Thematic Beauty to Encourage an Audience

I had to read a book recently for my public relations management class, Encouraging the Heart: A Leader’s Guide to Rewarding and Recognizing Others*. Kouzes and Posner, the authors of the leadership guide, realized that there were seven prerequisites to effectively leading through encouraging the heart (x). These prerequisites are: Set clear standards Expect the best […]

A Good Story Inspires

When people think about stories in the realm of the communications world, most think journalism. However, I like to believe that stories – good stories – can exist in mediums other than a newspaper in the world of journalism. So, to stay true to my advertising roots, I want to focus on stories being told […]

A Story Through Snapchat

What makes a good story you ask? A good story is made up of pictures, it’s made up of seconds and it’s made up of friends. The story I am conveying is none other, but the Snapchat story.

The Snapchat headache. 4 ways to stay sane while snapping your life away: http://t.co/vJXKmRSg70 pic.twitter.com/lRDLFR59Gd

— Elite Daily (@EliteDaily) October 5, 2015

Snapchat is one of my favorite mediums to tell a story, but it needs to have a few concrete requirements in order to be exciting.

It needs to be less than 70 seconds
It needs to show something funny, exciting or outrageous
It shouldn’t just be about you, it should be about other people and your friends

By following these three things, Snapstories are more enjoyable. Having it less than 70 seconds allows a viewer to stay interested. Even though Snapchat stories can be fast-forwarded, it is best to make sure that your viewer doesn’t get bored. By having a funny or exciting Snapstory with people other than yourself, your content will not be fast-forwarded. It’s one thing to have a Snapchat story, its another thing to have a story that gets talked about.

The first three things are necessary for an interesting Snap story, but it is important to make sure you don’t include the following things since they are common mistakes people make. So don’t include:

Random lights in the dark at a party
The time or temperature without an image (ie. Black room)
Posts shouldn’t include multiple videos in a row that aren’t funny
Photos or videos that have been individually snapped to people
Photos or videos in regards to the weather

Snapchat Stories should include:

Geotags, but not to be over used, unless traveling somewhere exciting or life changing
A progression of events
Text during a video, in case sound is off

By doing these things, it will makes sure that your story is entertaining and ready to be watched. I am not a fan of seeing weather posts, we all go to Syracuse and signed up for 30 degree weather, it isn’t necessary to make an entire Snapchat story dedicated to it. These are just a few things to make this creative medium more entertaining and worthwhile.

At the end of the day, using these ideas of a Snapchat story are relate-able to any type of story. As the creator of content, you want to make sure that the content short and to the point. While it can be longer if necessary, it needs to be done once in a blue moon – you don’t want to be known as the person who has a 120 second Snapchat stories. You also need to make sure that the content needs to be relate-able in some way, or outrageous. By doing this, a person will be engaged in what was going on and will continue to read or watch the story. Using Snapchat stories also reminds you that you can’t be selfish all the time. While a Snapchat story is about your life, you need to remember that being relate-able will keep a story alive.