how to produce content that people will share

ideas with legs: how to produce content that people will share

by mark johnstone

this is my friend Sean (on the left). he’s a chef. I once asked Sean, “what’s the biggest mistake amateur chefs make?”

he said, “you don’t taste your food enough when you’re cooking”

that’s good advice, but ONLY IF when you taste your food, you’re able to quickly tell what it needs

a good chef continually tastes their food while they’re cooking and decides “more soy, more salt, more ginger…”

if it’s your job to come up with content ideas, you need to be able to assess your ideas and determine what they’re missing

somebody asked me recently, “which idea do you still think’s good even though it failed?”

this one

thomson.co.uk/blog/infographic/superbowl/index.html#2010

in the lead up to the 2012 super bowl, we visualised the data from all the previous super bowl matches

take the 2010 super bowl for example…

Indianapolis Colts took the lead in the

first quarter

they stayed in the lead

throughout the second quarter

Indianapolis Colts took the lead in the

first quarter

Saints mounted a comeback early

in the third

Colts regained the lead and held on until the last 5 minutes

Saints scored 2 touchdowns in the last 5

minutes to win the game

only 37 Facebook likes! what went wrong?

simple unexpected concrete credible emotional story

the 6 criteria of sticky ideas



a novel execution that allows you to see the game in a new way



it takes something abstract (the score line over time) and makes it visible



it’s based on sound data



it tells the story of the game



but it wasn’t a story people cared about



if your team is in the super bowl this year, do you really care what the score was in previous years?



without the annotations, people found it hard to understand

Indianapolis Colts took the

lead in the first quarter



without the annotations, people found it hard to understand

Indianapolis Colts took the

lead in the first quarter

if we’d used these criteria up front,

it might have saved us pain down the line

simple unexpected (different) concrete credible emotional (resonant) story

the 2 most important criteria

but things might not need to be as different as you think

these are all separate editions of Men’s Health released in America in the

last 10 years

journalists will cover the same content time and time again

an example from our own work

these infographics show the habits of famous creative people - neither of them allow you to easily make comparisons

http://infowetrust.com/2014/03/26/creative-routines/ http://nymag.com/health/bestdoctors/2014/genius-sleeping-habits-2014-6/

so we made this

https://podio.com/site/creative-routines

you can filter to compare sleeping patterns

or compare work patterns, etc

19,000 likes 395 LRDs*

* Linking Root Domains

the way in which it’s different is where the value lies

but how do you come up with different ideas?

dataviz

data journalism

digital awards advertising

you need sources of inspiration for different executions (and knowledge of resonant topics within your niche)

dataviz

data journalism

digital awards advertising

build a swipe file

epicviz.tumblr.com


the criteria: know when not to use them

concerthotels.com/100-years-of-rock

96,400

LRDs* 507

likes


success! but how would we follow it… ?


96,400

LRDs* 507

likes

hey Phil, you know we showed HOW the different genres emerged? what if we could show WHY they emerged?

or what if you took one tune and played it in different styles? start off blues, make it rock, make it funk?

I saw this thing called the Bonhamizer once, where you take a pop song and add John Bonham on drums

oh, what if you could make your own super group?

hmmm… I wonder if that’s possible…

static.echonest.com/bonhamizer/

I started searching for Jimmy Page vocal solo

huh, that’s interesting…

data!

I discovered this site

therangeplace.forummotions.com

we ended up building this

102,000 likes 777 LRDs*

concerthotels.com/worlds-greatest-vocal-ranges * Linking Root Domains

what if?

what if?

what if?

we started with the idea of showing why genres emerged and ended up producing a piece on vocal ranges

what if?

what if?

what if?

we started with something rather vague but interesting and ended up with something concrete and compelling

what if?

what if?

what if?

if we’d brandished the criteria too early, we’d have killed the process dead

what if?

what if?

what if?

we allowed ourselves room to explore what was interesting, making lateral leaps without knowing where they would lead

what if?

what if?

what if?

give your ideas room to grow

divergent emergent convergent

the 3 stages of idea generation

source: ‘Gamestorming’ by Gray, Brown & Macanufo


use the criteria to inform your research and idea generation


leave the criteria alone and give your ideas room to grow


use the criteria to coldly assess your ideas

so you’ve got your idea - now for the pitch!

this is honestly how we used to pitch ideas (in email!)

we’ve only described WHAT the idea is

we’ve done nothing to sell them on WHY it will work

how to sell clients on the WHY

a while back, the web was suffering from infographic fatigue

flowingdata.com/2010/02/15/data-underload-9-big-graphic-blueprint/

a while back, the web was suffering from infographic fatigue

but every now and then, a piece would come along that used the long, tall format brilliantly

ripetungi.com/shark-attack/

we used this as inspiration for a more light-hearted piece

side-note: this is one slide from the idea pitch deck (a bit better than the old emails we used to send!)

Simple Unexpected Concrete Credible Emotional Story


we explained the criteria to the client, and how the idea stacked up against them



you don’t have to tick every box,

you just need to know where the weaknesses lie



even with the weaknesses, we felt this idea was worth a punt. we were transparent with the client. he agreed. it worked.



25,400 likes 184 LRDs*

* Linking Root Domains concerthotels.com/ipod-visualized-as-vinyl

? ideation pitch production

we once had a client who lost faith in an idea midway through production

so we shared the criteria with him, and discussed the idea.

it turned out just to be an issue with the copy. peopledesign.com/creating-the-new

the creative process can be a rollercoaster of clarity & confusion, confidence and doubt

if you lose your way, use the criteria to assess the production.

it can get you back on track and everyone back on board. peopledesign.com/creating-the-new

five ways the SUCCES criteria can improve the creative process

focus on what’s different (unexpected)

what if?

what if?

what if?

give your ideas room to grow

(put the criteria down)

choose pain up front

I’d sooner choose the pain of going back to the drawing board than push through an idea that doesn’t have legs


sell them on the WHY



keep things on track


follow these steps and you’ll give yourself

a better chance of producing content people will share

thank you

@epicgraphic

how to produce content that people will share

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