1 Combating political extremism using social media marketing: Why should the devil have all the best stories? Robert P. Ormrod PhD Associate Professor Department of Management Aarhus University Denmark Social Media Marketing and Storytelling

2 Introduction Most people are no longer supporters of one political idea We respond emotionally to the political ideas that are served to us Fiction is more interesting than fact – stories are important! The right story in the right social media at the right time Social Media Marketing and Storytelling

3 Social media marketing: Content Short Relatable Recognisable, credible personas Trigger an emotional response Positive imagery (preferably) Contain a suggested solution Social Media Marketing and Storytelling

4 Social media marketing: Engagement Social media stories need to be engaging and promote the creation of: User-generated content – content generated by general users, not professionals Co-created content – content generated using collaboration between professionals and general users Social Media Marketing and Storytelling

5 Social media marketing: Structure Social media stories must be: Suitable for use on multiple platforms (iPads, PC’s, mobile phones etc.) Suitable for use on multiple social media (Facebook, twitter, blogs, Flickr etc.) Integrated across all platforms and media – one message! Social Media Marketing and Storytelling

Storytelling and social media In the postmodern society, social media marketing uses stories to engage the target audience Stories are fiction based on reality Stories consist of images and symbols that connect yesterday, today and tomorrow Stories also create social, geographical and political associations These stories also need to be suitable for all social media simultaneously Social Media Marketing and Storytelling

7 Who to target with the social media story? Who is reacting to the extremist’s story? Who is passing on the extremist’s story? We want to target those who are most likely to pass on our story – they may be the same people! …and they don’t have to agree with us… Social Media Marketing and Storytelling

8 Today- story Yesterda y-story Tomorrow -story Connections Associations Connections Associations Connections Associations Social Media Marketing Social Media Marketing and Storytelling

9 A nationalist political message Social Media Marketing and Storytelling (note the photoshopped Golden Retriever…)

10 Example Social Media Marketing and Storytelling …and a response from an humanitarian NGO…

11 Summary What stories do you have about yesterday, today and tomorrow? Which associations and connections are there between these stories? How can we integrate your stories across social media and on different platforms? Who are you talking to? How can you engage them to ‘spread the word’? What future do you want – fictionalise it and make it engaging! Social Media Marketing and Storytelling

12 Thank you for listening Robert P. Ormrod PhD Associate Professor Department of Management Aarhus University Denmark Social Media Marketing and Storytelling