‘Hold on a moment’, I hear you ask, ‘What’s the difference?’
This month’s Word Carnival is about opposing positions (the Jekyll and Hyde) in our business lives, so it might be too early in the piece to have my cake and eat it.
But there we go, I shall argue that while they are different, there’s a place for both.
I’ll add, at the risk of being inflammatory given that my fellow Carnies are all commensurate story tellers, that story has a role to play in blogging but blogging doesn’t have a role in story telling and if it does, then it’s blogging.
If that just exacted a universal gasp of disagreement, I’ll ask you to stick with me and plough on.
Blog? Website?
First, some clarity around the platform. A blogging platform (as opposed to what you do on it) isn’t just a blog. It’s a website with a blogging functionality.
You can advertise, lead generate, market, educate, inform or tell stories on such a website. Preferably not all at the same time, if you don’t want to discombobulate your intended audience.
Traditionally, websites were set up in the third person to advertise or market a business’s services.
We at … are unique in our specialist services . . . and world leaders in. . . and the benefits you receive from our top class offer . . . ad nauseam.
A majority of business websites remain as such; static, boring and suffocatingly vainglorious.
People play them no attention and are irritated by the lack of up to date information. As should be the case, they vote with their mice and click out. Gone, never coming back. Any of you with said websites are really doing your business a great disservice.
In love with your blog?
Many business owners now have a blog as part of their websites. Few use their blog as they could. Fewer fall in love with their business blog.
Those that do change the paradigm. They reveal something altogether different. A desire to engage and establish meaningful contact with another.
Clarity. It’s a beautiful place.
They have clarity. They know their intention and are confident in their value which they offer generously and with constancy.
They understand their framework and can articulate clearly the key messages that support it, because they believe it will benefit the people with whom they’re connected.
They’re keen to build a community and intent on partnering with them to give back to the world.
They often tell stories as part of their blogging. Anecdotes that help illustrate their concepts, that demonstrate their value and influence, even inspire.
But
If you’re blogging for business, there’s an agenda. As there should be, you have good stuff to share and good work to do.
You’re building your business. Blogging is a powerful tool to do that and it’s perfectly legitimate to use it to do so and to build your community.
What it’s not, is altruistic.
Even when blogging is used to support a philanthropic outcome, it’s not altruistic. It’ might be used to garner compassion or consensus, but the call to action is an agreement to act and/or financial support.
When you blog for your business, you share your value. You should then call your readers to action. In time, that translates into your people benefiting from whatever it is you offer. When they do, it benefits you and your others. So the world turns.
Otherwise, you’d be better off volunteering your substantial skills in a Mother Theresa habit.
What’s different about story?
This is not about story as in fiction, but about real events affecting real people that change the way we think.
There are a lot of clauses in what I have to suggest that differentiate such a story from a blog.
There is no agenda, no self interest and no commercial intent in the telling of these tales. The imperative is altruistic, as in disinterested and selfless concern for others and as such the story and the story teller are precious.
I had the privilege of hearing one the other day which moved me, transformed my thinking and will live on, perhaps for ever in my head.
When these stories are shared, the call to action is implicit and visceral, inspiring a need to share and a conviction to act.
If such a story can then be used to support a cause, even a commercial outcome, then it becomes a blog. Quite legitimate.
Everyone can be a story teller
I was privileged to do a TEDx talk. In it, I suggested that everyone is a custodian of such stories that can enrich, change or save lives. The whole experience has inspired a new blog, soon to be published called Why Your Stories Matter.
I will put to the test these nascent theories. Why You Must Blog will be about blogging and Why Your Stories Matter will publish stories from all over the world that have no agenda, other than to help, inspire and transport others.
What do you think? Is there a difference between a blog and a such a story? I would be deeply interested in hearing your views.
Not sure I’m clear on your distinction here. Are you saying that true storytelling doesn’t use an overt call to action?
Tea Silvestre recently posted…Wide vs. Deep: How to Choose the Right Path for Building Your Business
I am Tea. Tried to explain it a bit further in my reply to Carol Lynn. You will gather that I am teasing out these thoughts. They are relatively new and inspired for the most part by the long lead up to the TEDx talk. I do very much want to reiterate that story plays a major role in blogging.
SandyMc recently posted…To blog or tell a story
Interesting perspective Sandy, I don’t think I ever thought of separating the two. I love to use stories in my blogs but I suppose then that they are still blogs with stories in them 🙂
I like to tell stories on my personal blog (with a disclaimer that I’m not there to sell anything, lol) so I guess that proves your point.
I think a good business blog does tell personal stories to some extent (not like, “how I felt when my pet hamster died” kind of stories, but ones that make us human and relatable). But I also love the idea of just-stories. The inspiration and “loftier” kind that we tell purely for the sake of human connection, the kind that we need outside of business.
I always look forward to your stories and if you collect them from others then I’ll read those too because I know you have a penchant for the inspiring!
Carol Lynn recently posted…Web, Search And Social Marketing: DIY Or CTM?
Hi Carol Lynn, lovely to hear from you again.
I hadn’t split them out either until I ventured into this new territory. It made me examine blogging in a way I had not previously done.
I’ve always explained that story is one major component of blogging, as it is. When we blog on our business blogs though, there is and ought to be an agenda. There is only so much of our time and energy that we should expend on blogging for ‘loftier’ purposes alone, when it is in relationship to our business. That doesn’t mean at all that you don’t continue to share your wisdom and knowledge and value. But the goal is to find and engage people who like what you do and wish to work with you. Yes?
Where as when stories are told for the sake of the story as you have suggested for ‘loftier’ purposes, (love that word!) they are told to inspire, or stimulate, or change, or bond etc. Different.
Thank you for your encouragement. I have a number of stories in the pipeline that I really can’t wait to share, but I think it is a new year venture.
SandyMc recently posted…To blog or tell a story
Interesting, Sandy. I’d always thought of them as almost the same thing. In fact, I think all good writing tells a story, and some of it inspires you to take action, even if that’s just to buy the next book. 🙂 Food for thought, and I’ll look forward to the launch of your new blog.
Sharon Hurley Hall recently posted…Behind the Scenes at SharonHH.com – HostAwesome Review
True indeed about good writing Sharon. Certainly blogging should incorporate story to inspire action. I can’t wait to launch this new venture, but I am taking a leaf out of Tea’s post, Wide Versus Deep and relishing taking it slowly!
SandyMc recently posted…To blog or tell a story
Very provocative piece, Sandy. Like Tea and Carol Lynn above, I’m not sure I am wholly grasping the distinction. Good blogging-as-marketing can also be good *storytelling.* Maybe I need to read this one again. Way to make me think, lady!
Annie Sisk recently posted…Dr. Content “Pot” Jekyll, Meet Mr. Design “Kettle” Hyde. You’re Both Black.
Hi Annie, no questions that a good story in a blog makes a good blog an even better blog.
But if you tell as story for the sake of the story alone, then I believe it’s a story not a blog, even if it is told on a blogging platform. Fine line I agree, unless we define telling stories for loftier purposes beyond building our business.
Which is not to say that building business cannot be a lofty intention, especially if we plan to make a difference in other’s lives by building our business.
SandyMc recently posted…To blog or tell a story
I absolutely agree, great bloggers need not be great storytellers.
In fact, in the most egregious example of burying the lead I’ve ever seen, an author on Medium decided to tell every single story that came to mind for the next 30 minutes, except for the one that he’d mentioned in the headline.
Stories and storytelling in general are fantastic, right up until the point that they disrupt a reader’s understanding of what it is that you’re trying to get across. Stories are fantastic for connecting generations, bridging gaps between disparate groups of people, and connecting people across time (especially with yourself months or years after you write a post). But not all posts, subjects, or ideas necessarily require storytelling as a pre-requisite.
Nick Armstrong recently posted…Bad small business social media is why we can’t have nice things
Thanks Nick. It seems like a fine line, but the more I think on it the more convinced I am that they differ and should do so.
Which is not to say as mentioned before that good story telling shouldn’t be an essential part of good blogging. As illustrated by Carol Lynn’s latest blog, DIY or CYM in which she tells a short story about putting up curtains. It is amusing and demonstrates why you shouldn’t always DIY and serves that purpose well.
If she was just to tell a story about someone who is not handy but decides to put up curtains, we as the readers may deduce that if you are not handy, it’s not a good idea to DIY, but beyond that we may be amused by it as a story even while relating it to other similar events in our lives. Unless as you say it was disrupted because she came to the place where she started to make a point with the story or take a moral stand.
You have intrigued me with your story of the Medium author.
SandyMc recently posted…To blog or tell a story
Very interesting post, Sandy! I haven’t thought about it in this way, but I see what you’re getting at here.
One area in which the line between blogging with a CTA and without a CTA can blur, however, is when a blog post isn’t designed to do anything but engage the audience (like a normal story would). An engaged audience is actively following your brand, so even the blog posts without a defined CTA (such as, “sign up for our e-course now to learn more!”) can serve to build your brand, your audience engagement, and your revenue. Isn’t that a CTA within itself?
I’m just rambling here…hopefully this is making sense! Very thought-provoking post!
Molly McCowan recently posted…Battle of the Word Nerds: AP vs. Chicago
Hi Molly, I think Carol Lynn nailed it when she took about story for a loftier purpose.
I agree that if your wrote a story without any other intention than sharing the story with your business audience, that would likely increase their engagement. Is it a different intention if you are sharing a story simply because of it’s capacity to enrich lives? Just read a great book, Hooked by Yamani Naidu and Gabrielle Dolan about leaders telling personal stories in business with the intention of illustrating what might have otherwise been an instruction. It has added fuel to this particular debate.
As I said to Tea, these are nascent ideas that are forming as a result of my desire to create another platform called Why Your Stories Matter. Thanks for your thoughts on this Molly.
SandyMc recently posted…To blog or tell a story
I can see a clear distinction at what you’re trying to impart and I think you’ve made a good point. And I think it’s about the purpose and intention of your writing. But, I think combining it together gets the best result.
Matt recently posted…100 Reasons It’s Really Great To Be A Guy!