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We’ve heard this a lot lately: Fun stories, not serious stories, work on social media. But we’ve found otherwise. You can shape serious stories to make them shareable and more informative for the public.
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How to make ‘serious’ stories shareableNovember 2013
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Can “serious” stories do well on social media?
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We reviewed 809 stories from the Local Stories Project.
One-by-one, we examined all 809 stories and labeled them either fun or serious.
What do we mean by “fun” and “serious”?
What we did
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Fun and serious, defined
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Highlight something unusual, quirky, or funny.
Offer people a break in the day to laugh or to have a discussion about their city.
Fun stories
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Have real-life implications.
Help people stay aware of the news that matters to them.
Serious stories
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How we measure success:
Of the unique people who see each post, what percentage like it, share
it, or comment on it?
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Stations are creating as many fun stories as serious stories
Of the 809 stories, 53 percent were serious and 47 percent were
fun.
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Serious stories were just as successful as fun stories
The percentage of people who liked, shared, or commented was the same for both serious and fun stories – about 1 percent of those
who saw the posts interacted with them.
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Top serious stories were shared just as much as top fun stories
When looking at the top 50 stories, the percentage of people who liked, shared, or commented
was 3 percent — the same for both serious and fun stories.
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Case studies
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Case studies
Find it here:
bit.ly/1e1xxQT
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Case studies
“Craft a top-notch headline that plays up the controversy or tension in the story.”
-Emilie Ritter Saunders, Boise State Public Radio
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Case studies
Find it here:
bit.ly/1apqy2v
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Case studies
“Ultimately, I think the key to making people share is if they see the story affecting them personally. Facebook is a personal network, after all.”
-Katrina Schwartz, KQED
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Case studies
Find it here:
bit.ly/1co7u4c
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Case studies
“There's always more people to reach, and not everyone is going to absorb our longer form stories, but many people will - as you know - gravitate toward something that provides the "take home" messages quickly.”
-Mark Brush, Michigan Radio
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Case studies
Find it here:
bit.ly/1i9Hv5m
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Case studies
“Why would I (or a person in a group I want to reach) click on this story or share it? Answer that question and use your results to guide what you use”
-Kelsey Proud, St. Louis Public Radio
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Case studies
Find it here:
bit.ly/1bDzb98
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More
Find these stories here:bit.ly/serious-case-studies
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More
Advice from stations: n.pr/station-serious-advice
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5 questions for making serious-but-shareable content
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What’s the headline?
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What’s the headline?
• Write a headline first — before you begin crafting your story.
• The headline should be a simple, straightforward, specific promise about what the story’s about.
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What is your approach to telling the story?
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What is your approach to telling the story?
• What’s the best way to convey the story? Whatever you decide, get to the point right away and make the piece easy to understand.
• Charts, images, videos or other visuals can be helpful, but only incorporate them if it’s useful to the audience.
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How will this be different?
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How will this be different?
• Cut through the noise. A lot of media might be covering the story, but how can you differentiate yourself?
• What can you add to the story?
• Advance the story: What are the next questions people will ask?
• Create an explainer.
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Why will people share it?
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Why will people share it?
• Imagine someone coming across your story online — what will make them take the next step to share it?
• Will it make them happy, sad, curious, enraged, informed or intrigued?
• If it leaves your audience with no reason to interact, you’ve missed something.
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What’s next?
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What’s next?
• Don’t ignore the story after it’s published.
• Compile the metrics.
• Take a look at the comments and shares to learn how people felt about the story. This should inform future coverage.
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Print the 5 questions: http://bit.ly/serious-
checklist
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This webinar and more info: n.pr/shareable-serious
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This webinar and more info: n.pr/shareable-serious
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This webinar and more info: n.pr/shareable-serious
