Emma Brooks (Wattpad)

Mar. 30

On this episode of Marketing News Canada, Darian Kovacs interviews Emma Brooks from Wattpad.

Emma is passionate about three things: branding, community building and ideas. As Head of Marketing at Wattpad, she brings these three concepts together to create marketing strategies. Prior to joining Wattpad, Emma worked in advertising for over ten years in both the digital and brand strategy sectors.

Wattpad is a platform that allows users to not only read stories but also engage with them. Users have the ability to follow writers on their literature journey chapter by chapter. They can comment on their favorite parts of the story, and communicate with other users about how they are interpreting the author's story.

Wattpad is not only for readers, but it also for writers. Writers are able to upload their work chapter by chapter and have the audience comment and give feedback. Wattpad can be considered as a social media platform as it is designed to create connections. The platform capitalizes on making reading a fun experience to be shared as it is usually an individualistic activity. With 90 million users and the ability to read and write in 50 different languages, Wattpad really has something for everyone.

The platform allows for readers to expand their audience by having the ability to become a published author. An example of this is Anna Todd, an author from Texas. She was simply a stay at home mom with a passion for fictional writing. Her romance series “After” was adored by readers and became a series of movies that fans loved. The book series has now been made into two movies with a third to come.

Some current trends Emma made note of were what she refers to as “sub-communities.” This is drawing attention to topics of diversity such as having books written about and by the Black community. Emma believes every story should be told as user individualism deserves to be celebrated.

Advice Emma gave to the audience was “step out of your adult life, and let yourself play.” Whether this be turning off your phone, or going outside to enjoy nature, “play” looks different to everyone. This advice correlates to exciting fiction writing states Emma.

Wattpad is truly a platform for everyone, as users spend an average of 57 minutes a day on it. Whether you are a reader or a writer, there is something on the app for you.

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