Last week was my very first SXSW Interactive. And as R/GA
noted, storytelling is all the rage right now:
Although I would argue that storytelling has been popular
for at least 3,000 years (e.g. The Bible), spinning a good yarn is definitely a hot topic in marketing right now.
So it was no coincidence that storytelling came up during
the Future of Media 2013 panel about branded content at The Drake Hotel on
Thursday, March 14. As a former
freelance journalist, the most interesting part of the debate was watching
journalists and content marketers try to determine where journalism ends and
content marketing begins.
Joseph Barbieri was the closest
when he said that there is plenty of good writing and storytelling possible in
branded content. It might not be journalism in the traditional sense, but
branded content can have context, layers and nuance. Josh Sternberg, meanwhile,
was correct in saying that having a journalistic sensibility is not the same as
doing journalism on behalf of brands.
Everyone agreed that
good content is good content, regardless of who or how it is produced. The
ability to tell a great story is crucial to producing good content, and it just
so happens that most journalists are decent storytellers.
In my attempt to
support this trend, I’ve asked Arianne Schaffer to speak at the Toronto Content Strategy Meetup on Thursday March 21. Arianne is adept at telling funny and moving personal stories, and she’s agreed
to share some of her secrets. Although she’s promised to explain how personal
storytelling can be leveraged in professional situations, the truth is that the
elements of a good story remain consistent, regardless of context.
That's why one of the first questions all content
strategists need to ask is “What’s the story?”* Or, as I like to say, content
strategy without storytelling sounds like a fairy tale without a happy ending.
*Morning glory
