In this video, Christine shares a different take on how brands can use unscripted long form content like podcasting and YouTube to dialogue effectively when they are misportrayed in the media. She gives examples and tips for how to invite creators and storytellers to fact check with you about their portrayals, and why this works better than trying to defend yourself in media.
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Transcript:
Welcome. I am coming to you with a little different message today. I’m switching up our show host series because I was just in an event that had me start to think about more tips I could bring you that are applicable to brands that yes, relate to show hosts, but actually help brands decide how to use unscripted long form content, podcasts, YouTube shows, live event programming, to tell the truth about their story. And the event I was at that inspired this was really interesting. It was hosted by an advertising agency on behalf of their client, who’s like a global brand. And we were sort of doing a think tank. It was like advertisers, media makers, filmmakers, brainstorming ideas of how to support media being made in the zeitgeist, in the cultural mainstream about this brand. And maybe, like, how can we use these mediums to help other people tell better stories about a brand? Because as we all know, it’s way more powerful if other people say nice things about you than if you say nice things about yourself. in the media. And I think this is a different take than what we usually cover on this series on our channel, but it’s really valuable and I wanted to like share some of the thoughts I’ve had since attending this sort of brainstorm think tank. One of the things that I think is so powerful about, for example, podcasting, an unscripted, long form, like longer than five minutes, piece of content where you’re dialoguing with someone else outside of your organization or your brand, is that it gives you space, whether you’re a brand, a personal brand, an individual, a large entity, to kind of cover things that most other media formats don’t have space for. Now I’m obviously excluding things like documentaries, very high ticket mediums. I’m talking about like low ticket, low price point ways to use media like a YouTube channel, a podcast, to tell stories that have a little more nuance, a little more complexity. Maybe your brand or your organization has had some controversy. Maybe there’s been a sensationalized version of what you say or think you represent out in the media. Maybe you got canceled and you’re trying to share more about who you are so people can get a more well-rounded view than maybe just the headline that they heard about like your big gaffe. There’s so many ways to apply this, but what I want to help you think through using long-form unscripted media that you can make for relatively cheap as a way to build a bigger version of the story being told about you online. And traditionally back in the day, you know, this was really hard to do. Like if a newspaper or like a trusted media organization like the government said something about you, like that was kind of it, right? Like there wasn’t really a way to defend yourself. And today that’s different because as much as we all know, it’s pretty pointless to try and defend yourself online like as a victim, like, oh, like whatever was said about me isn’t true. It’s way more powerful to maybe invite the person, group, entity, publication that said those things about you or portrayed you in that way. And I’m saying you, like think brand, organization, person, founder. could be a lot of different things here. How powerful would it be to invite that person, if they’re open to it, to come have a conversation with you and dialogue about all the pieces that impacted their narrative about you, that influenced why they told the story about you that they did? And then maybe you can do like a very well-intentioned fact check with each other, right? Like maybe you can be more honest about some of your flaws, some of the things you haven’t got right, some of the things that you’re still figuring out. And then you have an opportunity to also be like, can we just do a couple fact checks? I totally respect that you may have had narrative license to say what you did and it was like a great story. Maybe it was a great TV episode or mention in a film. And maybe there’s a really great article that went viral or a really great clip on this other podcast you were on. But like, are you willing to come have like a juicy conversation with the origin story, like the actual person you were talking about or brand? There’s such a cool opportunity within unscripted long-form content, podcasting, YouTube shows, et cetera, that I think a lot of brands have been really, really nervous to even touch because they don’t understand it. And obviously, the unspoken thing here is you need to have the right show host to hold these conversations, right? You need to be willing to take feedback, show your warts, and also be unapologetic about maybe some of the things people don’t know about you that influenced or led to the complexities of why your organization did what they did or said what they said. I think there’s a really interesting moment happening right now between social media and influencers, podcasting and YouTube, mainstream media, TV, film, where we have a chance to respond with more nuance, complexity, humanity, kindness, full picture-ness than we often take advantage of. And in an ideal scenario, every brand would have a robust YouTube channel and podcast that millions of people followed so that when they had these conversations, it was getting to the people who are interested in hearing it. But if you haven’t started that as a brand or organization, and you’re like, wow, Christine, that sounds great. I wish I did. Well, today’s a great day to start. And speaking of viral content, if you’re maybe the brand that was called out, or maybe painted in a not so great a light, or maybe it wasn’t even that dramatic. Maybe you were just spoken of in a sensationalized way that didn’t quite paint the whole story, that you’re like, well, that made me sound really good, or that made me sound kind of bad. But there’s actually more to the story here. I think that’s a really interesting and potentially viral piece of content to make that needs a little more space. And long-form unscripted content, when everybody comes to the table on the same page, like, let’s get some facts straight. Let’s share different perspectives. Let’s agree to disagree on this. Like, the person who made the original content that maybe went viral about you, they can totally hold to that, and maybe they’re open to being like, yeah, well, we did a little creative license here and there. Maybe it can be an educational opportunity, and maybe you have a chance to be like, yeah, I see what you did and why it was interesting. I totally get it. It was really, like, it really hit a nerve with people for a reason. And there’s some more pieces to the story here. Like, let’s talk about it. So that’s my tip for today. I know I’m kind of going in a different direction on this series for a little bit, but I was really thinking through this summit I was at and kind of the opportunities we talked about. And of course my producer mind was like, Oh, there’s an opportunity here. I don’t think a lot of brands are taking, and you need to have been developing the right talent. have those trusted relationships, and you need to start developing a reputation in your space that you’re willing to have these conversations. Because if people know you’re willing, then they’ll be interested. So I’m going to leave it there. Clearly, there’s more to this than meets the eye. There’s some nuance here. But if you have any thoughts or feedback or comments, leave them below in the video, and I can do more on this. This is sort of whet your appetite. Would you be brave enough to give this a try? Why or why not?
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