Have you noticed that it has become more and more difficult to connect with your audience?
Why is it such a challenge to capture their attention?
photos uploaded to Instagram every minute
Your audience is overloaded with content options.
Why?
100
6,000
38,194
tweets posted to Twitter every second
Hours of content uploaded to Youtube every minute
average consumer’s click through for an online banner ad.
Why?
They are skipping or ignoring your brand message.
1 in 1,000
86% of people skip TV commercials.
of millennials believe online advertising to be credible.
Why?
They are more informed, more savvy, and more skeptical of brand messages than ever before..
6%
53% of consumers say they won’t buy from a company they don’t trust.
Organizations are still using old storytelling techniques…
The reason?
in a social media driven world.
Traditional Storytelling
Passive User Experience
Message
Mass Distribution
Content Creation
The message stops here!
Organization
“It used to be all about you”
Brands control the messaging from top to bottom…
Delivering a passive “Dead-End” user experience.
People use social networks as platforms for expressing their digital personas. They aren’t interested in telling your story, they want to tell their story. Story-Making is the process of making your brand part of their personal narrative.
…but what is a story in the age of social media?
USERVotes on a Question
Shares a Photo
Posts a Comment
Recommends a Product
Ranks a Service
RSVP’s to a Party
Checks-in at a Place
Watches a Video
Installs an App
A USER takes an ACTION on an OBJECT
That ACTION then becomes content that is shared with an interested group of peers…
“The future of storytelling isn’t about telling anyone anything. It’s about storymaking, where the brand facilitates and taps into the stories people are creating and sharing with each other. Storytelling is the epitome of the old one-way, broadcast mindset that so many of us in marketing are trying to leave behind. Storymaking, by contrast, is far more fulfilling, and exactly what will matter to the people all of our brands are trying to reach.”
David Berkowitz “The Beginning of the end of Storytelling”Ad Age, September 17, 2014
From Storytelling to Storymaking
Users
Content Generation
Distribution
An active user experience
The end of the “Dead End” experience.
Story-Making can be used to create a strong call to action that turns one engagement into many.
Why does Storymaking matter?
of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family more than any other form of advertising.
92%
It is cost effective.
Think of story-making as taking a crowdsourced approach to achieving your content needs.
When Starbucks launched its white Re-usable plastic cups. It challenged its customers to demonstrate their creativity and submit photos of the results..
4,123 cup designs later, Starbucks had successfully reached a large global audience with custom creative concepts shared among friends.
The friends of your target audience have a high probability of being your target audience. Your target consumers are gatekeepers to a trusted network of potential clients. They just need to be activated to spread the word on behalf of your brand.
It is targeted.
Homophily: (n) The tendency of individuals to associate with others of the same kind.
It will actually reach your audience.
“If you aren’t in my newsfeed, I won’t see you.”
the average American spends 3 hours on social media channels per day
Sleep
Other
Social Browsing To find your audience
you must be in the newsfeeds where they consume their information.
Story-sharing content is more effective in helping you move your users towards the action you want.
of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family more than any other form of advertising
It converts.
Awareness
Buy-in
Action
98%
95%
92%
more likely to engage with a friends post over a brands post
say friends are the most credible source of product/brand info
Story-Making In Action…
Non-Profit Beautify Earth turned a mural painting project into a story-making opportunity by inviting local community members to take action on thrdPlace.com!
Story-making occurred as users shared their action of support with their peers of social followers.
Beautify Earth used thrdPlace to share its project story and the funds, supplies, and volunteers needed.
I volunteered to paint a mural with @BeautifyEarth @Dogearedjewelry @Senchanaturals. Join us! Learn more: http://ow.ly/HsWtY
Brand sponsors joined in on the story!
I’m painting a mural with @BeautifyEarth @Dogearedjewelry @Senchanaturals. Join us! ow.ly/HsWtY
In less than four hours on a Sunday in June, participants helped bring the 30’ x 50’ mural to life!
Story-Making In Action…
By sharing their story, users generated…
Posts98
Users24
Reach (uniques)58,778
Impressions81,113
ONE MURAL PROJECT
Sherwood Moore // VP Marketing // [email protected] // 310.560.7875