I frequently reference Google Search Stories as a good example of a brand smartly using a storytelling platform to enable your target audience to enhance a message or engage with a product. We’re continuing to see the social Web push even further to find innovative ways to simplify content creation for mainstream audiences.

Last week, online content creators unleashed a yelp as YouTube released a dashboard to make it as easy as pie for users to create animation videos. Hop over to Mashable to check out the full story about the integration of three fun animation platforms tied in as part of www.youtube.com/create. The creative opportunities for message deployment, crowdsourcing and entertaining contests are endless with tools like these at your disposal.

As an avid content creator, I threw together the sample below as part of a personal branding presentation I’m doing with some co-workers at WSU’s Morrow Symposium next week. Hopefully, there is a wee bit of helpful advice for the flood of new grads hitting the industry.

Happy animating!

*This post also appears on the Weber Shandwick Seattle blog.