How Associations Tell Their Stories (& How It’s Changing) – The Highlight Reel

Once upon a time, we scheduled an awesome Association Chat episode last Tuesday. If you’re just now tuning in, you missed one thought-provoking conversation.

Have you ever wanted to know the best ways for you to tell your brand’s story? Our trailblazing guest Greg Melia (@gmeliaCAE), VP of Program Development for ITN Productions US Industry News brought us all the facts and we couldn’t be happier.

Let’s catch up!
The Topic:  How Associations Tell Their Stories (& How It’s Changing)

Check out the highlights of the chat below or listen in to the replay here: https://huzza.io/kikilitalien/live-stream/how-associations-tell-their-stories

Our weekly host, KiKi L’Italien, began the chat by saying what we are all thinking, “Associations have seemingly endless ways to tell their stories!”

From newsletters to video to having to tell your story in 140 characters or less, she could not be more accurate.
Greg agreed and compared story-telling to Star Wars. The long scrolling text in the beginning of each movie? That is NOT a method associations should think about using.

“People want stories that are quick and in a variety of authentic voices,” said Greg. “They want it to feel like the saga of Star Wars.”

Captivating, it is. The force is strong in Greg as he encourages associations to, “Tell the story through the lens of people with those experiences.”

KiKi moved on to her next question, “Should associations take a journalistic approach to tell their stories?”
Greg’s response? “We aren’t always the best person to tell our own story.”

So, yes! Take a journalistic approach.

Greg blew all of our minds when he dropped two statistics:
You can attach up to 4 pictures on Twitter. With each photo, engagement increases 2%.
Roughly 80-90% of all internet traffic is going towards video.

Leading our forward-thinking host to conclude, “Video is the number one way to increase organic engagement.”
Greg let us know that, “Bad video can be worse than having no video at all. Think- sound quality, lighting, etc.”

Keith, an viewer, commented: “Like all marketing messages: you need to create content that is relevant, and will provide some level of benefit to the watcher/user.”

Agreeing with Keith, Greg said, “When it comes to increasing engagement, say something before you share something.”

A simple fact from a previous chat to be brought up:
Video is for emotion. Text is for information.

The biggest takeaways from this chat:
“People relate to people. And people relate to stories and experiences.” – Greg Melia
Make the messages easier to receive by using pictures or videos.
Captions on videos help with SEO because many people watch videos without sound.
YouTube: If you’re not thinking about how to get people to your videos, you’re missing out.

What piece of advice from Greg are you going to apply to your story-telling technique? We want to know! Tweet @assnchat using to share your thoughts.

Check out the episode here: https://huzza.io/kikilitalien/live-stream/how-associations-tell-their-stories

Like Association Chat? Show your support by joining our Association Chat Facebook Group and subscribing to next week’s show! Association Chat is coming your way with a brand new episode on Tuesday 11/01 at 2 pm EDT.

Subscribe to our next chat, Demystifying Innovation at Your Association, here: https://huzza.io/kikilitalien/live-stream/demystify-innovation-at-your-association

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