Think about your typical week.  How many stories do you share with people in that seven-day span?  I’m not talking about highly polished literary works.  I’m talking about the everyday stories you tell about your experiences, views on the world, and interactions with others.

It’s only a guess, but I think we each have about 10-15 stories we tell throughout a typical week.  It might be a story about something funny that happened over the weekend.  It might be an important life lesson you learned when you were a kid.  It might be your opinion why one political candidate is better than other.  It might be about a funny YouTube video, television episode, or movie you watched.

Unless you’re writing a regular newspaper column, hosting a television newscast, or part of the talk radio mafia, chances are pretty high that your 10-15 stories aren’t getting told to a very wide audience.  And, you’re probably not sharing every story with every person.   Most likely, you’re sporadically sharing your stories with just a few people before you shift your attention to new stories.

Depending upon how frequent you talk to someone, you might only tell 1 or 2 of these stories to them.  Just think of the last time you talked with a long-time friend or family member you haven’t seen in awhile.  When that happens to me, I find myself hitting the major events of my life without sharing some of my sweetest moments (e.g. “My brother and his family moved to Washington” while leaving out “I was amazed to hear my son practice piano last night - he’s really playing some beautiful, complicated pieces.”).  

Now, let’s look at the same concept, but from an organizational perspective.  How many worthwhile stories are you sharing with the world?  Maybe it’s your philosophy about sustainability.  Or your commitment to outstanding customer service.  Or how you seek out the right talent and help them become world-class at their jobs.  

If you are like most organizations, your most important stories are being told on a sporadic basis without much consistency to the key audiences you want to reach - internal and external.  If they’re being told at all, they’re most like showing up in tepid brochures.  

This is where blogs, podcasts, social networks, and Twitter can become very powerful for you.  Each of these tools allows you to fill in the spaces between your usual interactions with your key audiences.  They give you the ability to capture and distill your key stories with anyone who connects to them - no matter if you already know the person or not.  Without a doubt, they can help strengthen existing relationships and create new ones.

Here’s a quick primer of each:

• Blogs - you’re reading one right now.  It’s short for “web log” and has evolved from a personal diary/journal into an interactive column of sorts.  They can take a variety of forms: breaking news, detailed analysis, stories and links from other sources, and observations about various events and trends.
• Podcasts - These “Play On Demand” audio and video serials are like bite-sized radio and tv shows.  Individuals and companies typically produce podcasts to share regular viewpoints, updates, and news items.  People usually download onto MP3 players and other devices to listen on the go.  They have become widespread on college campuses, especially for listening to class lectures.
• Social networks - whether you’re on a general audience social network (Facebook or LinkedIn) or a private one for a specific organization or niche group, these usually consist of each person filling out a profile page, forging connections with other people within the network, posting their thoughts through discussion forums and blogs, and sharing video and audio content with others in the network.
• Microblogs (Twitter) - still not yet in use by the mainstream, you’ve probably at least heard about Twitter in the news.  Twitter and its many competitors are hybrids of blogs and social networks.  The main concept is to share what you’re doing at that very moment with whomever has decided to follow your posts.  These posts can run the gamut from the mundane (”going to the store for milk”) to the profound (”just posted a new blog containing detailed research findings about life on Mars”).  What I like most about Twitter and its kin is that they give me a glimpse into the everyday lives of interesting people (follow me to find out).

Which ones are right for you?  It depends on what results you’re seeking to achieve.  I’d recommend starting by articulating your vision and goals.  With those in mind, you can build an integrated strategy that incorporates the right mix of tools to reach your desired audiences.  

No matter the strategy, the first step is getting familiar with each and seeing how others are using them.  

What have been your experiences with each of these?  Are they useful to you? 

This entry was posted on Monday, June 16th, 2008 at 11:07 pm and is filed under blogging, social networks, strategy, web 2.0. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.