How Could the Story Format Change the Future of Content?

They started its rain on Snapchat a few years ago, and since then they've become a staple of consumption and entertainment on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp as well. Hey, even Google favors it! We're talking about stories formats that have conquered every corner of apps and web, naturally. There is no doubt that this format will be a part of our content future for years to come, and it will transform the way we do both business and pleasure. Let's face it; these short, thumb-stopping concoctions are here to stay!

As modern storytellers that we (like to think) we are, there are only two things left for us to do: research and get to the bottom of this phenomenon. There are many speculations, predictions, and opinions on how "the story" could revolutionize the social media and website content landscape around us. Luckily, we have investigated them, so you don't have to. Here's a quick rundown of transformations to come: 

The Change Is Coming! 

Or is it already here? Is the way we tell stories changing right in front of us? Lead industry influences and professionals seem to agree that the stories are the future. And even when expert opinions are excluded, you can see for yourself that the number of "stories" outnumber regular posts on Instagram, right? Do you ever wonder why that is?

People are already paying more attention to their stories than visit their feed, and why wouldn't they? Stories tend to be short, quick to ingest, easy to understand and they are easy to create. What's there not to love for a super-busy person with a problematic attention span? Simple, and straight to the point! Vertical visual storytelling is the way of the future because it gets the job done quicker.

That is StorifyMe took stories out of social media and allowed you to place them everywhere on the web!

Short-Lived *Is* the New Norm

The survival of the fittest is something we see in all shapes and forms all over history's pages. It just so happens that the "fittest" in this context means short-formed, entertaining, and packed to the brim with action. The whole interwebs atmosphere is navigating toward "short and sweet" stuff, and guess what: if you want to live long and prosper, you'll have to go even shorter and even sweeter! 

The bite-sized and "on-the-go" content has become the rule, so we all have to get with the program if we want to survive. Honestly, who has the time for the long format content? As the old, longer mediums slowly go out of fashion, their way of advertising will go as well. Which means:

Get Creative or Leave the Room

Well, if you want your ads to pop, that is. All of us have to figure out new, imaginative ways to keep the attention coming if we don't want to become a thing of the past. Across the board, stories are setting a new standard of entertainment which forces us to be as precise, efficient but also more engaging at the same time. Your main message has to be loud and clear in the first five seconds, otherwise, people are going to move on to another store without much thought. This forces creative teams to be ingenious and extremely careful. Brands and industry leaders are bending over backward to find new, visionary ways of keeping the thumbs from scrolling, and it's only going to get more cutthroat. 

Exaggeration and Clickbait Galore

Balancing the complicated truth with a quick to disappear spotlight is quite a challenge. The thing is, stories generally are much more entertaining when they are bit exaggerated and over the top. However, there's always that need for honesty at its core. 

Think about this for a second thought: the average story is only 15 seconds long, do you think that's the place which can handle this nuance? Even if the extraordinary amount of cleverness is a given, all that "out-of-the-box" thinking will probably be in vain if you don't have a catching title or thumbnail. That means, besides creativity and easily digestible content, the future probably holds an abundance of outrageous, glorious statements across the board all in favor of getting those clicks your way. 

A Whole New World of SEO 

It's hard to believe, but there are still some people who do not storify their lives and who are not fans of this trend. But their numbers are dwindling by the minute because this format does its job on every level, even when it comes to SEO. Versatile, all-platform friendly engaging formats like this one are a great way to rise to the top of the ranks, Google knows it, you know it, we know it.

You got it right, web stories have a top place in Google Search! So, don't forget to utilize that knowledge in the future, since making your content more searchable is more crucial than ever.

New Audiences & Accent on Interactions

Stories are good for conveying your message, that's true, but first and foremost they are a good way to connect with people. They have always enhanced human interactions, and it's not any different nowadays. Authentic ephemeral content is extremely inviting and gives us all kinds of new opportunities. For quite some time now interactive stuff has been a crucial part of anybody's content strategy since engagement (besides profit, naturally) is the best sign of success. Personal connections with your audience make or break your sales and reputation, and web stories can greatly help with that too.   

Talented Designers Needed - are they?

To achieve that universally desired unified presence across all platforms, plenty of companies will be looking for talented people who can pull that off! Designers know how to tell stories straight forward and create those media-rich content to die for! To succeed, every business needed someone who knows how to work the story format both in front of the camera and behind it, and that's how it was.

Today, StorifyMe eases the use of storytelling with numerous web story templates made for non-designers too!

Storified Summary: 

Simply put: in the new age of digital delights, proper visual narrative attention is an invaluable currency. Stories have always helped us get our points across, in the best way possible, and today - it just so happens that the way we do it over time evolves. We're living in a time when short-format is all the rage, so we have to find ways to make that work in our context. The long format is great and more informative, we all agree on that, but people can't resist short form.

The storified future to come: it'll be eye-catching, attention-grabbing, face-paced, and oh-so-much fun! Welcome stories on the web!