Mastering Storytelling: 6 Techniques to Enhance Your Content

today we're talking about storytelling if you want your content to perform better you need to learn how to tell

better stories so in this video I'm going to walk through my six favorite storytelling techniques that will

massively improve your content after watching this I guarantee you will think differently about the way you write

scripts and make videos by the way I'm Callaway I've pulled over a billion views on short form video I've got

500,000 followers and I think about this stuff all the time all right let's dive in tip number one is what I call the

dance all great stories are like a dance between context and conflict you give a little context the characters on a

mission they're doing something and then oh oh no here comes a conflict you give a little bit more context the characters

have solved that first conflict they're on their way and then oh oh no another conflict this dance is how you keep the

viewer locked in it could be a feature film or a short form video the dance is always there now why does this work

conflicts create open Loops in the brain and then context helps close those Loops the best explanation I've ever seen for

how to tactically implement this dance idea is from Matt Stone and Trey Parker they're the ones who created South Park

they were giving a talk at NYU watch this we found out this really simple rule that maybe you guys have all heard

before but it took us a long time to learn it but we can take these beats which are basically the Beats of your

outline and if the words and then belong between those beats you're basically you got you got something pretty boring what

should happen between every beat that you've written down is either the word therefore or but right so so what I'm

saying is that you come up with an idea and it's like okay this happens right and then this happens no no no it should

be this happens and therefore this happens but this happens therefore this happens and that as soon as we are able

to and literally sometimes we'll we'll write it out to make sure we're doing it U we'll we'll have our beats and we'll

say okay this happened but then this happens and that affects this and that does to that and that's why you get a

show that feels like okay this to that to this to that but this here's the complication to that so tactically it's

as simple as using the words but and therefore consistently throughout your script that will create those open

conflict Loops if you're using the words and then it'll feel like you're piling on detail after detail after detail and

the viewer will lose interest now let's quickly take a look at one of my best performing videos you'll notice there

are four but then conflict Loops in the first 30 seconds watch this something crazy is happening with Stanley Cups you

ever seen one of these Stanley Cups Stanley Cups Stanley Cup racking up 6.7 billion views this 40 o Stanley quencher

has become the Louis Vuitton of drink wear it's a status symbol new releases are selling out in seconds people are

flipping them for hundreds on eBay Stanley the company 10x its Revenue in 4 years off this single product but the

real question is how' they do it how did Stanley Cups go from a construction worker's thermos to the dream Christmas

gift I got a Stanley it's a wild story so in 2019 Stanley was actually about to

discontinue the cup but this group of mom block loggers the buy guide knew they were making a huge mistake so they

cut a special affiliate deal with Stanley to bulk order 5,000 cups with a Twist Stanley had to make them pastel

colors those 5,000 cups sold out in 5 days and completely Chang their philosophy on design but it gets even

better a few months ago Stanley had the burning car moment so I'm consistently setting up these head fakes to keep the

storyline moving use this but then framework next time you're Ting a script I guarantee it'll uplevel that video all

right tip number two is rhythm I talk about this a lot but there's this natural subconscious pacing and Rhythm

that is soothing to the brain you can hear in my delivery I'm pretty decent with this like natural EB and flow the

rhythm of the syllables when I talk is soothing to listen to now I used to be a rapper and I was a drummer Growing Up So

this pacing and rhythm is kind of embedded in me which I think is why I'm naturally good at talking in this way

but I do have this tactical way that can improve anyone else at Rhythm take a look at this image which was written by

the legendary author Gary Provost now listen as I read this this sentence has five words here are five more words

five-word sentences are fine but several together become monotonous listen to what is happening this writing is

getting boring the sound of it drones it's like a stuck record the ear demands some variety now listen I vary the

sentence length and I create music music the writing sings it has a pleasant Rhythm a lilt a Harmony I use short

sentences and I use sentences of medium length and sometimes when I'm certain the reader is rested I will engage him

with a sentence of considerable length a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impotence of a

crescendo the roll of the drums the crash of the symbols sounds that say listen to this it is important so write

with a combination of short medium and long sentences create a sound that pleases the reader's ear don't just

write words write music you see how when all the sentences in the same row are about the same length it creates this

monotonous predictability subconsciously people get turned off by this this is what makes them churn to the next video

what you want is to use a variety of sentences and syllable combinations to create this unpredictable Rhythm now if

you look at my script document I write every sentence on a separate line if you look straight down it'll look like a

jagged edge and that confirms that I'm using different length sentences next time you're writing a script try to look

for this if you see your document and all the sentences seem to end at around the same point you don't have enough

diversity and it will feel like this monotonous plotting all right lesson three is tone the most successful

creators in every discipline are the ones with the most conversational Tone It really feels like you're right in the

room with them Emma Chamberlain ascended to stardom so quickly because she was naturally amazing at this Casey iats

another one that's really good at this when you watch his videos and you listen to him talk it feels like he's right in

the room with you now the person I learned from most about this was Steve Jobs if you watch his original keynote

from the first iPhone launch in 2008 he is amazing at creating this conversational room like you and him are

just golf buddies shooting the now this is very intentional and took years of practice for him to hone in he's also

very gifted at it by doing this Emma Casey Steve and others are able to break down that conscious barrier of personal

identity when you watch instead of you questioning to yourself am I getting sold to you get out of your own mind and

just feel like you're in a conversation like you would have to answer a question that they ask you directly in a way you

forget where you are and that's the magic of this now I'm still working on this myself I've only been making

content for like 18 months but if you go back to my first 50 videos it really does feel like I'm talking at you

instead of with you the best tactical way to get better than this other than just 100 reps is to write and film your

videos as if you're talking to one close friend if you have to just print out a picture of them and tape it on the

bottom of your camera lens so you're literally looking at them as you record and when you write your scripts make it

so like you're typing a text or recording an audio note directly to them over time you'll get better at this

conversational nature but it will feel like you're having a one-on-one conversation that's how you break down

this barrier tone is one of those things that inevitably you will get better over time the more you film The more you

forget that the camera is just a camera all right tip number four is Direction this may seem counterintuitive but the

best place to start when you're writing a story is the end figure out what the end is going to be and then work

backwards from there I like to call the last line of my script the last dab because I want it to be so memorable

that if that's all someone heard they'd be willing to share it with a friend in short form video especially the video is

designed to Loop so the last line is actually a setup for the first lines as it replays I think of this a lot like

baseball the nine hitter is supposed to set the table for the top of the order it's the exact same thing with the last

line or two of your video when you're thinking about how to write the script script focus on where you want to take

the viewer what do you want to leave them with what do you want the last thing they hear to be then you can work

backwards from there and build up that dance in the middle when I think about someone that does this super well it's

Christopher Nolan think about his films tenant Inception Interstellar these are extremely complicated plot lines that

inevitably he had to work out the end before he could build up the conflict in the middle now you're probably not

shooting feature films but this same logic can be applied to all types of content usually when I'm writing scripts

I'll write the first and last line I'll go in between create a bunch of space and then I'll fill it in that's a good

tactical way to try to get better at this all right tip number five is a concept that I call story lenses and

it's a way to get better at producing unique content for social media in today's day and age finding a cool topic

is not enough unless you're super niched down there's likely dozens of other people that are talking about that same

topic so how do you differentiate a story lens is your unique angle or spin on a particular story imagine a beam of

light the beam of light's coming across the screen the naked beam everyone looks at and sees the same thing it's like

this white beam of light but as as soon as you put a lens or a prism in front of the light what people see will look

differently than the main beam think of that prism or that lens as your story lens it's your unique fingerprint and

how you uniquely tell the story about that topic let's take an example when Taylor Swift went to the Super Bowl the

most common lenses would have been to talk about what she's wearing or when she's getting there or what her facial

reaction is to something a lot of people covered those exact same stories a less common lens would be to talk about a

prediction for what you think might happen less people would have have that but an even less common lens would be to

talk about the business impact that she was driving on the NFL for being at the game and that's the lens that I chose to

take because I thought I could be a category of one that's why I ultimately made this video and it pulled a million

views it was different my story lens was something unique that people hadn't seen before all right the last tip number six

is the hook now I left this for last because everybody always talks about the hook first and it makes sense it is very

important if people churn on the hook the rest of what I talked about doesn't really matter so I've got two ways to

level up your hooks the first is that your first line should be as Punchy and as indicative of the plot as possible if

the video is about your best Garden techniques the hook should be some derivative of these are the best Garden

techniques for x or I've got these Garden techniques or this thing is a garden technique that you should study

you shouldn't start your hook with some open opaque line like wait till you see this or you're never going to believe

this because if the first line doesn't immediately grab the viewer in short form video You're Dead the second point

on hooks that's extremely powerful and something I overlooked for a long time is that visual hooks are 10 times more

more effective than Audio Only hooks what does this mean when you're on the screen and you're saying something but

the only thing the viewer can see is your mouth moving and maybe the captions dancing that's going to be way less

effective than if you put a visual on the screen for them to look and react to because people's eyes perceive faster

than their ears can hear so you want to complement what you're saying with a visual on the screen this is a visual

hook somebody that's really good at this is my friend Kevin from epic gardening if you watch his videos he immediately

shows a visual that confirms what what he's talking about like this one about strawberries before I hear anything he

says I see a strawberry on the screen it's Vivid red immediately I know this video is going to be about strawberries

if I like strawberries I'm going to stick around to see what he's saying now I've started testing this and I've

noticed the visual hook aspect has been super helpful at retaining viewers so in summary when you're thinking about your

hook get to the point and show while you tell all right that's it for this one if you like this video and got value from

it I host a free community for people that are trying to level up their content creators entrepreneurs marketers

it's called Wavey world I've got all types of vide like this how to pick content topics editing tips how to

create formats and series if you need content to help improve your business or build your personal brand you should be

in there it's completely free in the meantime keep me posted on what you thought of this video and we'll see you

guys on the next one peace