An eventful March unfolds in the arts, technology, and entertainment space. With the sale of TikTok still pending, well-known tech investors like Perplexity, Microsoft, and Oracle throw their hats in the ring. And, though ethical debates of AI-generated and AI-assisted work are ongoing, it is finding success in the auction houses and award ceremonies. Meanwhile, recent tech acquisitions may signal a shift in the music industry, and South by Southwest (SXSW) is making a strategic adjustment following this year’s festival. Read the highlights.
In an age when content creation is set to hyper-speed and cast across chaotically-changing social media platforms, journalism has become embroiled in the crossfire. Some approaches to the form have embraced such change, turning to more decentralized and personality-driven forms of reporting and analysis to survive the ever-choppier digital waters. Learn how AI and social media giants are impacting this evolving journalism ecosystem.
With this increased competition form live service gaming, consumer expectations continue to shift and grow. In Part II of this capstone research by Heinz College Master of Entertainment Industry Management students, the team has employed data-gathering methods such as interviews, a survey, and social listening to better understand factors influencing player engagement and retention.
Live service games, or LSGs, are one of the largest drivers in gaming revenue. However, as the market continues to saturate, game developers are finding it difficult to sustain players. In part one of this capstone study by Heinz College Master of Entertainment Management students, learn more about the background of these games and what has made them so successful.
In the middle of awards season, major announcements in the media and entertainment industry defined February’s news. While Spotify prepares to ramp up its product offerings, new AI-powered tech is winning Grammys and helping make magic happen on the big screen. All this takes place in the shadow of some major policy announcements regarding copyright and AI.
Just when you thought your nonprofit’s résumé was updated and accurate, it is time to add another job responsibility: publisher.
As recently reported by Joe Waters with Nonprofit Quarterly, “Nonprofit employees have always had to wear a lot of hats: fundraiser, marketer, grant writer, etc. Here’s one more you need to get used to wearing: publisher. Fortunately, this additional job has a real benefit, as it engages current and potential supporters with useful, interesting and credible information that directly drives donor support.”
The key to generating and publishing online content is to be timely, stay relevant, and to “inform, educate and inspire.” Unlike an advertisement, online content allows followers to interact with the information, contribute and hear/see/participate in the organization’s story.
While many of our followers have already identified and addressed the publishing aspect of their nonprofit work, Nonprofit Quarterly offers three reasons why generating and publishing online content is no longer an option for small nonprofit organizations.
1) “It’s part of being a top nonprofit brand”
Build community around your brand and cause by publishing engaging, inspiring, visually compelling and relevant content (and just to clarify, that is NOT your monthly newsletter).
2) “You need to stand out”
It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there. We are all on Facebook, we all have Twitter accounts for our organizations, many organizations maintain blogs—it’s time to step up your online content, videos, podcasts, links, downloadable and free content, etc. Simply having an online presence is no longer enough. Though we prefer to think we are not competing with other nonprofit organizations, the truth of the matter is, we are.
“With more and more nonprofits coming online each year, content is a key tool in separating your nonprofit from the pack. This is especially important as people search for your nonprofit on Google, Bing and Yahoo. Several factors are important in how search engines rank and deliver search results, but one thing is clear: if you don’t produce high quality content and links, online searchers won’t find you. Period.”
3) “You can’t just do good work anymore”
Nonprofit to nonprofit, many of us share similar, philanthropic visions for our organizations. Because of this, the general public has its pick of relevant, benevolent, and noble organizations to support and fund. So now that you can’t claim your work is MORE important or MORE charitable than the next nonprofit’s, how do you get that donor’s attention and dollar? Answer: tell your story in a compelling way, manipulating the resources the web provides. Facebook photo albums, Twitter contests, IncenTix by ShowClix, Pinterest, podcasts, infographics – these and the resources we feature here on Technology in the Arts can help you do just that.
Am I suggesting all nonprofits abandon the newsletter and print medium in this competitive, nonprofit landscape? Of course not. YouTube channels and 140-character-Twitter-contests are wasted on my parents. They look for the newsletter in the mail every month (but continue to impress me when they sign up to receive them by e-mail…way to go, Mom and Dad, makin' me proud).
Publishing online has become increasingly dynamic, visual, and allows for a voice in 3-D; a voice that speaks louder, in more colors, and more emotionally than the traditional newsletter printed and mailed for years and years. Storytelling has moved online with a worldwide audience waiting to feel emotionally compelled, connected, and stimulated by the content your organization generates and publishes.
Guest blogger Erik Gensler is the President of Capacity Interactive, a digital marketing consulting firm for arts organizations. This fall Capacity Interactive is hosting Digital Marketing Boot Camp for Arts Marketers, a 2-day conference October 25-26 in NYC. Conference topics include: Marketing the Arts with Video, Mobile Marketing, Writing for the Web, Online Fundraising, and the topic of this blog post: Facebook Marketing.More information at http://www.dmbootcamp4arts.com
I'm calling for a moratorium on boring Facebook ads for the arts. As arts marketers, we have amazing products to sell -- live arts that provide moving experiences to audiences every night. We have beautiful sets and costumes, sexy dancers, and attractive actors. But what do most performing arts Facebook ads look like?
Headline: Show I've Never Heard of
Stock Production Photo
Come see <Show I've never heard of> at< theater I like>.
Starts April 5th. Tickets start at $25.
Snooze. We could do much better. Here are six tips to improve your Facebook advertising.
1.) Set goals. Before you begin, set goals for your campaigns. These can include things native to Facebook like: drive sharing, build fan base, drive event RSVPs, drive video views, etc. or drive visits to our website. One campaign can’t do everything to pick two to three goals and focus. I tend to think you can be most successful driving the native Facebook functions such as sharing, video views, RSVPs, etc. These are the easiest to track on Facebook and what the new ad formats are designed to do. I've also ran many campaigns that take users off of Facebook to a website. As Facebook builds more advertising options to keep users on Facebook and track their interactions, I think there are more benefits to running those types of ads.
Then review your advertising reports often. You can see what is working and what is not. Pause and replace the duds. Also make sure to closely watch for frequency. If your average frequency for any ad approaches 10 then you need to replace it to fight fatigue.
2.) Highlight benefits, not features. I see far too many Facebook ads laden with features and with zero benefits. Features are much less interesting. Features would include: At xxx theater, performances begin 4/25, comfortable seats. They are useful, but benefits make far more compelling ad copy. Strong quotes provide great benefits. "The most brilliant ballerina of her generation" or "You don’t just see an Ailey performance, you feel it." Tell a story. Build excitement.
3.) Use imagery that captures attention and change it frequently. As I mentioned earlier, we have the benefits of beautiful sets, costumes, sexy dancers, and attractive actors. For our dance clients, the Facebook posts that get the most interaction are ones with shirtless men and dancers in super-human poses.
Have your designer alter the images so they capture attention. Try adding borders or bright background colors. Or try to crop out the image and put it on a white background so it pops.
Also, if you ever ran a good ad on Facebook, you know your click-through rate (CTR) lasts only a couple of days. The only way to keep your CTR high is to keep your images fresh. So create lots of ads and rotate them often.
4.) Tighten your language. Is the language as tight as can be and under 90 characters? If not, cut nonessential words. Keep sentences short. Use active voice. Posts with fewer than 250 characters see about 60% more engagement
5.) Micro Target. Facebook allows you to slice and dice your audience in many different ways. Say, for example, that you are promoting the musical White Christmas. Determine all of the potential audience groups: people who like classic movies, people with kids, people who like Irving Berlin or his contemporaries, people interested in musicals, people who like tap dancing, etc. Then create unique ads for each interest with headlines that will grab their attention. For people with kids the headline should be "Family Holiday Entertainment" for those who like tap dancing "A Tap Dancing Delight," etc. It is best to create at least two headlines for each interest group to start. The more versions the better.
6.) Take advantage of the new ad types. There are many types of ads you can run on Facebook. The two types of ads I think are most useful in selling performances are:
Stories to build up your likes. This just shows the name of your organization and the name of a friend who likes it. Social ads, ones with the names of friends attached, get far more clicks than non social ads. Target these ads to friends of your current fans. Make sure to add the demographic targeting on top of these ads to target the type of audience you are after. For one client we only target college educated women over 30 since we know they purchase 80% of tickets.
Page Post ads. These allow you to select a recent post and promote it as an ad. This is the only way to get videos into your ads without purchasing a premium sponsorship (which starts at $25,000). Just save your video on Facebook and create a post about it. Then go to the ad interface and select your organization as the target, choose "a specific post on your organization," then choose the story you want to promote from the dropdown. Voila, a video ad. The other advantage of these types of ads is that users can like, comment, and share the ad. When a user “shares” your ad, you get thousands of endorsed impressions. Also consider RSVP ads where you build an event on Facebook and the call to action is for users to RSVP.
Want to learn more about Facebook advertising? Don’t miss the half day session on Facebook Marketing at Digital Marketing Boot Camp for Arts Marketers, October 25-26 in NYC. More information at http://www.dmbootcamp4arts.com.
According to Public Radio International, the first Cash Mob was started by a writer and engineer from Buffalo called Chris Smith to counter the growing culture of discounting (couponing and deals from Living Social as well as other deal sites). Now in over a dozen cities in the United States and Canada Cash Mobs are getting significant media attention. Organized online, the suggested rules are relatively simple and are centered around the concept that the business must be a local one and that a non-discounted product must be purchased for $20 or more by each member of the cash mob.
Cash mobs are most frequently organized through social media and can be found under the Twitter hashtag #cashmob or on Facebook under cashmob and your city. As of the international cash mob day last March 24th, 2012 Cash Mobs have been organized in 32 states and two Canadian provinces. Growth of this movement has been swift with new cities joining cash mob lists every week and is sometimes linked with a buy local campaign.
The goals of many of these cash mobs are to save a local business who's sales have been low. By all indications there has not yet been a cash mob for a theater or museum but it is only a matter of time. As cash mobs are supposed to be social activities they would be well suited for many arts settings. The social media context for these activities have made them extremely easy to measure metrics on as each cash mob elicits numerous check ins and photo posts. The incentive for participation in these activities is a sense of community support. Non-profit arts organizations are fundamentally community organizations ergo the arts should be obvious beneficiaries of this movement. If anyone knows of a successful cash mob for an arts organization, please comment with the results and links if possible!
Guest blogger Amelia Northrup is the Strategic Communications Specialist at TRG Arts, the data-driven arts consulting firm. She previously blogged for TITA from 2009-2011 as she completed her Master of Arts Management from Carnegie Mellon. This post is cross-posted on Analysis from TRG Arts.
We’re not buying the bad rap email marketing is getting these days. You’ve heard it all before. Open rates are down. Users often filter emails by sender and ignore unwanted or low priority communications. Sophisticated spam filters are plucking out and putting in quarantine anything resembling a sales message. And sophisticated users, especially those in the Millennial generation, prefer other media.
The offsetting fact is that access to email is greater than ever. Users of all ages have smartphones and tablets that make on-to-go communication easy, convenient, and ubiquitous. And, those worrisome open rates for email? They actually reached a two-year high in the third quarter of 2011.
So, when our clients ask whether it is worth it to continue to use e-mail in marketing and fundraising campaigns, our reply is: Absolutely.
Why?
Email is cost-effective. In TRG’s two decades of experience, the most effective way to reach (and sell to) arts and entertainment patrons is via direct marketing. Simply put, direct communications get the right message in front of the right patron at the right time whether the message goes out by snail mail, telemarketing, or email. (Read a case study on this.) Of all direct channels, email marketing is often the cheapest weapon in your arsenal. Social media and other new media channels can help a campaign, but, like radio, TV and other “broadcast” media, it’s far less likely to reach the intended target and make the same sort of impact as a direct, targeted message.
Email plays a crucial role in today’s multi-channel campaigns. We advise a 2-1 punch of direct snail mail with some sort of follow-up by email. That second “touch” via email acts as a “booster shot” to a campaign already in motion—reminding patrons of a deal or deadline and keeping your organization top-of-mind.
So, what makes email marketing effective?
1. Keep complete, clean patron records. In all direct marketing, cleanliness is next to godliness--regardless of the channel you’re using, but especially with email marketing. A patron may move from their home and keep their email address and vice versa. Best practice is to keep each patron’s contact information up-to-date and tied to their home address and to their transaction history with your organization.
2. Update patron records regularly. As a rule of thumb, you should always plan to import fresh lists at the end of each phase of a subscription, membership, and donor campaigns. Also, refresh your records and email lists after each event or program has finished its run. That’s how new patrons and their most recent transactions get added to your lists.
3. Make sure that those who opt out stay out. If your email system is worth its salt, it should automatically take people off your lists who opt out—and keep them out if you inadvertently add them again. But what about patrons who have opted out of all communication with you in your ticketing or CRM system only? You must make sure that your email lists include those opt-outs too.
4. Reserve your right to a one-time email. Opting out from email communication is governed by separate, different standards than are “do not mail” and “do not call” designations. A patron’s presence on one of those mail or call suppression lists need not stop you from emailing. Once there is a business transaction--a ticket sale, donation, purchase of an event--you may email both a confirmation of the transaction and one follow-up communication. Best practice dictates that your one follow-up communication include, prominently, the ability to opt-out from future emails. So, we advise that your follow-up be well-crafted to keep patrons coming back and wanting to hear more from you. (Here are some good examples of follow-up emails from Convio.)
5. Invest time in email data hygiene. It’s a lot of effort to pull lists correctly and import those lists into your email system--not to mention tracking which are current and who is on which lists. (That’s why we love systems that integrate all transactions with email addresses!) The rewards of time you invest in your email data are great: higher open rates, greater response to offer, more engaged patrons. A tool like email, which is direct, cheap and nearly universal, is worth every bit of time you invest, and will be relevant for years to come.
On February 10th, the Master of Arts Management program at Carnegie Mellon University will welcome Mr. Chad Bauman, Director of Communications for Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater to speak as part of our Speaker Series. His presentation, Confessions from an Arts Marketer – Learning from the Past, Looking Toward the Future, will highlight the worst practices in the field, what can be learned from them, and how to move beyond them.
I recently chatted with Chad and talked Tweet Seats, fire in the belly, and what he wished he had known about the field from the very beginning…
Elizabeth @ Technology in the Arts: You’ve held top, senior positions as the previous Director of Marketing and Communications for Americans for the Arts and now as Director of Communications for Arena Stage. You’ve clearly figured it out. But even so, what’s the one piece of advice you wish you had received before entering the field?
Chad Bauman: I am very thankful for my education from CalArts in Producing and Theater Management. But I would have to say…I wish I had learned how to get stuff for free. When you are first starting out, it’s how good are you at convincing people to give you stuff for free- advertising space, promotional opportunities…it’s absolutely critical for smaller companies; you have to do it really well.
E: Now, with all the social media networks out there, it must be easier to get recognized and make connections with those who CAN give you stuff for free.
C: Earlier on, it was super controversial for arts organizations to be on social media; they didn’t understand what the value would be. It also used to be a smaller company could distinguish itself on social media, but now there is a lot more clutter. Being on social media is an exceptional way to get free promotion, but now you have to compete with everyone else out there.
E: So I have to ask, in your opinion, which is the better platform to get a message out and to get attention, Twitter or Facebook?
C: I’m liking Twitter more and more. It’s the most efficient platform. It began with Friendster, then MySpace, then Facebook. I think Facebook use is on the decline and Twitter is on the incline. It’s more of a conversational tool.
E: How about audience members Tweeting during a show? Tweet Seats?
C: You have to be careful; you have to find a balance with Tweet Seats. There was a case where a theater established Tweet Seats for a show, but the resident writers of the production were never consulted and they were not on board with it.
E: What are you more in favor of then, Tweet Seats or post-experience Tweeting?
C: I am more in favor of post-experience Tweeting. You can’t get the full experience if you are on your phone, you’ll miss something. You can miss the most crucial detail, especially in a very nuanced performance. There are many other ways to invite conversation about a production.
E: For those of us logging in hours on online job boards and stalking career services on an daily basis, what are the qualities you look for as Director in a potential employee or intern?
C: Fire in the belly. By that I mean, a person who is internally motivated. I’m not sure you can teach it. They want to do a great job and are motivated by wanting to do a great job. You can teach skills, but you can’t teach internal motivation.
E: In particular to marketing?
C: I look for people who are not afraid to take risks, calculated risks, but risks nonetheless. You have to be willing to take a risk in an entrepreneurial spirit.
E: We, my fellow job and internship seekers, thank you for that advice! I don’t want to take up too much more of your time, so one last question. In a recent blog, I looked at the changing face of America over the next four or five decades and its shift to a minority-majority population. How can visual arts or performing arts organizations expand their audience to reflect this change?
C: First, it’s about programming and community outreach. At Arena Stage, we go out into the community, to churches, to schools, to make personal relationships. You can communicate to younger demographics about your organization’s activity and productions using technology tools. But it’s about programming. Marketers are very good at targeting a specific demographic and figuring out what tools to use. But regardless of the tool, there has to be an interest in the production or the organization’s mission.
Whether they know it or not, every organization has a story to tell. But sometimes, it just so happens that this story is lost amid the frenetic activities of day-to-day work, and soon finds itself sitting quietly in the old forgotten folder of organizational history. Well, the month of February is the time to retrieve that story and subject it to some digital editing. This is because TechSoup, an organization that enables non profits to achieve their mission through technological solutions, has decided that some stories are best told digitally!
Recently, TechSoup launched its Annual Digital Storytelling contest which, “combines professional instruction and friendly competition into a hands-on media-making project.” Over the month of February,“TechSoup Global will host a series of interactive events including Twitter Chats, live webinars, and trainings designed to help nonprofits produce a one-minute video or five-picture Flickr slideshow that tells the story of its organization.” Yes, a minute or five pictures is all you have!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccCwQeAo4l4
TechSoup will accept submissions through February 29th, and in March, a panel of judges will select the organizations with the very best videos and “take their digital storytelling to the next level.” Another interesting and fun aspect is the Audience Choice Award, where “winning and notable submissions will be screened in San Francisco and live-streamed online through SecondLife as a special “red carpet” event on March 28, 2012.”
TechSoup’s competition is beneficial to not-for-profit organizations because stories are one of the most engaging ways to raise awareness and gather support. If an organization has a compelling story, people will listen. Better yet, if an organization can narrate it digitally, people will not only listen but they will also share it! And if the vast and ever expanding YouTube community is pleased, it might just go viral!
So non profits, make haste! You have a month and at most, a minute!
Over the past couple of years or so there has been a steady rise in the phenomena of competitive voting contests for not for profit organizations to receive grants for projects or operations. These contests are run by large corporations as well as not for profit groups. Examples of corporate contests take different shapes such as Pepsi's with the Pepsi Refresh Project which gives grants ranging from $5k to $50k based on competitive community voting toChase Community Giving which touts donations over $600 million dollars through Facebook contests. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has similarly put contests into place by granting to various historic restoration projects based on the number of votes they receive online.
Whether these contests sit well with critic's ethical concerns or not, the volume of web traffic generated for the recipients, the donor organizations, and the organizations who compete but do not win is remarkable. According to Pepsi, the most recent contest in the fall of 2011 garnered more than half a million distinct registrations with over 3.5 million votes counted on the Pepsi site alone. If you aggregate this number with all of the site visits, social network hits, and emails then you have a truly noteworthy phenomena.
Why are people so invigorated by these contests? There are less time intensive ways to earn money in aggregate. One can point to the idea that the contest is a game and the competition itself is what people are engaging in more than the philanthropic cause. It could also be argued that the community effort of building a team to go online and vote for the cause for multiple days has an intrinsic value as well and that by the simple act of building this team you are building and drawing constituents deeper into the arts community.
As these online contest continue even more organizations are starting to do them. The Humane Society recently used a online photo contest to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars, the Case Foundation has been running a voter based contest for years, and American Express has also run contests in the past.
The following are some tips that have been gleaned from articles and criticism of various contests mentioned previously:
1) Make sure that the contest aligns with your mission. By diverting resources for a potential pie in the sky pot of money you can detract from your organization's true work.
2) Ask what your organization can gain from competing for these pots of money? Set forward goals of community building and identify volunteers to assist with these aims.
3) If you are going to market this to your patrons identify your budget for staff time and delegate a reasonably proportional amount of money to pursue getting the word out.
4) Don't start mid-steam. Almost all winners of these contests have strong starts and once you are behind in the voting it is hard to keep up. If you see a contest in progress that you would have liked to take part in simply put it on your calendar for an effort next year as your opportunity may all ready have passed.
Recently the Merce Cunningham Dance Company shut down following the death of Merce Cunningham. The action taken by the founder are somewhat unique in the world of the arts and there have been observations of what this means. Meanwhile the content of the Merce Cunningham Company, at least in part can still be found online through various video projects and the archive left by the company through the Living Legacy Plan and maintained by the Merce Cunningham Trust. The continued availability of this content is carrying on the legacy in the true spirit of its founder who frequently wrote of the transitory nature of his performance and was a student of Buddhist philosophy.
Further performances have resided online for years through projects like On The Boards TV which is currently celebrating its two year anniversary with a sale of online content. The content can be accessed through one time rental, purchase, and through subscription and is high quality, having been shot on 4-5 hi-definition cameras. Through content providers like On The Boards TV and do it yourself online venues such as YouTube and Vimeo the amount of online performing arts content has grown significantly. Artists are gradually recognizing that real content online is critical for accessing new audiences and maximizing market penetration.
Innovation in the field of dance and theater can go deeper than this. Critics have noticed a trend at fringe festivals of micro-performances and intimate theater. While artists seem to be taking advantage of physical spaces for the time being, the possibilities for using digital spaces are increasing everyday. The idea of doing live performances online has certainly received attention. The growth of services such as Skype make interfacing virtually and therefore using these same services as a performance venue more likely every year.
Today’s social media networks are engaging in covert retrospection. Even as the world preoccupies itself with its future, social media platforms are becoming uncannily reminiscent of the past. Twitter is the modern day telegram, Facebook the diary that is no longer hidden, and recently, there has been a flurry of activity on Pinterest and Instagram, both of which are equally retro savvy.
A board where you can pin up your favorite ideas and images. A lens that lets you transport your photos back to 1977. Yes, Pinterest and Instagram are definitely retrograde in their outlook, and more importantly, incredibly popular. In fact, so many have taken an interest in Pinterest that last year it was “one of the top ten most visited social networks.” Hence, a host of organizations have begun to use these networks to visually engage with their readers, customers, or audiences.
Pinterest is a virtual pin board where you can “organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web.” Users can categorize their interests into boards and subsequently build on that interest through pinning up images that inspire or appeal to them. Moreover, each pin can be re-pinned, liked, and commented on, leading to the creation of a social dialogue.
Recently, there was an informative article in Outspoken Media about how to effectively use Pinterest. In her article, the author mentioned that while it is against the Pinterest’s etiquette to use the site for self-promotion, brands could nevertheless use it to narrate their own story, rather than the story of what they sell.
“Pinterest works best when brands show customers what’s going on below the surface. When they allow consumers to see the spirit of their brand by showing them not what they do, but why they do it – what inspires them, what moves them, what the company culture is based on. They do that all through topic-specific boards.”
Given the entirely visual motivations of Pinterest, it’s striking that not many arts organizations are on the site. There is even a whole category of pins under Art! If your organization’s mission, vision, passions, and inspirations can be conveyed visually, then you may want to check whether Pinterest is hiding behind more significant pins (Facebook, Twitter) on your social media brown board.
While Pinterest is teeming with inspiring and beautiful pictures, the social media app Instagram, may just be the source of those pictures. Instagram is an app that lets you filter your images in a variety of styles, which can then be uploaded to the Instagram site and shared with other users. The filters, which are remarkably, aesthetically attuned, have probably redeemed many a picture from the depths of Dante’s photographic inferno, (if one were to exist).
And for an app that is used, even by the President of America, for politically strategic if not aesthetic reasons, Instagram has certainly gained a lot of momentum. Arts organizations can use the app for sprucing up images they’d like to share and publish them on a wide variety of sites, including Instagram itself. The app can also work as a marketing tool and was recently employed by Tiffany & Co in their ad campaign titled What Makes Love True.
Finally, if the muse of social media content generation has marooned you on the island of blankness, Percolate is here to help. Percolate helps brands generate content through the process of online curation. As stated on their website, “Percolate bubbles up interesting content from around the web and presents it back to a brand editor to add a comment and publish back out to social channels and websites.” As of now, the site is invite only, but brands can get in touch and learn more about the dissipation of social media content on their website.
So before you despair at the idea of building yet another social media platform, wait a while. Let the possibilities that these sites open up... percolate.
Its not often that one comes across a company named awesome. Perhaps, companies fear the mighty implications of cool contained in those two syllables. Yet, one San Francisco based start-up has accepted the challenge of living up to those expectations by putting forth an awe-some value proposition.
“awe.sm is the leading platform for companies to harness social data. We measure how social marketing like Facebook posts and Twitter updates leads to meaningful outcomes, like signups, purchases, and other business goals.”
Space
True to their URL address, their work is totally.awe.sm because they are helping developers, marketers, and organizations effectively monitor and measure their social media and marketing campaigns. While awe.sm has been around for the past two and a half years, the company recently made headlines because it received $4 million dollars in funding from the Foundry Group, and it plans to use the money for further development and expansion of its social data monitoring platform.
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Besides its additional services that are tailored towards marketing professionals and developers, awe.sm helps an organization in two ways; through optimizing their sharing and understanding their fans.
Space
Firstly, awe.sm can help further an organization’s social media strategy through individually tracking each post that uses awe.sm’s url shortening code. By tracking each tweet or post individually, an organization can learn about the type of posts that attract web traffic, the optimal time for posts, and the actual monetary returns on social media campaigns. It is this last measure on returns that really differentiates awe.sm from other social media tracking tools because awe.sm lets “publishers analyze just how much a Like is worth to them.”
Secondly, awe.sm enables an organization to visualize its social media sharing pattern through some very nifty graphics, which can help an organization identify its influencers, the people who can sway public interest towards a particular product or cause. An example of these graphical and interactive interfaces can be found at VIPLi.st, which is “a fun visualization of the data awe.sm tracks for Plancast.”
While awe.sm is geared towards for-profit organizations, not-for profit organizations can still gain some valuable insight into social media analytics. Awe.sm’s capabilities could be used for fundraising, where organizations could track the kind of posts that are leading to the highest ROIs, shares, signups, and clicks. Moreover, awe.sm would also be very useful in determining which social media channel (Facebook vs Twitter vs Google+) is most effective in connecting and conversing with followers or fans.
And for those interested in learning more about social media analysis, the awe.sm team runs an interesting blog, in which they provide valuable insights into the world of social media along with some great advice on social media strategies, industry predictions, and best practices. Awe.sm also holds webinars for those interested in learning more about the application of their social media platform.
The world has become a sociable place, at least as far as online sharing, liking, and conversing is concerned. And organizations should be careful not to overlook social media analytics because, in essence, they provide insight into people’s emotions, which is a very powerful and influential piece of information for any organization in any field.
Earlier this year, Technology in the Arts wrote a three part series on The Art of Social Media Analytics and with companies such as awe.sm, these analytics truly become an art form because awe.sm’s tools are able to create a compelling and powerful visual story around a set of clicks, retweets, plus ones, and likes.
The Walker Center in Minneapolis has a new website that has broken the mold and is venturing into offering content in a way that could help define a new paradigm of online content for large arts organizations. As the executive Director states in her press release: "The intent of the new site is to make visible our role as a generative producer and purveyor of content and broadcast our voice in the landscape of contemporary culture."
By becoming broader purveyors of arts knowledge and information The Walker makes itself more relevant in the broader context of the arts across the country. The expertise that was only available through a visit to a lecture, through a docent on a museum tour, or a talk-back during a performance is now available through the we interface as the Walkers experts are now the gatekeepers for the online content. Thus the reach of the organization becomes multiplied by those people who share content and the organization.
This platform has the potential to lure entirely new audiences through the principle that traffic online follows quality of content. Also by revealing the values of the artistic staff of the organization The Walker is potentially connecting with like minded individuals in the arts community across the world. This in turn could make them into a destination city for arts tourists. By using the multi-disciplinary focus of the institution they are harnessing the the trend but by putting it online they are making it about the global dialogue and making themselves a shining example of what is to come.
Having the good fortune of living in Europe for a few years with many of the world’s most beloved fine art institutions in my backyard, I was pleased to test a myriad of their recently launched apps. There is much to be said for the wonderful ways in which mobile devices can enhance the visitor experience. Of course, there are also downfalls attributed to the growing pains associated with mobile. Often I was impressed, entertained, educated, annoyed, and confused – sometimes all simultaneously. Since mobile planning and implementation can be a backend-focused undertaking for museum staff, the following simply offers the perspective of a museum visitor with a smartphone in tow.
BYOD (bring your own device): Mobile devices are increasing all-in-ones for just about everything. Visitors can skip the line for an audio guide because with the same (if not more robust) content available on their own familiar device, they have the distinct advantage of being audio and multimedia guide self-sufficient.
Dialogue: Museums are historically notorious for offering one-way authoritative information. Since most museum mobile apps are outfitted with social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter, visitors are afforded a voice to communicate with the museums (and they actually listen).
Save and share: I still bring my sketchbook with me on museum visits for notes and doodles, but museum apps make archiving and sharing objects of interest easier to come back to when they offer a “favorite this” feature. Other mobile tools such Pinterest and Twitter hashtags also make the impact of a visit more enduring and accessible.
Off-site relevance: Many museum apps make content valuable off-site as well as during in-person visits. For example, I dashed through Tate Modern’s Miró Exhibition in a rush, but later read about the impact of the Spanish Civil War on Miró’s work via the exhibition app while waiting to board a plane in Pittsburgh. This pared down version of a catalogue is easier to haul around and cheaper.
“Edutainment”: Why not learn while being entertained? The Andy Warhol Museum’s DIY Pop app is a great example of experiencing both. We have a frustrated museum education staff member to thank for sparking interest in developing a way to digitally educate the public on Warhol’s silkscreen process while replicating it using our own photos.
The Bad and The Ugly
Connectivity: Yes, a visitor may skip the line for the audio guide, but once in the gallery app download capability may be spotty since many institutions do not offer Wi-Fi (the cost of which can be a prohibitive expense). To make matters worse, the thick walls of many museums can make using a cellular network virtually impossible. If a visitor can access their cellular network, many multimedia rich museums apps can be data gluttons, especially for foreign travelers out of their network area.
No phone/camera policies: I’ve become a pro at the art of looking like I’m texting someone, when in fact I’m taking prohibited photos and spreading them on Twitter and Facebook. Some museums are finding it difficult to strike a balance between preventing copyright infringement and fully embracing the use of mobile technology. With apps like “Cards,” you can understand the dilemma of wanting to encourage word-of-mouth marketing while not irresponsibly promoting the dissemination of images not in the public domain. But, as a staff member of the Royal Academy of Arts pointed out to me: “If all the 50 people who came through in the last two hours went home to their Facebook and their Flickr, posted photos of this fantastic place with comments, think of the social media publicity. Think of the viral marketing.” Institutions like the RA are well positioned to proactively ask for artists’ permission for visitors to use and spread images of their work online.
For individuals such as myself, who are certain their value as a human is inextricably tied to the use of a smartphone, 2010–2011 was an especially great time to be wondering the galleries of Tate Britain, Tate Modern, The Royal Academy of Arts, The Louvre, and more. These institutions’ fledgling apps are a solid start to their entree into mobile tech. In the near future, (especially with the help of new culturally focused app developers) I’ll be excited to see the use of image recognition (a copyright nightmare), mobile transactions (e.g. tickets, membership, gift shop purchases), and the further adoption of augmented reality. Am I asking for too much, too soon? After all, I’m about a step away from expecting my iPhone to wash my dishes if I throw it in the sink. Isn’t there an app for that?
Author Bio
Ashley Paulisick completed her master’s degree in Art Business at Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London in 2011. Her dissertation, titled “The Impact of Mobile Technology on Art Institution Visitor Experiences,” took her to some of the world’s most prestigious art museums, including Tate Modern and Pittsburgh’s own Andy Warhol Museum.
Ashley has also worked in arts administration and as a painter under the “pen” name Ashley Cecil. You can read about and see her work at www.ashleycecil.com and find her on Twitter at @ashleycecil.
Hold on, hold on! Before the grand reveal, a little contextual information. The Nonprofit Quarterly recently published the article, “Which causes do best on social media? That world according to Craig Newmark,” highlighting Newmark’s research on the United States’ top 50 not-for-profits (determined by Charity Navigator), their causes and which “do” social media the best. The leading not-for-profit organizations were grouped into categories of causes. Within these categories, the top 5 organizations were analyzed. The categories of causes include:
Animal
Children
Cultural
Disaster Relief
Environment
Health
Veterans and Military
Women
To report his findings and analyses, Newmark and his team at Craigconnects produced two cleverly designed infographics, “Who Rules Social Media? A Look at Social Media Impact by Nonprofit Issues" and "How the Top 50 Nonprofits Do Social Media." In addition to data and nifty graphics, the reports shed light on the staffing of these organizations, revealing that of the 21 not-for-profit organizations Newmark and his researchers personally spoke with, all but one employed either a designated full-time or part-time social media staff person. Furthermore, Newmark's research indicates
...revenue does not increase a nonprofit's visibility and interactions in the social media world. Some of the most social media savvy organizations are in the bottom quarter bracket in terms of revenue, yet they are clearly active on social media. It's about fostering conversations and interactions, not money.
The winners of the most talkative category on Facebook and Twitter (in terms of Facebook posts, Tweets and responses) are the animal and environmental causes, averaging between 88-134 Tweets per week; the loser, the veteran and military category. The winner of the most talked about category on Facebook and Twitter was again, the animal cause and the losing causes, women and veterans. Curiously, though women are the dominant demographic using social media, the “women” cause is talked about the least…
How did the cultural cause fare? The top 5 cultural organizations considered in the report were the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Opera and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Averaging 8 Facebook posts and 32 Tweets a week, the cultural cause ranked 5th and 4th respectively out of the 8 categories of causes. In terms of being talked about, the cultural cause ranked 5th both on Facebook and Twitter. Comparing revenues relative to social media activity of the top not-for-profit organizations, the Metropolitan Museum of Art ranked highly (considering its reported revenue of $319,054,654 is one of the lowest in the study). While the research and reports do not represent the cultural not-for-profit landscape in its entirety, excluding the hundreds of thousands not-for-profit cultural organizations that did not make the top 50 cut, the message is strong:
… the bottom line is that your main concern should be to cultivate conversations, relationships, and interactions within your own specific community, whether it’s 2,000 or 200,000 people. Work to move “your people” up the ladder of engagement, based on their needs. But know it will take an investment of staff time and resources to achieve this. These are the keys to keeping up in the fast-paced arena of social networks.
Who not only maintains, but stimulates social media activity for your Facebook and Twitter account? Do you have a designated staff person or team regularly producing your online content? If not, can you delegate the responsibility to a committed volunteer or intern? How can not-for-profit arts and cultural organizations make their online social media presence stronger and more impactful to move from 5th place to 1st? With a know-how for attracting and retaining wide audiences in playhouses, galleries, museums, halls, theaters and the like, cultural not-for-profits should have a definite advantage when it comes to the same, but online. Take a look back at your own organizations Facebook and Twitter activity over the last few months, then share your thoughts, solutions and impressions of the research with us on Facebook or Twitter.
Happy Friday! What’s everyone doing this weekend? Perhaps you’re saddling up to head to Louisville for the National Arts Marketing Project Conference. The conference starts tomorrow and goes through next Tuesday the 15th – in which case, enjoy the conference! If you can’t make it to Kentucky this weekend, a lot of the conference will be online. Three sessions will be streaming live and archived as webcasts if you miss them. The conference will also be accessible via twitter with hashtag “#nampc”.
The National Arts Marketing Project (NAMP) offers resources year round on their website to help your arts organization be better marketers. One of these is their newest ebook, 13 Social Media Infographics Every Marketer Needs to See.
The first in a series of free publications, 13 Social Media Infographics Every Marketer Needs to See is an accessible and enlightening tool for those interested in social media marketing. The publication covers the history of marketing channels, basic tips for social media usage, and then moves on to more complex topics like the demographics for each social media website. If you're looking for a way to make sense of all the social media out there, this is a great starting point.
Technology in the Arts also has a lot of great social media resources, including how to analyzeyoursuccess, tap into that prized demographic, and important current trends. How is your organization using social media to be better marketers?
With the announcement that Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg will make his first visit to Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) today, the Technology In the Arts team thought it would be appropriate to take a look back on the groundbreaking social media platform and the impact it’s had on how arts organizations engage their audiences.
CMU is one of three campuses being visited by Zuckerberg during an East Coast college tour. While here, he will meet with faculty and students and give a talk to an invitation-only audience. He will be joined by Mike Schroepfer, Facebook's vice president of engineering.
Here’s a bit of Facebook Trivia to get us started:
More than 800 million active users
More than 50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day
Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events
More than 350 million active users currently access Facebook through their mobile devices
Facebook is also the most popular social network for all age demographics according to a Forrester Research Survey
One of the most interesting studies on how Facebook has affected arts and cultural organizations was conducted this past summer. ‘The Tangled Web of Social Media’ was a study commissioned by Theatre Bay Area in 2011. The study examined the social media habits of 207 diverse nonprofit arts and cultural organizations with the goal of understanding how social media was being used and what best practices emerged as a result. The study found that Facebook was by far the most popular social network used by these arts organizations. Another similar finding was that community members were eight times more active commenting on the Facebook posts made by arts organizations than mentioning those same organizations on Twitter.
Here are a few ways in which Facebook has revolutionized how arts organizations are engaging with audiences:
Giving Campaigns: Facebook has also impacted the way audiences can contribute financially to their favorite organizations. The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently published an article about a California boy, Paddy O’Brien, whose inspirational story about his struggle with bone cancer resulted in 1,000 donations to the Children’s Hospital who treated him via the Facebook Causes platform.
Ticket Buying: Companies like TicketForce have made it possible for many artists and organizations to sell tickets directly through their brand’s Facebook Page. The client operates so that ticket buyers do not have to leave the Facebook Page in order to purchase tickets.
Merchandise Sales: Facebook has also provided the opportunity for artists and organizations to sell merchandise on their pages.
Building Communities through Facebook Groups: Many arts organizations have also been experimenting with hosting group pages as opposed to “regular” pages. Groups can provide an opportunity for fans to interact with each other on a more intimate level. Beth Kanter recently featured a guest post on her blog regarding best practices for nonprofits interested in building a group page.
There’s no doubt that this social media giant has had an incredible impact on the way arts organizations interact with audiences and will continue to do so. Ultimately, many of these organizations are finding creative ways to interact with existing fans and build new audiences in a manner that has never been done before.
How has Facebook impacted your organization, either positively or negatively?
InSites Consulting is a European consulting firm with offices in Belgium, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Romania and a soon-to-be office in New York. The firm serves various industries from travel to media and retail to health and produces cutting-edge research focused on branding, customer experience, innovation, and marketing insights.
I stumbled upon this InSites presentation (oh happy day), and subsequently, a selection of the firm’s previous presentations (look to the right of the presentation view for additional goodies). It is far too rich in its research, insight and empirical evidence to hoard for myself-it had to be shared.
Titled “Social Media Around the World 2011,” the presentation supports what we at Technology in the Arts continually emphasize for all organizations in today’s digital age and especially for not-for-profit arts organization: you can no longer ignore the power of social media.
Even in the absence of raw data (for those of us who are skeptical of the methods used to collect the data and the empirical research presented) the message is more than convincing: with such a wide and growing audience, social media is the future of branding, marketing and networking. So, take a look at the presentation and once the shock-factor of what you just read settles, share with us.
Last month, after releasing our report on Developing Jazz and Classical Audiences with Technology, NPR reported on findings from the ongoing Jazz Audiences Initiative project. Both studies have suggested that social networking sites and Internet music discovery tools often play a key role in developing younger audiences for jazz. With the recent U.S. launch of streaming service, Spotify, there has been much discussion about the usefulness and economic sustainability of 'On-Demand' platforms. While streaming content can be a powerful audience development tool, many are concerned that users are becoming more and more accustomed to free content. Today, I wanted to give a quick overview of three jazz specific presenting organizations and festivals who have launched 'streaming' and 'on-demand' platforms.
1. Smalls Jazz Club :
Smalls is one of New York's premiere jazz clubs, boasting full line-ups just about every night of the week. The club regularly streams concerts on its webpage from 7:30-closing time.
2. Newport Jazz Festival:
The Newport Jazz Festival has always been on the forefront when it comes to jazz festivals. This past year's festival was no different, as the lineup was mainly "anti-headliners", featuring many up-and-coming musicians. While the jazz festival hasn't been as successful in the past as its sister folk festival, founder George Wein continues to experiment and push the boundaries. Both the jazz and folk festivals were live streamed and archived. The complete archive can be accessed at NPR's website.
3. The Checkout: Live from 92Y:
The Checkout is a new series created by Joshua Jackson, host of WBGO’s hour-long music magazine The Checkout, who is widely recognized as an unparalleled enthusiast for modern expressions in jazz. Curated by Jackson in conjunction with 92YTribeca, The Checkout: Live features some of the most exciting and innovative players on the NYC scene for monthly concerts that will are broadcast live on WBGO as well as streamed on WBGO.org. Portions will also be recorded for future broadcast and podcast as part of The Checkout. Performances are also archived at NPR.org/music. For a complete schedule of upcoming performances, please visit their website.
Guest blogger Erik Gensler is the President of Capacity Interactive, a digital marketing consulting firm for performing arts orgs. This fall Capacity Interactive is hosting the inaugural Digital Marketing Boot Camp for Arts Marketers, a 2-day conference October 20-21 in NYC. Conference topics include web analytics, online advertising, fundraising, social media, and the topic of this blog post, email marketing.More information www.dmbootcamp4arts.com.
We've recently been doing a lot of client work around email strategy. And one topic of particular interest to clients is figuring out what types of subject lines drive users to open emails and take action.
We've looked through a lot of fundraising and ticket sales emails and found that the following factors help to increase open rates:
1.) Don't be vague
Many subject lines fail to clearly delineate what's included in the body of the email. An email must explain its contents. I often see email subject lines that are very vague like this one:
Become a member today
Most people receiving your email may not even know what a membership to your organization means. In general, unless you are writing to a select group of constituents, you should assume your readers know very little or nothing about your offerings. Here is another vague subject line:
Join the music
You may think it is cute and pithy but what does this mean to a casual user? As a fundraiser for a music org it may mean a lot to you but to most readers this is very vague and therefore not effective.
2.) Make your offer feel like it is for VIPs by highlighting special benefits
The more special and exclusive an offer sounds, the more users will be intrigued to open it. If there are special privileges in your offer, highlight them in your subject line. Things like:
Receive the best seats in the house
A limited number of xxx available
VIP access to a rehearsal
One Night Only event
We have found that subject lines that offer VIP benefits have higher open rates.
3.) Use a deadline
Create urgency by using a deadline. Tie the special offer to the deadline.
Receive x if you act by 10/15.
Just don't overdo this or it will seem like you are crying wolf...or are narrating a TV infomercial.
4.) Make it about the user, not about your organization
Here’s a poor subject line:
Give now to help us make our end of year goal
Why? Because this subject line is all about the organization. You need to flip it to make it about the user.
Here is a much better subject line about the user:
Support XXX by 8/15 and receive a limited-edition signed cast album
Another one all about the organization:
Come to XXX performance on 10/15
Think about WHY the user should come. What will they get out of it? Also use terms like your and you, (not us and our) to be more user-centric.
5.) If relevant, mention a high-profile celebrity
Like it or not, people are mad for celebrities. If you have a high-profile celebrity involved in your event or performance mention them in your subject. If you have a high-profile director or artistic director, experiment with emailing with their name as the sender. We see that this often lifts open rates.
6.) Cut every unnecessary word
Try to make your subject lines as short as possible. There is no magic length but generally shorter is better. Take a scalpel to your subject line and cut out every unnecessary word. Think through your subject line to see if there is a better way to construct it that may use fewer words.
Google+, the search engine giant’s new social networking site with 20 million users, has been getting a lot of press lately. There’s already some good advice out there for art nonprofits from the usual suspects (Devon Smith, Heather Mansfield). And artists are already exploring this new way of sharing their music and visual pieces. With technology this new, there is always a lot of experimentation by the early adopters, speculation by the commentators, and caution from the silent majority. But even at this early point in time, when the fate of Google+ is up in the air, there is one thing that I am certain of: that is that Google + represents a revolution in the integration of digital activity and the way we interact with the world around us. In this article, we’ll talk about what sets Google + apart, how it is integrated with other Google products, and what implications it holds for business in general and the arts in particular.
What is Google+?
Check out the Google+ intro video if you haven’t already:
There’s a lot of chatter in the blogosphere right now around the idea that Google+ is the ultimate content-sharing platform. The reasons given for this range from enhanced privacy controls making people more comfortable with sharing to the Sparks feature which allows users to find and share content without leaving the platform.
Circles
One of the biggest things separating Google+ from the rest of the social media pack is its Circles. Instead of all of your contacts either being a friend/follower or not being one, they can be put into different Circles- friends, family, colleagues, etc. Then- and this is the kicker- you can choose who will view which posts. No more work colleagues or family members seeing your expletive-filled posts or pictures from that party.
Sure, Facebook has groups. But in a Facebook group, users choose to join the group--on Google+, you choose the names of your circles and assign who is in them. In Facebook groups, you can post on the group’s wall (which involves first going to the group page), but anyone who visits the page can see what you posted. With Google+, you can choose to share content only with certain circles, adding an extra layer of privacy.
Enhanced Privacy Controls
Chris Brogan covers this pretty well in this short video. Privacy controls are more transparent and easy to find compared to Facebook.
Sparks
Google is still primarily a search engine, so it’s no coincidence that they have an integrated search feature in the network. “Sparks” allows you to enter a topic you’re interested in (say, nonprofits), and every time you login, you can click that word to find many articles on the topic that you can then share with as many or as few Circles as you like.
+1 and Search Engine Optimization integration
Even if you haven’t made a Google+ account yet, you’ve probably seen the little “+1” icons around the Web. It’s Google’s version of a “like” button. Unlike Facebook’s button, whose data Google doesn’t have access to, a +1 actually impacts search rankings. So, the more +1s a website, article, or video has, the higher it appears in searches, and the more likely people will find it and share it, etc.
While all these features may pave the way for Google+ to become the content capital of the interwebs, right now, companies, organizations and brands can’t directly participate in this content-sharing utopia.
Currently, the only way for brands to get their content onto G+ is through “real people’s” accounts- employees, constituents, secret admirers, etc. This makes iteven more important that your organization has something interesting to say and compelling to share.
Integration
Imagine a world where the offers you receive are based on data not only from your activities, but your friends’ activities . . . where place-based businesses target customers not only by email and postal mail within certain zip codes, but by what street you are walking down, or which restaurant your friends have gathered at . . . This world, where social networking merges with mobile-based services and retail, is closer than ever to being a reality with Google+.
Already, Google Offers has been launched in New York and San Francisco, beaming coupons to customers based on their location and preferences. According to Stephanie Tilenius, Google’s VP of Commerce, Google Offers and Google Wallet (the company’s payment system) will be integrated into G+ as well as other Google properties such as Maps.
Edd Dumbill at O’Reilly Radar is calling this integration of social networks with other web-based applications a “social backbone” to our entire web experience, as opposed to the “walled garden” of existing social networks.
. . . social features will become pervasive, and fundamental to our interaction with networked services. Collaboration from within applications will be as natural to us as searching for answers on the web it today . . . Search removed the need to remember domain names and URLs . . . . The social backbone will relieve our need to manage email addresses and save us laborious ‘friending’ and permission granting activity . . .
All this integration, says Dumbill, will help computers better serve users.
Where does this leave business?
So the world may be changing. How should you prepare for that? Below are some tips from some smart guys at Social Media Explorer.
Jason Falls
“Stay the course with what you’re doing. Wait for the brand-permissions and guidelines to come from Google on the Plus platform. Experiment with it for yourself to know how it works and how non-linear you have to be thinking to optimize the use of Circles.”
Mark Ivey
Five questions to ask for starters, and to make sure you’re positioned for the G+ world:
Are you in the game?Do you have a presence across paid (search, broadcast, etc), earned (events) and owned (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and now G+) media? These are your marketing beachheads, and you’ll need to work across the board to make sure you’re connecting with customers with your messages.
Do you have a clear content marketing strategy?If so, you’re already using listening tools and engaging in related conversations. Adjust your strategy for G+-and stick to it. If not, better get one in order fast-I just met with two companies last week, neither had a content strategy, both are scrambling in catch-up mode.
Is your content relevant?If you’re unclear on the role and importance of relevant content, read Michael Brito’s nice analysis pieceon SME. Conduct a content audit, compare it to industry conversations, and judge for yourself. Is your content hitting the target? Are you involved and influencing industry conversations? What is your share of voice around key topics?
Do you have a content engineand systematic publishing process? Then you should have apublishingmodel and be systematically chunking out content, carefully targeted to your key audiences. Run it like a publisher, with clear editorial direction, calendars, and hire editors to help you drive it- more tipshere
Do you have control over your destiny?Putting all of your eggs into one basket you don’t control is stupid. Why put all your resources into building Facebook Pages when you don’t own that real estate (No one knows how G+ will affect FB yet but the risk is obvious)? The same is true of Google+-it’s a marketing outpost,not your home base. Better to build your own blogs, communities and following, and diversify your investments across several platforms, along with following a carefully crafted plan. Build a defensible program that can weather any storm, since no one knows how this will play out (who would predict G+’s amazing launch?)
This is a great opportunity to step back, take a deep breath and assess your overall strategy and social media program. There’s no reason to panic.
Where does this leave the arts?
Ah- now THAT’S the interesting question, and it’s one our industry will probably be talking about for, oh, the next year or so. With G+’s emphasis on content and people (not brands), two conclusions jump out:
- Producing art that resonates with our audiences is vital, and
- People are our most valuable asset.
To be sure, these aren’t new ideas. What’s new, though, is that what our audience tells each other about our work now has as much or more digital presence than what we tell our audience about our work. The level of content-sharing that Google+ enables means that it is becoming easier for friends to share opinions about articles, art, politics, entertainment, etc at any time. Additionally, the more something is shared, the higher its search ranking. So getting people to talk about art online is more important than ever. Do you ask your audience what they think of your art? Do you encourage them to talk to their friends about it online, continuing the conversation long after they’ve left the building? Do you reward your super-fans who already post about your organization to their social networks? What about tying in the art you present or produce with trending topics?
A new social layer to the web means it’s all about giving ‘em something to talk about.
Many of you may remember critic Terry Teachout’s controversial Wall Street Journal article that asked if jazz could “be saved?” Teachout’s article, in response to the NEA’s 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, prompted a variety of reactions across the field. Despite much of the hostility directed at Teachout, his question and concerns seemed to be valid and worth exploring, especially since the survey indicatedthat audiences (particularly for jazz, classical and opera music) were shrinking and growing older at an alarming rate. An interesting twist came in 2010 with the release of the NEA’s Audience 2.0 survey. A key finding in this survey was that Americans who participate in the arts through technology and electronic media (television, Internet, handheld devices) were three times more likely to attend a live arts event. Much like Teachout’s initial article, this survey also prompted a round of discussion about correlation and causation. Despite the controversy and debate, it is undeniable that technology is one of the most promising tools that organizations can use to build a younger fan base.
This white paper explores the role that digital marketing is now playing in building audiences in the jazz and classical music realm. This report also highlights the work of several artists and organizations at the forefront of reaching and developing new audiences online. It’s important to note, however, that most of the organizations and artists here would classify their work and the music they present as a hybrid of multiple genres. Though that distinction falls outside the scope of this report, it’s an important trend to take note of that can have a direct impact on digital marketing. Finally, we have provided a concise 4-step guide as an example of how many organizations actually implement best practices.
Organizations Highlighted:
We hope that you find each case study in this report to be encouraging and inspiring! Here were a few of the organizations we featured:
Mobtown Modern: was founded by Brian Sacawa in 2008. This organization fills a void in Baltimore’s vibrant music scene and serves as a catalyst for musical innovation and the creation and presentation of the new music of our time.
New Amsterdam Records and New Amsterdam Presents: New Amsterdam Records is the for-profit record label subsidiary of New Amsterdam Presents, a presenting and artists’ service organization that supports the public’s engagement with new music by composers and performers whose work grows from the fertile ground between genres.
Revive Music Group: serves as New York’s leader in conceptual and never-before-experienced live music productions—for a jazz and hip-hop celebration giving a unique aural exhibition of the undercurrents connecting the genres and ultimately fans of multiple generations.
Search and Restore: is a New York-based organization dedicated to uniting and developing the audience for new jazz music.
Its not often that one comes across a company named awesome. Perhaps, companies fear the mighty implications of cool contained in those two syllables. Yet, one San Francisco based start-up has accepted the challenge of living up to those expectations by putting forth an awe-some value proposition.
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Happy Friday! What’s everyone doing this weekend? Perhaps you’re saddling up to head to Louisville for the 
