The ‘Stories’ format in social media: the ultimate guide

Stories are powerful. And human beings crave them. All sorts of studies have suggested that storytelling stimulates the human brain in a way hard facts never can.

We engage with them more, we remember them for longer and, for millennia, they have played a key role in the way we communicate.

The business world has come to understand the power of storytelling too. Companies in a huge variety of industries have come to understand the success that can be unlocked, the communities that can be built and the profits that can be made through effective storytelling.

Stories in social media

It’s against this background that a revolutionary way of sharing and communicating online has emerged and grown almost exponentially over the last few years – Stories on social media. Pioneered by Snapchat, and seemingly tapping in to our primal love of storytelling, Stories have become the almost ‘default’ sharing format for social media users around the world.

Stories are the ‘it’ format. Facebook in fact noted earlier in 2018 that sharing in Stories is set to surpass sharing in Feed (across Facebook and Instagram) in 2019. Users around the world have latched on to this new way of posting and interacting.

And now smart brands are leveraging the opportunity, using Stories across social networks in innovative ways, to connect deeply with their audiences and drive purchase and loyalty through advertising.

Our StoryBook: the ultimate guide to stories

Download our eBook and learn about:

• What makes the Stories format different to other formats in social media
• Best practices for Stories ads across each social network
• Examples of great stories creatives
• The Paragone Stories Creative Center
• Tips to success with Stories ads, across social networks.