In the beginning stages of my research I sat down with EMU Theatre to figure out their goals in terms of marketing. One of the goals: Increase Social Media Initiative.
As you can see, there are many social media forums, however,
I will discuss Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Blogger, and Tumblr.
While we were accomplishing the marketing goals I was able to develop my thesis:
Steady streams of current and positive content generate an active online audience interaction.
This was my scholarly way of saying: If you post frequently and tactfully, people are going to respond.
But before we go any further there are TWO RULES that you must move apply before you venture into your organization’s social media initiative:
- Do not fear your own voice. An audience does not need APA formatted blogs to appreciate the content. Let the voice inside your head spill onto your blogs and posts. Your audiences will appreciate the authenticity.
- Do not fear a small audience. It is better to have a small group of people who actually care about your content, than a large audience who have no emotional investment in your brand.
Can we move on? GREAT!
One question I hear a lot when an organization is contemplating incorporating social media is, “Why would we do it?” What do organizations gain from social media? Do Facebook “likes” and Re-Tweets equal dollar signs?” Not exactly. But the benefit to a social media presence is the ACTIVE ONLINE AUDIENCE INTERACTION. You are able to interact with your customer before, during, and after their actual interaction with your product.
Personally, I use Facebook as EMU Theatre’s social media tool. It is easy to share content such as photos, videos, anecdotes, and blogs. Not to mention it has 483 million daily active users.
When I began my job in August, EMU Theatre had 218 Active Monthly Facebook Users, which means 218 Facebook users have interacted with our brand in the past month. Today, our Weekly Reach (meaning the number of people who view our content in their feed within a week) is consistently 7,500+ users (and that number continues to grow!).
How did we do it?
MORE CONTENT: Photos, videos, anecdotes, and blogs.
Recent Facebook success has come from sharing all types of content but photos particularly generate enormous amounts of responses. Your organization can do its own form of pulling back the curtain and allowing audiences to see the behind-the-scenes work. We share the entire process with our online audience from rehearsal photos, to our first rehearsals in the theatre, to show photos. We also create themed archive albums to bring back pictures from past productions.
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Rehearsal |
Many questions arise with tools such as Twitter and blogging. EMU Theatre uses Twitter to CONNECT WITH PEOPLE in 140 characters or less.
By using the #DeadMansCellPhone hashtag we were able to discover UFV Theatre, a university theatre in Canada who was also doing a production of Dead Man’s Cell Phone on the same weekend. We were able to share photos and tell each other to “Break Legs” (because sometimes Theatre People actually say that). Did this put more butts-in-seats? Not exactly. But EMU Theatre actively created a conversation about our service while enhancing business-to-business networking.
Our success with Youtube was a product of listening to our audience. We began to notice our most popular content was the promotion of our students. We embarked on a web series called Inside the EMU Actor's Studio in which I interviewed actors, directors, and designers of upcoming shows.
I had read in many social media blogs to create a series of one type of video that would appeal to a specific audience, rather than making many different videos to appeal to all types of people.
Blogging is another forum organizations claim to have “nothing to say”. This is simply untrue. A dental office could not only send postcards about new equipment, but they could blog about it too! A restaurant could commission their workers to blog about who they are and why they enjoy their job. Trust me. The content is there. Remember the first rule? Do not fear your own voice. I mean it, people! Who cares if no one reads it right away! Get ahead of the game! Challenge yourself.
Finally, we used Tumblr for our national and international reach. Simply open a Tumblr account and click around. You will see how easy it can be to connect with people from all over the world who share very specific interests such as Shakespeare, cabaret, Moliere, etc.
(Awesome photo I found on Tumblr!)
This is all great…But how do people find your content in the first place and why do they come back?
- Start Tagging: "Tagging" a nifty word for a way to direct searches to your content. Each form of social media uses its own “tagging” system. I highly encourage you, whenever you open a new social media site, explore the tagging system. This will help audiences, who are looking for the content you’re posting, find your content. (These are example tags for EMU Theatre: theatre, theater, musical theater, acting, auditions, Shakespeare, cabaret, physical theatre, commedia dell arte, etc.)
- STOP SHOUTING! No one cares about a mediocre post.
If you're still not convinced. EMU Theatre promoted a special late-night performance of Dead Man's Cell Phone through social media and word of mouth. The result? 180+ students attended the special event! Our social media numbers continue to grow, and we have a lot of fun producing content!
I am challenging you and your organization to pump up your social media use.Think of it as a creative task. You never know, you may learn something new about yourself or your organization. Just remember…
- Do not fear your own voice.
- Do not fear a small audience.
- Start tagging.
- STOP SHOUTING!
