We’ve heard this a lot lately: Fun stories, not serious stories, work on social media. But we’ve found otherwise. You can shape serious stories to make them shareable and more informative for the public.

1. How to make ‘serious’
stories shareable
November 2013

2. Can “serious” stories do well on social media?
2

3. What we did

We reviewed 809 stories from the Local Stories
Project.

One-by-one, we examined all 809 stories and
labeled them either fun or serious.

What do we mean by “fun” and “serious”?
3

4. Fun and serious, defined
4

5. Fun stories

Highlight something
unusual, quirky, or funny.

Offer people a break in the
day to laugh or to have a
discussion about their city.
5

6. Serious stories

Have real-life implications.

Help people stay aware of
the news that matters to
them.
6

7. How we measure success:
Of the unique people who see each post,
what percentage like it, share it, or
comment on it?
7

8. Stations are creating as many fun
stories as serious stories
Of the 809 stories, 53 percent were
serious and 47 percent were fun.
8

9. Serious stories were just as
successful as fun stories
The percentage of people who liked,
shared, or commented was the same for
both serious and fun stories – about 1
percent of those who saw the posts
interacted with them.
9

10. Top serious stories were shared
just as much as top fun stories
When looking at the top 50 stories, the
percentage of people who liked, shared,
or commented was 3 percent — the
same for both serious and fun stories.
10

11. Case studies
11

12. Case studies
Find it here:
bit.ly/1e1xxQT
12

13. Case studies
“Craft a top-notch
headline that plays
up the controversy
or tension in the
story.”
-Emilie Ritter
Saunders, Boise
State Public Radio
13

14. Case studies
Find it here:
bit.ly/1apqy2v
14

15. Case studies
“Ultimately, I think
the key to making
people share is if
they see the story
affecting them
personally.
Facebook is a
personal network,
after all.”
-Katrina Schwartz,
KQED
15

16. Case studies
Find it here:
bit.ly/1co7u4c
16

17. Case studies
“There's always more
people to reach, and
not everyone is going
to absorb our longer
form stories, but
many people will - as
you know - gravitate
toward something
that provides the
"take home"
messages quickly.”
-Mark Brush,
Michigan Radio
17

18. Case studies
Find it here:
bit.ly/1i9Hv5m
18

19. Case studies
“Why would I (or a
person in a group I
want to reach) click
on this story or
share it? Answer
that question and
use your results to
guide what you
use”
-Kelsey Proud, St.
Louis Public Radio
19

20. Case studies
Find it here:
bit.ly/1bDzb98
20

21. More
Find these stories here:
bit.ly/serious-case-studies
21

22. More
Advice from stations:
n.pr/station-serious-advice
22

23. 5 questions for making
serious-but-shareable content
23

24. What’s the headline?
24

25. What’s the headline?
• Write a headline first — before you begin
crafting your story.
• The headline should be a simple,
straightforward, specific promise about what
the story’s about.
25

26. What is your approach to telling the story?
26

27. What is your approach to telling the story?
• What’s the best way to convey the story?
Whatever you decide, get to the point right away
and make the piece easy to understand.
• Charts, images, videos or other visuals can be
helpful, but only incorporate them if it’s useful
to the audience.
27

28. How will this be different?
28

29. How will this be different?
• Cut through the noise. A lot of media might be
covering the story, but how can you differentiate
yourself?
• What can you add to the story?
• Advance the story: What are the next questions
people will ask?
• Create an explainer.
29

30. Why will people share it?
30

31. Why will people share it?
• Imagine someone coming across your story
online — what will make them take the next step
to share it?
• Will it make them happy, sad, curious, enraged,
informed or intrigued?
• If it leaves your audience with no reason to
interact, you’ve missed something.
31

32. What’s next?
32

33. What’s next?
• Don’t ignore the story after it’s published.
• Compile the metrics.
• Take a look at the comments and shares to
learn how people felt about the story. This
should inform future coverage.
33

34. Print the 5 questions:
http://bit.ly/serious-checklist
34

35. This webinar and more info:
n.pr/shareable-serious
35

36. Questions?
eathas@npr.org | @ericathas
tgorman@npr.org | @gteresa
36

37. This webinar and more info:
n.pr/shareable-serious
37

38. This webinar and more info:
n.pr/shareable-serious
38