In today’s digital era, developments in technology have made it possible for the internet and digital resources to be at most people’s fingertips. This means entertainment, and more importantly, knowledge and information are available for the general public.
Part of this information that is available is scientific knowledge that can impact almost all areas of people’s lives. However, to provide the correct information in a way that is attractive and appealing to a non-academic audience, some communication and marketing guidelines need to be followed.
Most people have a keen interest in science and see scientists as highly respectable and credible sources of information. The challenge in today’s world is how to inform a lay audience by communicating science in a human, compelling, and most importantly, relatable way for people’s everyday lives.
Science communication has to come in the formats that people consume; this means videos, images and texts, and a big part of these mediums is Storytelling.
Storytelling is a concept used in marketing, and it involves the art of telling a story. Making it engaging for the listener and sparking their imagination so that they can connect mentally and also emotionally with the story or idea you are presenting them.
Storytelling helps us organize disorderly information and helps us make sense of the things we are being told. Most people will make assumptions about any information that is being presented to them to give it more substance and structure. Storytelling helps reduce the number of assumptions. It creates a story, gives voice to a character, and helps people identify with the story and understand and pay attention to what they see or listen to.
When communicating science, Storytelling is a powerful tool to bring people closer to science.
It helps them see the importance it has in their lives, and more importantly, to make it interesting enough so that the general public can relate to the scientific knowledge that has usually been seen as something only given to and by the intellectual elite.
Most people see science as something serious, even dull. You can use video storytelling to change that preconceived idea by making it entertaining and giving an emotional depth to your video. Relatable characters, powerful music, and good humor are great ways to make people connect with your content. This engagement will also increase the chances of them retaining whatever information you show them.
The video format has become a popular and effective communication channel for science that can reach broad audiences because, after all “film is a language that everyone learns to ‘read’ from a very early age”.
