Storytelling in the Digital Age

Storytelling
in
the
Digital
Age
Pearl
Higgins
June
21,
2016|
#SEMNE
@pearl_higgins

A
little
bit
about
me…
- Director
of
Client
Services,

Outspoken
Media
- MA
in
Children’s
Literature,

Simmons
College
- Former
Children’s
Book

Reviewer,
The
Horn
Book
Guide
- Maurice
Sendak enthusiast
- Former
child
@pearl_higgins
2

3
@pearl_higgins
“All
great
literature
is
one
of
two
stories;

a
man
goes
on
a
journey
or
a
stranger

comes
to
town.”

4
Storytelling
involves
a
two-‐‑way

interaction
between
a
storyteller

and
one
or
more
listeners.

What
is
storytelling?

Storytelling
in
2016
5
@pearl_higgins

Storytelling
&
children’s
literature
6
Picture
books:

32
pages
long
Picture
book
audience:
• Short
attention
span
• Authors
need
to
grab
their

attention
quickly
• Illustrators
woo
them
with

bright
colors
and

repetition
@pearl_higgins

Is
storytelling
the
“new”
content
marketing?
Content
marketing
is
hot…so
storytelling
is
the
new

content,
right?
7
@pearl_higgins

No.
{Google
Trends
data
2006-‐‑2016}
8

Storytelling
is
something
much
bigger.
9

Science
of
storytelling
When
we
read
about
facts
or

directive
information,
the
parts
of

our
brains
activated
are:
1. Broca’sarea

{Language
processing}
2.
Wernicke’s
area

{Information
processing}
10
@pearl_higgins

Passage
from
John
Grisham’s
The
Firm:
“An
hour
before
midnight,
the
phone
rang.
Except
for
it
and

the
light
snoring,
the
second
floor
office
was
without
a
sound.

His
feet
were
on
the
new
desk,
crossed
at
the
ankles
and

numb
from
lack
of
circulation…
After
a
dozen
rings
he
moved,

then
jumped
at
the
phone…
His
shoes
were
on
the
floor,
next

to
the
desk
…
an
empty
potato
chip
bag
was
between
the

shoes…
It
was
his
wife.
‘Why
haven’t
you
called?’
she
asked,

coolly,
yet
with
a
slight
touch
of
concern.”
11

Science
of
storytelling
While
you
read
this,
the

following
areas
in
your
brain

were
triggered:
– Sensory
cortex
– Motor
cortex
– Olfactory
cortex

– Visual
cortex
– Auditory
cortex
12
@pearl_higgins

Plot
DeliveryAudience
14
@pearl_higgins

All
Stories
Fall
into
7
Plot

Categories
-‐‑ Christopher
Booker
in
Jungian
analysis
of
story

“The
Seven
Basic
Plots”
15
@pearl_higgins

Overcoming

the

monster:
Beowulf
Harry
Potter
16
@pearl_higgins
Rags
to

Riches:
Aladdin
Cinderella
Jane
Eyre
The
Quest:
The
Illiad
Watership
Down
Harold
&

Kumar
go
to

Whitecastle
Voyage
&

Return:
The
Odyssey
Alice
in

Wonderland
Labyrinth

Comedy:
Twelfth

Night
Bridget

Jones’
Diary
17
@pearl_higgins
Tragedy:
Macbeth
Hamlet
Breaking

Bad
Rebirth:
Beauty
&

The
Beast
How
the

Grinch
Stole

Christmas

Plot Delivery
19
@pearl_higgins

Molly
Bang
&
picture
books
Sometimes
it’s
all
in
what
you

hint
at,
allude
to,
or
use
to
grab

your
audience’s
attention.
You
don’t
have
a
lot
of
time;

visuals
can
carry
the
weight
for

you.

21
@pearl_higgins

Size,
location,
movement
22
@pearl_higgins

The
wolf
23
@pearl_higgins

The
tension
24
@pearl_higgins

The
final
story
25
@pearl_higgins

Christina
Jackson

Modernist
Fairy
Tale
Posters
26
@pearl_higgins

The
art
of
storytelling
is

really
in
the
delivery.
30
@pearl_higgins

Where
the
Wild
Things
Are
31
@pearl_higgins

How
do
you
want
your

audience
to
feel?
36
@pearl_higgins

38
http://awaywego.carnival.com/360vacation/

You
are
no
longer
competing

with
the
content
of
your

industry
or
SERP
competitors,

you
are
also
competing
with
the

search
engines
and
platforms.

40
@pearl_higgins

Hummingbird,
mobile
growth,
voice

search,
Google
News,
FB
instant
articles…

Mobile
growth
in
2016
42
@pearl_higgins
We
have
the

internet
in
our

hands
huge

portions
of
the

day,
but
even

with
all
of
that

access,
studies

show
79%
of

people
only

skim
the

content
they

choose
to
read.

Mobile
growth
&
time
in
front
of
audience
43
@pearl_higgins

Hummingbird
Whole
query
results
deliver
search
engine
result

pages
(SERPs)
that
rely
more
on
page
content
to

return
relevant
results
for
long-‐‑tail
queries
and

questions.
People
+ Places
+ Things
44
@pearl_higgins

Long-‐‑tail
queries
On
the
content
side,
this

impacts
optimization

strategy
because
it's
now

possible
to
target
and
rank

for
whole
long-‐‑tail
queries

or
questions
with
relevant,

high-‐‑quality
content.
2006:
Brie
2016:
What’s
the
difference

between
brie
and

camembert?
45

Hummingbird
- Google
is
looking
to

answer
your
question
in

the
SERPs
with

knowledge
graph.

- It
provides
the
best

possible
user
experience

to
question-‐‑based

queries.

- No
reason
to
leave.
L
- Google
delivers
and

owns
the
content.

46
Answer
Box

Google
Posts
The
waitlist
is
now
open

for
Google
Posts,
Google’s

new
in-‐‑SERP
content

service.

While
this
is
an
exciting

new
opportunity
to
get

your
content
teased
in

Google,
it’s
limited
in

character
and
image

count.

47
http://www.thesempost.com/google-‐‑adds-‐‑new-‐‑instant-‐‑content-‐‑feature-‐‑in-‐‑
search-‐‑results/

FB
Instant
Articles
The
good:
10X
faster
than
standard
mobile
web

articles
20%
more
instant
articles
read
on
average
70%
less
likely
to
be
abandoned
The
bad:
The
user
stays
within
the
app,
and
will

likely
not
visit
your
site,
explore
your
other

content,
etc.

48
@pearl_higgins

Voice:
Alexa,
Siri,
Cortana

49
Mindmeld study
via

Search
Engine
Land

Voice
search
considerations
On
the
content
side,
we
need
to

adapt
to
the
new
technology:
1. Rethink
the
branded
search
2. Adjust
for
natural
language
3. Adapt
for
top
of
funnel
50
@pearl_higgins

Voice
search
and
the
future
of
AI
While
many
searches
being

performed
right
now
are
more

transactional
in
nature,
the
future

might
hold
much
more.
With
that,

our
relationship
with
AI
will
need
to

change.

51
@pearl_higgins

Artificial
intelligence
and
story
In
a
talk
in
Pittsburgh
in

1997,
the
late

evolutionary
biologist

Stephen
J.
Gould

allegedly
characterized

humans
as
"the
primates

who
tell
stories."
52
http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2016/06/13/481827994/are-‐‑stories-‐‑a-‐‑key-‐‑to-‐‑human-‐‑intelligence?

AI
and
story
Researchers
have
observed
that

people
will
more
likely
trust
an

autonomous
system,
such
as
a
robot,
if

they
have
a
more
accurate

understanding
of
its
decision-‐‑making

process.
Studies
have
shown
that

hand-‐‑crafted
explanations can
help

maintain
effective
team
performance,

even
when
the
system
is
less
than

100%
reliable.
-‐‑-‐‑The
Impact
of
POMDP-‐‑Generated
Explanations
on
Trust
and

Performance
in
Human-‐‑Robot
Teams
53
@pearl_higgins

Story
will
help
to
carry
your

brand
when
you
have
limited

reach,
even
on
the
platforms

you’ve
come
to
rely
on.
54
@pearl_higgins

55
https://www.onespot.com/blog/infographic-‐‑the-‐‑science-‐‑of-‐‑storytelling/

Where
the
story
happens
Discovery
Consideration
Decision
57
@pearl_higgins
Here
Here
Retention

Go
Pro
vs.
other
video
cameras
58

So…how
does
that
work
for
an

SEO,
a
digital
marketer,
the
in-‐‑
house
marketing
team?
59

Using
story
to
build
content
strategy
Research Format Authenticity Community
60
@pearl_higgins

Discovery
Consideration
Decision
Retention
61
@pearl_higgins

63
We
are
missing
the
boat
a
lot
with
awareness-‐‑
targeted
content.

Incomplete
keyword
research

is
to
blame.

64
@pearl_higgins

How
do
you
search
for

something
when
you
really

don’t
understand
it?
65

What
if
you

didn’t
already

know
the

difference

between
the
two?
66
@pearl_higgins

You
might
search
for
curly
vs.

straight
lightbulb,
curly

lightbulb
and
other

modifiers…
67
@pearl_higgins

LED
vs.
CFL
Original
piece
optimized
for
8
keywords
with
a

variety
of
modifiers…
now
ranks
for
210.

68
@pearl_higgins

Help
your
audience
find
the

content
they
are
looking
for

first,
focus
on
selling
later.

69
@pearl_higgins

What
if
you
want
to
grow
your

audience,
and
you
aren’t
sure

how?
70

You
have
to
match
your

content
to
all
possible
queries.
@pearl_higgins

There
is
still
plenty

of
room
in
this
SERP

for
queries
that

would
also
inform

“paleontology”.
73
@pearl_higgins

What
does
this
mean
for

keyword
research?
Go
broader,
deeper,

further,
longer…
74
@pearl_higgins

Go
broader
Look
to
see
what
more
informational
competitors

are
ranking
for.
Example: Energy
provider
|
Epa.gov
75
@pearl_higgins

Go
deeper
Investigate
deeper
through
autocomplete,
MOZ

Keyword
Explorer,
more
trial
and
error
with

modifiers,
etc.

https://moz.com/explorer/
76
@pearl_higgins

Don’t
be
scared
of
low
or
no

search
volume,
longer-‐‑tailed

keywords
and
specialized

fields
are
going
to
be
lower.

78
@pearl_higgins

Go
further
Check
your
SERPs
and
your
competitors’
to
make

sure
it’s
a
neighborhood
you
want
to
be
in.

79
@pearl_higgins

LED
lights
Just
because
a

keyword
has
a
high

search
volume,

doesn’t
make
it
a

good
candidate.

You
want
relevant

SERPs.

80
@pearl_higgins

LED
vs.
CFL
This
is
a
much
more

informational
page.

The
other
results
have

similar
information
to

what
we’re
trying
to

target.

81
@pearl_higgins

Go
longer
Monitor
Search

Console
for
relevant

modifiers
and
other

keywords
you
will

inevitably
rank
for,

and
modify
as

needed.

83
@pearl_higgins

Be
careful

with
how
you

select
titles

and
tell
your

story.
84
@pearl_higgins

Giant
Balls
of
Bacteria
Pile
Up

Contently
content
type
study
Contently
published
a

review
of
types
of

content
its
customers

had
requested
over

the
past
year.
“More
granularly,
we

see
that
brands

reaching
a
certain

level
of
maturity
are

driving
this
increase

in
multimedia
and

long-‐‑form
content.” 87
@pearl_higgins

How
do
I
want
my
audience
to
feel?
vs.

88
@pearl_higgins

On
a
small
scale
Think
about

what
you
might

be
able
to

illustrate,
and

package
as

shareable,

digestible

content.
89
@pearl_higgins

On
a
small
scale…
words
90

On
a
large
scale
91
@pearl_higgins

Think
in
campaigns
This
quiz
was
taken
over

30,000
times,
garnered

over
20,000
visits
to
the

blog,
and
the
topic
will

yield
9
separate
blog

topics
from
each
related

comparison.

96
@pearl_higgins

Be
true
to
the
format
the

content
wants.
97
@pearl_higgins

Be
flexible
with
the
presentation
Even
for
more
intense

studies
or
articles

that
need
long-‐‑form

narrative,
consider

the
illustrated

component.

98
@pearl_higgins

Invest
in
better
format
even
if

it
means
less
content.

99
@pearl_higgins

Stay
in
your
sphere
of

knowledge
and
relevancy,
tap

into
HOW
people
are
using

your
product or
service.

101
@pearl_higgins

But
have
fun
with
it.

103
@pearl_higgins

105
https://www.warbyparker.com/buy-‐‑a-‐‑pair-‐‑give-‐‑a-‐‑pair

Harry’s
106
@pearl_higgins
Blog
is
dedicated
to

men’s
grooming
and

profiles
of
prominent

men
of
style.
The
key…
it
doesn’t
pitch

while
telling
the
story.

Play
with
relevancy,
but
focus

on
where
you
are

authoritatively,
and
how
that

aligns
with
your
community.

108
@pearl_higgins

Don’t
be
scared
of
your

audience.

110
@pearl_higgins

Audience
is
the
key
to
persona

By
engaging
with
your
audience
actively
through

outreach,
promotion,
and
social
campaigns,
you
can

gather
more
information
about
who
your
community

really
is.

Many
brands
also
frame
these
campaigns
in
such
a
way

that
they
are
able
to
utilize
the
stories
of
their
audience

to
further
their
identity
and
brand
story.

111
@pearl_higgins

112
@pearl_higgins
Plot
DeliveryAudience

Gather
your
audience’s
stories

on
your
properties.
113
@pearl_higgins

With
platforms

like
Instagram

and
the
use
of

hashtags,
it’s

easier
than

ever
to
engage

and
then
re-‐‑
purpose

content

created
by

your

community.

115
@pearl_higgins

Or,
invite
them
to
share
them
on
their
own

platforms.

116
@pearl_higgins

The
more
you
interact
with

your
audience,
the
richer
your

story
will
become.

119
@pearl_higgins

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