Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (7)
Viewers also liked
Viewers also liked (20)
Similar to Show, Don't Tell: Online Storytelling through Digital Media
Similar to Show, Don't Tell: Online Storytelling through Digital Media (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Show, Don't Tell: Online Storytelling through Digital Media
- 1. Show, Don’t Tell: Online Storytelling Through Digital Media March 23, 2016 Presenters: Christian Anthony, Online Director - Earthjustice Natania LeClerc, Sr Digital Engagement Strategist - ThinkShout Lev Tsypin, CEO - ThinkShout
- 2. Housekeeping Collab notes: http://po.st/stories-16NTC #16NTCstories Submit your session survey: http://po.st/KcJCpf
- 5. What is digital storytelling? Electronic Non-physical media Expands reach + engagement
- 6. Why should we care?
- 10. Data on its own isn’t compelling enough
- 11. What makes a good story? Authenticity Emotion Simplicity Droids
- 12. Focus areas
- 16. Goals
- 17. Capacity
- 18. Curate
- 19. Message before Medium source: https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/blog/digital-storytelling-social-impact/
- 20. Find the right approach
- 21. Photo Storytelling Why do it? Tools: Instagram, Flickr, Pinterest, Tumblr, Imgur…
- 25. Photo Storytelling Capital Area Food Bank: Hunger Action Month
- 26. Photo Storytelling Capital Area Food Bank: Hunger Action Month
- 27. Photo Storytelling The Salmon Project http://www.salmonproject.org/salmon-live-here Using the hashtag #BabySalmonLiveHere
- 29. Curated Storytelling Benefit: control the conversation Tools: Storify, Twitter, IG, Facebook — anywhere people can submit content.
- 30. Data Visualization Benefit: More interesting than a spreadsheet Tools: Canva, visual.ly, The Noun Project, Maps (combined with IG)
- 31. Data Visualization SPLC Hate Map
- 33. Video Storytelling Benefit: Ideal format; don’t focus on being viral. Produce good content. Tools: Youtube, Vimeo, Vine, Periscope, Instagram
- 34. Video Storytelling Humane Society of the United States humanesociety.org
- 35. Podcasting
- 36. Great ideas. So now what?
- 38. Hosted Platforms: Pros • Easy to use. • Quick to get up and running. • Meet your users where they are. • Benefit from platform promotion.
- 39. Hosted Platforms: Cons • Brand dilution. • Limited control over the user experience. • Data silos & ownership.
- 41. Microsite: Pros • Faster to build than a more complex site. • Lower cost. • Keep users focused on the message or task at hand. • More flexible user experiences. • Allows the use of services like SquareSpace.
- 42. Microsite: Cons • Need to create a unique experience from your main site. • Challenge of keeping content in sync between sites. • Challenge of maintaining multiple sites. • User confusion in navigating between sites.
- 45. Content Managent System: Pros • Connect all the pieces together in one place. • Broader context for triggering calls to action. • Building trust by users always knowing where they are. • Editorial workflows.
- 46. Content Managent System: Cons • Slow, expensive process for updating a flagship website. • Story telling tools limited to what’s available. • Risk of distracting users.
- 47. CMS Example: Facing History Home page
- 48. FH Home Page: Tell a Story
- 49. FH Home Page: Data Visualization
- 50. FH Home Page: Calls to Action
- 51. Christian Anthony, Online Director at Earthjusice earthjustice.org
- 52. Photo Essay
- 53. Case Study: The California Drought
- 54. Case Study: The California Drought
- 55. Case Study: The California Drought
- 56. Case Study: The California Drought
- 57. Case Study: The California Drought •Created Feb 2014. Updated July 2015. •6:57 avg. time on page •75k page views and counting •Consistent, organically-driven traffic
- 58. Case Study: Colorado Forests & Coal Mining
- 59. Case Study: Colorado Forests & Coal Mining
- 60. Case Study: Colorado Forests & Coal Mining
- 61. Case Study: Colorado Forests & Coal Mining •50K public comments submitted •$13.5K donations in post-action •37K pageviews •5:32 avg time on page
- 62. Infographics
- 63. Infographics
- 64. Case Study: The Latino Poll
- 65. Case Study: The Latino Poll
- 66. Maps
- 67. Maps
- 68. Case Study: Fraccidents Map
- 69. Case Study: Fraccidents Map •Over 2 million page views and counting •Consistent traffic through SEO and Google Ad Words bringing in valuable supporters •Used in our Welcome Series for new supporters •Two years later we sent out in our newsletter and it still resonates
- 70. Timelines
- 72. Explainers
- 73. Explainers
- 74. Crowdsourced
- 75. Case Study: Mountain Top Heroes
- 76. Case Study: Mountain Top Heroes
- 77. Case Study: Mountain Top Heroes
- 78. Case Study: Mountain Top Heroes
- 79. How do you know it worked? Depends on your goals Analytics/Insight Reports Find metrics that align with your goals
- 80. All I need is a smartphone, right?
- 81. Checklist Determine goals Measure Messaging Medium Prep Tell your story Promote it
- 82. Final thoughts & QA Fill out those surveys! http://po.st/KcJCpf Collab Notes: http://po.st/stories-16NTC Contact Info: Christian Anthony canthony@earthjustice.org Lev Tsypin lev@thinkshout.com Natania LeClerc natania.leclerc@thinkshout.com
- 83. Thank you!
Editor's Notes
- Storytelling on its own is something we all do every day. It’s not a groundbreaking concept; it’s part of the human connection. it builds relationships and keeps people engaged
- Nonprofits have historically told stories using traditional media - newsletters, direct mail, annual reports. This is still a highly relevant medium to get your message across, but the way we’re telling stories and digesting information is evolving. The traditional formats are often text-heavy, and your audience is limited to the target of that mailing list (unlikely people will share mail or a newsletter).
- Digital Storytelling is defined as a short form of digital media production (solely electronic, non-material, non-physical media) that allows people or organizations to tell their story or present an idea. expands your reach and engagement as content is more easily shared through these channels immediacy in this medium
- gives them a longer lifecycle if done well, it creates a memorable experience for your audience/supporters
- Also audiences are fragmented people have too many choices when it comes to how they consume content; FB, IG Twitter, Snapchat, youtube… digital storytelling gives you an opportunity to get in front of the people you want
- as nonprofits, we typically don’t have a physical object to sell; we’re selling an idea or a mission storytelling becomes your product, you’re inspiring people through your message to believe in your vision
- oftentimes storytelling features real people whose lives were changed by your org in telling authentic, real stories, you’re building empathy and creating a connection to your audience making an emotional case for support
- besides, spreadsheets are boring stories help tie together the science of what you’re accomplishing with emotion and the actual work you’re doing (# of lives saved, meals served, etc.) things like infographics, especially, can synthesize a complex process or concept into one easy to digest image
- a good story is honest, A good story creates a connection and gives your viewers emotions about your issue (feeling inspires action) A good story will condense a complex idea or topic Droids help but are certainly not necessary
- there are things people will want to focus on and things you will need to focus on. don’t worry about being viral….viral stories almost always happen by accident. When you try too hard it makes your story less authentic, and the audience will feel it. don’t focus on the medium and using the latest function on snapchat (might not be at all relevant to your audience). There might be key stakeholders at your organization pushing for something because they read an article about it…utilize your analytics and what you know about your audience to dictate where your focus should be. don’t get distracted by things that will dilute what makes your story interesting; so what to focus on?
- talk about your cause, not your organization. your organization is a supporting role, not the feature people tend to think of themselves as supporters/advocates for “hunger relief” or “LGBTQ rights” or “animal rescue”…they often don’t think of it in terms of a specific org (unfortunately) focus on the work you do and the overall mission
- find an outsider to talk about your impact it’s not necessarily less impactful to have your ED or board member talk on video, might make sense for you - ex: Cecile Richards from PP builds credibility and brings authenticity to the message.
- identify who you are targeting or talking to; who is your message meant for? go where the people are let that set the purpose for your story it can also inform the platform you use
- What should our goals be? They can be whatever your team decides on, but some common ones are: Awareness - pageviews, referrals, RT’s, FB insight data Engagement - shares, comments, time spent on website Behavior - email signups, desired pathways, surveys, conversions (donations) Set your KPI’s and ensure you have ways to measure your results.
- do you have the means to manage the response from your campaign? (probably not, the ubiquitous problem at nonprofits is lack of staff…but create a plan) consider the time involvement to engage with your audience in the way they expect
- get your stories together! create surveys curate from social - ask questions, let your followers give you content boots on the ground - comb the desert - talk to volunteers/donor/clients
- This is a common structure that can help guide you in building a narrative you’ve collected all this content, time to develop your story arc - how do the stories relate to what you do and your impact? present the problem, and an attainable goal that your audience wants to connect with to be a part of the solution >>> include a clear call to action
- based on your capacity and the story you’re telling, determine the best platform: long-form content lends itself to different mediums than shorter stories based on the narrative you developed at this point, figure out which medium makes the most sense for the message you want to get across. Here are some different approaches>>>
- Benefit: show people what you do rather than tell; often allows users to be a part of the story through user-generated submissions people like to prove their involvement in things and document their experiences platforms like IG have over 400m users; in some instances someone’s IG page tells their life story.
- Using Intagram - Best Friends Animal Society consistently use beautiful engaging images that make supporters (and non-supporters) feel good and happy, and when people have positive engagement with you, they feel good about helping/donating to your cause. consistent with brand #savethemall #bestfriendsanimalsociety
- Pinterest - one way to show curated content which we’ll discuss in another way later… Planned parenthood uses a pinterest board to spotlight their CEO - we mentioned earlier the importance of using an outsider, but this is one instance in which makes sense to us an “insider” as she is well known and was highlighted in the media. Things she has to say are of interest and value to members/donors and this also serves as a good resource for media relations.
- Travel Oregon has curated photos from users with the hashtag #traveloregon to showcase Oregon’s 7 wonders directly on their website not only are they enhancing their mission and promoting travel in Oregon, but they’re making their audience part of the story
- Capital Area Food Bank - DC - Hunger Action Month campaign - month of September revolves around activities and promotions to highlight the food banks #FilltheBowl IG campaign Featured photos of empty bowls and encourage audience participation to post their own photos of empty bowls in supporting hunger action month
- your organization’s instagram board curates the content for you that can be repurposed/redistributed on other channels later (featured in a newsletter, used as a wallpaper on your website like Travel OR, etc.) you can pull this content through the tags you apply - speaking of tags
- The Salmon Project is about Alaskans and their deep, personal relationships with wild salmon. The map is interactive Project Encourage constituents to tag images of salmon in nature Use Instagram API to pull in images Display on a map and below the map with an infinite scroll Result Story is all told in one place Strong connection to a sense of place Encourage constituent engagement Gotchas Removing geographic outliers Performance issues with Instagram
- love/hate relationship with hashtags great for curating content, and bad for curating content can’t control the medium, anyone can use your hashtag once it’s out there (florida soccer game using #FilltheBowl)
- Benefit: Allows you to control the conversation, esp. if you want to report back to supporters. Anyone can throw a hashtag on a post, storify allows you to curate relevant, approved content and share the story with your audience/stakeholders Tools: Storify, Pinterest, Twitter, IG, Facebook — anywhere people can submit content under the umbrella of your topic/campaign/hashtag
- Benefit: Shows the scope of your story in a compelling way. Collection of multiple pieces of information in a single place
- SPLC battles racial and social injustice. 892 Hate groups Collection in a single place, Example of the above.
- Example of the above. rebuilding together revitalizes low income communities by improving the safety and health of homes in those communities. Similar to H4H but instead of building homes they repair them or remodel them to make them accessible to those with disabilities This infographic of their impact synthesizes multiple sets of data into an easy to digest format and puts their high-level info out there for the end user
- The most ideal and effective storytelling format - you can tie together text, audio, and visual elements - use voiceovers, captions.. don’t focus on being viral. Focus on producing good content and people will take care of the rest. In case you’re not convinced on why to use it - 57% of supporters donate after watching a video that has a strong call to action (source: https://www.mobilecause.com/nonprofit-storytelling-videos-for-fundraising-success/)
- Microsite for HSUS - included a number of elements but celebrity endorsements was one. They chose to share these with videos. (try to play video in browser) Why it works: presents the problem in a way that creates empathy - showing images of animals that are hurt; makes you want to help shows how HSUS is effective and provides logical, rational solutions to the problem Call to action: A humane society starts with YOU. Short, sweet, to the point = effective
- Examples: Alzheimer’s society - stories from caretakers, families, as well as information and support info Peace Corps 101 - interviews with Peace Corps volunteers and returned volunteers Storycorps - whole mission is to record, preserve, and share stories of Americans from all backgrounds/beliefs. Effective because it’s authentic.
- So now that we have all these great techniques, lets explore a few ways to implement them.
- Relying on hosted platforms such as these.
- Single purpose or microsite.
- Selma: The Bridge to the Ballot is the true story of the forgotten heroes in the fight for voting rights—the courageous students and teachers of Selma, Alabama, who stood up against injustice despite facing intimidation, arrests and violence.
- Flagship CMS integration
- Embed content people want to engage with on your site, create a memorable experience that they’ll want to support and come back for. Focus on home page: Tell a story Data visualization about their impact Calls to action
- Embed content people want to engage with on your site, create a memorable experience that they’ll want to support and come back for. Focus on home page: Tell a story Data visualization about their impact Calls to action
- Embed content people want to engage with on your site, create a memorable experience that they’ll want to support and come back for. Focus on home page: Tell a story Data visualization about their impact Calls to action
- Embed content people want to engage with on your site, create a memorable experience that they’ll want to support and come back for. Focus on home page: Tell a story Data visualization about their impact Calls to action
- Go back and look at the goals you set; was it awareness? conversions? engagement? Find the metrics that align with your goals; Check your data/analytics/insight reports for results
- Yes and no You don’t have to have photoshop or expensive camera equipment People all over the world are broadcasting their stories using their phones to create change topple regimes expose injustices When you are controlling the story and it’s not a live event, be mindful of: Sound quality, lighting learn to use the editing tools in your camera app/whatever is available to you build a story arc, use a storyboard, will you need a script, make sure you don’t need release forms,
- What do you want to accomplish Measure: determine how you’ll evaluate success Messaging: Create your story arc, storyboard if necessary Medium: Where will your story resonate? Prep: When you are controlling the story and it’s not a live event, be mindful of: Sound quality, lighting learn to use the editing tools in your camera app/whatever is available to you will you need a script? release forms? A little planning and preparation goes a long way - Come up with a promotion plan, work it into your communication plan