How to Build a Time Machine - LearnInbound

how to build a

time machine(& other stories)

@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna

hello there!

I’ve just started working with this lovely lot @VerveSearch

but for most of this year I’ve been on sabbatical

prior to that I worked at distilled

@hannah_bo_banna

I’ve been involved in making stuff that gets coverage, links & social shares

since 2011

@hannah_bo_banna

there’s some stuff I’m really proud of

this was my first taste of success

@hannah_bo_banna

but it’s been a pretty bumpy ride

@hannah_bo_banna

there have been good days…

@hannah_bo_banna

250 LRDs in 24 hours

@hannah_bo_banna

but it doesn’t always go down like that…

failure really hurts

@hannah_bo_banna

who’s failed like me?

@hannah_bo_banna

who wants to fail less often?

@hannah_bo_banna

I heart you

I heart you

@hannah_bo_banna

let’s do this!

@hannah_bo_banna

first, let’s talk a bit about failing…

@hannah_bo_banna

want to know why we fail?

@hannah_bo_banna

I get emails like this fairly frequently:

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

these next slides may sound mean (but they’re 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

@hannah_bo_banna

this is shallow, or patronising

@hannah_bo_banna

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

oryou’ve promised me something but

haven’t delivered

@hannah_bo_banna

this isn’t something I care about or

this isn’t something I’ve ever wonderedor

there’s nothing I can identify with here

@hannah_bo_banna

I’m confused – I don’t get it

@hannah_bo_banna

there’s nothing new or different here

@hannah_bo_banna

cool, but so what?

@hannah_bo_banna

for the sake of clarity,I feel the same things about

some of my own work

@hannah_bo_banna

but what do all those things mean?

@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, or this is patronising

if I shared this it would say nothing good about me



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

“this piece doesn’t resonate with me”

@hannah_bo_banna

resonance is *really* important

@hannah_bo_banna

people link to your stuffor share your stuff

only if it resonates with them

@hannah_bo_banna

if your content makesthem feel something

@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, if we want to succeed we need to focus

on making people feel something

@hannah_bo_banna

*not* these things









delivered

cool, but so what?

@hannah_bo_banna

people link to your stuffor share your stuff

only if it resonates with them

@hannah_bo_banna

but what resonates with people?

@hannah_bo_banna

have you ever thought about *why*

you share what you shareon social media?

@hannah_bo_banna

most of the time I don’t think before I tweet

@hannah_bo_banna

why did I tweet this?

@hannah_bo_banna

I was on my own & I was bored

@hannah_bo_banna

it worked like a charm

@hannah_bo_banna

but I don’t just tweet stuff like that;I also tweet stuff like this

@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna

I also share stuff like this

@hannah_bo_banna

& this

@hannah_bo_banna

I share things to give people a sense ofwho I am &

what I care about

I’m a literary nerd…

I’m exasperated by marketing doublespeak…

I’m a feminist

@hannah_bo_banna

on social media we have two modes:i) cries for attention

&ii) defining ourselves to others

@hannah_bo_banna

what does ‘defining ourselves to others’

mean?

@hannah_bo_banna

human beings are pack animals,we need to feel like we belong

@hannah_bo_banna

we feel most comfortable when surrounded by people who are similar to us

@hannah_bo_banna

how we define ourselves is important because it allows others to relate to us

@hannah_bo_banna

the very act of self-definition makes us relatable, it’s how we connect with people

@hannah_bo_banna

this desire to define ourselves to othersis why we share what we share

@hannah_bo_banna

I think that creating content which allows people

to define themselves to othersis a great place to play

@hannah_bo_banna

but what does that look like in the real world?

@hannah_bo_banna

what follows isn’t an exhaustive list, but hopefully you’ll find it useful

@hannah_bo_banna

hang on to your hats

@hannah_bo_banna

let’s talk about time travel

@hannah_bo_banna

so, I promised to teach you how to build a time machine…

@hannah_bo_banna

according to Stephen Hawking, all you need is…

a wormhole

@hannah_bo_banna

or

the large hadron collider

@hannah_bo_banna

or

a rocket that goes really, really fast

@hannah_bo_banna

sadly, my clients can’t afford any of those things

@hannah_bo_banna

but you can take people back in time without any of those things

@hannah_bo_banna

248k facebook ‘likes’

@hannah_bo_banna

248k facebook ‘likes’204k facebook ‘likes’

@hannah_bo_banna


@hannah_bo_banna

so taking people back in timeclearly resonates

@hannah_bo_banna

we made a time machine of our own

@hannah_bo_banna

it allows you torelive any major festival from the past 20 years

@hannah_bo_banna

750k visits

@hannah_bo_banna

if you’re seeking coverageI strongly recommend you do more

than create a listicle

@hannah_bo_banna

if you want to create your own time machine,

it’s not just music that takes people back in time

@hannah_bo_banna


@hannah_bo_banna


@hannah_bo_banna


@hannah_bo_banna

why do we share nostalgic content?

@hannah_bo_banna

we share nostalgic content(or time machines)

because how we grew up shaped who we are today

@hannah_bo_banna

sharing nostalgic contentallows us to instantly connect with

others who shared similar experiences

@hannah_bo_banna

regardless of whether or not we actuallyshared those experiences in real life

@hannah_bo_banna

sharing nostalgic content allows us to define ourselves to others

@hannah_bo_banna

but we don’t just define ourselvesthrough nostalgic content

@hannah_bo_banna

polarising content

@hannah_bo_banna

polariseto divide into two sharply contrasting groups, or sets of opinions, or beliefs

@hannah_bo_banna

love it? or hate it?

250 LRDs in 24 hours

1,400 LRDs

@hannah_bo_banna

533 LRDs

@hannah_bo_banna

we share polarising content to let others know where we stand

@hannah_bo_banna

it’s another way of defining ourselves to others

@hannah_bo_banna

for this sort of content to work you need to provoke a strong, emotional response

@hannah_bo_banna

but you walk a fine line

@hannah_bo_banna

if you’re doing this sort of thing,keep it light

@hannah_bo_banna

content that allows us to see things more clearly

@hannah_bo_banna

there’s a bunch of stuff we struggle to get our heads around

@hannah_bo_banna

for this sort of content to work, you need to be talking about something

people care about

@hannah_bo_banna

& if you want coverage you’ll need to support existing editorial, or be breaking news

@hannah_bo_banna

content that gives us hope

@instachaz reminds me I’m not alone…

@hannah_bo_banna

stuff like that looks easy, but is *really* hard

to do well

@hannah_bo_banna

so farI’ve not managed to persuade

anyone to let me make anything like it

@hannah_bo_banna

but I have made some stuffthat gives people hope

@hannah_bo_banna

we love finding out that we’re more like our heroes than we think

we want to know that there’s still time for us to make it

@hannah_bo_banna

for this sort of content to work, you need to create things that really speak to people

& they can relate to

@hannah_bo_banna

& if you want coverage you’ll need to support existing editorial

@hannah_bo_banna

content that allows us to discover something about ourselves

in a reasonably legitimate way

@hannah_bo_banna

say what?

@hannah_bo_banna

most of the time content like this takes the form of either a quiz or game

@hannah_bo_banna

however, not all quizzes & games fitinto this category

@hannah_bo_banna

I suspect the popularity of this quiz has more to do with nostalgia

@hannah_bo_banna

let’s look at a game which doesallow you to find something out about yourself

@hannah_bo_banna

we secured coverage at launch

@hannah_bo_banna

then we garnered a 2nd wave of coverage based on the data we’d gathered from players

@hannah_bo_banna

a couple of warnings…

@hannah_bo_banna

quizzes & games are just formats

@hannah_bo_banna

if making a quiz or a game = guaranteed successthen no quizzes or games would ever fail

@hannah_bo_banna

& they do fail, frequently

@hannah_bo_banna

in my experience, quizzes or games that allow people

to find out something about themselvesin a reasonably legitimate way

have a better chance of success

@hannah_bo_banna

but it’s worth noting that even quizzes & games which are widely played & shareddon’t always get much coverage

@hannah_bo_banna

cause-related content

over 50 LRDs to date

it’s been turned into a fan-made-mod for The Sims

@hannah_bo_banna

people have been calling our office trying to BUY the posters

over 500 signatures…

@hannah_bo_banna

but again, I’d exercise caution here –this sort of thing can go very badly wrong

@hannah_bo_banna

so it’s nearly time for me to wrap this thing up

@hannah_bo_banna

I’d like to leave you with a few thoughts

which will hopefully help you fail less

often

@hannah_bo_banna

be curious

@hannah_bo_banna

study successful content & try to figure out why it worked

@hannah_bo_banna

why did it resonate?

is it nostalgic?

is it polarising?

does it help you see things more clearly?

@hannah_bo_bannadoes it give you hope?

does it allow you to find something out about yourself?

is it related to a cause?

@hannah_bo_banna

something else?(this is not an exhaustive list)

@hannah_bo_banna

don’t be lazy

@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

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

don’t get distracted by formats

@hannah_bo_banna

a game is a format, not an idea

@hannah_bo_banna

a quiz is a format, not an idea

@hannah_bo_banna

an infographic is a format, not an idea

@hannah_bo_banna

a video is a format, not an idea

@hannah_bo_banna

people don’t share formats,they share ideas

@hannah_bo_banna

& finally,when you start working on that

next ‘thinger’

@hannah_bo_banna

focus on making people feel something

@hannah_bo_banna

*not* these things









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?









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 SmithHead of CreativeVerve Search

send questions and/or pictures of cats to: [email protected] things @hannah_bo_banna

Big love to the team at Verve who helped me put this together.

Images:delorean: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeLorean_time_machinerat: http://banksy.co.uk nobody likes me: http://www.iheartthestreetart.com/street-2/#lightbox[group-26481]/39/phone lovers: http://banksy.co.ukwormhole: http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/will-wormhole-travel-ever-be-possiblelarge hadron collider: http://thecomeback.com/tech/weasel-temporarily-shuts-down-the-large-hadron-collider.htmlrocket: https://pixabay.com/p-67643/?no_redirectdanbo - 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

Credits

How to Build a Time Machine - LearnInbound

Marketing