Telling Your Story Online with Michael Morreale

TRANSCRIPT:

“Humans are born storytellers. We can all do it. And it's such an important part of all our lives. I think we've all been regaled by a great story that can inform you or inspire you or persuade you to do something. Stories are such powerful tools to do whatever it is that we're trying to do, as we're posting to social media.”

Let's talk about telling your story online. Welcome to High Five. I'm Heather Kelly, and this is a series where we offer five tips, insights or sparks of inspiration for cultural entrepreneurs and arts leaders. And I am so happy to have Michael Morreale with us today.

Michael is a marketing consultant and he's also a video producer, and he's part of the High Five team. It's thanks to him that we're producing and getting these episodes out to you. So welcome Michael. I can't wait to hear what you'd like to share about telling your story online.

Thanks, Heather. It is so awesome to be here. I'm having so much fun with this High Five.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the importance of storytelling skills. Because social media provides us this opportunity to share our stories. And this is true whether it's at the personal level or an organizational level. If you're a marketer, advertising an organization or on the personal level, you might want to do this to build your personal brand ahead of your next job application. In both cases, though, I'd argue that storytelling skills are some of the most important skills that you can have and are often overlooked.

So with that, I'll present my five tips here on sharing your story online.

My first is that your voice matters.

People want to hear what you have to say. You have a unique experience and a unique perspective to share. And so the world wants to hear it. I think all of us, myself included at the top of the list, have imposter syndrome. We think that what we have to say, you know, doesn't matter, or people don't want to hear it. But I'm here to to be the encouraging voice in your ear to say that. Yes, people want to hear it. And don't let perfection ism stop you from sharing your story online.

So true and so key. And I can relate to all of what you just said.

But yeah, especially as arts leaders and cultural entrepreneurs, you know, it's easy for people to, to think that, oh, somebody else has something more important to say. And everybody is unique and special and has something to offer. Yeah. Thank you. That's right.

And if we take what it is that we all have to offer kind of leads into the second point, which is that together we can make social media a good place.

Yes, we can make social media a positive place where we share stories, where we share our successes with people. And it doesn't have to be this divisive or really negative place that some people think about when it comes to social media. So, don't let the trolls win and we can take back this narrative by flooding social media with positive stories that we're sharing.

Oh, I love that. Let's change the algorithm. Let's change the message, and let's improve the way people interact and support and, you know, put content into the world. Yes.

The next thing I would say, for my next tip here, is don't let the tech get you down.

We're so lucky to have phones with us all all the time. And if you're recording video on your phone, you can look and sound great using something that we just keep in our pocket. Let's not forget how that wasn't the case. Even just a few a few years ago. Certainly not in generations in the past, of course. But even from there, if you want to take things to the next level with your social media content, if you really want to look and sound great, you can upgrade a microphone and camera. And it's more accessible than ever, both in terms of, being able to buy equipment that used to be very, very expensive. And, and using equipment that is, no longer only sort of reserved for the pros to be using. With that, though, I'll say that video isn't for everyone. You know, you can tell your story without using video. Of course, some people are more comfortable doing it in text and words. Some do it through artwork in whatever form. I think it's just important to put yourself out there and tell your story online.

Yeah. And to to that point, thanks to you, I'll just, you know, tell our listeners and our viewers that I'm using my iPhone here and, we've got things set up, thanks to your advice, to make that work really nicely with the, with the a mic I'd already had. So just supporting what you're saying is it doesn't need to be overly complicated.

That's right. Not everything about phones is is great in our lives, but certainly having a high quality, recording capabilities, is awesome if used well. Yeah.

So my next tip, gets into the social media world. Which is be consistent with your storytelling, with your posting.

I think between the algorithm on social media and people being busy, there's a good chance that a lot of your follow up followers won't see everything that you published. And it also, it doesn't hurt for people to hear the same thing from you. More than once. You're telling it in different ways. So it's important on social media to show up consistently the best way to battle algorithms and busy people in your life.

It's also a good way to hone your storytelling skills through repetition as well. Yeah, I really appreciate that point. And you're making me think about telling the same story in multiple ways.

Yeah, such a good point.

Yeah, it's a great exercise you can do, actually, if there's something that you want to share with people to think about, how can this be multiple videos or multiple posts?

It's a good way to get some practice. Because ultimately, and this is sort of my last and big point that I wanted to end on here, which is that humans are born storytellers. We can all do it. And it's such an important part of all our lives. I think we've all been, regaled by a great story that can inform you or inspire you or persuade you to do something.

But beyond that - and this is where I put my marketing hat on - stories are such powerful tools to do whatever it is that we're trying to do when we're posting to social media. I read a book recently that was excellent. I'd recommend it's called Brand Storytelling. And in the book, the author said that stories are 22 times more memorable than sharing information in any other way.

So put your marketing hat on. When you think about that, and you can think about how powerful that skill is of storytelling, even if you have to hone it and practice it to make it work for you. So true, so true. Such a good point. And it is so fundamental to being human, to connect with stories.

And again, to your last point. Way more than data. So yeah, it's true. And I really appreciate in each of your points how it doesn't have to be overly complicated. It can seem intimidating, but it doesn't really need to be, and that everybody has something that can both be valuable and positive in the social media realm. Yes.

So don't believe that voice in your head that says, oh, people don't want to hear from me. We do. Yes we do.

So on that note, thank you for the great segue, Michael. Where can people find you and connect with you online?

Yeah, thanks Heather. People can find me on LinkedIn, of course, just under my name.

And my website is morreale.ca. It's my last name. That's the morreale.ca.

And thank you for both being here to talk about telling your story online today, and for all your help and guidance in creating these high five episodes.

Yeah. You're welcome. Thanks, Heather.

We would love to hear from those of you who are watching and listening. What are your thoughts about and your experience as related to telling your story online?

Tune in next week for our next high five for arts leaders and cultural entrepreneurs. We'll see you then.