Page 10 - Engage -- Summer 2018 -- no. 13

08 Summer 2018 COVER STORY
Q: To that point, as a media member, what’s your take on the current landscape where brands and media are using metrics such as views, likes, and clicks to measure success?
JF: We are in this crazy moment where we are judging ourselves by the vast reach we can
have, but these numbers defy reality. When you put a video on Facebook and it gets 30 million views—show me a person who will really sit down and honestly say that 30 million people watched it. They didn’t. One second played while they
Every story has an audience and the trick is making the story reach that audience.
scrolled down their Facebook feed, and everybody knows it. Let’s acknowledge that and move on from there. When I think of the world of marketing, I think of the phrase useful fiction. Everybody in marketing has agreed on the same useful fiction— doing these things in these ways and judging by these numbers what is an accomplishment. And I guess it works because at every stage of that chain, everyone benefits from this useful fiction. Everyone along the line gets paid—the production crew,
the creator, and the marketers. So, quite possibly the only people getting ripped off are the brands who paid for it in the first place. Even the people inside the brand know it’s useful fiction, but they are tasked to get the numbers they can then show their boss. Someone is being victimized, but I’m not sure who it is!
Q: How do you feel about advertorials and sponsored content?
JF: We do it, but it’s important to keep in mind that the most important thing to any media organization—or brand that wants to act like a media organization—is the trust of the readers. You need to develop that trust and then respect that trust and not violate it. If we run branded content, it
needs to be well marked, and the audience needs to be made aware of it. If someone feels like they are being tricked, you will almost never win them back.
Q: How do you create buzz around articles? JF: To be honest, we could be better at it. We
are good at producing, but we spend less time promoting. I was on a panel years ago with someone who was then at BuzzFeed, and this person said every story has an audience and the trick is making the story reach that audience.
So when we produce a story, I will spend time reaching out to people who seem influential inside the audience that I think the story is for. I will also drop them a line telling them that I think they will really like the story, but I am always up- front in acknowledging in my message that what I’m doing is promoting our work and hoping they will share it. I also find groups on Facebook, then track down the moderator and share the story in hopes that he or she shares it with the group.
Q: Do you have plans to use technologies such as augmented reality or virtual reality in the future?
JF: I have yet to see AR or VR that has generally excited me. I think what we have seen thus far are solutions in search of problems. For example, I have experienced live sports through VR,
but it didn’t solve problems—it created them. What solves a problem is the two-dimensional experience of my TV. If I am far away from the game, sitting in the stands, the TV experience moves me closer to it. VR plops me into one fixed location in the stadium, and it seems like I’m really there, except I’m not, so that’s not very exciting. Plus, I don’t have the good visual experience. So, will these things be improved upon? I’m sure. Will they find their place? I’m sure. But I don’t know what it will be yet.
Q: What other new technologies excite you as they relate to your work?
JF: It’s not new, but I’m really excited about the continued growth of podcasts. That space will only get better and better, particularly as we continue
to have devices that speak to us and as audio and voice continue to evolve as important mediums. I’m excited to get past this wave of people starting podcasts and interviewing everyone they can. Then we will get to the place where people are getting really inventive with audio storytelling. Finding
a better way to search and find podcasts will correspond with a culling of podcasting.
Q: Do you know anyone who is doing a branded podcast exceptionally well?
JF: A great example of branded content done right is a podcast called Twenty Thousand Hertz. The host and executive producer, Dallas Taylor, tells the stories behind the world’s most
Image Credit: Nigel Parry
STRAIGHT TALK
Jason Feifer offers candid insight into what makes a good story and what you can learn by looking at media outlets such
as Entrepreneur.
Find Jason on Twitter and Instagram: @heyfeifer
from Jason