Marketing Happy Hour - 10 Social Media Storytelling Tips from Disney [Part 1]

Starting point is 00:00:00 If you don't have stakes, you don't have a story. From a marketing standpoint, adding stakes to any story makes the audience care about the characters that they're watching. Like, it can also be an employee, right? I think the point of connecting to people who are maybe behind the scenes on a normal day, but get the opportunity to speak to an audience, it really humanizes the brand and again, creates that emotional connection in that state. Welcome to marketing happy. I'm Cassie, consultant, podcaster, and your host. Every Thursday, you'll hear episodes packed with insights from brand leaders on an array of topics from crafting effective marketing strategies and hitting career goals to building leadership

Starting point is 00:00:44 skills and launching your own business. Inspired by those unfiltered happy hour combos with peers, this show is all about practical empowering chats to support your professional journey. So grab your favorite drink and let's get to the episode. Welcome back to Marketing Happy Hour. I'm so stoked to be joined by my not even a guest co-host anymore. Allie's back again with me. And I'm so honored. It's been such a while, Allie, that I've had a actual co-host. So I'm so grateful that you're joining me so much. I know. Thank you so much for having me. As always, I am super excited. Today's topic is one that we both are like so passionate about and so excited to talk about, particularly in how we can get that. real world application from from disney and in storytelling and yeah looking forward to it yeah we have quite a bit of Disney more um if you can't tell by the shirts if you were watching um big Disney vintage girlies big Disney girlies just in general um so we saw this newsletter come through from

Starting point is 00:01:51 Rachel Carton her link in bio newsletters excellent I'll have that linked below and it was talking about storytelling tips around Disney and what we can learn and apply from like a social media marketing sense. So I'm excited to talk about this. But yeah, we have a lot of that's like our thing. Like we both live in central Florida. We go to the parks all the time. And so I think both you and I think you would agree with me on this. Like just the infatuation of story and how we can use it in our day to day work. But also like what we learn from the films and narrative storytelling. and all of these different things, I personally love just learning about that and diving deep into it. So excited to chat more.

Starting point is 00:02:34 Yeah, for sure. And I think particularly when you and I are chatting kind of just in the more casual sense, like we're always trying to learn from the things that Disney is doing when it comes from a marketing perspective and particularly on the social perspective, I think in the last year or so we've seen such a shift in terms of their social strategies and things that they're doing really well that we want to kind of mimic and all of these, you know, these tips that we are going to go into help kind of find that sort of real world application where it will make sense for listeners to kind of adapt that into their own strategies. So really excited to chat about it.

Starting point is 00:03:08 One of the resources I'll recommend is there's a book called, I'm looking on my bookshelf right now, there's a book called The Best Story Wins and kind of goes into similar strategies, just storytelling again for business and marketing, but it was written by Matthew Lund from Pixar so he kind of when I was reading through these notes and in the article originally I was thinking about that book because there are some things that apply there but it's it's a great book and I think again just hearing what you know directors and writers and all of these different people involved in filmmaking and TV shows we have so much to learn from them even if it doesn't feel like it directly connects it definitely does just I think is creatives and marketers for sure for

Starting point is 00:03:52 Sure. I have to ask what's in your glass for this episode. Yes. Since we're reporting after hours. Yes. So ironically, I'm going to make everything in this episode tie to Disney somehow. This ties to Disney. Okay. Hear me out. I have a bureau and it is the double tasty. It's the new West Coast style IPA, which is so good. I've tried every single bureau flavor. And I think this is one of my favorites. But Disney tie-in, Tom Holland owns the brand. we love Spider-Man. Spider-Man is filming right now. I'm like fully engrossed in all of the footage. But yeah, that's what I have right now. What about you all? First of all, I'm so jealous because I can't wait to try it. I'm coming over to try it tomorrow. I have a half day, which is a cool iced tea brand. It's got like the prebiotics in it. For the tummy trouble girls, this is the best thing ever. they have the peach tea, the lemon, and the green tea. I have all three flavors stocked at all times. They're amazing. Amazing. Yes, I love that brand so much. Well, good. We're hydrated. We're ready. I'm excited. You know, we already kind of teed up this topic for today. One thing that

Starting point is 00:05:07 we're going to do is there is 10 points overall. So we're going to break this into a two-part series, which is exciting. So if you're listening, this is part one. We'll dive into part two next week. if you are in chronological order with this. But again, as we mentioned, this episode is inspired by an essay from Jonathan Hurwitz, Emmy-nominated writer and creative consultant, and Rachel Carton. Again, shout out to Rachel, interviewed him and kind of dove into some of these tips that he learned just from his time writing at Disney, being in the space for so long. and again, how can we apply those strategies from Disney, filmmaking, TV, et cetera, to our social

Starting point is 00:05:50 media marketing? And so these are just kind of distilled down from a presentation that he gave to an agency that he worked at for many years. And so excited to chat through that today. Let's dive in to the five strategies that we have today. So part one is if you don't have stakes, you don't have a story. So this one is from Pixar director, Andrew Stanton. And so the whole concept here is think about a movie that you've watched recently, right? If the main character of a story gets stuck in an elevator, we might care. We may look at that happening and say, okay, that sucks, but that's probably about how deep that goes, right? But if the main character whose claustrophobic gets stuck in an elevator, we might care even more and then going even deeper if the main character who's claustrophobic who we

Starting point is 00:06:44 also care about gets stuck in an elevator we really care about that so applying this to a social sense so thinking about those different layers of how much we get to know characters and how much we're connected to a character essentially from a marketing standpoint adding stakes to any story makes the audience care about the characters that they're watching right so think about what we heard from Michael Vito Valentino of Now This, the host of their series, Are You Okay, has their own existing following. And so Michael and his team pitched to have that host come on the show and to build an even bigger brand around this host. And so they made the audience really care about the talent that they casted, not only because there was an existing audience there for that

Starting point is 00:07:35 talent but they were able to capitalize that and go even deeper onto that as well um so this strategy adds those stakes people care and so no matter what that character what that talent or person is doing uh we're going to be invested in that story right they're not these anonymous faces that we see one time we see them across a number of different content pieces um and we really get excited about what they're bringing to the table next um really Real world individuals with real stories connect us to brands on an emotional level that can't be fabricated. So I always tell brands all the time that I'm working with, put a face to the name, right? Like it doesn't matter what you do. Is there some sort of personality or human that you can

Starting point is 00:08:22 put at the forefront that people will connect with? People connect more with people versus brands. And on the reverse side, too, I want to mention just this other strategy from a storytelling angle. thinking about what that problem is that you solve. So your consumers all have an issue or something that they are facing. And so not only discussing what that problem is that you're looking to solve, but what are the stakes that they're going to face if they don't come to a resolution, right? So I think there's a number of different ways that you can think about this. But overall, how can you let people get to know your brand on a human level. What are those stakes that that character, that talent or whatever is facing and really help people get invested into that branding character? Yeah. And one thing, too, that came up for me

Starting point is 00:09:11 while we were doing the outline for this episode, particularly is around the sort of talent and characters. Like, it can also be an employee, right? It can also be someone from a department that is not really visible to the company. It's more of a behind the scenes look. I think the point of connecting to people who are maybe behind the scenes on a normal day but get the opportunity to speak to an audience, it really humanizes the brand and again creates that emotional connection and that stake in involvement with the brand in a new and kind of unique way. So it doesn't necessarily just have to be paid talent. It can also be the employees that you have. And a lot of them are looking to be representative of the brand, especially if they're really

Starting point is 00:09:56 proud of the work that they're doing. And I think one other thing that we see is Disney is doing that really well right now. We see a lot of people on the Imagineering side who are typically behind the scenes. And they have a series that's called, we call it Imagineering. And they have different Imagineers from different departments coming in and talking about projects that they're able to share a little bit about in Tees. And it's been really an interesting, unique look behind the curtain at a lot of this sort of behind the scenes work that they're doing. Yeah. I couldn't agree more. and I think, too, there's this question a lot of times of, well, I don't really post myself on the feeder. I don't post a person on the feed very often. Number one, I would say it's never too late to start. So, you know, test it and see how your audience engages with that. If you are a very product or, you know, the end content is kind of the main focus. There's a way to get started with that stuff. But the other thing that you can do is start testing it in stories as well. Specifically on Instagram, obviously. But how can you start to make that kind of your organic place where people get to see the BTS and what's going on with your team and all these different people involved in your brand and start there and maybe slowly trickle it out into the feed?

Starting point is 00:11:08 But there's a number of ways to approach this. So I think the biggest thing, again, is always test, always try things. And if it doesn't land or it doesn't connect with your audience, you can always pivot. Totally. That's the beauty of social, right? Is there's so much opportunity to test and learn and optimize from one post. to a series of posts, and it's ever-changing, which is really great. So I'm going to kick us off with our next tip, which is that shapes can elicit feelings.

Starting point is 00:11:33 And when I first read this, I'm thinking, how are we going to apply this to social media? This makes no sense. One of the things that Jonathan references here is particularly how the Pixar team used shapes to help get across specific character emotions in working with Up. Up is one of Pixar's most successful films across the board. There's media all over the parks, whether it's physical, like the characters or merchandise. It is truly one of their most successful franchises. And they really wanted, in the beginning of the movie, for Ellie to come across as this character, that's really sweet, really open.

Starting point is 00:12:09 So they gave her a circular face shape. And in contrast, for Carl, they wanted him to come across really sturdy and stubborn and rigid. And for Carl's face shape, they went with a square. And this to me evokes a lot of thought from a social perspective around what kind of auditory and or visual tools we can use in our content to help kind of create that feeling and understanding with our audiences through those audio and shape movements. It seems like a big task, I think, when I think about it like this from a 30,000 foot view, but if you boil it down to kind of that circle and square type of comparison, I think

Starting point is 00:12:49 there is, there's something interesting there. It's not something I've particularly done in my career. So I'm curious, Cass, if you've ever done anything like that in terms of shapes and in how they elicit kind of feelings for, for an audience. Yeah, this is interesting. So this, I feel like, at least from my perception, is on a branding standpoint, right? So like when you're creating content or graphics or whatever it is, those type of tones and shapes that you're including in those graphical elements. I know one brand in particular that comes to mind is DeSua. So we talk about DeSua all the time. We love that. Just even from personal level, we love them. But they do this with their branding. So depending on the different product lines,

Starting point is 00:13:33 they have different shapes that are connected to different products. And so some of them are very rounded and soft feeling. Others are a little bit more rigid. And so you can do this from literally like a product branding standpoint. But I think also when you're building out your identity on your actual social media accounts, thinking about even like background objects that are included. What does your environment look like? What is the space that you're in that you are showcasing? Because all of that stuff creates some sort of emotional or sensory connection to the audience. And so I think, yes, from a branding standpoint, but also just thinking about, again, like, how are we, how are we curating our space or how are we curating, you know,

Starting point is 00:14:21 even like the text that we're using in captions or the caption backgrounds, like things like that. I think this can come out in a number of different places. Yeah, that's a great shout. That's a great show. So strategy number three is you can't get surprised without expectation. That is the core of drama. So you and I are huge fans of theater. This is one thing outside of Disney that we talk about all the time, but playwrights specifically use techniques to increase the desire for what is to come. So think maybe it's different products that you see on set at the beginning of a show, props, set design that help tease the audience of what to expect later. So some specific examples. I feel like everyone's seen Wicked, especially the movie. But when Wicked starts,

Starting point is 00:15:09 you're seeing a glimpse into the future, right? So you're starting at the end and then you're working your way back to that point. Phantom of the Opera. You see the chandelier drop at the very beginning of the show as well. So there's these different things that are happening that create intrigue at the very beginning of the show. And then you're able to remember that moment when it almost happens again later in the show as well. So simply put, application-wise for social media, how can you tease what's coming for your audience and kind of stop that doom scroll. So again, some sort of wait for the end, wait for element, something that gives people a glimpse of something crazy happening later in the content is going to keep them sticking around for the whole entire piece of content.

Starting point is 00:15:54 So think about like, you know, someone falls on a video. You see the fall happen at the very beginning and then you see the actual process of how that occurred. Definitely a jet two holiday moment there but you know that's like a funny example but you can also do this as well for you know a process or um showcasing some sort of story that your brand is trying to tell um again it's that hook element like how can you use a tease for what to expect in the end as a hook and then tell that story from there yeah that's a great shout i also thought about all of the times that i have watched different halls of merchandise and people showing the actual big flat lay of merchandise and then on the like the first thing that you see on the video is like wait till the end and like

Starting point is 00:16:43 they essentially go through each piece of the merch and like so there are things like that too that I feel like just create that anticipation even if you slide the little scroll over and you go to the end you're still going to the end of the video right like the goal is to get them to of course stop up front so like creating that expectation and anticipation is really important. Right. It's kind of like answering that question, you know, how did that happen? Like starting with with whatever that point is or how did they do that or I want to know more about the process there. So like what is that first initial glance like maybe within two seconds that gets the audience to ask that question and then answer that question throughout

Starting point is 00:17:23 the video. Yes, exactly. Strategy four is talking a little bit about conflict. The conflict is the story. And how Jonathan explains conflict here is in terms of the wants versus the needs. So the thing that a character wants is almost always something that's sort of external or physical or tangible. So we're going to give Toy Story as an example here. So Woody wants to be Andy's favorite toy, right? But the actual thing that Woody needs is the truth. And he needs to learn how to share Andy's love with other toys, particularly Buzz. Right. That can between the want in a need is what actually fuels a movie, and in this case, what we're talking about is a story, right?

Starting point is 00:18:08 Without that conflict or tension in your social content, it's really, really difficult to get people to stop in their scrolling. And I think the previous tip also kind of feeds into this one as well. And so one of the things that I was thinking about in application-wise is when we think about this serialized content, in short-form content specifically, where we've got those really quick hits that we want to get across, we need to be clear about how we want to drive audience behavior through their wants and needs.

Starting point is 00:18:34 And this can also be built with things like coming soon or teaser posts. That's also an opportunity to kind of build that anticipation and excitement within the audience that creates that kind of want versus need conflict. Yeah, I wonder too, like your thoughts on this and if this applies. Like, for example, I want to go get a facial because it's, sounds relaxing and all of this. But the core need behind that desire is I want to have clear skin and show up confidently. So maybe even from like a messaging standpoint, it could be tapping into what the core need of someone is outside of just that kind of surface level

Starting point is 00:19:17 desire, if that makes sense. I don't know if that's part of it. But I think if it is that goes into just really tapping into your audience demographics and data and like what why are they coming to you like asking them and maybe being able to infuse that into your messaging for sure and I think that's particularly around a specific product or a specific lifestyle like I think there are different applications for it but that in that terminology it makes a lot of sense to think about you know what is what is driving like the customer want and how can you then solve for that. Right. Absolutely. So strategy number five last of this part one episode is TV has the ability to evolve over time, whereas movies just are. So of course TV is interesting because

Starting point is 00:20:08 we are following a character story across several episodes, 20, 40, depending on how many seasons a series is, whereas a movie is typically just one time 90 minutes plus. Maybe there's a series of three or four movies, for example, but TV is a lot more open-ended, and there's a lot more character development opportunity and connection opportunity with the characters that we're watching. So as we think about a brand social experience, we talk a lot about serialized content, and that's because it's really connecting with audiences right now. But again, how can you think of your content as an ongoing series of television? you introduce a quote unquote character or talent and each post builds character it builds rapport with

Starting point is 00:20:56 that character and furthers that relationship with them but also your brand as well and this creates that lasting engagement you know your audience wants to tune in wants to see what they're going to do next kind of has ideas in their mind of what could potentially happen down the road and they have that expectation and that excitement around seeing what that next piece of content is So that is thinking about more serialized content, thinking about some of those big campaign moments. So you're launching a product or you have a tent pull event or you have a seasonal push, something that you are working towards and that it's that big piece, that big moment for your brand. Usually those are a little bit more highly produced, things that you're thinking about on a deeper level

Starting point is 00:21:39 versus those organic feeling week to week pieces of content. And so, for example, like one thing that I'm thinking about is, you know, Spotify Rapp for example. It dropped once a year like a movie premiere. We all anticipate it. We all get excited about the day that it comes out, and that's kind of it. And it's creating that buzz, and it's generating that excitement online, but it happens on one day, and that's kind of it. Another example, too, is Nike's campaigns around the Olympics, right?

Starting point is 00:22:09 It's very cinematic. It's very highly produced. It's very emotional, and it's timebound. It's only happening around the Olympics. Thinking about it in that way, that's another framework to think about content too is yes we're going to have these big campaign pushes yes we're going to be doing things that are a little bit more elevated and highly produced and well thought out but also how can you balance that from like a TV show angle so something that's a little bit more organic keeping

Starting point is 00:22:34 people engaged and excited throughout time and there's definitely a balance there I don't think you know maybe it doesn't work for for everything but I think it's just two different options to be thinking about from a social standpoint for sure I think in every in everything with social media it's very nuanced, right? I think you have to make sure that you're kind of gut checking against your strategies and the goals that you want to hit in terms of how these strategies particularly can apply in a real world sense. But I do think there are some really good kind of gut checks here when it comes to thinking about how you are building content serialized and the big sort of 360 channel launches and how that content differs and how you can sort of create that buzz for each

Starting point is 00:23:18 of them in the purpose of each of them, right? They serve, they both serve a very different purpose. Like on the big campaign moments, more often than not, these teams, and I speak from experience, these teams have really large marketing budgets that they're putting towards these bigger campaigns, whereas these sort of TV show, like serialized style campaigns don't have as much budget behind them. So it is interesting to think about it in that way and kind of adapt that. Absolutely. Again, I think there's a number of ways to approach this stuff and just, obviously in social and general. And so again, the biggest thing I always tell people test, try things, see what lands, pay attention to what consumers are saying and asking.

Starting point is 00:24:01 You know, that's one thing with serialized content too is I always tell people one place to start is like thinking about a core theme or topic within your brand and answering all the questions around that topic. So I think just again paying attention to what are some of those conversations happening and you'll start to really think about some unique ways to speak to those different questions and needs of the consumer and also just elevating your product and or product and service in a different way. This was great. Just like as a quick recap, again, I'll kind of go through these these five tips that we talked about today. So tip one, if you don't have stakes, you don't have a story. So what are those stakes that you're going to communicate through a character within your brand?

Starting point is 00:24:45 tip number two shapes illicit feelings so again talking about from this design and kind of composition of a shot standpoint tip number three you can't get surprised without expectation and that is the core of drama so how can you tease at the beginning of a piece of content tell that story and then go to the beginning in the end as well tip number four the conflict is the story those wants versus needs. How can you showcase and communicate and speak to those? And then tip number five, TV has the ability to evolve over time, whereas movies just are. So thinking about big temple moments versus serialized content and how can you infuse both in your brand. But, Ali, this has been great. We got to talk about one of our favorite things. I know. It's always a

Starting point is 00:25:34 good day when you and I can talk about our favorite things and merge it with our professional life. So I'm feeling great. It's my favorite thing. Yes, me too. me too yeah we'll be back again uh stay tuned next week uh where we'll have five more tips from this i'm excited to learn more from from this article and and just this discussion here as well because again like we spend so much time immersed in this brand so it's kind of cool like obviously i want to enjoy it from a consumer standpoint but also going into it with this new lens of how can we take what we are enjoying in every day and maybe even apply that to our work. So it's kind of a fun different perspective that we can have to. Agreed. Agreed. That's a great call. I do think there are,

Starting point is 00:26:20 you and I have found each other in a lot of different conversations, whether we are at Disney or outside of Disney talking about how there's kind of these real, real world applications for this. So I'm looking forward to learning more as well. Yes, absolutely. Well, Ali, thank you. As always, for co-hosting with me. I appreciate it. And we'll see you next time on marketing. See ya. Thank you so much for tuning in to this week's episode. If you enjoyed this conversation, I would love your feedback. And if you're ready to take things to the next level, sign up for my weekly newsletter in the show notes. You'll get weekly career and marketing

Starting point is 00:26:57 insights straight to your inbox. And if you have an idea for a future marketing happy hour episode, shoot me an email. Hello at Marketing HappyHR.com. Thank you again and I'll see you next Thursday.

Marketing Happy Hour - 10 Social Media Storytelling Tips from Disney [Part 1]

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