The holidays are rapidly approaching and I have decided it is only fitting that I finally deliver my long promised keyword research and analysis about “transmedia storytelling” as my gift to you. There has been impassioned discussion about this language and what it means throughout the past year. I would never claim to have the definitive answer, but this research does reveal  what and how people are searching for projects like this. I am not including all the data in this post, but please contact me if you are interested in the master list. It may not be exhaustive, but it is extensive and provides you with some important  information that could help draw a potential audience to your transmedia project.

Search Trends

When doing keyword research I often find it interesting to start with Google Insights which shows trends in search activity over time. The graph below is for the phrase “transmedia storytelling” and clearly shows that interest has grown significantly over the past few years:

A comparison between the more generic terms “multi media” (shown in yellow), “cross media” (in red) and “transmedia” (in blue) shows that search interest in “multi media”  as a term is on the decline, “cross media” fairly stable and “transmedia” on a slow rise:

Keyword Research Highlights

The master document of the keyword research project includes data on almost 175 phrases that has been gathered from Google’s Keyword Tool and other places. I highly recommend getting in touch with me to receive the full document. However, here is a selection of 12 terms and the data on the estimated number of searches made globally for each as well as how many other sites include this exact phrase in their content (the organic competition):

So What Does This Mean?

• This data shows that people are searching for the kinds of immersive experiences transmedia offers, whether they call it transmedia or not. Just the 12 phrases above are responsible for over 17,000 searches every month. That’s a significant amount of interest.
• There are clearly many ways to describe and quantify what people are calling “transmedia.” The interpretations (and potential arguments) seem almost endless.
• Instead of trying to decide what it should be called (this new immersive, cross platform, interactive storytelling form), we should use keyword research and other tools to better understand our audience and what they are looking for. Whatever language they are using, that’s the right language – the words we can use to communicate with them and to draw them to the projects we are creating. By making assumptions or using the phrase that is the “most” accurate (in our opinion), we risk missing the mark with the people we ultimately need to engage. Literally give the audience what they are searching for and make sure your langauge evolves along with their conversation so that opportunties are not missed.

Do you have any other ideas, questions, resources, tips or insight about the transmedia language debate? Please post below or send  via email to annelise(at)veria.ca or on Twitter @veriatweet.

Next issue:Top 10 Search & Social Media Marketing Resolutions for 2012

Or revisit the previous issue: Social TV Apps Pt. 3 – Finding, Sharing, Extending Television Story

 

 

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