SearchLove London | Hannah Smith, Existential Crisis Management

Existential Crisis Management
@hannah_bo_banna
Hannah Smith
Content Strategist, Distilled

@hannah_bo_banna
seo is *not* dead

@hannah_bo_banna
but seo is constantly evolving

@hannah_bo_banna
ranking 1st doesn’t mean
what it used to

this is the fold
@hannah_bo_banna
BBC rank 1st

it’s not just informational queries either
@hannah_bo_banna

this is the fold
@hannah_bo_banna
SkyScanner rank
1st

@hannah_bo_banna
google are even targeting some
companies’ branded terms

@hannah_bo_banna
MoneySuperMarket’s
organic listing is
above the fold - but
Google are being very
aggressive

you used to be able to build an amazing business
@hannah_bo_banna
just by being great at seo

in the future that’s unlikely to be enough
@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna
as a consequence, seos are
being asked to do
different things

@hannah_bo_banna
get us links!
clients of yesteryear

@hannah_bo_banna
get us press coverage,
social shares,
& exposure [links]
on sites our target audience reads
clients today

so whilst clients might not explicitly ask us
@hannah_bo_banna
to help them build a brand

@hannah_bo_banna
many of the things we do today
look a lot like brand building

that’s why I’m giving this presentation today
@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna
but it’s a big ask

@hannah_bo_banna
because,
brand apathy is rife

“In Europe and the US, consumers would not care
@hannah_bo_banna
if 92% of brands ceased to exist”
source: http://dis.tl/brand-apathy

that means consumers would only miss
@hannah_bo_banna
8% of brands
source: http://dis.tl/brand-apathy

@hannah_bo_banna
building a brand is
*really* tough

particularly on ‘seo’ retainer budgets
@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna
but you know what?

@hannah_bo_banna
challenge accepted

@hannah_bo_banna
but where do I start?

@hannah_bo_banna
first up -
what the hell is a brand?

@hannah_bo_banna
we have a tendency to use
‘company’ & ‘brand’ interchangeably

but what does ‘brand’ actually mean?
@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna
brand
to impress firmly; fix ineradicably; place indelibly

@hannah_bo_banna
therefore...

@hannah_bo_banna
a brand is not a brand
unless it leaves a lasting impression

& it needs to be a favourable impression
@hannah_bo_banna

companies need to build brands that
@hannah_bo_banna
mean something to people

so I need to build meaningful brands
@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna
that sounds really f*cking hard!

@hannah_bo_banna
existential crisis
(for a company)
when a company struggles to find a way for their brand to be meaningful for
consumers

@hannah_bo_banna
existential crisis management
(I think this is my job)
help companies find a way to make their brands meaningful for consumers

@hannah_bo_banna
how on earth do I do that?

@hannah_bo_banna
you can learn a lot by
deconstructing the success of others

@hannah_bo_banna
so I started studying
what ‘meaningful’ brands do

@hannah_bo_banna
I uncovered 3 core principles

some meaningful brands do all 3
@hannah_bo_banna

some meaningful brands do just 1 or 2
@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna
I’ll deal with them each in turn

1. ‘meaningful’ brands find opportunities
@hannah_bo_banna
to delight consumers

most people’s interactions with brands suck
@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna
great interactions stand out
& are shared

this is how @smartcarusa responded
when someone inferred that a single bird dropping
@hannah_bo_banna
would total one of their vehicles

@hannah_bo_banna
the takeaway here is not:
‘make more sh*tty infographics’

I don’t think the infographic out of context would
@hannah_bo_banna
have yielded any sort of return

@hannah_bo_banna
the takeaway here is:
‘going the extra mile to respond in a novel way can
yield out-sized returns’

& this doesn’t need to be a resource-heavy activity
@hannah_bo_banna

this is how @DunkinDonuts responded to a
@hannah_bo_banna
customer who asked if their
coffee syrups were available on the black market

@hannah_bo_banna
the team at Dunkin’Donuts
have a library of images
they use to delight their customers

this is how @ArgosHelpers responded to a
@hannah_bo_banna
customer who asked when
PS4s would be back in stock

@hannah_bo_banna
‘people love brands who use slang’

@hannah_bo_banna
‘if you can speak the same language
without being condescending you’ll go far’

this is how @TescoMobile responded to a
customer who claimed their network
@hannah_bo_banna
was a ‘turn off’

@hannah_bo_banna
whoa!
that is *really* close to the line

@hannah_bo_banna
‘be a dick to people who are dicks to you’

@hannah_bo_banna
‘a well-judged, ‘cheeky’ response can travel’

@hannah_bo_banna
to do this you need a
deep understanding of your audience
what can you get away with?
what’s funny & what’s just rude?

@hannah_bo_banna
be mindful - there is a line...

but it’s not just interactions that delight
@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna
sometimes just being nimble
delights consumers

@hannah_bo_banna
‘you need a bit of luck’

@hannah_bo_banna
‘be ready, willing & able to take advantage of
opportunities as & when they arise’

@hannah_bo_banna
if @Arbys hadn’t tweeted that
someone else probably would have
& they wouldn’t have benefitted

so, we’ve covered off principle 1:
‘meaningful brands find opportunities to delight
@hannah_bo_banna
consumers’

2. ‘meaningful’ brands give people the ability to
@hannah_bo_banna
define themselves to others

@hannah_bo_banna
this is a little tougher to parse -
let me talk you through it

have you ever thought about why you share
what you share on social media?
@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna
why did I tweet this?

I didn’t think about it too much at the time
@hannah_bo_banna

but I’ve thought about it some more since
@hannah_bo_banna

I’m embarrassed to admit that I posted that
because I was on my own & bored
@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna
...it worked like a charm

@hannah_bo_banna
yay!
with twitter
fwends
you need never
be bored

fortunately I don’t just share stuff like that,
@hannah_bo_banna
I also share stuff like this:

because I want people to think I read hbr.org
@hannah_bo_banna

because I want people to think I’m smart
@hannah_bo_banna

because I want people to think I have an excellent
@hannah_bo_banna
sense of humour

because I want people to know where I stand on
@hannah_bo_banna
important issues

I share things to shape other people’s
@hannah_bo_banna
impressions of me

on social media I have two modes:
@hannah_bo_banna
cries for help (oh the shame!)
&
defining myself to others

@hannah_bo_banna
it’s not just me, we all do this

@hannah_bo_banna
but not necessarily consciously

68% said they share things via social media
@hannah_bo_banna
to give people a better sense of
who they are
& what they care about
source: http://dis.tl/psych-of-sharing

this is an excellent place for brands to play
@hannah_bo_banna

brands can give people the ability to define
@hannah_bo_banna
themselves to others...

I don’t *necessarily* mean stuff that
@hannah_bo_banna
literally defines people:

brands can also help people define themselves to others
@hannah_bo_banna
by creating things people will
‘look good’ sharing

@hannah_bo_banna
the takeaway is not:
‘do stuff on vine’

@hannah_bo_banna
the takeaway is not:
‘#f*ckyeah science’

@hannah_bo_banna
the takeaway is:
‘create something tangentially related to your
brand, that people will look good sharing’

@hannah_bo_banna
in a similar vein
‘meaningful’ brands create commercials
that don’t feel like commercials

these are things people ‘look good’ sharing
@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna
touching?
awkward?

http://dis.tl/wren-kiss @hannah_bo_banna

my desire was to create something
@hannah_bo_banna
that was interesting to people
beyond a fashion angle...
Melissa Coker ~ Wren

[it’s] an interesting film that exists on its
own, rather than something that feels
@hannah_bo_banna
like a commercial…
Melissa Coker ~ Wren

@hannah_bo_banna
it definitely got people talking

@hannah_bo_banna
92m YouTube views
& coverage from over 1300 sites

but this isn’t just a video content play
@hannah_bo_banna

when oreo turned 100, they created
@hannah_bo_banna
100 pieces of content
over 100 days

the campaign got over 1m facebook ‘likes’
@hannah_bo_banna
&
thousands of pieces of press coverage

this highly topical content put the
cookie the centre of people’s conversations
@hannah_bo_banna
without being self-serving

@hannah_bo_banna
speaking of being self-serving,
here’s what not to do

45 days worth of planning went into this tweet
@hannah_bo_banna

source: http://dis.tl/erm-wtf @hannah_bo_banna

I’m really not sure what the thinking behind
@hannah_bo_banna
this was

@hannah_bo_banna
it just looks like a commercial...

the only people who will ‘look good’ sharing this
@hannah_bo_banna
are people who wish to prove
their social media expertise
by ridiculing others who don’t get it

I’m guessing this wasn’t the intention
@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna
so, we’ve covered off
principle 1:
‘meaningful brands find opportunities to delight consumers’
& principle 2:
‘meaningful brands give people the ability to define themselves
to others’

@hannah_bo_banna
still with me?

3. ‘meaningful’ brands stand for something above
& beyond their products or services
@hannah_bo_banna

this is tricky to explain in the abstract so I’m going
to shoot straight to the examples
@hannah_bo_banna

BrewDog’s values are pulled from
punk subculture, they are anti-establishment &
@hannah_bo_banna
believe in individual freedom

so when Dead Pony Club ale was ‘banned’
@hannah_bo_banna
because the phrase:
"rip it up down empty streets"
was printed on the label...
http://dis.tl/sorry-not-sorry

& Mark wasn’t the only one who loved
@hannah_bo_banna
their response

but it’s not just about sweary press releases
@hannah_bo_banna

when you embrace values like that,
@hannah_bo_banna
your creative looks like this:

http://dis.tl/nike-greatness @hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna
to be clear -
that is exceptional creative

@hannah_bo_banna
& it’s powerful because
nike aren’t talking about how their trainers
enhance your performance

they’re talking about celebrating everyone’s
@hannah_bo_banna
athletic endeavours

standing for something beyond your products & services
@hannah_bo_banna
is most potent
when it could cost you

@hannah_bo_banna
when Mozilla got a new CEO,
OKCupid showed this message to Firefox users:

@hannah_bo_banna
why should you do this?

@hannah_bo_banna
the takeaway from this is not:
‘align your brand with a cause & win the internet’

@hannah_bo_banna
the takeaway is:
‘taking a bold stance on a relevant issue,
even if it could actually hurt your business
can create a lasting impression’

@hannah_bo_banna
so here’s where we’re at:

@hannah_bo_banna
principle 1:
‘meaningful brands find opportunities to delight consumers’
principle 2:
to others’
principle 3:
‘meaningful brands stand for something above & beyond their
products & services’

how has this shaped the way I work today?
@hannah_bo_banna

overarchingly it’s made me much more
@hannah_bo_banna
mindful of what we’re doing

but much of this I can’t affect right now
@hannah_bo_banna

sadly, to date, no one’s offered me several million
@hannah_bo_banna
to create them an ad like Nike’s

@hannah_bo_banna
this is the place we play
most frequently at the moment

@hannah_bo_banna
principle 2:
to others’

396k visits 354 LRDs 19,4k facebook ‘likes’ 6.5k tweets
@hannah_bo_banna

we made this to appeal to people working in the
@hannah_bo_banna
creative industry

we think people shared this because it:
@hannah_bo_banna
made them look smart
and/or
made them look interested & interesting
and/or
made them look literary

360k visits 54 LRDs 50k facebook ‘likes’ 1.6k tweets
@hannah_bo_banna

we made this to appeal to people who
@hannah_bo_banna
love reading

we think people shared it because it enabled
them to share this love of reading
@hannah_bo_banna
oh, & maybe brag, just a little

2m visits 961 LRDs 102k facebook ‘likes’ 4.4k tweets
@hannah_bo_banna

we made this to appeal to music fans
@hannah_bo_banna
(& music journalists)

we think people shared it because it allowed them
@hannah_bo_banna
to express their opinions

so we’re trying to create things that people
@hannah_bo_banna
‘look good’ sharing

& we’re seeing success with that approach
@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna
but more importantly

we’re taking the time to try to understand the
@hannah_bo_banna
brands we work with better

so our creative work is better aligned with
@hannah_bo_banna
the brand’s values

@hannah_bo_banna
& it’s opening doors for us

we’re getting access to people higher up in the
@hannah_bo_banna
organisations we work with

& we’re able to do better work as a result
@hannah_bo_banna

this industry is filled with incredible talent
@hannah_bo_banna

you are bright, passionate & hard-working
@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna
you are curious

you take stuff apart to figure out how it works
@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna
you build stuff for fun

@hannah_bo_banna
you thrive on being
outside of your comfort zone

@hannah_bo_banna
build a brand on shoe-string?

@hannah_bo_banna
good luck out there x

Hannah Smith
Content Strategist, Distilled
caffeine addict; book worm;
would really like a unicorn...
send cat pictures or questions to:
hannah.smith@distilled.net
@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna
moar stuff!
how to produce content people will share
http://dis.tl/MJ-share
how to produce better content ideas
http://dis.tl/MJ-idea
lessons in virality from axl rose
http://dis.tl/HS-axl

@hannah_bo_banna
credits
barney - http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lw7a6htwhy1qif1s5o1_500.png
quote - http://www.dumpaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/the-best-feeling-is-doing-what-people-say-you-can-not-do-motivational-quotes.
jpg
pharrell - http://www.ibtimes.com/arbys-blasts-pharrells-grammys-hat-twitter-can-we-have-our-hat-back-1548140
if you have a body - http://www.swimbikerunningonempty.com/1/post/2012/12/five-things-friday.html
Big love to to the wonderful Distilled folks who helped me put this together:
Beverley Reinemann, Duncan Morris, Jess Champion, Lynsey Little, Mark Johnstone, Paddy Moogan, Phil Nottingham, Rich Westenra, & Will Critchlow

SearchLove London | Hannah Smith, Existential Crisis Management

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (15)

Similar to SearchLove London | Hannah Smith, Existential Crisis Management

Similar to SearchLove London | Hannah Smith, Existential Crisis Management (12)

More from Distilled

More from Distilled (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

SearchLove London | Hannah Smith, Existential Crisis Management