brainstorming and designing viral content
DESCRIPTION
Expose the Beams: How to Brainstorm and Design the Best, Most Viral Content You've Ever Made is the presentation Kate Morris gave at MozCon 2011.TRANSCRIPT
Expose the BeamsHow to Brainstorm + Design the Best, Most Viral Content You’ve Ever Made
@katemorris
Exposed Beams?
Unsightly
Modern Beauty & Function
OKC
UPID
http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/dont-be-ugly-by-accident/
Content Ideas
Not Really Creating or Outreach
Not Just INfographics
News Article! Video!
Funny Doesn’t Always Meet Goals
Viral is not AUTOMATIC
Create Great Content and Let it Speak for You
Where do I start?
A Whiteboard and a Dream
#1Who are you talking to?
• Name• Face• Job• Salary
• Problems• Favorite
Restaurant• Hopes• Dreams
Undisclosed Client and
Shelly
• Name: Shelly Tanner
• Age: 38
• Title: Director of Marketing
• Company: Small Spa Chain
• She’s Overworked
• Just Wants Help!
PS: Shelly isn’t real. This lady is probably not named Shelly.
Find real People
Pro TipGo too far. Get to the nitty gritty details and
think about what your person does in their free time. The better you understand them, the better
focused the content will be.
#2What’s the Point?
Goals
•Traffic
•Sales
•Links
•Mentions
•Likes
•+1
•Combination
Goals will change the direction of your content
Links Social
http://mashable.com/2011/07/18/apple-design-infographic/
Specific GoalsMake sure you know
what you want or what your
client/executive wants.
Example Goals
• 20,000 Page Views• 20,401
• 100 new inbound links• Actual is over 200 linking domains
• 5% increase in SOV
Ran
dom
http://infographicworld.com/america-europe-view/
Pro
ve a
Poin
t
http://thenextweb.com/
Sale
s /ed
uca
tion
http://wikibon.org/
Pro Tip
Try outreach beforehand for articles, get the blog’s owner to input on the content. It’ll get it posted faster and give you a better shot at a great link!
1. Who are you talking to?
2. What is the point of the content you are creating?
#3: Brainstorming
Ready for Fun?
No Tools – Brain and Whiteboard
Start with a marker . . . Write everything down . . . Ask your friends and co-workers . . .
doodle . . .
“I tend to jot down everything I think of with no real regard for structure, and then later on I filter it down to only the good stuff.”
Matthew “Oatmeal” Inman
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/smartphone
Applied Example
• Industrial Paper Products
• Commercial Food Equipment
• Printer Ink
• Auto Sales/Parts
• Software for Call Center Tracking
• Window Washing
• Milk Farmer
• Exercise/Training/Nutrition
• Manufacturing
WINNER!
Window Washing
• Heights
• Soap
• Ropes
• Matrix
• Scaffolding
• Falling
• Deaths (sorry)
• Business
• Sky
• Birds
• Windex
• Water
• Summer
• Sun
• Towers
• Donald Trump
• Dust
• Cracks
• Sills
• New York
• Lunch
Great Linkbait
Pro TipStill lost? Like keyword research, check what your
competitors are doing, what others in similar spaces are doing, and play off their ideas. NO COPYING!
“For inspiration I read the usual sources: Digg, Reddit, Mixx, and so forth. I also read a lot of online comic strips, “best of” Craigslist posts, and I spend a lot of time using StumbleUpon.” - Matt Inman
Visual.ly
coolinfographics.com
visualoop.tumblr.com
Not A
lways C
om
petitiv
e
Getting AheadWe are still in planning … don’t go nuts yet!
1. Who are you talking to?
2. What is the point of the content you are creating?
3. Brainstorm any and ALL ideas and associations.
Filtering
“I call it “brain farming.” First, pick a specific idea you want to work around … Pick more nouns and connect them to that idea: bunk beds + raptor. Think about it really hard, then go do something else. A few days later while you’re showering, gardening, shaving, exercising, or whatever, the idea will pop into your head and you’ll have it.”
Matthew Inman
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/minor_differences2
Window Washing
• Heights
• Soap
• Ropes
• Matrix
• Scaffolding
• Falling
• Deaths (sorry)
• Business
• Sky
• Birds
• Windex
• Water
• Summer
• Sun
• Towers
• Donald Trump
• Dust
• Cracks
• Sills
• New York
• Lunch
@katemorris
Saving Neo’s Phone: How to Get to Window Washer’s Scaffolding
Would Your Person Share it?
Make it Something they MUST Share
http://www.break.com/index/this-is-what-detirmination-looks-like-2086438
Disg
ustin
g
http://www.foodservicewarehouse.com/education/going-green/eating-insects-the-most-eco-friendly-meat.aspx
Fun
ny
Rele
van
t
http://www.eternalhgh.com/HGH-Infographic-HGH-An-Anti-Anging-Miracle/index.html
Perso
nal
http://www.cartridgesave.co.uk/printeffect/
“For me, the best test of whether linkbait is effective is if it genuinely entertains or intrigues me. If I’m not laughing at my own joke I bag it.”
Matthew “Oatmeal” Inmanhttp://theoatmeal.com/comics/smartphone
1. Who are you talking to?
2. What is the point of the content you are creating?
3. Brainstorm any and ALL ideas and associations.
4. Filter to the really interesting things.
Finding Data
You Have to Support the Idea, or Do You?
Best Data = Best Links
Student Interns
Note: They are not there to be slave labor: pay them, teach them.
Internal Data
http://blog.foursquare.com/2011/02/25/pre-oscars-fun-foursquare-at-the-movies/
Anonymize Data
OKC
up
id
MINT
http://www.mint.com/blog/trends/mint-data-shows-where-the-gas-money-goes/
Off
Th
e W
all
Still Need Data;
Even if it’s made
up.http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tyrannosaur_crack
Pro Tip
Find the Source. Don’t trust another infographic or journalist.
Window Washing
• Skyscraper window cleaners in NYC in 1934 made $30 a week for 48 hours of work. http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/05/20/how-a-skyscraper-window-washer-faces-death/
• The most dangerous item for a window washer is a ladder via the IWCA Training Manual.
• Window Cleaner Jan Demczur used a squeegee to free himself and 5 others from an elevator shaft on 9/11.http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/11/us/jan-demczur-he-is-alive-and-what-s-left-of-his-squeegee-is-in-the-smithsonian.html
1. Who are you talking to?2. What is the point of the content
you are creating?3. Brainstorm any and ALL ideas
and associations.4. Filter to the really interesting
things.5. Support the idea(s) with data.
Designing Tips
Rule #1: Trust the Designer/Writer!
Simple
Powerful
Unique
Interesting
1. Who are you talking to?2. What is the point of the content
you are creating?3. Brainstorm any and ALL ideas
and associations.4. Filter to the really interesting
things.5. Support the idea(s) with data.6. Trust your designer and keep it
simple and straightforward.
Now go Back
No really … go back to the start …
1. Who are you talking to?2. What is the point of the content
you are creating?3. Brainstorm any and ALL ideas
and associations.4. Filter to the really interesting
things.5. Support the idea(s) with data.6. Trust your designer and keep it
simple and straightforward.7. …
Undisclosed Client and
Shelly
• Name: Shelly Tanner
• Age: 38
• Title: Director of Marketing
• Company: Small Spa Chain
• She’s Overworked
• Just Wants Help!
PS: Shelly isn’t real. This lady is probably not named Shelly.
Goals
•Traffic
•Sales
•Links
•Mentions
•Likes
•+1
•Combination
1. Who are you talking to?2. What is the point of the content
you are creating?3. Brainstorm any and ALL ideas
and associations.4. Filter to the really interesting
things.5. Support the idea(s) with data.6. Trust your designer and keep it
simple and straightforward.7. Compare the idea(s) to goals
and target.
Thank You