Hooks and Red Herrings - InOrbit 2016

@hannah_bo_banna

hooks & red herrings

@hannah_bo_banna

right now I’m taking a sabbatical

@hannah_bo_banna

but I used to work for a company called distilled

@hannah_bo_banna

my job was to make things that journalists wanted to write about

& people wanted to share

@hannah_bo_banna

during 2014 & 2015 we launched more than 50 creative pieces*

*which left me needing this sabbatical

@hannah_bo_banna

sometimes we nailed it

@hannah_bo_banna

3.8m visits | 475 LRDs | 410,000 ‘likes’

@hannah_bo_banna

other times, not so much

@hannah_bo_banna

31 ‘likes’

@hannah_bo_banna

it’s incredibly difficult

@hannah_bo_banna

so why do it?

@hannah_bo_banna

to gain links & coverage,and social shares

@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 websites)

@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

plus you can use this content to build audiences which you can then remarket

@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 leaves 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 space 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 workgood isn’t good enough,

& ok is never ok

@hannah_bo_banna

but unhappily,my work isn’t

always f*cking great

This piece is a commentary on our society’s obsession with ‘likes’. I like to think that I’m

not personally obsessed*, but when it comes to my work this is the validation I crave..

*Actually maybe I am a little obsessed. If you want to share this deck that would be great,

oh and follow me on twitter.

Oh god. I am that child.

@hannah_bo_banna

it appears that 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 is mean(I’m sorry)

@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

ugh, this is shallowthere’s nothing new or

different hereI’m confused, I just don’t get it

this isn’t something I’ve ever wondered

this is so ugly I think my eyes might bleed

ugh, this is patronisingthere’s nothing I can identify

with herecool, but so what?

if I shared this it would say nothing good about me

I don’t think this shows what you’re claiming it shows

this isn’t something I care about

you promised me something & haven’t delivered

@hannah_bo_banna

for what it’s worth,other people definitely feel the same

about some of my pieces

@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

who else wants to get better?

@hannah_bo_banna

I heart you

@hannah_bo_banna

ok, so 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 and the hook

@hannah_bo_banna

content

@hannah_bo_banna

here the content is data from the book ‘Daily Rituals’

@hannah_bo_banna

in this instance the content is the photos & stories

@hannah_bo_banna

execution

@hannah_bo_banna

the execution is how we display the content

@hannah_bo_banna

this is a 24 hour timeline, with colour coded activities & interactive filters which allow you to compare & contrast the routines of creative people

@hannah_bo_banna

here we’ve created a photo gallery, when you scroll the photos changefrom day to night & the stories appear

@hannah_bo_banna

hook something which captivates

@hannah_bo_banna

hooks are tricksy

@hannah_bo_banna

the hook is invisible

which when you think about it, is sort of the point

@hannah_bo_banna

if the fish could see the hook, it would be unlikely to bite

@hannah_bo_banna

as such, often the hook isn’t the piece itself, it’s what lies beneath

@hannah_bo_banna

this is hard to explain in the abstract...

@hannah_bo_banna

explicit = what the piece is

@hannah_bo_banna

implicit = why the piece resonates with us

@hannah_bo_banna

explicit: how creative people structure their days...

@hannah_bo_banna

implicit: great minds don’t think alike, work your own way...

@hannah_bo_banna

explicit: how people live around the world...

@hannah_bo_banna

implicit: how their environment impacts them...

@hannah_bo_banna

the hook is what evokes the emotional response

@hannah_bo_banna

the three components (content, execution and 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 one of our pieces)

@hannah_bo_banna

this gained coverage on 500 sites

@hannah_bo_banna

‘beer’ isn’t *quite* the reasonhere’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

as such I suspect the hook is the most important component

@hannah_bo_banna

our most successful work evoked strong 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

@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 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 (?)

@hannah_bo_banna

issues with execution (?)

I’m confused, I just don’t get it

cool, but so what?there’s nothing I can identify

with hereugh, this is patronising

there’s nothing new or different here

ugh, this is shallow

@hannah_bo_banna

issues with the hook (?)

@hannah_bo_banna

you’ll notice I keep coming back to issues with the hook

@hannah_bo_banna

the hook is 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

as such, I believe that finding acompelling hook is paramount

@hannah_bo_banna

duhthat’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,why do we fail so often?

@hannah_bo_banna

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 understandour audience’s motivations

@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 (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 whyhe thought the app was so popular

“I really have no idea”

“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 casewhy 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 really mean?

@hannah_bo_banna

it’s wickedly ambiguous...

@hannah_bo_banna

it could mean...

@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 guy you met in a bar

@hannah_bo_banna

but no one can call you on it without sounding like a crazy person

@hannah_bo_banna

how does the way we use facebook feed 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 public

@hannah_bo_banna

but you don’t always want your intentions to be that transparent

@hannah_bo_banna

which makes these virtual snowballs a pretty useful way to communicate

@hannah_bo_banna

it’s likely that people were throwing virtual snowballs to:

flirtor

reconnect (without actually reconnecting)or

just say hi(the list here could go on and 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 think we’re getting closer to the truth

@hannah_bo_banna

this is important

@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

“people like doing dumb sh*t on the internet”is a red herring

@hannah_bo_banna

red herring

something which is misleading or distracting

@hannah_bo_banna

red herrings sound vaguely plausible,but don’t bear scrutiny

(we’ll see a few more red herrings before this presentation is over)

@hannah_bo_banna

why is this problematic from the perspective of finding the hook?

@hannah_bo_banna

if you fail to understand why people do what they do

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@hannah_bo_banna

problem two:

we don’t take the time to properly deconstruct success

@hannah_bo_banna

we need to be able to accurately deconstruct success

in order to have the best chance of replicating it

@hannah_bo_banna

or, even better, to build upon it

450 LRDs | 280,000 ‘likes’

@hannah_bo_banna

why was this piece a success?

@hannah_bo_banna

I hear a lot of nonsense like this:

@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,nothing more, nothing less

@hannah_bo_banna

that’s a red herring

@hannah_bo_banna

I also hear this:

@hannah_bo_banna

people love music - they’ll always share this stuff!

@hannah_bo_banna

music is a topic,nothing more, nothing less

@hannah_bo_banna

if the game succeeded purely because it was (kind of) about music,

then every piece we’ve ever created about music ought to succeed

@hannah_bo_banna

they don’t

17 LRDs | 73 ‘likes’

@hannah_bo_banna

this is a red herring

@hannah_bo_banna

so what happened?

@hannah_bo_banna

when we launched the game, we couldn’t get a single journalist to cover it

@hannah_bo_banna

aaaarrrggghhhh

@hannah_bo_banna

we submitted it to reddit(no one gave a sh*t)

@hannah_bo_banna

we did some facebook feed ads(this had some effect, but it isn’t the full story)

@hannah_bo_banna

then it went hot on reddit(not our submission, someone else’s)

@hannah_bo_banna

eventually the social shares began to build

& links and coverage started to come in

@hannah_bo_banna

most of the links & coverage were coming fromcommunity sites & blogs

@hannah_bo_banna

& we suspect that most of the editorial coverage (there was a little)

came about as a result of the chatter on social & community sites

@hannah_bo_banna

why did the piece work?

@hannah_bo_banna

the game allowed people to discover something about themselves in a reasonably legitimate way

this is the hook!

@hannah_bo_banna

people loved playing & sharing the game, & we gained traction

@hannah_bo_banna

in this case, it seems that when enough people share & talk about a game, some links & coverage follow

@hannah_bo_banna

but don’t journalists cover stuff that ‘goes viral’?

@hannah_bo_banna

once the game gained traction, why didn’t journalists cover it?

@hannah_bo_banna

we had a theory...

@hannah_bo_banna

we took what we had learned & tried to build upon it

@hannah_bo_banna

475 LRDs | 410,000 ‘likes’

@hannah_bo_banna

wait… the LRD raw numbers are pretty much the same

450 LRDs | 280,000 ‘likes’

@hannah_bo_banna

475 LRDs | 410,000 ‘likes’

@hannah_bo_banna

what’s the difference?

@hannah_bo_banna

this time journalists covered the piece

@hannah_bo_banna

because people care more aboutemergency stopping distances than music?

@hannah_bo_banna

kidding

@hannah_bo_banna

that’s another red herring

@hannah_bo_banna

the two games are very similar

@hannah_bo_banna

they are both gloriously simple & easy to play

@hannah_bo_banna

& yet, deceptively difficult

@hannah_bo_banna

both games allow people to discover something about themselves in a reasonably legitimate way

this is the hook!

@hannah_bo_banna

but this time we gave the journalists something more to write about than

‘check out this cool thinger!’

@hannah_bo_banna

remember I said that failure to deconstruct success

is problematic?

@hannah_bo_banna

if we hadn’t taken the time to deconstruct what worked & what didn’t

we wouldn’t have seen this sort of success

@hannah_bo_banna

ok,let’s move on to problem three

@hannah_bo_banna

problem three:

we fall in love with our own ideas

@hannah_bo_banna

it’s incredibly difficult to be objective about anything

@hannah_bo_banna

human beings have a tendency to search for,

& interpret information in a way that confirms our preconceptions

@hannah_bo_banna

this is called confirmation bias

@hannah_bo_banna

we don’t know that we do it

@hannah_bo_banna

which makes it all the more dangerous

@hannah_bo_banna

in many scientific studies people have been observed to actively seek out and assign more weight to evidence

that confirms what they already believe to be true

@hannah_bo_banna

ignore or underweigh evidence that could disconfirm what they believe to be true

@hannah_bo_banna

I HAVE DONE THIS

@hannah_bo_banna

I come up with what I think is an amazing idea

@hannah_bo_banna

I do a bunch of research to see if it really is an amazing idea

@hannah_bo_banna

as if by magic,all my research tells me that

YES - THIS IS AN AMAZING IDEA!

@hannah_bo_banna

so we build the thinger,we launch the thinger

@hannah_bo_banna

AND NO ONE GIVES A FLYING

@hannah_bo_banna

& I’m left to wonderhow could this happen?

@hannah_bo_banna

I did everything right!

@hannah_bo_banna

but the truth is, I didn’t

@hannah_bo_banna

confirmation bias coloured everything I did

@hannah_bo_banna

I misled myself

@hannah_bo_banna

oh god, am I a red herring?

@hannah_bo_banna

are we all?

@hannah_bo_banna

fortunately there is stuff we can do about all of these things

@hannah_bo_banna

take the time to try to understandyour audience’s motivations

@hannah_bo_banna

don’t accept shallow explanations of what motivates your audience

@hannah_bo_banna

if the explanation you’re given sounds overly simplistic,it might not be the whole story

@hannah_bo_banna

question everything

@hannah_bo_banna

big companies use market research agencies to gain insights about their audiences

@hannah_bo_banna

they run focus groups,have user groups, do huge studies...

@hannah_bo_banna

if you have access to that stuff, then use it

@hannah_bo_banna

but most of the companies I’ve worked with don’t

@hannah_bo_banna

but there are things you can do

@hannah_bo_banna

google it!

“love [your company]”“hate [your company]”

“love [your competitor]”“hate [your competitor]”

“love [category]”“hate [category]”

@hannah_bo_banna

talk to your customers(or people who look like your target audience)

@hannah_bo_banna

stalk your customers

@hannah_bo_banna

take the time to properly deconstruct success

@hannah_bo_banna

run retrospectives, sit down and try to figure out what worked & why

@hannah_bo_banna

read your coverage!

@hannah_bo_banna

read the comments!

@hannah_bo_banna

read what people said on social media!

@hannah_bo_banna

you should definitely do this for your own content, & you can also do this with competitor content

@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

also...

@hannah_bo_banna

go make friends in the bar - over beers you’ll often hear the real story behind the success

@hannah_bo_banna

speaking of which, you should also try to deconstruct your failures & the failures of others

what the hell do we do aboutfalling in love with our own ideas?

@hannah_bo_banna

we know we have a tendency to search for,

& interpret information in a way that confirms our preconceptions

this is confirmation

@hannah_bo_banna

which could be dangerous when we’re trying to figure outwhether or not

we’ve come up with a good idea

@hannah_bo_banna

the bad news...

@hannah_bo_banna

knowing that confirmation bias exists doesn’t cure it(which is a shame because that would be a nice easy fix, huh?)

@hannah_bo_banna

*but* I suspect that being aware of it, does help

@hannah_bo_banna

looking for evidence that something is a ‘bad idea’,

rather than a ‘good idea’ might actually take you further off-track

(these things are rarely binary)

@hannah_bo_banna

doing more research won’t necessarily lead you to the right answer

(data is not the same as insight, most of the time you need more insight, not more data)

this does not mean

‘screw the research’

@hannah_bo_banna

here’s what can help

@hannah_bo_banna

step away(I believe the chances of you suffering from confirmation bias are heightened

when you’re too close to the idea)

@hannah_bo_banna

seek to build a diverse team who trust each other,

respect each other, and push each other

@hannah_bo_banna

if that’s not possible

build a diverse support network(go & make friends in the bar tonight)

@hannah_bo_banna

stay open & don’t make it personal(this is really hard)

@hannah_bo_banna

pay attention to the unexpected

@hannah_bo_banna

& avoid jumping to conclusions

@hannah_bo_banna

‘beer’ is rarely the answer

@hannah_bo_banna

whisky might be...

@hannah_bo_banna

above all else,

don’t be too quick to either embrace, or write off ideas:

it’s likely that they’re neither 100% ‘good’, nor 100% ‘bad’

@hannah_bo_banna

refine, refine, refine

@hannah_bo_banna

one final thought

@hannah_bo_banna

when you start working on that next ‘thinger’

@hannah_bo_banna

focus on making people feel something

@hannah_bo_banna

but ideally NOT these things

@hannah_bo_banna

revisit this throughout the process

@hannah_bo_banna

does this content make people feel

any of these things?

@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 SmithContent Strategist& Drunken Ne’er-Do-Well

credits

Big love to Mark Johnstone who helped me put this together.

images:nobody likes me - http://www.iheartthestreetart.com/street-2/ I’m out of bed & dressed - http://banksy.co.uk/ phone lovers - http://banksy.co.uk/ no ball games - http://banksy.co.uk/ don draper - http://www.thewrap.com/7-questions-with-mad-men-star-jon-hamm-emmy-contender-quickie/ no finish line - http://www.quotesvalley.com/images/50/there-is-no-finish-line-5.jpgdanbo - https://www.flickr.com/photos/nomadic_lass/6889892777/in/set-72157629144987013unicorn - http://queenofheartsonthesleeve.tumblr.com/post/58736423727/ok-not-much-but-here-it-is-3

Hooks and Red Herrings - InOrbit 2016

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