Storytelling as a Framework for Higher Ed Web Marketing
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Delivered at the 2012 Penn State Web and SUNYCUAD conferences.
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Storytelling as a Framework for Higher Ed Web Marketing
- 1. Georgy Cohen @radiofreegeorgy Storytelling as a Framework for Higher Ed http://www.flickr.com/photos/pandora_6666/4927859168/ Web Marketing
- 2. Ant and shark 1/3 Credit: @tsand’s daughter /
- 3. Ant and shark 2/3 Credit: @tsand’s daughter /
- 4. Ant and shark 3/3 Credit: @tsand’s daughter /
- 10. “ Web Communications' mission is to use the Web and emerging technologies to engage our audience with the Tufts story and to enable our partners across the university to do the same.
- 11. “ There is no stronger bridge between you and your audience than a compelling narrative.
- 16. 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
- 17. (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
- 18. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things
- 19. Daniel Pink, “A Whole New Mind” “ [Story] is becoming a key way for individuals and entrepreneurs to distinguish their goods and services in a crowded marketplace.
- 20. Why stories matter
- 21. Storytelling was the first social media platform.
- 22. Storytelling was the first social media platform. OMG!
- 23. Srsly??
- 24. Storytelling is an act of community, sharing values and knowledge http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonpratt/4807746068/
- 25. Stories draw strength from the number of people who share them. http://www.flickr.com/photos/turneround/5398112759/
- 26. The parable of Lot’s wife
- 27. 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
- 29. We see in stories. http://www.flickr.com/photos/turneround/5398112759/
- 30. We see ourselves in stories. http://www.flickr.com/photos/turneround/5398112759/
- 31. We tend to “storicize” abstract shapes and seek ourselves in the objects around us. Credit: Clara Fernández-Vara, Postdoctoral http://www.flickr.com/photos/turneround/5398112759/ Researcher, Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab
- 32. 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
- 35. 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/
- 36. 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/
- 38. Photo / Melody Ko, Tufts
- 39. “ 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
- 42. The structure of a story:
- 43. The structure of a story: • Setting
- 44. The structure of a story: • Setting • Characters
- 45. The structure of a story: • Setting • Characters • Conflict
- 46. The structure of a story: • Setting • Characters • Conflict • Resolution
- 47. Why We Need Storytellers at the Heart of Product Development “ 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
- 48. 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
- 49. (Tweet links to http://www.agilemodeling.com/artifacts/userStory.htm)
- 50. 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
- 51. Sounds an awful lot like…. A) Effective content B) Good UX C) Clean usability
- 52. Sounds an awful lot like…. A) Effective content B) Good UX C) Clean usability D) All of the above
- 53. Sounds an awful lot like…. A) Effective content B) Good UX * Also called a holistic approach to C) Clean usability web development D) All of the above
- 54. Dogeared page #2: Holistic http://www.flickr.com/photos/functoruser/244207662/lightbox/
- 56. One type of story arc: The hero’s journey
- 57. 12 stages of the hero’s journey: 1. Ordinary World 2. Call to Adventure 3. Refusal 4. Meeting with the Mentor 5. Crossing the Threshold 6. Tests, Allies, Enemies 7. Approach to Inmost Cave 8. Ordeal 9. Reward 10. The Road Back 11. Resurrection 12. Return with Elixir
- 59. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things
- 60. Students: Faculty: • Applying to college • Curing diseases • Learning what they • Teaching tomorrow’s want to do with life leaders • Tutoring local kids • Providing context to • Staging a musical current events Alumni: Staff: • Donating to support • Balancing budgets a new laboratory • Developing programs • Reconnecting with • Organizing events old friends • Recruiting students • Giving students advice
- 62. “ Is our product King Arthur or Excalibur? - Ron Ploof http://www.mpdailyfix.com/ is-your-product-king-arthur-or-excalibur/
- 63. User Us
- 64. User ↖ Unicorns Us
- 66. 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
- 68. 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 http://www.flickr.com/photos/94693506@N00/149781946/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/functoruser/244207662/lightbox/
- 69. 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/
- 70. Dogeared page #3: User as Hero http://www.flickr.com/photos/functoruser/244207662/lightbox/
- 71. Stories and us
- 72. Erin Kissane, “The Elements of Content Strategy” “ For anyone who communicates as a profession, stories are the ultimate hack.
- 73. Come on, Tour Guides, Tell Me a Story “ The goal is you want people to remember something when they leave your campus. It’s gonna be the stories. Laura Martin, vice president for enrollment and dean of admission, Agnes Scott College http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/come-on-tour-guides-tell-me-a- story/30047
- 74. 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
- 75. Many stories have morals.
- 76. Many stories have morals. Our stories require purpose.
- 77. Many stories have morals. Our stories require purpose. (Some may call this “strategy.”)
- 81. Storytelling and Branding “ 1. Employees must believe and ‘own’ the story as they will ultimately be the ones to represent the company's brand values. 2. Successful advertising delivers meaningful messages about the brand, often in sequence, taking the message’s recipients on a journey.
- 82. Storytelling and Branding “ 3. There is a constant need to adapt a story in a fast-paced society where change is inevitable. 4. 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
- 84. The Art of Immersion “ 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
- 86. Dogeared page #4: Purpose http://www.flickr.com/photos/functoruser/244207662/lightbox/
- 87. Why we matter
- 88. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things
- 90. • Empathy • Holistic approach • User as hero • Purpose
- 91. 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)
- 92. Ant and shark 3/3 Credit: @tsand’s daughter /
- 93. 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.
- 94. J.D. Salinger, “Seymour: An Introduction” “ Give me a story that just makes me unreasonably vigilant. Keep me up till five Thank you. only because all your stars are out, and for @radiofreegeorgy no other reason.
Editor's Notes
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- I know we spend a lot of our days avoiding mission statements like the plague, but I’m actually going to talk to you about our department’s mission statement.\nThis is not just a mission that applies to our content side. Half of our team is developers. We look at the Tufts story as infusing everything we do, from our mobile website to our feature stories to our social media workshops to our web templates to the backend of our news site. Every pixel, every word and every line of code should support the Tufts story.\n
- I know we spend a lot of our days avoiding mission statements like the plague, but I’m actually going to talk to you about our department’s mission statement.\nThis is not just a mission that applies to our content side. Half of our team is developers. We look at the Tufts story as infusing everything we do, from our mobile website to our feature stories to our social media workshops to our web templates to the backend of our news site. Every pixel, every word and every line of code should support the Tufts story.\n
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- They have a magical quality but we’re going to make them tangible.\n
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- The idea of a character is important\n
- we’ll come back to this\n
- This is what we’re trying to do with our websites right? Distinguish ourselves?\n
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- it’s the oldest form of communication.\nPredates even the concept of media.\n
- It’s the fundamental unit of information in a community\n
- Make shareable and shareworthy\n
- Stories are universal\n
- Stories are universal\n
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- Stories are a prism for understanding - People process information in story format, she explained.\n
- Stories are powerful because they activate the empathic part of our brain; the readers insert themselves in the narrative. Stories gain power through relevance.\n
- people tend to “storicize” abstract shapes and reflect ourselves in the objects around us. (She says that yes, there is Tetris fanfiction out there.) She also gave the example of electrical sockets, a thoroughly inanimate object devoid of story. But if you cock your head, a socket looks like a face. Objects can tell stories.\n
- In a landmark 1944 study, 34 humans — Massachusetts college students - All but one devised narratives to descrivbe the movements. Ascribe human emotion, feelings, motivations to abstract objects\nactually, though subsequent research suggests they could have been just about anyone — were shown a short film and asked what was happening in it. The film showed two triangles and a circle moving across a two-dimensional surface. The only other object onscreen was a stationary rectangle, partially open on one side.Only one of the test subjects saw this scene for what it was: geometric shapes moving across a plane. Everyone else came up with elaborate narratives to explain what the movements were about. Typically, the participants viewed the triangles as two men fighting and the circle as a woman trying to escape the bigger, bullying triangle. Instead of registering inanimate shapes, they imagined humans with vivid inner lives. The circle was “worried.” The circle and the little triangle were “innocent young things.” The big triangle was “blinded by rage and frustration.”\n
- Emotions keep coming up here. Emotions are powerful because they influence us. We approach every situation from an emotional context.\n\n
- A good story cuts through the weeds of informational noise that surround us, striking emotional resonance\n
- shareable and shareworthy\n
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- - Everyone approaches our website from a unique emotional context. The more we can shape stories to anticipate and accommodate emotions and evoke new, desired ones, the more effective they will be. - word choice the user expects and understands, page load time, reassuring microcopy\n
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- - Not only do product storytellers identify the intended product value, they also share and evangelize this story throughout their organizations.\nThe root cause of these symptoms is the fact that execution focuses on the how and what of a product. But in a world where consumers are inundated with choices, products that want to be noticed and adopted must be rooted in the why.A product should provide an experience or service that adds value to someone's life through fulfilling a need or satisfying a desire. The ultimate question then becomes: who identifies that value? - The first goal of a product storyteller is to facilitate collaboration and co-creation- Not only do product storytellers identify the intended product value, they also share and evangelize this story throughout their organizations. - Daniel Pink: "like design, [story] is becoming a key way for individuals and entrepreneurs to distinguish their goods and services in a crowded marketplace."\n
- A fuller picture than a use case. From task motivation to task compleition.\n
- It’s a high level product requirement - informs developers\n
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- These structures carry our character through to the resoution of their experience.\n
- We can’t tell stories on our own. We need to bring all of our skills to bear to see the experience through to its resolution. Cross-functional teams built to do this. Many of us aren’t built to do this, so it’s tough to execute in practice.\n
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- 1949\nMonomyth - common structure for all great myths\n
- Sounds like a prospective student enrollment experience to me\n
- Who are our big damn heroes?\n
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- - We’re surrounded by these activities everyday. It’s easy to forget how important these seemingly mundane activites are to all involved. We work in amazing places, surrounded by discovery and growth.\n
- THis gives us a huge responsibility\n
- And we have to ask ourselves an important question\n
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- We talked about a good story cuting through the weeds of informational noise.\n
- Well, Sam was a gardener.\n
- How can we be more like Sam?\n
- It’s not about us. Our users are doing amazing things and it’s our job to help them.\n
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- Stories help us do our job\n
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- Strategy sounds scary and elusive. A purpose sounds doable.\n
- Think back to the Story of Lot. This story had a purpose. It taught us something. It’s a cautionary tale.\n
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- After HEL - Stories support goals and show values. But they don’t tell themselves.\nPeople want to know about us one way or another. We need to meet that need before it becomes a void - embrace our role as storyteller.\n
- - Drink the Koolaid\n- Arc, resolution\n
- - tech, priorities shift\n- resonance\n
- Stories are no longer told just by us.\n“People formerly known as the audience” - Jay Rosen\nBrand resides in our audiene - co-author of our brand story\n
- We are all fanfiction writers, so is everyone in our community – are we adhering to canon?\nBrand resides in our audience – if everyone’s doing their job right, we should just be reflecting them. If we don’t have it figured out, no one else will. We need to have a consistent narrative\n\n
- Need to tell stories that mean something to our audience.\n
- Stories support goals and values. Embrace our role as storytellers.\nPurpose is the structure that lets a story do its job.\nOur brand is canon and we need to ensure it stays consistent.\n
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- It’s our job to help them be amazing.\n
- We already have the tools - social media, news stories, web redesigns, mobile apps\n
- - considering emotional context\n- story arc --> resolution\n- user centric approach, help them achieve their goals\n- structure that lets our story succeed\n
- It’s not easy, so to do it we really have to care. Important things are at stake.\n
- A story could save your life, or at the very least make a big difference in someone else’s.\n
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