Storytelling – undeniably the buzzword of 2014 in communications and marketing continues to garner the attention of many professionals and businesses. It’s kind of become a more trendy word for content creation, don’t you think?

With the significant shifts happening in the media space where news finds us rather than us looking for it, storytelling is moving to a whole new level with social and mobile dictating the creation and dissemination of news, and so the journalistic craft as well.

This is one of the major findings of a recent study by Edelman, News Whip and Muck Rack addressing social news consumption. Indeed, the research focused on the US, but reading through the results I believe there are some important points to bear in mind outside the US. Why? Because they could be sources of competitive advantage for early adopters around Europe (I think we all know (but not always admit) that most European countries move a little bit slower than the US when it comes to the adoption of technological advancements). 

Trends in social news consumption

Here are some of the major findings of the study:

• More than 75% of journalists feel more pressure now to think about their story’s potential to get shared on social networks.
• To make their stories more shareable, journalists are infusing five key ingredients: video/images, brevity, localisation, more use of human voice and a proximity to trending topics.
• Nearly 75% of journalists are now creating original video content to accompany their stories. However, very few journalists (13%) are relying on sourcing consumer-generated video and only 3% are using corporate video.
• Journalists see five key trends impacting their profession this year: more mobile friendly content, faster turnaround times, more original video, smaller newsroom staff and social media growing in influence.

What does this all mean for you and your business?

Well, I see three major implications: video, mobile and bite-sized, easy to consume content. Focusing your content marketing and content creation around these areas would be smart business, particularly when it comes to your media relations efforts because this is what journalists want. If you are able to give it to them, you have an advantage. But make sure you deliver it via the right channels – as it turns out, Twitter might be a great option, considering that 75% of journalists use the network to build their own brand.

Creating the right type of content

But even when thinking about your own content and own media, not just PR and earned media, by considering these three major implications you can still gain a lot– traffic, leads and conversions. Why? Because journalists are experts at knowing what their audience likes to read – it’s their job. So, if a journalists is telling you that he or she will be focusing on video, mobile and brevity for their stories, then that’s no joke – it’s what people want. And if that’s what people want, well then you better be giving it to them so that you can see some real results.

If content is king, then distribution is queen

The way we create and consume news has changed. Due to the overarching digital adoption and the rise of the social web, publishing and sharing move at the speed of light. What this means for you as a professional or a business is that you need to change the way you create content, adopt new types of content and adjust how you disseminate that content. Because if content is king, then distribution is queen. And that queen lives on social and mobile.