my story
I hail from a background in magazines and publishing and moved into digital content and social media about seven years ago.
During the day, I'm senior internal communications officer at the British Medical Association (BMA) in London. In my spare time I am a lifestyle and travel content producer.
Inside and outside of work I develop content to inspire, educate and inform.
The real challenge in both roles is to gain, and importantly keep, the attention of my audiences.
why stories?
Increasingly we appreciate that storytelling is the best way to get a message across to any audience, and to cut through the clutter on and offline.
In fact research shows that stories are 22 times more memorable than facts alone.
I discovered Spark at a media conference in London, when I was specifically on the lookout for something outstanding yet affordable and accessible, that would allow me to showcase beautiful content for storytelling in a way I had not had access to before.
the challenge
I've been a content editor and digital media producer for a number of years.
I had been able to find free or inexpensive offerings to help ease the pain of:
– developing a stylish website (e.g. WordPress, Wix)
– creating great graphics without graphic design skills (e.g. Canva, Typorama)
– simple but decent video editing (e.g. iMovie)
I still had not found a way to showcase photos, and I love photos!
I'm aware of competitor products, however the options are either very expensive or simply not as good as what I've found with Spark Page.
Irish charm
For the past six years I've attended a conference called TBEX the future of travel media.
Last October the European destination for TBEX was Killarney in the south-west of Ireland.
Imagine, 600 travel bloggers, vloggers, writers and multimedia producers taking over not only the town but also online!
How do you stand out and get your story seen?
Spark for storytelling
With an abundance of photos on my DSLR, video clips on my phone, and inspired words racing through my head, one evening during the conference I took time out to get down to creative work in my hotel room.
I launched Spark Page.
I wanted to share with friends and anyone else who would listen how much this experience had made an impact on me, and why I'm a fan of the event that had brought me to Killarney in the first place.
In an exciting turn, this content was shared throughout and after the event and I was surprised a couple of weeks later at the views: over 70,000.
For the love of content
Spark Page makes lovely photos shine. Social media reduces the quality of photos and due to considerations on load time, most websites can't handle large images either.
Other examples: How to see Paris in a day, and Malta points of interest.
The scrolling aspect of Spark page is pleasing to the eye and the whole design element means presentations look sleek and professional.
I appreciate the content options - everything from the ability to add video links, to a selection of image types, fonts, headings (H1, H2) and quotes.
Travel features look particularly excellent, but Spark Page adapts well in the corporate environment too, with views on photo features from staff events at the BMA averaging far higher than if we were to just publish a collage or individual shots within an intranet page.
At the BMA, I successfully trialled Spark as a storytelling tool for a unique human resources campaign around the launch of a recognition scheme. Using Spark Page, I compiled stories, audio grabs and quotes from colleagues who had contributed ideas that were coming to life as part of the programme.
Importantly for an internal audience, I can set the finished project access to private for anything that is for staff eyes only.
I continue to use Spark for:
– its quick and easy production value
– beautiful, engaging display (on desktop, tablet and mobile)
– project embed option, which I use on a variety of content management systems.
