Paid advertising on social media – because there’s no such thing as a free lunch
When I first started working in non-profits, social media advertising was in its toddlerhood. I worked for a regional theatre that was an early adopter of the importance of having a social media presence, but struggled to move past more traditional forms of marketing. While they have grown with the times, those early days of […]
Creating Brand Community
This week I’m focusing on brands that go beyond having a social media presence to those who truly create a community online. The two brands that I’ll focus on in this article are GoPro and Grove Collaborative. Both brands are utilizing social media to build a community around their products. GoPro GoPro, which makes the […]
Selling a dream: A social media audit of Den Outdoors
Den is a fairly new small home architecture company that sells plans, kits, and pre-fab houses. Their aesthetic is a beautiful mix between simple farmhouse or Scandinavian design and modern architecture. The company features a manifesto which states “Den began because we know that building a cabin changes who you are, having a cabin changes […]
Gatekeeping doesn’t need to be a dirty word
I left Facebook in January of 2016. I had burned out on the constant drama surrounding the election and decided that I was tired of hearing even the opinions that I agreed with. It took some time to stop automatically typing facebook.com into the search bar when I opened my browser, but eventually I retrained […]
How cognitive bias affects storytelling
Storytelling is deeply interlaced with our experience as a species. You may think of the bards of Medieval England or Viking-age Skalds, traveling the land and collecting stories. Or perhaps you think of an old grandmother recounting a fable to her grandchildren to help them learn an important lesson about fairness or honesty. But storytelling has […]
Malicious Manipulation: The Deadliest Sin in Visual Storytelling
This is a jackalope. This image, which is on a postcard currently framed in my office, is the reason that I thought this antlered rabbit was a real species until I was 12 years old. Well… that image and the fact that my father told me about all the jackalopes that used to run around […]
For the love of Pearl
This story is for the dog people. If you aren’t a dog person, you probably won’t understand. Dog people connect with their pets on an almost cellular level. They become part of who we are. We love them, cherish them, forgive them. Even when they eat the remote. Even when they throw up on the […]
Cognitive Bias in Data Visualization
Cognitive bias is a systemic error in thought or understanding of the world around us. They are subconscious and often result from quickly processing information as part of the decision-making process. These biases can affect how we see and interact with the world. Cognitive biases affect everyone and are often unnoticed. With more than 100 […]
Trust suffers when branded content misleads consumers
When everything is advertising “Do we seek out things to covet? No, we begin by coveting things we see every day.” Perhaps in an alternate universe, Hannibal Lecter was a Content Marketing Strategist instead of a Psychiatrist/Serial Killer. Branded content touches on the most covetous parts of our selves. It often shows an idealized view […]
When a website refresh just isn’t enough…
When setting out to audit a non profit website with content strategy in mind, I knew Long Wharf Theatre would be the target of my attention. I worked at LWT for more than 10 years and know too well the specific brand of hopeful-and-well-meaning mixed with pulled-too-thin that plagues its staff and therefore its content. […]