Gary Vaynerchuk: Stop Storytelling Like it’s 2007

Please note: This talk contains adult language.

In a world with Vine, Snapchat, and Twitter, how can creatives capture attention to make their voices heard?

In this 99U talk, best-selling author and founder of VaynerMedia, Gary Vaynerchuk breaks down how our work can cut through our current “A.D.D. Culture” — one where we binge-watch entire television seasons in one sitting and prefer texting to phone calls.

“We’ve gotten to a point where everything is on our time,” says Vaynerchuk, “So why is everyone storytelling like it’s 2007 in a 2014 world?” The best digital storytellers, he says, use the social media to “hook” audiences in for the deeper stuff. We should give, give again, and give some more before ever asking for anything from our community. “We have to start respecting the nuances of every platform.”

0:39 no matter what you do, our job us to tell our story
1:44 storytelling in micro moments
4:05 storytelling on social
8:14 quality storytelling always wins
8:34 social networks = distribution
10:30 biggest asset: time
11:56 eyes and ears “attention is the only commodity”
12:58 “give, give, give, ask”
13:30 give people happy stories, make them laugh
14:51 we have to act human.

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I was perusing the interweb doing some reading on storytelling and came across this fantastic article by Jonah Sachs, CEO of branding agency Free Range Studios, and author of Winning the Story Wars: Why Those Who Tell (and Live) the Best Stories Will Rule the Future. Jonah clearly explains to basic fundamentals of the importance and (possibly more important) process of good storytelling. Once brands (individuals, products or organizations) recognize the importance of telling a story to their audience, they can begin to develop the skills to do so effectively. Enjoy.

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As the media landscape continues to evolve, audiences are gaining more and more control over the information they view and share. To remain relevant, brands need to know how to tell compelling stories to reach them.

Traditional messages in the old broadcast style — exalt your product and tell your audiences why they need it now — are at best overlooked and forgotten; at worst, ridiculed. But successful stories, such as Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches, can garner 150m YouTube views in a couple of months and supercharge brand awareness and loyalty — without talking about the product at all. This is what success looks like for brands that shift from broadcast messaging to storytelling.

The transformation begins by realizing that your brand is nothing more than an ongoing story–a set of meaningful emotional experiences unfolding between itself and your audiences. Just like stories, brands can be inspiring, clear and actionable, or self-important, bland and confusing. The inspiring ones light up social networks, passing virally from storyteller to storyteller. The others instantly disappear.

Here are four simple steps that will help your brand become effective at storytelling.

CLICK TO HERE TO CONTINUE READING

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonah-sachs/4-steps-to-build-brand-aw_b_3997738.html

What Does the Fox Say?

Love what Seth Godin had to say about the newest viral music video on YouTube.

The viral music video of the moment is right here.

The question for the marketer, music or otherwise, isn’t, “what are the hooks and tricks I use to go viral?” No, the question is, “is it worth it?”

What does the fox say has the hooks and tricks in abundance. It has Archie McPhee animal costumes, nonsense words, just the right sort of production values, superfluous subtitles, appropriate silliness. It would probably help the cause to add spurious nudity, but give them points for getting the rest of it right.

To what end?

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1. Your Brand is You…knowing who you are is the foundation of building your brand

2. What is Your Art?…being clear about what it is you make; what you provide

3. Setting Your Destination…knowing where you are going defines your vision and mission

4. Telling Your Story…effectively communicating who you are, where you’re going and what you do to those who you wish to partner with

5. The Icing on the Cake…implementing design to support your story and create a positive first impression

6. Time to Knock on Doors…thinking through strategic marketing via social media, tradition collateral and beyond

My hope is that, though this is fairly brief, it would give some direction to Wedding Planners or anyone else with an idea and a willingness to connect that idea to society.

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This is the first of a hand full of videos I’m going to be throwing together to provide some real basic insights that will hopefully give you a bit of an edge in the Social Media realm. I have a lot of friends who ask me on a regular basis where to start in Social Media in relation to their business or non-profit (how to be successful). I’s all about building “Relational Equity”. Here are 5 simple things that will steer in the right direction. enjoy.