ARTSblog

written by Ron Evans

At the recent NAMP Conference in Providence, a lot of focus was put onto Twitter, and what use it could be to connect with patrons and have them join in on the conversation. Those of you who use Twitter already know how quickly life flies by tweet by tweet (if you’re new to the idea of Twitter, read up on an excellent article on what Twitter is at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter). A few days ago, a female blogger who goes by the name “Broadway Girl NYC” wrote a post called “The BroadwayGirlNYC Dating Service: Let Love Shine on Broadway.” Her blog and her original post can be found here and her twitter page is: http://twitter.com/broadwaygirlnyc

On a whim, she designed a contest of sorts — she challenged her single Twitter followers to write a tweet and add the hashtag “#SingleOnBway” (a hashtag is a way for Twitter people using the same term in their post to find other people who want to talk about the same topic) as a way for single folks to find each other and potentially make a connection via public messages on Twitter. If there was a spark, they were told to send a tweet back to BroadwayGirlNYC, and she would choose two winners to give two free tickets to MCC Theater’s “The Pride” for a “blind date.”

The response has been amazing.

Over the last couple of days, there have been an incredible number of responses, from a diverse group of Twitter uses, some not even from New York City. People have retweeted BroadwayGirlNYC’s posts because they seriously want to participate, and others have retweeted just because they’ve found it fun. And some interesting drama developed recently — the many single, straight girls were complaining that very few single, straight men were participating. When a guy named “@Stagemanagerbg” appeared on the scene, the girls pounced and he was flooded with requests, so much so that he ended up locking his Twitter account (as you can see when you go to his page). You can catch up on everything yourself by viewing the search results for the hashtag (and you may need to refresh the page often to see the newest posts): http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23SingleOnBway

If we look at this campaign through the lens of its marketing technique, BroadwayGirlNYC has some really powerful things at play here. The campaign features:

*A personalized message from her — BroadwayGirlNYC started the idea as a fun way for her followers (who already know and trust her posting habits) to interact with each other. Her writing style is fun and friendly, and non-institutional.

*A goal, and no goal other than fun — I contacted BroadwayGirlNYC to see if she had any biased connection to the theater company giving away the tickets, and she said that she didn’t — they had contacted her in the previous month offering a couple of free tickets for her to use in whatever way she wished, as a local blogger. She’s not using a promotional voice and there is no “shady” connections with the contest.

*A prize that doesn’t cost her any money — She got the tickets donated from the theater, but the real prize is in the people that play — if they make a match, there is a lot more in it for them than free tickets. The prize is in the crowd itself.

*A hard deadline to participate — the contest only runs until Saturday, January 9, 2010.

*An ability for people to personalize their responses — as long as they use #SingleOnBway in their post, they can write anything else they want, and people are using this to show off their personality to others.

*Ongoing encouragement — BroadwayGirlNYC continues to fan the flames with encouraging posts to her followers, and like any good host, makes sure that the conversation keeps flowing (hard to stop it now).

There is a lot to be learned from her excellent case study. When I asked her what she thought of the response so far, she said:

“I am thrilled with the response! The hashtag has gotten a lot of Broadway fans talking to each other. Even if they don’t all find (romantic) love, I’m delighted to have helped bring together this vibrant, passionate community of fans. Also, several theatres have reached out offering tickets for the next installment… so it is clearly making its mark.”

Granted, BroadwayGirlNYC has 2300 Twitter followers, so a contest worked well for her, but she started with just one follower, just like everybody else on Twitter. Just like your theater company. Building up followers just takes time and a little effort. Most importantly, this campaign says again that you have to be REAL in the online space — you can’t be there just to sell a ticket. You have to be there because you are genuinely interested in having a conversation, and are willing to listen, not just talk.

Are sales possible? Yes, but only after trust is established. And trust is built over time by participating in the posts of others, and by providing interesting, relevant posts yourself. Got a concert coming up? Instead of tweets that say “Call the box office to get tickets now!” try tweets that are more informational, that help to prepare people to come, or build their anticipation. Throw in a little humor — be human. And if you have a few followers and a wacky contest idea, why not try it? A little personalized effort can really work wonders, but do it without a marketing motive.

And keep an eye on BroadwayGirlNYC for the exciting (and probably dramatic) conclusion this Saturday!

Ron Evans is the founder of Groupofminds.com Arts Marketing Consultants, and is a leading developer and researcher of arts marketing and audience development using technology. He can be reached at http://groupofminds.com.

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