 Let's welcome the social media strategist and visual marketing expert socially-soldered Donna Moritz. To be here today, to talk to you about the artificial storytelling and how to create and amplify content and stories that move people to action. Give us a moment. Alright, so my slides were a little bit wider than they would appear on screen. So we've given them a diet that's a little bit shrunken down. Actually, now we're going full screen, so there we go. Alright, last year I was looking at this image of the tea plantation. Who's been to Muna? I was thinking, yes. I had been asked to speak at a conference in Kerala, a tourism conference, and a motion took over looking at the images of the region. And I emotionally said yes before I even really considered the logistics of whether it was coming, you know, at the whole conference. And they say that it takes just 50 milliseconds to make a first impression. That's pretty scary when you're standing on stage because you think how could I possibly make a first impression in 50 milliseconds? And they've done research to find that we decide if we're going to like or not like something within 50 milliseconds. So what could you possibly use in less of that time to make an impact? It's an image. Research has shown that visual content or an image, we can process it and make sense of it in just 13 milliseconds. So that's handy, right? Since we all work in marketing. And in my case, I had an emotional connection with those images of the Kerala region and it helped me to make a decision very quickly. And that's what visuals do. And the reality is we're dealing with this. Do you ever feel like this when you're online, like the amount of content that's coming at you? We have so much content coming at us that it's just hard to cope and it's getting faster and faster in every plan. And there's been a prediction that 84% of communication we visual by 2019. And I know that sounds crazy, but when you think about it, all of the platforms are now visual. And it's just coming at us like the speed of light. It's also predicted that 80% of communication will be video by 2019 through Cisco. And I don't know about you, but I don't have enough time to watch that's not that much video. But it's happening. There's so much video online. And you'll hear the term that we all have a short attention span. And I don't think it's about attention span at all. I think it's just, oops, I've gone fast. It's just that we are making really fast decisions about what content we're going to engage with. And we've actually developed, really, clearly developed filter systems just to sort through all the noise. Who here would like people to decide to focus on your content? Not because you caught their attention, but because you have built up this trust with them and they know your life and trust you so much that they don't want to miss anything you have to post. Who would like that with your audience? Yeah, I know I do. So today I want you to think differently. This is all about, you know, we have some great storytellers in this room. I feel like I am preaching to the converted a little bit. All marketers are doing wonderful things. But if you can go away with one new thing you're going to take action on and think a little bit differently about visual storytelling, then my job is done. And it doesn't matter whether you're a grant or an agency or a small business. If you get these fundamentals right with how storytelling and visual content has changed, then you're going to be on the right track. And then the tools and the strategies will come in later to focus on. So I'm going to talk about three keys to visual storytelling. The first is the shift, you know, what has changed as far as visual storytelling and how we create and consume content. The second is what can you create? What type of visual content works at the moment? And the third is amplification. So this is not just about what you create, but how you empower your audience to create visual content and then you can amplify it. So the shift, what has changed and what do we need to understand to create great visual storytelling? We really need to understand where our customers are at and how they're engaging with our brands and also how they can create and consume content so that you're better able to assist them to share content around your brand and around your story. So you hear a lot of your storytelling. It's become a really hot topic around the world with my team. It might be a little bit overused, but I think it's still a very relevant term and we really need to be good at it and in fact great marketing is really about great storytelling. So the way that we consume content has also changed. We go to, we snap all the stories throughout the day between Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat. We're doing 15-second snippets of stories and we're diving in and out of these stories and then stringing them together to make sense of them. So people aren't just jumping into big pieces of content as much as they used to. And Google, we also turn to our mobile devices throughout the day to either search for something or to watch something or discover something or to buy something. And Google calls these micro-moments and they say that the brands that are successful or that will be successful are those that are able to meet and understand what consumers are in these micro-moments. So you really need to work out how you can meet people with the content you're creating, what platforms are they on, when are they on and how are they engaging and you need to be able to create content that suits the way that they're consuming it. And storytelling has changed. As I said, we're jumping into stories and snippets throughout the day and we're turning to our mobile devices for stories and we're not necessarily watching stories on websites. We're going to use feeds to get our content and people are turning to their friends for advice versus the marketing department of what we like, but it's not. It doesn't happen that way. Oops. And storytelling builds to Instagram and images create a emotional connection with us. They draw us in just like my image of the tea plantations when I forgot to mention that I did actually go to the conference last week and I did actually get to go and visit and you just can't take a bad photo there. It was amazing. I was just blown away. So it really, you know, that one photo led me to have an amazing experience. And original visual content catches attention and stops the scroll. So we need to, you know, there's so much content. How are you going to catch attention? And there's an interesting stat that still stands that on Pinterest, 80% of all content is shared content. So if you can be in the 20% that's creating content for the 80% to share, you're off the craze. And we're also 44% more likely to engage with visuals. So there's no denying that visual content creates a connection with us. And companies that create visuals have seven times a higher conversion rate. So even though we're all obsessed with video and all the different types of video at the moment, there's really a strong case for still creating a lot of visuals, like just straight images and photos. So what sort of images do you create? Now that you've got this understanding of how storytelling has changed and what we can create, what do we create? So you've got your level one kind of shareable that's easy to create, easy to share visuals that you see on Facebook and Instagram. And it's about entertainment. So there's platforms to be entertained, to catch up with their family and friends, not to be marked in two by brands. So if you can get really good at quotes and tips and photos and gifs or gifts, as I say, I'm not going to get into the debate over how to send names. It's worth a while. Level two is step by steps. This is more teaching how to do something or helping people rather than entertaining things like how tos and tech lists and tutorials. And then you can go up to your showpieces, which are more investment of time and money, but they also bring greater return in terms of traffic, hopefully shares the same. So these are your infographics, slideshows, slide decks and video. And video has gone nuts. We've got 3D video, short video, long video, virtual reality, live video. There's so many different forms of video and so it's really just what you choose and pay attention to. And animation, this is another one. So I did a blog post a few months ago about popular images using research by Shutterstock as far as what sort of images have been used a lot in marketing and in the industry, and I related that to Instagram images and how they're being used on Instagram. And it was interesting the types of images that came up. I'll put the link up for a resource page, for this and all of the brands and concepts I mentioned in here and any links that I mentioned. So you can check that out. But the images that were listed as the highest, obviously there was 3D photography and drone photography, were very popular, all those new technologies. But the two that came up high that I think we need to take notice of, that nothing has really changed is mobile photography. So those in the moment raw images that people are taking, it doesn't have to be perfect and really polished, which is important as a marketing industry to be aware of, that this kind of imagery is very, very popular. So Instagram, obviously. And data stories, people want to hear about data stories. So it's no surprise that Facebook and Instagram and Snapchat are really embracing the idea of telling data stories. The others that came up that were popular were things like sort of unprocessed textual images and also things like photojournalism. So people being in the moment and capturing things as they happen. So there are five key elements to a piece of visual content that we share really well. And if you can get three or four of these at least, then you have more chance of creating visuals that will work. So the first is that it's original. That doesn't kind of make sense. If you're scrolling through something and you see something new, we're all over it like a whole piece of gossip. If you haven't seen that video or that image before. The second is that it's relevant. Not all platforms are created equal. So you need to look at what works on that platform, how your audience are engaging, what type of content they're posting and what they're sharing. So take a step back and look at what works. The third one is that it's timely. And you can do this in two ways. You can create content that is planned ahead around events or dates. And the second one is that you respond to events or happenings in the world with very quick calls to active... You can mobilize very quickly. So it's important that you're able to create video, create images really quickly without needing to necessarily outsource or take the time to sort of hand it on to another team. And also that they're optimized. So this is not just about the size or the content, but actually the call to action. What do you want people to do with that content? So do you want them to just like a comment or do you want them to click through or to share or to actually do something, sign up for something, you know, participate in a competition, whatever it is. And lastly that it's snappable. We mentioned people are, you know, snapping on content throughout the day. So if you can give the content as easy to process then your life will have success. So Mike Stelzner from Social Media Examiner and it's a great blog to follow if you want to get some good, basic social media and digital marketing advice. He said this at his conference earlier in the year. He said it's more important than ever for marketers to know and learn how to create short, compelling videos. And he's right. And obviously the story is together. So if you can layer your stories like that it's more likely that you're going to have success and engagement. I wanted to show you this. Let's see how it goes again. This video, the company in Australia. And it's an example of a really good piece of content. They've made a gift on Facebook and then get some advice. Their whole approach is that they want you to, you know, be happy and healthy. So there's advice to get some happiness into your life. So it's snappable. It's relevant for the platform. It's optimized because they're asking you to do something and just trying to get the elements. And, you know, it's original. So that's a great little piece of content that's relevant to Facebook. And gifts have actually become part of our cultural language. Just yesterday Facebook announced, just released, that we can do post gifts in comments. So everybody's currently going crazy with them. Hopefully it will settle down because it can be a bit distracting. But we can study so much with a visual without any words. Sometimes this has a better, it works better than actually using words. Now, I actually did prepare this before we had the presentation this morning. And I just love, connect so much with their story and their marketing. And I'm really glad that we're seeing the video this morning. And you've seen just how powerful it is. The first time I watched that video, I was, I did not understand a word of it. And I did not grow up around the new Ralph Hess, obviously. And I just was so emotional at the end of it. I thought, how come this video has nothing really common with me to have touched my heartstrings. And it was the nostalgia. It was going back in time, thinking about your childhood. It was just that idea. So when a video can have that much power with somebody who doesn't actually have that connection, it's just very, very powerful. So I went on a bit of a vortex, a downward vortex of paperboop. And I watched this video. We didn't see this this morning, I don't think, but it's a really great animation. It has Disney quality. It's very, very impressed with that. And I went further into their Instagram account. And obviously they have a budget for doing short video and animations if it's really cool animations. But I want to just highlight the fact that even though they're doing these big budget videos, for those of you that are smaller businesses in the room, this whole idea of tapping into memories, they're using a range of different content types. So they've done these little short raw videos like this one. This is two kids playing Book Cricket. I turned off the sound. They're playing Book Cricket. And that's who's playing Book Cricket in this room. Okay. So it's an Indian game where you score based on where you put the book to and what the last number on the page is. And this kind of raw, real video is easy to do on an iPhone. So they're doing these high budget productions, but also these kinds of videos which work really well on Instagram and Facebook, and they tick all the boxes as far as the different criteria and the keys that I said before. I actually Googled Book Cricket. I played Backyard Cricket. I did play a lot of it as a child. But my Googled Book Cricket, this is what Australian game, Books on Cricket, I played Cricket India and found out there's a whole Wikipedia site on what Book Cricket is. And I said to my husband, and I explained it to him, he said, oh no, we used dice with rolled dice and there were rules for batsmen and fielders. And I was like, oh, I obviously missed that whole thing. We just went out the back. But what they're doing is they're doing their drinks and unlocking emotion. And if you can tap into emotion in any way, it doesn't have to be about childhood memories. It could be just an image that has some meaning to someone. So visual content, in the case of me wanting to come to India, it could be very, very powerful. After we looked at it from the tool, it's a tool company called Churalate. They have a visual marketing tool that's enterprise level. It's quite expensive, but it's a very, very impressive software. But he said this. He said the holy grail for a marketer is not a transactional relationship, but an emotional relationship with the consumer. And that's what paper boat drinks is doing. And if you have an emotional relationship with the consumer, they tolerate this box and they will stick around for longer and they will buy your products and repeat your products, come back to buy more. So it's really, really important. I just want to show you this video in the air. Okay, so this is just another example of really thinking about platform you're on and using content appropriately. So obviously this is about writing motor bikes, I don't believe. This is referring to Northern India. And they have used the slide share function on Instagram. So I'm using it for tips. So just adding in a whole multiple series of images. So it's relevant, it's optimized, it's snackable and it's really catering to the audience that they have on Instagram. So that's a great tool that you can use on Instagram. I'll be talking about tools in my workshop, but it's a great way to sort of get more content instead of just one image on Instagram. Okay, so another example here is Bajaj, I believe that's his day, Electricals. And they do a lot of really interesting content that's snackable and very engaging. So lots of tips for how, you know, use their products to live a happy life. I love the strawberry hulling down the bottom. And they use time as a content. So they plan ahead to put up posts about how to create organic powders for the Holy Festival. I'd like to do that, loads of fun. But yeah, another great example of content done well. I just want to show you this one. These are examples from Instagram stories or different brands. I'm going to use Instagram stories. So San Diego Tourism San Diego collect stories from their fans and then post them up in a fan Friday and just highlight them in tag. So that's a great way to get some music generated content going. I use Instagram stories to show tips. So obviously we're not all maybe into skydiving, but their audience is. So they're using some of the features of Instagram stories to layer little bits of text and stickers and they're tagging people and adding locations. I've turned the sound down on this, but he's calling out to his mom saying, sorry mom. And then they're actually giving a call to action at the end. So it covers a lot of the bases with images as well. Or effective visual content. And Box do some really great Instagram stories. This is a short stop motion clip and obviously put a bit more creative into this. But it's a really effective one. They're just showing how to use their product in a fun way. And at the end they finish with a call to action to swipe up for more. Now I'm going to talk about this more in my workshop, but if you have a verified account on Twitter you're able to do the swipe up call to action. But as of a couple of weeks ago they've opened it up to anyone with over 10,000 fans. So if you guys didn't realise it and you have more than 10,000 fans you can actually add a link to our new Instagram stories. This is all about user-generated content. It's about going beyond the stories that you create and realising that the stories that your audience creates about the brand can be even more powerful. I love this quote and this is from almost 15 years ago that the only path to profitable growth may lie in a company's ability to get its loyal customers to in effect become its marketing partner. Nothing has really changed, right? And that's where the real power comes in user-generated content. Consumers or customers are our best marketers. Nothing has changed in that. It's always been that way. The word of mouth. The best ways to do this is with stories. We've had some amazing storytellers in this room but I'd like to say that no matter how good any of us are we will never be as good or as prolific with stories as our audience. So we need to think about how we can go beyond just what we create and think about how we can really enable and empower people to take our story and tell it in their own way and then you can flip around the back end of that and help them to amplify that. So you give them a little lunch and then help them to share it. So this involves, sorry, this involves essentially providing them with the platform like they would find you and know about you on the hashtag or something around which they can share stories and then empowering those customer stories and then, like I said, amplify. So a great example of this was a campaign that Kerala Tourism did at the end of last year. They set up these booths in the airports around India and really going for the domestic market and just saying, hey, come and check out what it's like to ride on the back quarters in Kerala for one of these house folks. So people put on a virtual reality headset and they basically were experiencing it from within an airport and the results were amazing. People were saying how amazing it was and that it felt like they were there and they were rushing off to Bukhola days. A lot of people actually considered to go to Kerala that never might have put it on their bucket list. It's a really great example. Here's your headset. I hope you can tweet it out on Twitter and then we can share it as well. I did some amazing things a few years ago. I'm a little bit biased. I'm sure Jeff is as well. But they basically turned their Facebook page and their Instagram account over to their fans and said, tell your stories about Australia and we'll share it. Their marketing plans have since done the same thing, but they are now the biggest destination page in the world. They get thousands of photos and videos sent in every day. They never have to create this content. It's all under the see Australia hashtag. And there's some other campaigns like Restaurant Australia where they really promoted Australia as one very large restaurant and that increased our restaurant industry by about $1 billion during that campaign as well. Airbnb is another great example of using user-generated content. And they have a very community-driven Instagram account. So go and check it out. They basically look for stories from their fans and they share them. And all their fans are influencers. Whether they have 300 followers or 3 million, they want to hear their stories. And their social media, head of social media, Eric Toad, said, it's our job to listen, understand why they travel and then tell your story back to the audience that's following us. And they do this in two ways. They do this by finding the right stories and asking the right questions. So when they find the right stories, they're searching under hashtags where people are posting under Airbnb and then they're reaching out to those people on Instagram itself and asking for permission to share. There are tools you can use. I'm talking about one in my workshop. But at the very least, you can just go ahead with sharing this on our Instagram account. And then what they do is instead of stopping right there, they go one step further and they go, where did you stay? And it's the what did you find that gives them some great content that match with the stories. So they're creating their own story about that person and their holiday. And they get responses like, I found a location I never knew existed. I found my wife. I found that my culture is not that different to here. I found amazing food, whatever it is. And then they have this conversation with their audience. They have a team doing this 24-7 in three locations around the world because when they looked at the data, their user-generated content was a huge part of the success of Airbnb. So why not tell their stories? So there's really four ways, four aspects to creating content that is easily shared and amplified. The first is to have a hashtag with some way of, I guess of bringing that conversation together between your business, your brand, your agency and your community. The second is to have Wi-Fi. India does this pretty well. It's a shame to say it's probably better than Australia. But giving people Wi-Fi, especially when they're travelling, if they're not a domestic person with a phone and data account and they're coming from overseas, which helps to be able to post. We had Wi-Fi at all the hotels I went on last week and we posted a lot of content for the places we were staying. The third thing is to have it mobile and in the moment. So someone can easily post about their experience while they're in it. Because we're never more ready or able to post about an experience than when we're there. When we get home, it's not the same. You forget you've got a thousand digital photos that you don't know anything with. So when we're in the moment, we've got a number of hearts. It's having a meaningful purpose or some sort of emotion or memory that makes people want to drink. Post. Sorry. It makes someone a post. That's an interesting quote. The next. So really, from that, my question to you is to really think about how can you encourage fans and customers and followers to get in the moment and thinking about those core factors when you've got a lot of these concepts as the tools, how do we create I really want to encourage you to take advantage. There's loads of tools available that you can use. We've never had such an amazing array of tools that we can tap into and that have made it so easy for us to create content. Especially with short video and images even within a business where you might outsource some of your content but be able to just create quick videos like the paper boat, the cricket video you don't need to outsource that sort of thing and even within an agency working with your clients to help them to create a content that then helps you to create great great to create. So I'll be talking in my workshop about tools for things like short video, animated visuals Instagram stories obviously that relates also you can use it for Facebook stories and Snapchat. Use generated content and yes that's all the things I'll be covering. So I just wanted to finish with this slide from Instagram. They had a few people ask about the algorithm getting upset that all their content was getting seen so they replied with this they said the three things you need to do is have a distinct visual presence create quality content and really put some effort into it you don't need to post a lot of the time just posting once or twice a day quality visuals or video. The second thing is to be a storyteller we've got a lot of storytellers in the room so that's good to tick and thirdly put thought into your creative hopefully people in this room usually put thought into their creative but they're saying put some heart into it put as much effort into the posts that you put up as you would to your business and lastly I just encourage you to think beyond your marketing team as far as who can create stories and be great with storytellers it's not just your marketers it's your sales team it's your employees, it's your staff it's your community just remember that everyone with a mobile phone in their pocket or in their hand is on their marketing team and these guys I'm hoping are on your marketing team and they're not just watching cricket thank you very much that is all I have to share with you that. If Ma is where I put all the links please check that out. Absolutely Donna honestly we're almost socially sorted we've been fully sorted after a well-showed post lunch thank you so much Donna I'm going to invite Mr. Nitin Gupta CEO Zapats to kindly present our token of gratitude to Donna I'm going to take a selfie so go ahead absolutely. Alright everybody hands in the air launched simple one I guess your options are 2009 2005 and 2014 once again when was being launched is it 2009 2005 or 2014 do tweet the correct answer using handle zirca digital and hashtag key4m it's going to be a 30 minute lunch ladies and gentlemen and very importantly post lunch we're going to have two parallel workshops Zoe Cairne's workshop which will be held in this hall which would be about influencer marketing strategies and Donna Moritz who's going to deep dive into visual storytelling do take your pick and move to the halls accordingly also very importantly VIP tag holders your lunch is going to be held at the imperial hall which is at the first level that's what VIP tag holders and the rest of us can kindly present our coupons outside for lunch do explore the experiential stalls that we have outside ladies and gentlemen I'm going to see you back in the room in 30 minutes from now thank you and bon apetit