The Steve Jobs biography has been discussed at length by many of its readers.

People have expressed their connection to the man, his products, and his influence on all things from heath to business. The man was a success, a failure, and ultimately, a human. I won’t touch on anything particular about Steve Jobs other than to take one thing from the book that I was able to use for direction in writing blog posts.

Telling Stories with Blog Posts

When Steve Jobs was preparing to give his now famous Stanford speech he sought out advice. The advice he received was that people like to hear stories. So Jobs took it as his task to break down his entire speech into three stories.

• Connecting The Dots (Dropping Out of College)
• Love and Loss (Business Experience)
• Death (Appreciating Each Day)

The art of telling stories is something the most successful people in the world have excelled at. I know a few people in my personal life that have had the most profound impact on my life. I know business owners, successful managers, and others. These successful people nearly all have the ability to tell a story. These people command attention of people when they speak.

Telling stories allows for a few things to happen.

First, telling a story, even a personal story that is 100% personal and almost narcissistic, gives people a look into who you are as a person. This builds trust or at least understanding of the person they are choosing to interact with, work with.

Second, telling a story, even a personal story, somehow allows people to think about how their own lives and experiences relate to those of others. When I think of this concept I often thing about songwriting. Music artists – singers and songwriters – have the unique ability to tell stories, often personal, and have an audience of people connect to the story and feel like they’re a part of something. In a world of loneliness, people feel connected to others when stories are shared.

Last, stories intrigue people. For whatever reason, people like to hear stories. Interesting stories have are more amusing than simple discussion on the basics of a how-to article or an instructional article. I would much rather hear a story about how a chef learned the recipe for stuffed chicken as they show me how to make it than just simply going through the motions of how to make it.

Chefs, marketers, writers, people of every occupation have stories to tell. When you blog, a great way to connect with your target audience is to tell stories. Focus on the stories of the people at your company. Focus on the stories of your customers.

People connect to stories. If you want people to connect with your brand, consider story telling as a format for your blogging strategy.