Storylenses
Storylenses
Storylenses
Storylenses
How to stand out with content
If you want to succeed with content, you have to separate from the noise.
This is obvious.
What may be less obvious is how to do that. These are the two best ways:
Original Ideas
Original Storylenses
Original ideas are the #1 way to stand out because they’re built from a novel approach to a novel topic.
For example, I had a video idea where I would contact a Times Square billboard operator, get them to give me a billboard for 24 hours for free, fly to New York, film the intersection from a nearby hotel, calculate the impressions of everyone walking by, interview people on the street if they looked at the billboard, and ultimately determine if buying a Times Square Billboard was mathematically worth paying for.
This is an original idea. You haven’t seen it anywhere, and it’s completely fresh [btw, if you see this video after reading this, someone sniped that from me]
Here’s the problem with original ideas…
I consider myself an idea machine, but I struggle to come up with more than 1-2 super original ideas every week.
And if coming up with original ideas doesn’t come naturally to you, your “original idea generation rate” is likely much lower than that.
So how do you stand out consistently with content if you don’t have a ton of original ideas?
Storylenses.
This has been the secret to my success thus far with content.
Think of a storylens like a unique container to put around a story.
Imagine you’re standing on the roof of a building in Manhattan and you’re looking at the Empire State Building.
The most common “lens” to see the building would be with your naked eye.
Other common lenses might be looking through glasses/contacts or maybe even through a digital camera viewfinder.
But what about binoculars or a drone or a telescope?
All of these are different “lenses” or ways to look at the same object.
Storylenses are different ways to look at the same story.
For example, let’s take my video about Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl. This was a fairly popular “story idea.”
Assume thousands of people were making a video about it.
The most common story lens is “the news angle”…reporting on what is happening. Hundreds of people did that.
A less common storylens would be to talk about facts around the logistics of how she got there, or drama/gossip around her plans for the weekend, etc. Still fairly common, but less so than the news angle.
I tried to look for an original storylens…a one of one.
The angle I took was trying to understand how much money Taylor had generated for the NFL this season, simply using the fact she was at the Super Bowl as a way to drive the initial traffic.
My approach was much more unique…it was the only video like it, which is why it performed well.
The best content comes from an original idea (which will inherently have an original story lens).
If you don’t have an original idea, take a popular story and wrap an original storylens around it.
The videos that have the lowest chance of success are ones about a common story with a common storylens.
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
If you enjoyed this post and want more like it, you should subscribe to me weekly creator journal, Blueprint. Each week, I share metrics, ideas, frameworks, and experiments designed to supercharge your thinking about content & brand building in the modern age.
How to stand out with content
If you want to succeed with content, you have to separate from the noise.
This is obvious.
What may be less obvious is how to do that. These are the two best ways:
Original Ideas
Original Storylenses
Original ideas are the #1 way to stand out because they’re built from a novel approach to a novel topic.
For example, I had a video idea where I would contact a Times Square billboard operator, get them to give me a billboard for 24 hours for free, fly to New York, film the intersection from a nearby hotel, calculate the impressions of everyone walking by, interview people on the street if they looked at the billboard, and ultimately determine if buying a Times Square Billboard was mathematically worth paying for.
This is an original idea. You haven’t seen it anywhere, and it’s completely fresh [btw, if you see this video after reading this, someone sniped that from me]
Here’s the problem with original ideas…
I consider myself an idea machine, but I struggle to come up with more than 1-2 super original ideas every week.
And if coming up with original ideas doesn’t come naturally to you, your “original idea generation rate” is likely much lower than that.
So how do you stand out consistently with content if you don’t have a ton of original ideas?
Storylenses.
This has been the secret to my success thus far with content.
Think of a storylens like a unique container to put around a story.
Imagine you’re standing on the roof of a building in Manhattan and you’re looking at the Empire State Building.
The most common “lens” to see the building would be with your naked eye.
Other common lenses might be looking through glasses/contacts or maybe even through a digital camera viewfinder.
But what about binoculars or a drone or a telescope?
All of these are different “lenses” or ways to look at the same object.
Storylenses are different ways to look at the same story.
For example, let’s take my video about Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl. This was a fairly popular “story idea.”
Assume thousands of people were making a video about it.
The most common story lens is “the news angle”…reporting on what is happening. Hundreds of people did that.
A less common storylens would be to talk about facts around the logistics of how she got there, or drama/gossip around her plans for the weekend, etc. Still fairly common, but less so than the news angle.
I tried to look for an original storylens…a one of one.
The angle I took was trying to understand how much money Taylor had generated for the NFL this season, simply using the fact she was at the Super Bowl as a way to drive the initial traffic.
My approach was much more unique…it was the only video like it, which is why it performed well.
The best content comes from an original idea (which will inherently have an original story lens).
If you don’t have an original idea, take a popular story and wrap an original storylens around it.
The videos that have the lowest chance of success are ones about a common story with a common storylens.
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
If you enjoyed this post and want more like it, you should subscribe to me weekly creator journal, Blueprint. Each week, I share metrics, ideas, frameworks, and experiments designed to supercharge your thinking about content & brand building in the modern age.
How to stand out with content
If you want to succeed with content, you have to separate from the noise.
This is obvious.
What may be less obvious is how to do that. These are the two best ways:
Original Ideas
Original Storylenses
Original ideas are the #1 way to stand out because they’re built from a novel approach to a novel topic.
For example, I had a video idea where I would contact a Times Square billboard operator, get them to give me a billboard for 24 hours for free, fly to New York, film the intersection from a nearby hotel, calculate the impressions of everyone walking by, interview people on the street if they looked at the billboard, and ultimately determine if buying a Times Square Billboard was mathematically worth paying for.
This is an original idea. You haven’t seen it anywhere, and it’s completely fresh [btw, if you see this video after reading this, someone sniped that from me]
Here’s the problem with original ideas…
I consider myself an idea machine, but I struggle to come up with more than 1-2 super original ideas every week.
And if coming up with original ideas doesn’t come naturally to you, your “original idea generation rate” is likely much lower than that.
So how do you stand out consistently with content if you don’t have a ton of original ideas?
Storylenses.
This has been the secret to my success thus far with content.
Think of a storylens like a unique container to put around a story.
Imagine you’re standing on the roof of a building in Manhattan and you’re looking at the Empire State Building.
The most common “lens” to see the building would be with your naked eye.
Other common lenses might be looking through glasses/contacts or maybe even through a digital camera viewfinder.
But what about binoculars or a drone or a telescope?
All of these are different “lenses” or ways to look at the same object.
Storylenses are different ways to look at the same story.
For example, let’s take my video about Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl. This was a fairly popular “story idea.”
Assume thousands of people were making a video about it.
The most common story lens is “the news angle”…reporting on what is happening. Hundreds of people did that.
A less common storylens would be to talk about facts around the logistics of how she got there, or drama/gossip around her plans for the weekend, etc. Still fairly common, but less so than the news angle.
I tried to look for an original storylens…a one of one.
The angle I took was trying to understand how much money Taylor had generated for the NFL this season, simply using the fact she was at the Super Bowl as a way to drive the initial traffic.
My approach was much more unique…it was the only video like it, which is why it performed well.
The best content comes from an original idea (which will inherently have an original story lens).
If you don’t have an original idea, take a popular story and wrap an original storylens around it.
The videos that have the lowest chance of success are ones about a common story with a common storylens.
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
If you enjoyed this post and want more like it, you should subscribe to me weekly creator journal, Blueprint. Each week, I share metrics, ideas, frameworks, and experiments designed to supercharge your thinking about content & brand building in the modern age.
How to stand out with content
If you want to succeed with content, you have to separate from the noise.
This is obvious.
What may be less obvious is how to do that. These are the two best ways:
Original Ideas
Original Storylenses
Original ideas are the #1 way to stand out because they’re built from a novel approach to a novel topic.
For example, I had a video idea where I would contact a Times Square billboard operator, get them to give me a billboard for 24 hours for free, fly to New York, film the intersection from a nearby hotel, calculate the impressions of everyone walking by, interview people on the street if they looked at the billboard, and ultimately determine if buying a Times Square Billboard was mathematically worth paying for.
This is an original idea. You haven’t seen it anywhere, and it’s completely fresh [btw, if you see this video after reading this, someone sniped that from me]
Here’s the problem with original ideas…
I consider myself an idea machine, but I struggle to come up with more than 1-2 super original ideas every week.
And if coming up with original ideas doesn’t come naturally to you, your “original idea generation rate” is likely much lower than that.
So how do you stand out consistently with content if you don’t have a ton of original ideas?
Storylenses.
This has been the secret to my success thus far with content.
Think of a storylens like a unique container to put around a story.
Imagine you’re standing on the roof of a building in Manhattan and you’re looking at the Empire State Building.
The most common “lens” to see the building would be with your naked eye.
Other common lenses might be looking through glasses/contacts or maybe even through a digital camera viewfinder.
But what about binoculars or a drone or a telescope?
All of these are different “lenses” or ways to look at the same object.
Storylenses are different ways to look at the same story.
For example, let’s take my video about Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl. This was a fairly popular “story idea.”
Assume thousands of people were making a video about it.
The most common story lens is “the news angle”…reporting on what is happening. Hundreds of people did that.
A less common storylens would be to talk about facts around the logistics of how she got there, or drama/gossip around her plans for the weekend, etc. Still fairly common, but less so than the news angle.
I tried to look for an original storylens…a one of one.
The angle I took was trying to understand how much money Taylor had generated for the NFL this season, simply using the fact she was at the Super Bowl as a way to drive the initial traffic.
My approach was much more unique…it was the only video like it, which is why it performed well.
The best content comes from an original idea (which will inherently have an original story lens).
If you don’t have an original idea, take a popular story and wrap an original storylens around it.
The videos that have the lowest chance of success are ones about a common story with a common storylens.
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
If you enjoyed this post and want more like it, you should subscribe to me weekly creator journal, Blueprint. Each week, I share metrics, ideas, frameworks, and experiments designed to supercharge your thinking about content & brand building in the modern age.