Transcription
So strictly speaking, just from a marketing standpoint, this is how the filter might go for how you could build up a piece of content that could be sharable.
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Neighborhood Neighborhood Art Supply Supply.
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So if you've been listening to this podcast, you've probably heard me say before that I believe that brands are movies, and that content is the scenes inside of the movie that you're trying to present with the brand. So if your brand is your movie, and when you post, those are the scenes in the movie, why would somebody share a scene from your movie? What makes it sharable?
So to me, there's two different types of sharing. There's sharing where somebody's just sharing with a friend, family member, or coworker, and that share is happening directly. So then they're sharing or reposting to one's audience. So all the people that are following that person, they're sharing something with that group. So let's, let's first look at why people share person-to-person. And I'm just going to list a bunch of reasons or categories around why people share.
So the first is, "Isn't this crazy?" So you're sharing it because you've seen something, you're like, "Wow, this is crazy. I need to share this with somebody." And you'll share it with one person or a few people with the intention of, "Isn't this crazy? We both agree that this is crazy." And that could be crazy good, that could be crazy bad. It just is something that is out of the ordinary that's worth sharing.
So another, and this is one of the main ones, is, "This is entertaining. This is fascinating. This is cool." So you're sharing because you found it to be entertaining, fascinating, or cool, and then you shared that with somebody else.
The next is, "I feel cool sharing this." So it's almost like a flex, like you're sharing it because you maybe found something or you thought that this thing was interesting, and then the share actually happens because you feel cool sharing it. It gives the person sharing a level of value just by finding the thing and sharing the thing.
So then the next one is, "This is us." This is one where I do this a lot with my wife. So I'll see something on one of the social platforms, and it will remind me of her or something that's happened in our relationship, or we had this experience, and then I'll share because I want to remind her. And I found joy in seeing whatever the post was, and so then I'll share it with her with the intention of, "Hey, look, this is us."
Another reason people share is that it's, "We should try this," or "Doesn't this look fun?" So often that can be a really great thing for a show announcement. If you really work on selling whatever that thing is as an experience, that then people may share even the trailer for, you know, whatever the event is because it looks like something that they would want to go to, and then they're going to share with their friends that, "Hey, we should go to this thing."
Another one is, "Remember this." So it can be a nostalgia play. It can be, "We shared this moment together. I saw something that reminded me of that moment, the shared bond that we have together, and I wanted to share it with you because it brought back a memory for me, and I wonder if you would have the same memory."
Another one that's a big one, a really big one for fans and when you're building community, is, "We both love this." So you're sharing because you saw something or heard something that you love, that you know somebody else that also loves this thing that you love would find value in. They share it because it can deepen a bond or connection with another person that, "We both love this thing, and we have that shared bond together."
And then lastly, and there's many more than this, but these are some of the main ones, but the last one being, "This reminds me of you." So it's something that you saw that reminded you of another person, and so you share with them, again, deepening the connection or bond that you have with that other person, showing them that, "Hey, this reminds me of you, and I wanted to send it to you."
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So then, if that's why people share person-to-person, why might somebody share something with their audience?
So the first being, they align with the belief that's inside of a post. So this could be something that's thought-provoking or like an inspirational quote. There's something that aligns to this person and what they believe. And often, when you're posting things to your audience, part of why you're doing it is to showcase your own identity, to show people what you care about and the things that are important to you. So when you see something that strikes you as being a shared, aligned belief, that can be a really great thing for somebody to share with their audience.
The next being, you found it to be entertaining, fascinating, or cool. So then you're sharing to your entire audience because you think that they might also find it entertaining, fascinating, or cool.
The next one is, "This is coming up. Everyone should be aware of this." So maybe it's an event that the person cares about, a music release, a drop of some kind. And again, they're showcasing their identity by even caring about what that thing is, but they also want their followers to know, "Hey, this thing that I really care about is coming up, and I wanted you to be aware of it also."
So the next one is a great one in terms of how artists can use marketing strategies and tactics to try to get more awareness around something that they're doing, but this one is, "Isn't this crazy?" It's just that this is so crazy that I have to tell somebody about it. I have to share it.
Seth Godin has this great book called Purple Cow, which basically talks about this exact kind of phenomenon where if you were with your family and you were driving on a country road and you saw a farm with a bunch of cows, and one of those cows was a purple cow. You've seen cows before, so if you're driving by cows, there's no reason to stop. But if you saw a purple cow, you would likely stop. You would pull over. You would be taking selfies with the purple cow. You'd be sharing it with a bunch of people because it's so crazy that it's notable. Have you ever seen a purple cow before? So what he's saying in the book is creating moments that are purple cow type moments for brands and creative offerings so that people end up becoming your marketing vehicle and they can just share for you because it's that notable.
So then the last reason that somebody may share to their followers is simply that they think their followers might find value in whatever it is. If you're creating valuable content, whatever that content is, you may get more shares than something that is strictly just expression-based and there may not be value inside of whatever it is that you've created to give somebody a reason to share it to their followers.
So strictly speaking, just from a marketing standpoint, this is how the filter might go for how you could build up a piece of content that could be sharable. So basically, it's sharable content concept plus what makes this authentic to my brand plus how can I present, adapt this in a creative, unique way to how I saw it or how it's been done before.
So let me break that down. You're actually starting with the sharable concept first. That goes first in the formula. So maybe you saw something, you were inspired by, you thought of something that could be sharable. So you're looking around, doing your research, seeing what's out there in terms of things that are getting a lot of shares, and it inspires you. You feel like maybe there's something you could do with it where you take the concept itself.
But then the second part, "What makes this authentic to my brand?" You're then running it through the filter of your brand's identity and how could you take the concept, but then apply it to your brand.
Then the final is trying to do something more unique and creative to whatever the concept is. So you know what it's core that it's sharable, but then you've made it yours, and it lives within the brand. But then the creativity comes in, which is the fun of all of this, of, "Okay, now how can I make it just a little bit more creative?" I feel like what happens a lot is that people, they'll see a viral concept happen, or they'll see something that's super sharable, and then they just rip that entirely, which is totally fair game. But I feel like the real artists out there, why we're doing what we're doing, is that we enjoy creativity. We enjoy pushing the bounds of creativity. So to me, that just would be the fun in it and the merit in it is that you found something that was sharable, you made it your own, and then you were extra creative with it in terms of how you were going to present it or how you executed it.
And then when you're thinking about sharable concepts, just in terms of social post, a really easy way to look at how you might break it out is it's like a three-act play or a three-act movie. That it's hook, conflict, climax. There's a lot more intricacies to it than that, and we write little mini scripts all the time for different sharable concepts and ideas, but at its core, that's what you're after. That's what you want from the mini scene that you have in your greater movie.
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Not the stairs. So many of the things that I mentioned today may have you thinking just about social post, but this same kind of thinking can be applied to all sorts of things. It could be pop-ups, merch, product drops, new releases, big moments, show announces. There's actually this really great story, uh, there's a documentary called Supermensch that's about Shep Gordon, who's a prolific manager of all sorts of famous rock stars and actors, and he's been involved in many, many different things. But for a bunch of years, he was Alice Cooper's manager. And he tells this story about the Alice Cooper project and how in the early days, Alice had had a lot of success, but then they had issues and, uh, a lot of money troubles when it came to lawsuits with different record labels. So they needed to make money. Alice had a following, a very substantial following in the US, but they set their sights on international. And what they did is they booked an arena, Wembley Arena in London, assuming that since Alice had this huge following in the US, that they would have the same pull in the UK. But spoiler alert, they didn't have that pull. And two weeks before the show, they only had 50 tickets sold to an arena, which was a 10,000 cap arena. So they thought about canceling the show, but instead, they started thinking of different creative ideas of how they could get the word out to people to come to this show.
And so what they came up with, which was absolutely brilliant, is that they took an image of Alice Cooper. And for those listening, I don't know if everybody knows who Alice Cooper is, but he's an incredible rock star, born from the era of the '70s, but has been a force all the way to today, and was even in Wayne's World, I think, in the '90s. But Alice had crazy stage presence. He was like an earlier version of Marilyn Manson, where it was like shock rock, and he would do things on stage, and they would have these crazy antics and productions, stuff having to do with horror movies and darkness and metal.
So what they did for this particular campaign to try to sell tickets to the Wembley Arena is that they took an image, it was a press photo image that they had shot of Alice, and he's completely nude, and he has an anaconda snake or a boa constrictor wrapped around him, and it covers his area, but he's completely nude. And what they did is they paid a truck driver to drive into Piccadilly Square, which essentially is like Times Square in the UK. They had this billboard on the side of the truck, and they told the truck driver to purposely break down in the middle of Piccadilly Square, which would absolutely cause a traffic jam and it would shut down traffic in that area. They said, "No matter what you do, even if you get arrested, do not move the truck."
So they execute this. He breaks down, I'm using air quotes, he breaks down, and that causes, you know, hours-long traffic jam. He does get arrested. It's all over the news. And the way that the news report reports it is that, "Alice Cooper shuts down Piccadilly Square." All these kids, the parents are furious, and, you know, can't believe that, you know, this shock rocker is doing something like this just in terms of a stunt or marketing. But it worked beautifully because the parents hated him, but the kids loved him. And then the tickets sold out. Because even if a certain young person didn't see the newscast, their friends told them about it. Their friends remarked about what they saw. They shared their experience of seeing this rock and roll dude with a snake wrapped around his nude body on this billboard in the middle of Piccadilly Square. They're sharing that with a bunch of different people.
So the power of sharability and the power of virality. While I honestly think that often artists and companies focus too much on trying to go viral, I think that understanding why people share and how you might be able to apply that to your own project, your own company, your own artistry, it could be valuable. So I thought that it was a worthy episode to talk about some of these things and why people share. Hope this helps. Thanks for listening. See you next time.
Neighborhood Neighborhood Art Supply Supply.
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