How to Adopt Transmedia Storytelling in Your Influencer Marketing Campaign
In a world of digitally-savvy viewers, it’s not enough to post the same content on all platforms. Transmedia campaigns use each channel to unfold the next part of the journey.
As social media platforms grow and evolve, branded content needs to evolve with it.
With audiences hopping from one social platform to another to access the continued thoughts and events of their trusted friends, family, and influencers, marketers looking to keep their audience’s attention for longer than a “scrolling view,” need to evolve their strategy.
Transmedia campaigns are designed to create “thumb-stopping” moments in ongoing scrolls that earn engagements and follows on multiple platforms via a richer storytelling experience for a digitally-advanced audience.
Before we dive deeper, let’s establish the differences between cross-platform and transmedia campaign content, as the two terms are often used interchangeably.
The Difference Between Cross-Platform & Transmedia Campaigns
While both cross-platform and transmedia campaigns use most of (if not the entirety) of an influencer’s social stadium (Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, Pinterest, etc), both advance different brand goals and thus also create different creative opportunities for the influencer.
Cross-Platform Campaigns enable the influencer to use different platforms to either distribute the same
piece of content across platforms or view the same content from different perspectives. This is a great strategy for brands and influencers that are looking to gain mass awareness of a message or a product they love in a quick turnaround period.
Transmedia Campaigns enable the influencer to use different platforms to engage audiences by telling a
different part of the story on each platform. This is a great strategy for brands and influencers looking to build their creative reputation and engagements by surprising and delighting viewers.
Posting the same photo with the same message on all platforms is great for building awareness during those scrolls, but not so much for “thumb-stopping” moments of clicking, sharing, liking or commenting (jump down to see Verizon’s transmedia campaign).
When done well, transmedia campaigns can be much more powerful in captivating audiences. USC’s Burghhardt Tenderich, who co-wrote the book Transmedia Branding: Engage Your Audience, rehashes the power of transmedia storytelling.
“The other lesson marketers have learned from entertainment is that compelling stories are more likely to foster intense and enduring engagement. That’s why in transmedia storytelling we see so many cases of entertaining and humorous storytelling. For example, if you think about Dos Equis’ Most Interesting Man in the World campaign, it’s a highly amusing storyline that draws people in by encouraging them to participate interactive games and bounty hunts, and many become motivated to create related parodies or memes.”
The evolving storyline creates a journey which softens the direct brand message of a campaign. In a panel with Reelio at Northside innovation Jessica Thorpe, Verizon’s campaign point of contact, said that the authenticity of the content made it seemed like the influencers were on a journey with them, as opposed to it feeling as though Verizon was paying them for sponsored content. Let’s take a look at Verizon’s transmedia campaign strategy for the Superbowl.
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Verizon’s Transmedia Campaign
For its Minute 50 campaign, Verizon came to us wanting to make a splash at Superbowl 50. Reelio on boarded two influencers to cover and engage in Superbowl activities hosted by Verizon to drive awareness for their gift-giveaway, (which included tickets to the Superbowl) every 50 minutes on the hour.
Strategically-chosen influencers, Twan Kuyper and Big Daws, drove more than 11 milllion impressions during the campaign, (this is the equivalent of roughly 7x the population of Manhattan seeing this content).
Fans didn’t just watch, however, they engaged. Here’s a breakdown of the campaign:
Day 1
Verizon kicked off Superbowl activities by giving Big Daws and Twan exclusive access to meet and catch a pass from quarterback Drew Brees (or tried to ;)).
Day 2
Unfolding the next Verizon experience, and positioning Verizon as on the fore-front of digital, Daws and Twan participated in a VR experience with JJ Watt. They snapchatted the experience in real time and Daws captured a more behind-the-scenes, long-form look at the scene on his YouTube channel, which fans knew to look to.
Day 3
Day 4
Verizon understood the importance of letting the creators be authentic and it showed. Overall, the content earned:
- 4x the average brand engagement on instagram
- 96% Snapchat completion
- 5.47% engagement rate on YouTube
- 12.8% engagement rate on Twitter
Transmedia campaigns enable brands and influencers to rise with the tide of sophisticated content through evolved technology and storytelling. Consider utilizing an influencers’ stadium of social channels to creatively unfold a journey they want their viewers to take with them. Considering this approach for your next campaign? Schedule a call using the right-hand side bar or send us a quick email.
