Once Upon a Semester: Storytelling as a Framework for Higher Ed Web Marketing

Georgy Cohen
@radiofreegeorgy
@TuftsUniversity
@MeetContent
Storytelling as
a Framework
for Higher Ed
Web Marketing
#hewebar
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pandora_6666/4927859168/

 Where I grew up

Ant and shark 1/3
Credit: @tsand’s daughter / @iceboxart

Ant and shark 2/3

Ant and shark 3/3

“
Web Communications' mission is to use the Web and emerging technologies to engage our audience with the Tufts storyand to enable our partners across the university to do the same.

What are
stories?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/functoruser/244207662/lightbox/

National Storytelling Network
“
Storytelling is the interactive art of using words and actions to reveal the elements and images of a story while encouraging the listener’s imagination.
www.storynet.org/resources/whatisstorytelling.html

(Some random site)
“
A story is the graphing of a character's emotional experience from the moment it begins to its logical conclusion.
http://members.fortunecity.com/nadabs/literature-storystructure.html

Ordinary people doing
extraordinary things

Daniel Pink,
“A Whole New Mind”
“
[Stories] are important cognitive events, for they encapsulate, into one compact package, information, knowledge, context and emotion.

Why stories
matter

Storytelling was the first
social media platform.

Storytelling was the first
social media platform.
OMG! Srsly??

Storytelling is an act of
community, sharing
values and knowledge
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonpratt/4807746068/

Stories draw strength from the number of people
who share them.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/turneround/5398112759/

The parable of Lot’s wife

The parable of Lot’s wife
…is also found in Greek, Jewish, Indian, French Canadian, Lithuanian, Chinese, Eskimo, Polynesian, Hawaiian, South American and African folklore.
Source: Archetypes and motifs in folklore and literature: a handbook, Jane Garry, Hasan M. El-Shamy

We see
in stories.

We see
ourselves
in stories.

We tend to “storicize” abstract shapes
and seekourselves in the objects around us.
Credit: Clara Fernández-Vara, Postdoctoral Researcher, Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab

Heider, F., & Simmel, M. (1944) An experimental study in apparent behavior. The American Journal of Psychology, 57, 243-259.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTNmLt7QX8E

http://www.flickr.com/photos/94693506@N00/149781946/

Lessons of
The Like Log
“
The best stories — the most inherently share-worthy stories — are the ones for which it would be almost weird to email them to someone — or tweet them to someone, or whatever — without an introductory “WOW” or “WHOA” or “WTF.”
http://www.niemanlab.org/2011/03/lessons-of-the-like-log-the-big-story-and-the-nuances-of-shareability/

Shareability index
for news releases
“
…Releases with the elements of a good news story—a little drama, a person fighting for what is right, a villain—have scores four to five times higher than those about the success of a program, he says.
http://chronicle.com/article/Colleges-Rehab-Their-Web-Sites/127170/

Photo / Melody Ko, Tufts University

“
I'm a sophomore at Tufts, and I just read today's tufts.edu profile on the woman working with the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Council. I wanted to say how proud I am to go to a school that would put an article like that on the main school site without any fuss. My friend's sister visited from another university this weekend, and she mentioned how her school website featured pictures of cheerleaders at a football game, while ours had an article about Ghana, and now gay rights. This is why I'm so happy to be here. Thank you =)
E-mail from a sophomore, March 31, 2008

Dogeared page #1:
Empathy

Structure
of a story

Kim Goodwin, Confab 2011
“Storytelling by Design”
Scenario: “A plausible story about a persona using the future product or service in a specific situation.”
Scenarios have all the key story elements: Character, Conflict, Plot, Resolution
http://www.slideshare.net/KimGoodwin/storytelling-by-design-scenarios-talk-at-confab-2011

(Tweet links to http://www.agilemodeling.com/artifacts/userStory.htm)

Why We Need Storytellers at the Heart of Product Dev.
“
In a world where consumers are inundated with choices, products that want to be noticed and adopted must be rooted in the why.
http://uxmag.com/strategy/why-we-need-storytellers-at-the-heart-of-product-development

story arc (n.)
“
A story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media … The purpose of a story arc is to move a character or a situation from one state to another; in other words, to effect change.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Story_arc

Sounds an awful lot like….
Effective content
Good UX
Clean usability
Crisp functionality

All of the above
Effective content
Good UX
Clean usability
Crisp functionality

All of the above *
Effective content
Good UX
Clean usability
Crisp functionality
* Also called a holistic approach toweb development

Dogeared page #2:
Holistic

One type of story arc:
The hero’s journey

12 stages of the hero’s journey:
Ordinary World
Call to Adventure
Refusal
Meeting with the Mentor
Crossing the Threshold
Tests, Allies, Enemies
Approach to Inmost Cave
Ordeal
Reward
The Road Back
Resurrection
Return with Elixir

Students:
Applying to college
Learning what they
want to do with life
Tutoring local kids
Staging a musical
Alumni:
Donating to supporta new laboratory
Reconnecting with
old friends
Giving students advice
Faculty:
Curing diseases
Teaching tomorrow’sleaders
Providing context tocurrent events
Staff:
Balancing budgets
Developing programs
Organizing events
Recruiting students

“
Is our product
King Arthur
or Excalibur?
Ron Ploof
http://www.mpdailyfix.com/
is-your-product-king-arthur-or-excalibur/

User 
 Us

↖ Unicorns
User 
 Us

Frodo: Go back, Sam. I’m going to Mordor alone.
Sam: Of course you are. And I’m coming with you.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The Shire must truly be a great realm, Master Gamgee, where gardeners are held in high honor.
Captain Faramir,
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Storytelling Rules & Writing Better Press Releases
“
Rule 1. Know your audience.
Rule 2. Give your audience what they need to achieve their goal.
Rule 3. Help your audience tell the world about your story.
http://blog.prnewswire.com/2011/03/28/storytelling-rules-writing-better-press-releases/

Dogeared page #3:
User as Hero

Stories
and us

Erin Kissane, “The Elements
of Content Strategy”
“
For anyone who communicates as a profession, stories are the ultimate hack.

Tell Them a Story
“
1) A prophet was not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house and 2) parables increased understanding.…I still have the charts and graphs, but accompanying them now are the stories.
http://case.typepad.com/case_social_media/2011/03/tellthemastory.html

Many stories have morals.

Our stories require purpose.

Our stories require purpose.
(Some may call this “strategy.”)

(Pro tip: A brand is just a $5 word for a story)

Storytelling and
Branding
“
Employees must believe and ‘own’ the story as they will ultimately be the ones to represent the company's brand values.
Successful advertising delivers meaningful messages about the brand, often in sequence, taking the message’s recipients on a journey.

Storytelling and
Branding
“
There is a constant need to adapt a story in a fast-paced society where change is inevitable.
A successful brand character can adopt human qualities that allow it to engage with an audience on an emotional level.
http://www.the-storytellers.com/blog/217

The Art of Immersion: The Star Wars Generation
“
If you’re going to tell stories beyond what you see in the films, the minute they contradict each other your house falls apart. If you kill off a character and then try to revive him, it’s going to be bogus.
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/03/star-wars-generation/all/1

Dogeared page #4:
Purpose

Why We
Matter

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lenore-m/2515800654/

Empathy
Holistic approach
User as hero
Purpose

Dr. Seuss, “The Lorax”
“
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.
(h/t @epsteada)

Ant and shark 3/3

J.D. Salinger,
“Seymour: An Introduction”
“
Give me a story that just makes me unreasonably vigilant. Keep me up till five only because all your stars are out, and for no other reason.

J.D. Salinger,
“Seymour: An Introduction”
“
Give me a story that just makes me unreasonably vigilant. Keep me up till five only because all your stars are out, and for no other reason.
Thank you.
@radiofreegeorgy

Once Upon a Semester: Storytelling as a Framework for Higher Ed Web Marketing

by Georgiana Cohen

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