Right in the Feels (or how to create content that gets shared) - Turing Festival 2016

@hannah_bo_banna
right in the feels
right
in the
feels
(or, how to create content that gets shared)
@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna
my team’s job is to make things
that journalists want to write about
& people want to share

@hannah_bo_banna
sometimes we nail it

@hannah_bo_banna
(nbed example & results)

@hannah_bo_banna
but it doesn’t always go down like that…

@hannah_bo_banna
31 facebook ‘likes’

@hannah_bo_banna
it’s incredibly difficult

@hannah_bo_banna
so why do we do it?

@hannah_bo_banna
from an SEO perspective we do it
to gain links, coverage
& social shares

@hannah_bo_banna
links from highly authoritative sites,
increase the authority of our clients’ sites

@hannah_bo_banna
over time this translates into
stronger organic rankings

@hannah_bo_banna
stronger organic rankings = more money
(for the vast majority of sites)

@hannah_bo_banna
but it’s not just about organic rankings

@hannah_bo_banna
coverage on high authority sites
builds trust & credibility,
and, over time
increases brand recognition

@hannah_bo_banna
social sharing of the content we create
offers similar benefits

@hannah_bo_banna
but it offers even more than that

@hannah_bo_banna
ultimately,
I do what I do
to help build meaningful brands

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

@hannah_bo_banna
but they aren’t the same thing at all

@hannah_bo_banna
what does ‘brand’ actually mean?

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

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

@hannah_bo_banna
& it needs to be a favourable impression

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

@hannah_bo_banna
content is a great place to play from that
perspective

@hannah_bo_banna
if you create content people love,
then by extension,
you’re creating a brand people love

@hannah_bo_banna
I am unapologetically passionate about this

@hannah_bo_banna
I want to do f*cking great work
good isn’t good enough
& ok is never ok

@hannah_bo_banna
but unhappily,
my work isn’t
always
f*cking great

@hannah_bo_banna
it appears I’m not alone,
I get a lot of emails like this:

@hannah_bo_banna
Hey Hannah!
We made this thinger, and we all think it’s great!
We’ve gone to 200 journalists, but no one’...

@hannah_bo_banna
this next slide may sound mean
(but it’s meant with love)

@hannah_bo_banna
when people tell me their
piece isn’t working,
& I take a look,
I typically feel one (or more)
of these t...

@hannah_bo_banna
for the sake of clarity,
I feel the same things when I look back on
some of my own pieces

@hannah_bo_banna
my work isn’t
always
f*cking great

@hannah_bo_banna
but if we want to get better at this
(and I do, desperately)

@hannah_bo_banna
then we really need to look at this stuff

@hannah_bo_banna
who in here has failed like me?

@hannah_bo_banna
who else wants to get better?

@hannah_bo_banna
ok, let’s start with the basics

@hannah_bo_banna
it can be useful to think about creative pieces in terms of 3 core components:
the content, the execution...

@hannah_bo_banna
here the content is data from the Forbes billionaires list

@hannah_bo_banna
here the content is a collection of images from the 1900s

@hannah_bo_banna
the execution is how we display the content

@hannah_bo_banna
here the execution is a series of graphs

@hannah_bo_banna
here we’ve overlaid the photos from the 1900s
on to google street view

@hannah_bo_banna
hook
something which captivates

@hannah_bo_banna
hooks are tricksy

@hannah_bo_banna
they aren’t immediately apparent

@hannah_bo_banna
which when you think about it,
is sort of the point

@hannah_bo_banna
if the fish could see the hook,
it wouldn’t bite

@hannah_bo_banna
often the hook isn’t the piece itself,
it’s what lies beneath

@hannah_bo_banna
it can be helpful to think of this in terms of
the explicit vs the implicit

@hannah_bo_banna
explicit = what the piece is or says

@hannah_bo_banna
implicit = why the piece resonates

@hannah_bo_banna
implicit = why the piece resonates
this is the hook!

@hannah_bo_banna
this is hard to explain in the abstract...

@hannah_bo_banna
explicitly, the piece depicts
two children playing with a
no ball games sign

@hannah_bo_banna
but what does the piece really communicate?

@hannah_bo_banna
implicitly, the piece depicts
how children are impacted by the urban
environments we’re creating

@hannah_bo_banna
or perhaps…

@hannah_bo_banna
implicitly, it’s a celebration of children’s
healthy disregard for authority
& obsessive regulation

@hannah_bo_banna
you might regard it as a call to arms…

@hannah_bo_banna
right in the feels

@hannah_bo_banna
feels
an intense emotional response, such as sadness, excitement or awe

@hannah_bo_banna
right in the feels
an indication that something has deeply affected you

@hannah_bo_banna
strong hooks provoke intense
emotional responses
(they get you right in the feels)

@hannah_bo_banna
ok, let’s shoot back to the previous examples

@hannah_bo_banna
explicit = fun facts & stats about billionaires

@hannah_bo_banna
implicit = there’s still time for me to make it

@hannah_bo_banna
explicit = old meets new

@hannah_bo_banna
implicit = the London we’re in danger of losing

@hannah_bo_banna
the three components
(content, execution & hook)
are not discrete units,
they work together

@hannah_bo_banna
in an ideal world, all 3 components
should be strong

@hannah_bo_banna
but interestingly,
a strong hook can make for a successful piece,
even if other components are weak

@hannah_bo_banna
(this is not a piece I created)

@hannah_bo_banna
this gained coverage on over 500 sites

@hannah_bo_banna
beer isn’t *quite* the reason,
here’s what I think is going on

@hannah_bo_banna
explicit = the beers people drink around the world

@hannah_bo_banna
implicit = how this maps to our personal preferences & world view

@hannah_bo_banna
when I first saw this piece…

@hannah_bo_banna
America - land of the free, & the home of the Bud Light drinker

@hannah_bo_banna
stuff like this
makes me suspect that
the hook is the most important component

@hannah_bo_banna
my most successful work
evoked intense emotional responses

@hannah_bo_banna
the work which failed
did not

@hannah_bo_banna
remember this?

@hannah_bo_banna
these issues are tough to deconstruct
because we don’t see creative pieces as component parts,
we see the...

@hannah_bo_banna
however, I think that each issue can be tied back to problems with:
the content, the execution, the hook,...

@hannah_bo_banna
issues with content (?)
this is shallow
if I shared this it would say
nothing good about me
this is so ug...

@hannah_bo_banna
issues with execution (?)
this is shallow
this is so ...

@hannah_bo_banna
issues with the hook (?)
this is shallow
this is so u...

@hannah_bo_banna
you’ll notice I keep coming back to
issues with the hook

@hannah_bo_banna
the hook = what the piece suggests or evokes

@hannah_bo_banna
the hook = why a piece resonates

@hannah_bo_banna
if you create something which doesn’t resonate,
people won’t feel anything

@hannah_bo_banna
when we don’t feel anything,
we don’t share, comment, or do anything,
we simply move on

@hannah_bo_banna
so I believe that finding a compelling hook
is paramount

@hannah_bo_banna
duh
that’s obvious

@hannah_bo_banna
no one sets out to create content
without a compelling hook

@hannah_bo_banna
so, where are we
going wrong?

@hannah_bo_banna
I don’t claim to have all the answers,
but I have identified what I think are 3 of our biggest problems

@hannah_bo_banna
problem one:
we rarely take the time to truly understand
our audience

@hannah_bo_banna
I’d like to tell you a story

@hannah_bo_bannamy friend @mattbeswick started out making apps on facebook

@hannah_bo_banna
‘snowball throw’ was the most
popular app he made
(this was c. 2008)

@hannah_bo_banna
the app let you throw a virtual snowball
at a friend on facebook

@hannah_bo_banna
within a week of launch
over 800,000 people
had thrown snowballs

@hannah_bo_banna
I asked Matt why
he thought the app was so popular

@hannah_bo_banna
“ummm, people like doing dumb sh*t on the internet?”

@hannah_bo_banna
throwing virtual snowballs
does sound pretty dumb

@hannah_bo_banna
but if that’s the case
why did 800,000 people throw them?

@hannah_bo_banna
*why*
do people do
(what essentially looks like)
dumb sh*t on the internet?

@hannah_bo_banna
what does throwing a virtual snowball mean?

@hannah_bo_banna
it is wickedly ambiguous…

@hannah_bo_banna
it could mean…
hi

@hannah_bo_banna
it could mean…
I’m thinking about you

@hannah_bo_banna
it could mean…
I’m thinking about sleeping with you

@hannah_bo_banna
throwing a virtual snowball at your Dad
means something different to
throwing a virtual snowball at that ...

@hannah_bo_banna
but no one can call you on it

@hannah_bo_banna
the way we use facebook
feeds into this

@hannah_bo_banna
in some contexts we favour transparency,
in others we favour ambiguity

@hannah_bo_banna
most of the things we do on facebook are
(to some extent) public

@hannah_bo_banna
but you don’t always want your intentions
to be that transparent

@hannah_bo_banna
which makes virtual snowballs a
pretty useful way to communicate

@hannah_bo_banna
it’s likely that people were throwing
virtual snowballs to:
flirt
or
reconnect (without actually reconnec...

@hannah_bo_banna
plus, as throwing a virtual snowball back
is low-effort,
the potential for virality is high

@hannah_bo_banna
now all this might sound like
“people doing dumb sh*t on the internet”

@hannah_bo_banna
but I suspect we’re getting closer to the truth

@hannah_bo_banna
there’s an important lesson here

@hannah_bo_banna
“people like doing dumb sh*t on the internet”
shows an alarmingly shallow & dismissive
understanding of p...

@hannah_bo_banna
this sort of ‘thinking’ can cause you
big problems

@hannah_bo_banna
if you fail to understand
your audience,
you are in danger of creating
something that leaves them
feeling...

@hannah_bo_banna
if you fail to understand
the people you’re trying to engage with
you’re likely to fail to elicit the emo...

@hannah_bo_banna
no emotional response = no action

@hannah_bo_banna
ok, let’s move on to problem two

@hannah_bo_banna
problem two:
we never quite got around to finding the hook

@hannah_bo_banna
sometimes you think you have a hook,
but what you actually have is a red herring

@hannah_bo_banna
red herring
something which is misleading or distracting

@hannah_bo_banna
red herrings might sound vaguely plausible,
but don’t bear scrutiny

@hannah_bo_banna
we’ve already encountered
a couple of red herrings today…

@hannah_bo_banna
here are a couple more red herrings
for your viewing pleasure

@hannah_bo_banna
“games get links,
people love games,
people love challenging their friends,
social proof,
blah-blah viral...

@hannah_bo_banna
a game is a format, not a hook

@hannah_bo_banna
if making a game = guaranteed success
then no game would ever fail

@hannah_bo_banna
games fail all the time
(as do quizzes & other similar formats)

@hannah_bo_banna
here’s another…

@hannah_bo_banna
people love music,
they’ll always share this stuff!

@hannah_bo_banna
music is a topic, not a hook

@hannah_bo_banna
if making a piece about music
= guaranteed success
then no piece about music would ever fail

@hannah_bo_banna
again, pieces about music fail all the time
(as do pieces about other popular topics)

@hannah_bo_banna
ok, let’s move on to problem three

@hannah_bo_banna
problem three:
we lose sight of the hook

@hannah_bo_banna
does any of this sound familiar?

@hannah_bo_banna
we spend days coming up with ideas

@hannah_bo_banna
the hook is front of mind

@hannah_bo_banna
we pitch the ideas

@hannah_bo_banna
then we wait some more

@hannah_bo_banna
we’ve half-forgotten what we pitched

@hannah_bo_banna
we finally hear back
the boss kinda likes this one idea,
but wants it tweaked a little

@hannah_bo_banna
we quickly agree to the tweak because
we want to get going
(we don’t fully consider how this might impact...

@hannah_bo_banna
we get an idea signed off

@hannah_bo_banna
we rush headlong into production

@hannah_bo_banna
we spend 5 days pulling together the content

@hannah_bo_banna
the hook’s kinda there… kinda
(everything will probably be fine, right?)

@hannah_bo_banna
then 5 days on design

@hannah_bo_banna
ooh it’s looking lovely!

@hannah_bo_banna
then 10 days on build & QA

@hannah_bo_banna
shiny things that move
& do stuff!

@hannah_bo_banna
we get the thinger signed off
& we’re ready to start promoting it

@hannah_bo_banna
wait, what was the hook again?
(someone has to ferret out the pitch because no one can remember what it w...

@hannah_bo_banna
because hooks aren’t immediately apparent,
they are very easy to lose sight of

@hannah_bo_banna
you may get away with it

@hannah_bo_banna
but it’s more likely that you’ll
end up back here again:

@hannah_bo_banna
fortunately there is stuff we can do
to combat all these problems

@hannah_bo_banna
one
take the time
to understand your audience

@hannah_bo_banna
stalk your audience

@hannah_bo_banna
what are they interested in?

@hannah_bo_banna
what are they already sharing?

@hannah_bo_banna
who influences them?

@hannah_bo_banna
talk to your target audience
(or people who could be your target audience)

@hannah_bo_banna
got an idea?
sound people out

@hannah_bo_banna
you have two ears & one mouth
(talk less, listen more)

@hannah_bo_banna
but be careful what you ask

@hannah_bo_banna
we didn’t ask:
“should we do a grammar quiz?”

@hannah_bo_banna
we asked:
“what are your pet grammar peeves?”

@hannah_bo_banna
it was the longest email thread in
the company’s history

@hannah_bo_banna
with a reaction like that,
we figured we might be on to something…

@hannah_bo_banna
two
*really* think about the hook

@hannah_bo_banna
beware of red herrings

@hannah_bo_banna
if your hook sounds like this:

@hannah_bo_banna
people love [format]

@hannah_bo_banna
people love [topic]

@hannah_bo_banna
then you’re not quite there

@hannah_bo_banna
think like a journalist

@hannah_bo_banna
what does this mean?

@hannah_bo_banna
practice taking ideas apart
& putting them back together again

@hannah_bo_banna
review successful pieces:
try to figure out what worked & why

@hannah_bo_banna
read the coverage!

@hannah_bo_banna
read the comments!

@hannah_bo_banna
read what people said on social media!

@hannah_bo_banna
when it comes to the hook - ‘beer’ is rarely the answer

@hannah_bo_banna
don’t be lazy

@hannah_bo_banna
those tools we’re all so fond of can tell us
*what* was successful,
but not *why*

@hannah_bo_banna
knowing why is infinitely more useful

@hannah_bo_banna
three
keep the hook front of mind

@hannah_bo_banna
when you start working on that
next ‘thinger’

@hannah_bo_banna
focus on the hook

@hannah_bo_banna
right in the feels
make people feel something

@hannah_bo_banna
NOT one of these things!
this is shallow
this is so u...

@hannah_bo_banna
revisit this throughout the process

@hannah_bo_banna
does this content make
people feel any of these
things?
this is shallow
not...

@hannah_bo_banna
if the answer is yes,
try to find a way to fix it

@hannah_bo_banna
you may not be able to solve all the issues

@hannah_bo_banna
but do the best that you can

@hannah_bo_banna
launch things!

@hannah_bo_banna
learn things!

@hannah_bo_banna
& seek to continually evolve & improve!

@hannah_bo_banna
good luck out there x

@hannah_bo_banna
Hannah Smith
Head of Creative
Verve Search
send questions and/or pictures of cats to: hannah@vervesearch....

@hannah_bo_banna
Big love to the team at Verve who helped me put this together.
Images:
feels: http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photo...