” stories for my clients and their brands. \u00a0 As the strategies came to reflect a greater social influence, I’ve recognized growing trends in how story themes have had to evolve from corporate traditions, towards a more human minded perspective.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I’ve summarized the seven most prominent themes as follows:<\/p>\n

Theme 1)\u00a0 From:<\/b> Corporate Size & Stats >> To:<\/b> The People Within<\/a><\/p>\n

Theme 2)\u00a0 From:<\/b>\u00a0 Mass Media Push >> To:<\/b> Engaging Relationships<\/a><\/p>\n

Theme 3)\u00a0 From:<\/b>\u00a0 Demographics Segments & Groups >> To:<\/b> Communities and Shared Interests<\/p>\n

Theme 4)\u00a0 From:<\/b>\u00a0 Closed, Self-Sufficient & Proprietary >> To:<\/b> Social, Open and Collaborative<\/p>\n

Theme 5)\u00a0 From:<\/b>\u00a0 Corporate Authority as Leadership >> To:<\/b> Leadership vision, inspiration and influence<\/p>\n

Theme 6)\u00a0 From:<\/b>\u00a0 Product & Process >> To:<\/b> Promise and Purpose<\/p>\n

Theme 7)\u00a0 From:<\/b>\u00a0 Manufactured marketing and communications >> To:<\/b> Co-Created, re-purposed social currency<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve created this series of posts dedicated to exploring each theme over the following weeks.\u00a0 I believe that enduring and emotionally meaningful stories must begin with share-worthy substance that people can relate to on a human level.\u00a0 It is by individual adoption and added perspective that stories can truly come alive and grow to become inspiring and transformative.<\/p>\n

Great stories are timeless.\u00a0 But this doesn\u2019t mean that the content of the story itself, or the way in which it is conveyed cannot evolve or be re-framed.\u00a0 When stories evolve in ways that connect an individual to a bigger ideal, concepts such as a brand, can evolve into a human connection, and ultimately a unifying community link.<\/p>\n

Anneliza Humlen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New post series by Anneliza Humlen @ADHumlen exploring the evolution of storytelling and themes. \u201cStorytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it\u201d \u2013 Hannah Arendt Prior to the emergence of social networks, brand stories would typically unfold as a controlled narrative told from the perspective and interests of the business\/brand.\u00a0\u00a0 As traditional media … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,1904],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-annelizahumlen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5077"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5125,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5077\/revisions\/5125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}