Discoverability: Episode 106: STORY + AUDIENCE podcast
In this sixth episode, screenwriter Jill Golick and I explore how to use the STORY+AUDIENCE approach to help you and your creative work get found more easily online. This is about more than appealing to the algorithms of the search engines (by using search engine optimization) and includes thinking strategically about social sharing and the first few minutes of your television show, web series or film. I encourage Jill and the listeners to revisit the homework from episode 103 and gather more data on what language to use and what to share where.
Mentioned in this episode:
Also check out my recent blog post for some specific basic & advanced search engine optimization (SEO) tips
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Discoverability & Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
When the topic of “discoverability” comes up in the creative sector, it is mostly in the context of getting found via algorithmically powered search results or recommendations. While I endorse a more holistic, audience led approach to discoverability, it is still important to have an understanding of the best practices of search engine optimization (SEO). The following are some basic and advanced tips to help get your creative work found through the mechanism of search and recommendation engines:
5 Basic SEO Tips: Building the Discoverability Foundation
1. Understand your (audience’s) language ecosystem
People search using words, whether they type or speak them. You need to understand the relevant areas of interest and the intent behind these queries to have an effective SEO strategy. It is a primary piece of data for the search engines that anyone can access through tools like the Google Ads Keyword Planner tool.
2. Provide the best user experience
The search engines want to send searchers to websites that provide the best user experience possible. That means have a fast loading site with no typos that is mobile friendly and has a logical navigation and structure so people can find things easily. There has also been more emphasis in recent years on security and so HTTPS sites often are given preference over HTTP sites.
3. Think strategically about creating content
Keyword research and other data can help you make informed decisions about what kinds of content your audience will be the most interested in, like answering pertinent questions or providing relevant entertainment or information. Content should also be of high-quality, and use focused, individual pages for key actors, events and other important elements. Remember: text still provides the context for all assets, visual or otherwise.
4. Think strategically about how to connect and share your content
Give thought to how you link and share the various parts of your online footprint as this also helps the search engines to better understand what you and your work are about.
5. Establish your authority
The search engines want to send searchers to the highest quality resources. It is important to imbue your entire professional and creative brand with expertise, authority and trustworthiness for the work or storytelling you want to be known for. Consistency, quality and publishing on external sites like LinkedIn and Medium can help with this.
5 Advanced SEO Tips: Leveraging the Knowledge Graph
1. Use structured data markup
Search results have grown more complex and sophisticated, with standard listings being pushed further and further down in the rankings. One of the best ways to enhance your listings is to use structured data, an in-page code markup that adds extra meaning and value to your content. The major search engines agreed to the Schema.org standards for structured data. Creative work including TV series and movies, as well as actors and events are some of the schema that could be used by media storytellers.
2. Get included in publicly accessible data sources
Google uses information from a wide variety of data sources to inform what is known as its Knowledge Graph. These “trusted and authoritative” sources include Wikipedia, LinkedIn, Fandom.com, IMDb and Wikidata to name just a few. In Canada, there is also an attempt to establish a data source like this for our culture sector called ArtsData.ca. Some of these are easier to get into than others (the human editors at Wikipedia are notoriously difficult to please) but a good place to start would be LinkedIn for you and your company and Wikidata for yourself and specific creative work.
3. Establish your “notability”
To be seen as notable or important enough to be included in the Google Knowledge Graph or Wikipedia, you will need to go even further than the steps recommended to establish authority under the basic SEO tips above. You, your company and your work will need to have coverage in major press, participate in industry research or publications, and establish presence through PR and similar professional initiatives.
4. Maximize the opportunity of Google My Business
Google My Business is the foundation for any kind of geographic based searches (think queries that include “near me”). While not all creatives will have a significant physical presence serving a specific local community, Google My Business offers a great opportunity for those for whom it is relevant. You can control the information about your business, get reviews and post updates and event information. This can help you stand out visually in the Google search results page and establish presence in some very unique ways.
5. Create a kicka** ABOUT US page
It may seem like a small thing, but creating an About Us page that has complete info about your business location and key personnel and that is marked up with appropriate Schema.org structured data, can do a lot to help get enhanced listings in search and recommendation engines (and is something rarely done in the creative sector).
The Importance of the Discoverers (aka the Audience)
There is a lot of great discussion in the Canadian film, television and screen media industry right now about “discoverability.” A report was just published by the CMF on the topic, and there is a Discoverability Summit happening in Toronto right now co-hosted by the CRTC and the NFB. I am watching the livestream of the two days and following along on Twitter.
The CanCon Question(s)
Our Canadian government financing and programming for this industry has been about supporting our creative storytellers and getting their CanCon (Canadian Content) out into the world, whether it has been television series or movies. For the past year, the CRTC has been exploring the issue of discoverability and the challenges CanCon faces in the digital space. It’s huge. The online world is truly global (despite the artificial boundaries of geo-blocking). Do we still want to nurture CanCon? If we do, how do we do it? If we thought being cultural neighbours to the blockbuster that is the US, how can CanCon fare well in the wild west of the Internet? How do we help people discover CanCon? The answer lies in those very people. We cannot have discoverability without the discoverers.
The Audience & Discovery
While it is still very important to understand the landscape of online discovery, the mechanisms (search engines, algorithms, social media recommendations, online reviews & suggestion lists, etc) and on-demand delivery systems (Netflix, YouTube, iTunes, etc), there can be nothing discovered without people to discover it. I am more than halfway through the livestream of the Discovery Summit and am happy to hear lots of comments about niche audiences and audience behaviour (especially when it comes to those troublesome teens and millennials). However, a lot of these comments seem to be in passing. There’s no dedicated deep dive into this topic. This is worrisome to me as audience should be front and centre, and at the heart of everything when we are talking about discoverabilty.
3 Reasons to Focus on Audience First
Here are just three reasons to think about audience first for your CanCon story, cultural product or company/brand, especially in an online context:
We create to connect to an audience. Everyone creates to eventually connect with other people, to have them react to our work.
Audiences can be activated. If your work moves and connects to people, they can be inspired to some kind of action. It might be as little as a recommendation to a friend and as big as taking action to effect change in the world. Stories and cultural product have great power in this regard.
Audiences can be monetized. Without an audience you have no opportunity for revenue. Although it sounds crass, it is true that an audience provides eyeballs to look at ads and wallets to pay for that cool T-shirt or digital download.
And never before have creators been more empowered to build their own audience, to create an appetite for discovery of all you have to offer, to leverage those online mechanisms and platforms for discoverability.
5 Truths About Your Audience
In the online context, all of these things are true:
Your audience is niche. Everything CanCon is going to be niche, we just don’t have the time, resources or local population to be of mass appeal. The good news is that this is very powerful. Niche audiences require niche targeting, speaking to people’s passions and to their hearts. These is so much strength in this kind of connection.
Your audience already exists. You do not have to build an audience from nothing. Any kind of interest has a community around it already online. And once you know WHO your niches are then you just have to find WHERE they already exist and get to know them. What do they care about? What devices do they use? How do they consume content? Where do they spend there time? Answers to all of these questions are available to you online (often for free).
Your audience can be grown before you have work to share or sell. Because these communities exist online already, all you have to do is join those communities. Become a valuable and welcome member. Participate in conversations. Spread the word about the things they care about. All this can (and I would argue, should) be done long before you start talking about your work.
Your audience wants connection. The reason communities grow is because people want to find other people just like them. They also want stories and other creative works that reflect their experience. Connection is key and the digital world provides many tools for connection, for helping you to build the necessary trust to grow an audience for your work.
Your audience wants to discover. The audience has become empowered like never before. They have so much choice and control. They want more of the stuff they love (in fact, they often cannot get enough). You just need to tap into this desire in an authentic, trusted way. This is the foundation of being successful in the discoverabilty game.