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DATA & CREATIVITY A WINNING CONTENT FORMULA Stacey MacNaught Tecmark @staceycav

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DATA & CREATIVITY A WINNING CONTENT FORMULA

Stacey MacNaught Tecmark @staceycav

I WAS PART OF A TEAM OF PEOPLE INVOLVED IN THIS DISASTER…

@staceycav

@staceycav

@staceycav

“WTF IS THAT?” I HEAR YOU ASK…

@staceycav

THAT IS A TERRIBLE PICTURE THING WE CALLED AN “INFOGRAPHIC”

@staceycav

YES, THERE’S A DINOSAUR ON IT.

@staceycav

AND NO, I DON’T KNOW WHY.

@staceycav

THIS WAS A LESSON IN HOW NOT TO DO CONTENT.

For the record…

@staceycav

For the record…

My Nan liked it.

@staceycav

THE 5 STAGES OF CONTENT FAILURE.

@staceycav

STEP 1.

You have this amazing idea. Literally amazing. Possibly after a few beers.

@staceycav

STEP 2.

You convince your client/boss that this will be the most wonderful piece of content ever and you get the budget.

@staceycav

STEP 3.

You invest hours/days (weeks?) into graphics, dev, research, pretty things…

@staceycav

STEP 4.

You launch your beautiful piece of content and you send emails to as many people as you can.

@staceycav

@staceycav

AND….

@staceycav

STEP 5.

You work out how you are going to salvage something from this…

@staceycav

STEP 5.

You work out how you are going to salvage something from this… Or apologise and hope it goes away.

@staceycav

We had to change.

We had to get smarter.

@staceycav

THESE DAYS WE’RE DOING STUFF LIKE THIS…

@staceycav

Link and citation building with surveys

@staceycav

Garden and home security survey

@staceycav

British Business Dreamers Survey

@staceycav

Browsing for holidays while at work survey

@staceycav

An old school one (2014) still working for us…

@staceycav

June 2015

@staceycav

June 2016

@staceycav

155 more links.

@staceycav

155 more links.

NO MORE WORK

@staceycav

Link and citation building with proprietary data

@staceycav

Quick and low cost coverage, citation and link opportunities

@staceycav

Link and citation building with FOI data

@staceycav

Quick win local and regional press links

@staceycav

Using data to create content that answers questions and wins customers

@staceycav

@staceycav

@staceycav

@staceycav

Exists only because keyword data suggested a need

All of those examples have something in common.

@staceycav

They all have their origins in

DATA @staceycav

Winning with data.

So, let’s talk about

@staceycav

NOT WINNING

@staceycav

NOT WINNING

@staceycav

WINNING

@staceycav

WINNING

@staceycav

WINNING

@staceycav

Link building with data

@staceycav

100s of projects since 2011

@staceycav

resulted in great coverage and links

Most

@staceycav

fell completely and painfully flat

Some

@staceycav

Others…

@staceycav

So, we did a bit of analysis…

@staceycav

NOBODY REALLY CARES ABOUT DATA

@staceycav

DATA, WITHOUT STORIES, IS JUST A LOAD OF OLD NUMBERS

@staceycav

@staceycav

What is “good data?”

@staceycav

Credible.

Good data is….

@staceycav

Timely.

Good data is….

@staceycav

Impartial.

Good data is….

@staceycav

Transparent source.

Good data is….

@staceycav

Where can you get it?

@staceycav

£££ Surveys with Responses

@staceycav

h"ps://directory.esomar.org/

£ Surveys with Responses

@staceycav

Freedom of Information

@staceycav h"p://www.whatdotheyknow.com

Freedom of Information

@staceycav h"p://www.asktheeu.org/

Proprietary Data Examples

@staceycav h"ps://jawbone.com/blog/jawbone-up-data-by-city/

Proprietary Data Examples

@staceycav h"ps://www.kickstarter.com/year/2014/data?ref=yir2014

If you really can’t source your own data…

@staceycav

Existing Public Data

@staceycav h"p://www.staCsta.com/

Existing Public Data

@staceycav h"ps://www.google.com/publicdata/directory

Existing Public Data

@staceycav h"ps://www.gov.uk/government/staCsCcs

Existing Public Data

@staceycav h"ps://datahub.io/dataset

Existing Public Data

@staceycav h"ps://knoema.com/

BUT…

@staceycav

News outlets don’t publish “good data.”

@staceycav

They publish compelling stories.

@staceycav

“To hell with facts! We need stories.” - Ken Kesey

stories.

The single biggest job you have with data is to find its best

@staceycav

But what makes a good story?

@staceycav

•  Timely •  Relevant •  Unexpected •  New •  Close to Home •  Human Interest

Good stories are…

@staceycav

Timeliness and Relevance

@staceycav

The reason you don’t pitch Christmas stories in February or money saving tips to Tech Crunch.

Unexpected

@staceycav

Dog bites man… Not News

Unexpected

@staceycav

Man bites dog? NEWS!

(via @neilbarraclough)

New

Close to Home

@staceycav

The reason that the Paris attacks got more European coverage than equally deadly atrocities in Africa or the Middle East.

Human Interest

@staceycav

h"p://www.mediacollege.com/journalism/news/newsworthy.html

The number alone wasn’t publishable… The case studies (people) told the stories.

@staceycav

@staceycav

The Linkable Asset

@staceycav

The reason that a journalist would send their readers to your site.

@staceycav

@staceycav

Disappointment.

@staceycav

Sometimes, the linkable asset is simple

Raw data download

@staceycav

Supporting visual asset

@staceycav

A solution to the problem your story uncovered

@staceycav

@staceycav

Don’t underestimate promotion budgets and time

We Use….

@staceycav

We Contact Via….

@staceycav

•  Email •  Social Media •  Phone

We Contact Via….

@staceycav

•  Email •  Social Media •  Phone •  Whichever method our contact

prefers

A Concise Version of our Process

@staceycav

A FEW TIPS (FROM A LOT OF EXPERIMENTING)

@staceycav

Buy consultancy time from someone working in journalism right now.

@staceycav

Sanity check your story before you invest too heavily in promotion or assets

@staceycav

And then sanity check throughout…

@staceycav

@staceycav

@staceycav

Have a backup plan Multiple questions/data items

@staceycav

Don’t launch without a linkable asset

@staceycav

Success or failure… measure, record, analyse and learn.

@staceycav