5 Lessons How to Make Videos More Engaging by Being a Better Storyteller

You’re speed scrolling through a social media feed when two shapes catch your attention: the mighty triangle pointing to the right, surrounded by a perfect circle.Combined, the two shapes trigger something in your brain and your scroll comes to an abrupt stop. You hesitate, then your index finger strikes the mouse pad and the video loads. You watch in anticipation, but the seconds roll by and your mind wanders. Before you know it, your index finger clicks once again, closing the window, and your scrolling adventure continues.In a world of nearly infinite choices of online video content, it doesn't take much to get bored or distracted. But what made you click on that play button in the first place?It was your desire for a good story.There is nothing more powerful than a story (well, besides love), and it is for this reason that entrepreneurs need to learn good storytelling. Whether you’re communicating your idea, brand, product, or service, without captivating stories, you may bore your audience to death.If cultivated, the skill of storytelling is one that can translate to more views, more engagement, more followers, and ultimately more startup success. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Adrian Roup, film producer and best selling author, to pick his brain on the top tips that entrepreneurs can learn to become better storytellers.With the surge in mobile Internet traffic, the importance of video has increased, and looking to the art of filmmaking as a discipline can help us get to the roots of storytelling. Here are Roup’s five lessons to engage viewers and keep them interested in your stories.Lesson 1: Speak in a language your audience will understand.These days, a wide range of affordable, digital storytelling technology is readily available and can be used to craft video content. However, many make the mistake of thinking that technology is the language of storytelling, when it’s not. A storyteller sitting around a campfire is well advised to choose a language that his audience can understand and respond to.Simply having a story to tell does not mean it will be exciting to your audience. You must first identify your audience. Consider the language that they understand and develop your story with this in mind. Technology makes things easier but it can also make us lazy.The mark of a successful story typically employs creativity, humor, personality, and originality to ensure that your content engages your audience. In creating engaging content, making the audience priority number one is key.Lesson 2: Predictability is the enemy of a good story.Movies do a great job compressing time. Because of this, today’s movie audience is incredibly adept at filling in the gaps of a story. In fact, this is what keeps them hooked — they become invested in piecing together what will happen. The ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create connections is often referred to as ‘media literacy’.We live in an age where everyone understands media, and if you deliver content that spells out too much, they will disconnect. By allowing an audience to use their imagination and fill in select gaps, a storyteller engages the audience’s brain and retains their attention. By contrast, most startup presentations have too much information, leaving the audience feeling bored, overwhelmed, and wanting the presentation to end.We’ve all witnessed presentations or product videos filled with redundancies, inefficiencies, and excessive detail; these types of presentations typically cause us to ‘switch off.’ A good storyteller is aware of our built-in filtering mechanisms that cause us to focus selectively on what is most important to our ultimate success. Good storytellers will use this knowledge to his or her advantage.Lesson 3: Get emotionalSuccessful storytellers create from a place of joy. Their goal is to create something that will surprise, move, delight and entertain the audience, even if this means applying poetic license. Knowing how the completed story is intended to affect the audience, good storytellers make evoking those emotions their core mission. Typically, if a component to the story is likely to move the audience emotionally, it not only stays in the story, but is emphasised. Let your passion come out — show how excited you are about your story and translate that emotion to your audience.Lesson 4: Be prepared to take risksGood storytellers are prepared to risk looking foolish as they experiment and create something original. In one of Brene Brown’s amazing TED talks, she remarks, “Perhaps stories are just data with soul.” Brown also makes a convincing case for telling a good story by being vulnerable. When we take that risk of doing something a little differently, we open ourselves up to the potential of connecting with an audience on a more profound and deeper level. If you feel a little uncomfortable, you are most likely on the right track. Do not create a video that blends in with the other thousand videos. Be bold and take those risks.Lesson 5: Be authenticRoup recalled a Google spokesperson who recently confirmed that 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. Every minute! How do you stand out in so much noise? The answer, he explains, is to create stories with your audience in mind; engage their imagination and emotions, make sure to take creative risks, all while being authentic.In other words, don’t tell your stories in the same way as everyone else. After all, they are YOUR stories.Roup also explains that leaders experimenting with videos should keep in mind that getting people to change their standard patterns is typically a big challenge. People stick by the saying, “Don’t fix it if it’s not broken”, especially when they fear being too visible or too far outside of the acceptable norm. This is sometimes referred to as “tall poppy syndrome”.Encouraging storytelling, especially with video, could boost morale and have a favorable impact on leadership and team development. The key is to be authentic in your storytelling so that it comes across as genuine.In his book, How to Make Videos that Influence People, Roup shares personal stories from his career that taught him the potential of film as a medium that has the ability to move an audience. By understanding the simple principles and techniques above, Roup believes it is possible for even a first timer to create a piece of video that resonates with and influences an audience.Save yourself the years that it took him to gather detailed insights into the complexities and nuances of this medium. Keep simplicity and focus on the audience in mind when creating your content!“Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.”- George Bernard Shaw.Do you have any tips for creating superb videos? Share as comments.