Product Stories
Stories can be written about a product to illustrate the value it provides.
Youtube
As a popular video sharing platform, Youtube offers access to a large audience, and with minimal effort. But towards what end? What motivates people to share content on Youtube?
Youtube contributors might desire to:
- Become Famous
- Influence Culture
- Entertain the masses
- Share Knowledge
- Earn Income
- Promote a Business
- Develop Film Talent
- Build Followers
For each purpose there exist stories. Consider one possible story, that of a young film maker.
Sandra - Film Talent
Situation
Sandra is a creative young person who loves cinema and wants to be a film director. She took film classes and performed well on assignments. She volunteers as crew on local no-budget productions to gain experience. But always on other people’s projects. She is not directing and developing her own work.
Resolution
Sandra gathers a few colleagues from past productions. They create a film collective, Plastic Sky, and produce short films at their own expense, taking turns in different roles – writing, directing, camera, etc. They upload the results to the collective’s Youtube channel. Over time, people begin watching.
Insights
There are scarce opportunities for new filmmakers.
New filmmakers might use online platforms to directly build an audience for their work.
Sandra’s story brings to life how some film makers might employ Youtube to improve their situation.
Next let’s consider a different story, that of an underemployed aficionado of a popular subculture.
Alex - Hipster Expert
Situation
Alex is a social fellow who loves his hipster lifestyle of counter-culture and progressive politics. He is an icon in the local alternative art and indie-rock scene, hangs out with retro attired friends, engages always in witty banter. For income, Alex works as a barista in a trendy coffee house where many of his friends visit, which is cool, but the pay is not great, and it offers limited opportunities for creativity.
Resolution
In his spare time, Alex begins making a Hipster Culture show on Youtube. Alex films the local scene with his phone, checking out events, talking with people. The humor and wit make the show popular and build a decent following. Alex starts earning enough from his channel to pay friends to help produce more varied content.
Insights
Experts can monetize their knowledge and interests through creating content and sharing online.
A popular show online can potentially generate sufficient income to compensate creators.
Alex’s story illustrates how an expert in a subject might share it with the world through Youtube and earn income at the same time.
Finally let’s consider the story of an acting school struggling to grow its business.
Dramactic - Acting School
Situation
The Dramactic acting school was founded 2 years ago with a mission to make acting accessible to talented individuals. The founders believe that their experiential methods are suited to develop innate skills of new actors. Participants of Dramactic’s Experiact program typically are delighted with the results. Referrals of new students are common, but still Dramactic struggles to fill its programs and can barely pay its instructors. Without much budget or resources to devote to marketing, Dramactic is not sure how to grow its business.
Resolution
Anne, the Dramactic founder with the most business experience, googled about marketing for small businesses. She learned about generating inbound leads by creating helpful Youtube videos. Scraping together minimal funding and assisted by writer and filmmaker friends, Dramatic produced a few inexpensive but informative videos for Youtube with topics such as Fundamentals of Acting, Acting Methods Explained, and Finding Acting Jobs. The videos were intelligent, humorous and well acted, helping convey the Dramactic brand. Viewers were invited at the end of each video to check out Dramactic’s programs. Over time Dramactic’s videos moved up in Youtube’s rankings, and eventually came to generate a steady, ongoing stream of interest in their programs.
Insights
A small business with limited marketing budget may struggle to acquire customers.
Publishing helpful videos on topics of interest to potential customers can continuously drive qualified leads to a business.
Dramactic’s story helps us envision how businesses might employ Youtube videos as a cost efficient part of their marketing strategy.
Reflection
These stories examine ways people employ Youtube to pursue goals. The stories illustrate benefits Youtube offers them, helping to understand their motivation to create and share content. The motivation and benefits drive the success of Youtube.
Did the Youtube stories stick with you? Of Sandra the Filmaker, Alex the Hipster and Dramactic the School? What were their goals? How did Youtube help them? Stories deliver a deep, memorable understanding, in this case connecting Youtube to the benefits realized by its users.
Exercises
[Chat GPT] Write a few stories about ChatGpt users accomplishing some task.
[Welfare] Write a few stories about Welfare recipients and how their lives improved.
[Attorneys] Write a few stories about clients who retained attorneys/lawyers to help with legal issues.
[Bicycles] Write a few stories about how people use bicycles.
Further Reading
[TBD: Are theses the best stories youtube can offer its users?]
[TBD: Are there stories for the same users that don’t involve youtube?]