Hannah Smith – Right in the Feels (Turing Fest 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 hello there!

@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 450k visits

@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 why?

@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 therefore…

@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’s picked it up, and we’ve seen no social shares either. Any idea where we’re going wrong?

@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 things this is shallow if I shared this it would say nothing good about me this is so ugly I think my eyes might bleed I don’t think this shows what you’re claiming it shows this is patronising there’s nothing I can identify with here there’s nothing new or different here I’m confused – I don’t get it this isn’t something I care about this isn’t something I’ve ever wondered you’ve promised me something but haven’t delivered cool, but so what?

@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 31 facebook ‘likes’

@hannah_bo_banna who else wants to get better?

@hannah_bo_banna I heart you

@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 & the hook

@hannah_bo_banna content

@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 execution

@hannah_bo_banna the execution is how we display the content

@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna here the execution is a series of graphs

@hannah_bo_banna

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

@hannah_bo_banna hook

@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

@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

@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

@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

@hannah_bo_banna this gained coverage on over 500 sites

@hannah_bo_banna why?

@hannah_bo_banna

@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 when people tell me their piece isn’t working, &
I take a look, I typically feel one (or more) of these things this is shallow if I shared this it would say nothing good about me this is so ugly I think my eyes might bleed I don’t think this shows what you’re claiming it shows this is patronising there’s nothing I can identify with here there’s nothing new or different here I’m confused – I don’t get it this isn’t something I care about this isn’t something I’ve ever wondered you’ve promised me something but haven’t delivered cool, but so what?

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

@hannah_bo_banna however, I think that each issue can be tied
back to problems with: the content, the execution, the hook, or a combination of the three

@hannah_bo_banna issues with content (?) this is shallow if I
shared this it would say nothing good about me this is so ugly I think my eyes might bleed I don’t think this shows what you’re claiming it shows this is patronising there’s nothing I can identify with here there’s nothing new or different here I’m confused – I don’t get it this isn’t something I care about this isn’t something I’ve ever wondered you’ve promised me something but haven’t delivered cool, but so what?

@hannah_bo_banna issues with execution (?) this is shallow if I
shared this it would say nothing good about me this is so ugly I think my eyes might bleed I don’t think this shows what you’re claiming it shows this is patronising there’s nothing I can identify with here there’s nothing new or different here I’m confused – I don’t get it this isn’t something I care about this isn’t something I’ve ever wondered you’ve promised me something but haven’t delivered cool, but so what?

@hannah_bo_banna issues with the hook (?) this is shallow if
I shared this it would say nothing good about me this is so ugly I think my eyes might bleed I don’t think this shows what you’re claiming it shows this is patronising there’s nothing I can identify with here there’s nothing new or different here I’m confused – I don’t get it this isn’t something I care about this isn’t something I’ve ever wondered you’ve promised me something but haven’t delivered cool, but so what?

@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 yes it is

@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_banna my 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 person you met in a bar

@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 reconnecting) or just say hi (the list here could go on & on)

@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 people’s motivations

@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 one of these things this is shallow if I shared this it would say nothing good about me this is so ugly I think my eyes might bleed I don’t think this shows what you’re claiming it shows this is patronising there’s nothing I can identify with here there’s nothing new or different here I’m confused – I don’t get it this isn’t something I care about this isn’t something I’ve ever wondered you’ve promised me something but haven’t delivered cool, but so what?

@hannah_bo_banna if you fail to understand the people you’re trying
to engage with you’re likely to fail to elicit the emotional response you desire from them

@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 virality… something”

@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 wait

@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 the hook)

@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 was)

@hannah_bo_banna uh oh L

@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 issues with the hook (?) this is shallow if
I shared this it would say nothing good about me this is so ugly I think my eyes might bleed I don’t think this shows what you’re claiming it shows this is patronising there’s nothing I can identify with here there’s nothing new or different here I’m confused – I don’t get it this isn’t something I care about this isn’t something I’ve ever wondered you’ve promised me something but haven’t delivered cool, but so what?

@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

@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

@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 OR

@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

@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 remember this?

@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 if
I shared this it would say nothing good about me this is so ugly I think my eyes might be bleeding I don’t think this shows what you’re claiming it shows this is patronising there’s nothing I can identify with here there’s nothing new or different here I’m confused – I don’t get it this isn’t something I care about this isn’t something I’ve ever wondered you’ve promised me something but haven’t delivered cool, but so what?

@hannah_bo_banna revisit this throughout the process

@hannah_bo_banna does this content make people feel any of these
things? this is shallow if I shared this it would say nothing good about me this is so ugly I think my eyes might be bleeding I don’t think this shows what you’re claiming it shows this is patronising there’s nothing I can identify with here there’s nothing new or different here I’m confused – I don’t get it this isn’t something I care about this isn’t something I’ve ever wondered you’ve promised me something but haven’t delivered cool, but so what?

@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: [email protected] tweet things @hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna Big love to the team at Verve who helped
me put this together. Images: feels: http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/531/319/99f.gif nobody likes me: http://www.iheartthestreetart.com/street-2/#lightbox[group-26481]/39/ phone lovers: http://banksy.co.uk no ball games: http://banksy.co.uk disobedience: http://living-my-life-recklessly.tumblr.com/post/98684008648/it-is-through-disobedience-that-progress-has-been beer map: http://vinepair.com/wine-blog/most-popular-beer-every-country-map/ don draper: http://www.bandt.com.au/media/here-are-some-of-don-drapers-best-put-downs Credits

Hannah Smith – Right in the Feels (Turing Fest 2016)

Hannah Smith – Right in the Feels (Turing Fest 2016)

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