Learners are experiencing exceptional digital content as consumers. Digital learning has the opportunity to employ similar engagement strategies to grow networks, develop better levels of motivation and gain the trust of audiences. This presentation was given to the Charity Learning Consortium in September 2013 to demonstrate how digital strategies employed by consumer brands can be adopted by learning organisations. LearnerLab helps organisations better connect with their audiences through communications, user experience and engagement strategies.

1. consumer digital strategies
that can enhance learner
engagement
Carl Hodler
Co-Founder LearnerLab
3
Members event: 19/09/2013

2. Learners are experiencing exceptional digital
content as consumers

3. Contemporary consumer content is designed to make
audiences ‘feel’ positive about their interactions

4. We need to get better at connecting with our
audiences before messages get lost in the medium

5. Communicate
a clear purpose1.

6. Growth of network relies on audience coming
together behind a shared purpose

7. “Facebook is a social utility that
connects you with the people
around you”
Wrap your service in a simple brand message your
audience can understand, rework and share

8. This open-ended question is worth a thousand words
Communicate the purpose through great copy
in your content and applications

9. Use every opportunity to reinforce purpose
Communicate the purpose through great copy
in your content and applications

10. Emotional
engagement2.

11. Even a 69p iOS game needs a narrative

12. Games use stories to
communicate how you will ‘feel’
when you play
Stories are a powerful mechanic for
communicating emotion

13. Jetpack Joyride: the story of a guy who becomes
a superhero. But, how can a superhero fail?

14. Testing showed that having a single life demotivated
players from replaying

15. So designers reduced the emotional cost of failure to
motivate players to improve

16. Players pick up vehicles to protect the single life -
this delays failure

17. When the single life is lost failure is delayed once
again by a spin of the wheel

18. When players finally reach the point of failure they
are motivated by ‘hero’ portrayal of achievements

19. Embed advocacy
from the beginning3.

20. Was a startup crazy to allow bad reviews?

21. One of the first commerce sites to present both
positive and negative reviews of products

22. Trusted their customers to create content
"It is day 87 and the horses have accepted me as one of their own.
I have grown to understand and respect their gentle ways."
ByronicHero

23. Trust is a two way thing

24. Today advocacy is as important as low prices
and drives the Amazon experience

25. They have mastered the art of engaging their
audience with advocacy

26. Summary
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*
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Keep your messaging simple and be creative with how
you reinforce it
Consider how you make your audience feel and don’t
undersell their achievements
If you want your audience to trust your learning brand
demonstrate trust in them

27. carl@learnerlab.com
http://www.learnerlab.com
Connect with your audience
@carlhodler
Carl Hodler
@learnerlab