Buzz-worthy Story Checklist

When you hear a story about one of your products, an employee or the company itself, it is good to think about if it has the chance to spread via word of mouth. When analyzing a story to see if it is worth trying to spread, there is one thing that is difficult: Neutrality.

Clients think their stories are interesting. You need a way to assess the story and let them know if it is really likely to get people fired up.

Just because a client thinks the story is interesting does not mean people outside of the organization will think it is as well. Being able to think like a neutral 3^rd party and ask yourself if you would tell your friends takes practice.

With regard to the story you are analyzing, answer each question on a scale of 1-5. Five is high and one is low. Having 5 in all of these is not necessarily good as it could be something that has strong negative buzz as well for some people.

Source of story:

(1) Internal

(3) External Friend of Company

(5) Customer or public

Score:______

Unusual aspect of story:

(1) Story is the normal kind of thing you hear about such a company

(3) Someone in public would consider story somewhat out of the ordinary

(5) Someone in public would consider the story extremely unusual

Score:______

Big Benefit:

(1) Story does not illustrate a benefit or positive change for customer

(3) Shows modest benefit

(5) Shows huge benefit that revolutionized life or business.

Score:______

Ease to Tell:

(1) Story is difficult for non-expert to tell

(3) Story can be repeated by outsider with some effort

(5) Story requires no knowledge, names or terminology to repeat. Is short.

Score:______

Potential Audience Size:

(1) Has limited appeal to anyone outside of your particular industry

(3) Has broad industry appeal and people outside of industry may get it.

(5) Has strong appeal to wide audience of the public.

Score:______

Newsworthy:

(1) No chance of news media covering story

(3) Modest chance a media outlet could be interested in story for a focused audience

(5) Likely to make the evening news.

Score:______

Benefit to Storyteller:

(1) Story does not make the storyteller look more intelligent or interesting.

(3) Storyteller will look moderately interesting and knowledgeable.

(5) People will think the storyteller has great connections and a secret inside source for such fantastic information.

Score:______

Story Brandibility:

(1) The brand and your company are not part of the story

(3) Story spreads well without your brand, but may include your brand

(5) Your brand is central to the story and will be repeated.

Score:______

Current Range of Story:

(1) Only a few people internally know about it.

(3) Internal and at least one customer know about it.

(5) People you do not know are already talking about it.

Score:______

Controversial or Opinionated:

(1) Story does not take chances and does not upset anyone.

(3) Story may ruffle some feathers but will not upset general audience.

(5) Polarizes people that hear it and they will either love or hate you.

Score:______

How did your story do?

10 - 25:

May make a good testimonial on the website but not much more.

26 - 35:

Has the potential to reach a limited audience if you get some people really telling the story.

36 - 40:

This story has good buzz potential. Figure out what its strengths are and distribute it to people that will care.

41 +

This story has the potential to grow legs and take off without a lot of effort on your part. Get it to customers, the media and anyone else that may find repeating the story beneficial.

In addition to these elements, there are some other factors that might enhance your buzz factor in the right situations.

Is your story funny? People love to tell funny stories.
Is your story outrageous? Will people talk about it because they cannot believe it?
Is your story part of a juicy secret or rumor?
Do you have a passionate fan base? If so, even some modest news might get blown up by people that love you.

Writing Makes a Huge Difference

Even if this survey shows your story has the potential to create a buzz, remember to write for buzz, and not just assume that it will get noticed because it has important elements that make it more buzz-worthy. See the resources below.