In an inter­con­nected world, the new cur­rency is sto­ries.  Sto­ries help cap­ture and cap­ti­vate people’s hearts and minds.  Only by mak­ing your sto­ries per­son­ally sig­nif­i­cant will our sto­ries ever have any mean­ing.  Here 6 types of sto­ries that will allow you to make a mean­ing­ful con­nec­tion with peo­ple to gain sup­port and incite action to build a movement.

1.) Who-I-Am Sto­ries

What qual­i­ties earn you the right to influ­ence? If you want some­one to hire you as a social media con­sul­tant, tell of a time, place, or sit­u­a­tion that pro­vides evi­dence that you have these qual­i­ties of a great social media con­sul­tant. Be per­sonal.  When peo­ple know who you are they will begin to trust you.

2.) Why-I-Am-Here Sto­ries

When some­one assumes you are there to sell an idea that will cost them money, time, or resources, you imme­di­ately are pegged as biased. What else do you get out of what you do? Do you get a rush by bak­ing and sell­ing bread? If it is truly money that moti­vates you, then be hon­est and say you are dri­ven by money, but if it is some­thing else, make it obvi­ous through a story.

3.) Teach­ing Sto­ries

If advice doesn’t work try using a story.  Cer­tain lessons are best learned from expe­ri­ence. you can tell your friend to start using Twit­ter, but some­times a story is bet­ter at illus­trat­ing the impor­tance of Twit­ter than telling them to use it.  Cre­ate a shared expe­ri­ence, and con­nect con­se­quences and rewards with actions.

4.) Vision Sto­ries

Can you tell a story about the vision you have for your orga­ni­za­tion.  Some­times telling a story of where you will be, will help oth­ers over­come the obsta­cles that pre­vent you and your orga­ni­za­tion to get­ting there in the first place.  Vision sto­ries ener­gize and enthuse.  Obama did it to become our 44th Pres­i­dent. But take heed, make sure you deliver on the vision, if not a vision story can do more harm than good.

5.) Values-in-Action Sto­ries

Be spe­cific. If you want to encour­age a value or teach a value tell a story that illus­trates in action what that value means. Hypo­thet­i­cal sit­u­a­tions sound hyp­o­crit­i­cal and preachy.

6.) I-Know-What-You-Are-Thinking Sto­ries

Show that you know what peo­ple are think­ing.  Telling a story that shows you under­stand what they are think­ing allows you bond and to offer up any objec­tions with­out sound­ing defen­sive or belligerent.