The Story of Stuff: How an Environmental Campaigner to New Media Mogul
1. F r o m E n v ir o n m e n t a l
C a m p a ig n e r
t o N e w M e d ia M o g u l
#12NTCstuff
A n n ie L e o n a r d &
C h r is t in a M . S a m a la
April 5, 2012 @ NTC NTEN
2. • C re a te c le a r a n d
c o m p e llin g
me s s a g e s
• E ng a g e a broa d
a u d ie n c e t h r o u g h
v ir a l m a r k e t in g
• L is t e n to yo u r
a u d ie n c e
4. Cr t cl ra
eae ea nd
compelingmessa
l ges
We want a paradigm shift in the Our world is obsessed with stuff
materials economy that transforms and the system is in crisis.
our current systems of production
and consumption in order to We’re trashing the planet.
create a more fair and just We’re trashing each other.
economy that serves ecological And we’re not even having fun.
sustainability and social well
being.
5.
6. C le a r a n d c o m p e llin g
m e s s a g e s o n lin e
• Turn dense media into social media
• Smaller, simpler messages travel further
faster
• Leave room for adaptation and
improvisation
• Make it easy to participate
9. E n g a g in g a b r o a d
a u d ie n c e o n lin e
• Standard social norms and rules apply (think:
r e c i p r o c i t y and the G o l d e n R u l e )
• Know where the periphery is. Keep finding it, keep
expanding it.
• The core builds strength
• The periphery builds size
We’ll already be seated. Vince will welcome and thank everyone for coming.
Vince will introduce AL and CS and mention the three key takeaways we want the audience to walk away with. Vince says, Story of Stuff did/does these things well: Create clear and compelling messages Engage a broad audience through viral marketing Listen to your audience
Vince turn it over to Annie to talk about her background/story AL: hello, quick background to set some context for our comments * traveled for years to visit factories where our stuff is made, dumps where dumped, wanted to share what I’d seen. Most enviro NGO communication = whiny and wonky - how to share info engagingly and inspiringly, launched SOS in 12/07, aiming for 50k views, got that in 1 day, now past 20 million. AL ends and turns over to CS CS: hello, quick background to set some context for our comments Studied marketing, communication and design at Wharton Briefly worked for a brand consulting firm, mostly luxury, but left to “use my powers for good”. Always curious about/working in intersections of design, technology, art and business. Since joining SOS — 3,509% increase on Facebook and 1,487% increase in Twitter Now, enough about me, let’s get back to those three takeaways. Starting with creating clear and compelling messages. Annie...
AL: * 25 yrs -> 7 minutes, communicate within peoples experience (verbal, narrative, vocabulary, distilling v dumbing down), aim to start conversation not be comprehensive Rockwood lessons Example: teaser
INSERT SOS TEASER # 1 HERE FOR ANNIE TO SHOW EXAMPLE OF CLEAR AND COMPELLING MESSAGE AL : economy > treadmill. this is more FUN and more accessible. Don’t dumb down, distill Those lessons apply to online and offline, BASIC COMMUNICATION. For what this means online... Christina...
CS: big msgs > 140 characters, translate dense media > social media Smaller, simpler messages travel further faster BUT DON’T DUMB IT DOWN know your audience, know how to package/deliver/frame your message and idea 140 character, leave room for others
Inviting to participate Clear target Simple but true Not only making it easy to understand with clear/compelling message, but also let’s your message reach further. Next point, engage broad audience
AL: common ground, organizing 101, find and feed most engaged people engaged people BEFORE making film screen for COMMONALITIES (used to screen for differences) lots of different doors to come into the tent no activist NGO in films creative commons original film connected to millions. now what do we do with them....
CS: Standard social norms apply the base builds strength (nodes) <-- strong ties the periphery builds size (bridges, loose allies) <--- weak ties ok to preach to the choir but remember to have conversations with neighbors, even non-believers <--- build bridges, dialog, discourse --expand community Friday fun post, “the puppy”
LoudSauce as a way to more deeply engage core while simultaneously expanding periphery. We could have tried this ourselves and deepen engagement with base but we expanded our network LS was so successful, we reached our target goal in <24 hours. A Twitter follower asked, “why don’t you raise more money and reach even more people”? We listened...
active listening, know your audience, body language, listen to what’s not being said, cultural awareness engaged, got feedback, BEFORE making film season 2 topics and STORY OF CHANGE story of broke came out just as occupy was taking off These are mostly offline “listening”. Some online ways to listen louder...
getting the RIGHT METRIC, don’t need all what gets measured grows so be sure you’re optimizing your metrics for what you want s ocial media is a conversation not a microphone, know who you’re having a conversation with have a CONVERSATION, not a DISSERTATION only 30% of your FB posts should be about you. AT MOST Twitter again. Dont use all 140 yourself instant feedback from social media constant opportunity to improve
look for patterns, make hypotheses, then TEST them duplicate successes if you don’t know something, ASK occupy, we had no idea how sos community was going to respond, so we FB polled them and found out. was important for launching SoBr Use social media as a means to foster civil discourse not listening just to give ppl what they want, listening to learn how to frame our message too what kind of packaging for message/ideas To recap...
At the very end of Q&A, Annie will ask people to signup for Story of Change with rap from fundraiser