leaf under microscope representing micro storytelling for social media for personal brands

Personal brand storytelling doesn’t have to be long to make a lasting impact. This article is an actionable guide to using micro storytelling for social media that clearly expresses your expertise concisely while strengthening your relationships with your online community.

Did I ever tell you about the first time I told a story?

It’s 2008. I’m in a windowless room at the top of a Boston high rise, my version of a college lecture hall.

I’m 20. But my inner awkward teenager is walking up to the podium at the front of my journalism class.

Tightening my fists to muster up every last bit of confidence, I say in my best news anchor voice…

“String theory is shaking up the science…”

🥱

“Did my profession just yawn?” I'm internally freaking out, as I continue, “...world.”

🥱🥱🥱

He stops me a few lines later, “I just changed the channel.”

That day I learned two things:

How not to tell a story
Stereotypes are wrong. Bostonians are much ruder than New Yorkers.

Horrifying at the time. But an invaluable skill that turned me into an award-winning storyteller in the 15+ years since.

Today, I want to spare you my mistake, and help you tell concise, interesting stories for social media.

This is my 7-Sentence Storytelling Framework.

Over the last four years, I’ve used it to grow my online community to more than 90,000 people, attract clients I love to work with repeatedly, and share my expertise without fear of the dreaded 🥱

Let’s dive in.

StoryCraft Storytelling Framework

7-Sentence Storytelling For Social Media

STEP ONE: One sentence for context. (When, who, what)

A counterintuitive truth that will make you a better storyteller:

Less detail.

A story packed with too many personal specifics is like a closed door. It keeps the audience outside, watching your experience instead of feeling it as their own. The goal of a story is to get a movie playing in people’s minds. The best way to do that is with content that pulls the audience into the scene. I call this a situational story hook.

There are other types of storytelling hooks, but if you only master one let it be this because it’s the one that will get the movie playing in your reader’s mind the fastest. No 🥱here.

Storytelling Example: “Marketing pro Seth Godin said something on a podcast this morning that would’ve made me a richer freelancer when I started four years ago.”

When: This morning

Who: Seth Godin and me

What: Being a richer freelancer

STEP TWO: Two sentences to introduce the problem.

The single best thing you can do for your short-form storytelling is to make the reader aware of the conflict as soon as possible. Readers have to understand why the story matters (aka is relevant to them) to keep reading, and that’s what we’re doing in this second and third line. Problem: Taking any clients to keep your business going.

Storytelling Example: “Have you ever taken any client just to have a client? Godin has a message for us: “Better clients don’t show up because you did a good job with bad clients.”

STEP THREE: Two sentence response to the problem.

At the heart of all storytelling is change. It can be a before-and-after, or a mindset shift, but the problem you introduced in the last two lines must inspire some action or reaction in these next two lines, even if it's a new way of looking at things.

Storytelling Example: “When you take a bad client, he says, not only do you take yourself off the market to better clients while you're committed to working on the bad client’s project, you’re putting out a vibe that says: ‘You can pick anyone, and I’m anyone!’ Instead, he suggests being your own client or volunteering for a non-profit to do work you’re proud to put your name on in order to attract clients who pay for the style of work you do.”

STEP FOUR: One sentence result. One sentence takeaway.

How did it work out? What can we learn or realize? I’m not always a fan of spelling out a lesson at the end, especially if you’re giving a speech or telling a story in person, but it works well on social media where (if we’re being honest) people aren’t doing a lot of heavy mental lifting. Wrap it up with a point, preferably one that is on message for your brand.

Storytelling Example: As Godin says, let your motto be: 'You’ll pay a lot, but you’ll get more than you pay for.' Instead of being ‘anyone,’ be the one your ideal clients want on their team because of your style of work.”