ByFlipboard

Storyboards are an exciting way for approved curators to package together content that informs, inspires and entertains audiences. They provide narrative structure to round up articles, videos and even podcasts around a theme. 

Unlike Magazines, which are designed for ongoing curation, Storyboards are designed to be finite and definitive collections that can be shared on and off Flipboard to reach new audiences, drive traffic and gain new followers. 

We are kicking off a new series filled with Storyboard curation tips and tricks to help elevate your curation and achieve your goals. To start, we’ve put together best practices to create an amazing user experience and increase the opportunities for discovery of your curation. Our team uses these guidelines as they look for Storyboards to feature in Today’s Picks, the Explore tab, email campaigns or other editorial programming.

Storyboard Curation Guidelines: 

  • Curate the highest quality journalism across news and lifestyle
    • Well-written, with a strong and compelling narrative.
    • In-depth pieces that provide a unique angle.
    • Important coverage around a current event or issue.
  • Help Readers Go Deeper
    • Use a minimum of five items in a Storyboard that connect around a theme; helping the reader go deep on a topic, learn more about an event or get the full story. 
    • Share new insights or perspectives.
    • Enrich a reader’s understanding of a topic.
    • Use sections to further organize your content and make it easier to browse (note: each section can hold up to 10 items). 
  • Use Appropriate Imagery 
    • Select a main image that is related to the overall theme, not just a single article. 
  • Select Relevant Topic Tags 
    • Consider selecting all five topic tags (max) recommended by Flipboard to increase relevancy and distribution.
  • Use Language to Set the Right Expectation 
    • Use the title and description to tell the reader what is in the collection, setting their expectations and enticing them to read more. 
    • Each item in the Storyboard should support the narrative framed in the title and description.
  • Create an Original and Engaging Title and Description 
    • Be descriptive and capture your brand voice. 
    • Title should be article-like and any numbers in the title should reflect the number of stories in the Storyboard (note: using the headline of a single listicle in the collection confuses the user about what’s in the Storyboard. If the Storyboard is titled “53 Weeknight Meals” users expect 53 items in the collection).
    • Add relevant keywords to the description to increase discoverability. 

We’ve featured some great Storyboards that embody many of these guidelines. If you’re looking for inspiration, StoryboardsWeLove is a good place to browse around. For more details and a deep dive on Storyboard curation please read our guidelines and FAQs.

If you have questions about Storyboard curation, or additional feedback and ideas on how to improve the curation experience, please reach out to curator-pro@flipboard.com.