ARTSblog

David Armano of the Harvard Business Review recently published six 2012 predictions for social media.

Although he made some inaccurate predictions about 2011, here is what he is suggesting for 2012 (with links added by me):

“Convergence Emergence. For a glimpse into how social will further integrate with “real life,” we can look at what Coca Cola experimented with all the way back in 2010. Coke created an amusement park where participants could “swipe” their RFID-equipped wristbands at kiosks, which posted to their Facebook account what they were doing and where. Also, as part of a marketing campaign, Domino’s Pizza posted feedback — unfiltered feedback — on a large billboard in Times Square, bringing together real opinions from real people pulled from a digital source and displayed in the real world. These types of “trans-media” experiences are likely to define “social” in the year to come.

The Cult of Influence. In much the same way that Google has defined a system that rewards those who produce findable content, there is a race on to develop a system that will reward those who wield the most social influence. One particular player has emerged, Klout, determined to establish their platform as the authority of digital influence. Klout’s attempt to convert digital influence into business value underscores a much bigger movement which we’ll continue to see play out in the next year.  Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 15%

Mary Trudel

Our 2011 How Strong is Your Social Net? Survey – that gathered responses from more than 1,600 arts organizations across the country – explores adoption and usage of digital and social media, measurement tactics, platforms, and return on investment (ROI).

The findings track the “how,” “to whom,” “what,” “why,” and “how often” of communications across multiple platforms and probes perceptions of effectiveness. We also examined internal policies and institutional protocols around issues of community building and audience feedback.

Trudel|MacPherson developed the survey to help arts groups connect with target audiences using a wide array of available digital communications options. The survey gathered data on how arts groups regularly communicate with various target publics; whether and how groups are connecting with patrons and fans – creating communities of interest and responding to their ideas and concerns — and how groups are measuring the ROI of their digital efforts.

Creative Connections with Audiences

We asked respondents to share their best/worst experiences with digital media.

Very few arts groups reported any horror stories and most praised the intimacy and immediacy of social media to help them repair relationships, deliver last minute information, and build awareness and demand. A few examples: Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 13%

Ceci Dadisman

Social media is an important piece of the event marketing puzzle. Unlike most nonprofits that are marketing one product all year long (a charitable cause), a performing arts organization markets multiple different products (performances and events) throughout each season.

It can be challenging to market diverse offerings whilst still under the umbrella of one organization.

Let me share my top-5 tips to marketing events that will generate buzz and improve conversions:

1. Don’t forget about the 80/20 rule. This is a rule that I live by regarding social media marketing, whether it is when I’m marketing an event or not. I find that the best ratio to keep people engaged but not tick them off is to have 80% engagement and 20% broadcasting. Even when you have an event to market, talking 100% about that event is just going to turn people off and they aren’t going to listen to one word that you are saying.

2. Engage creatively. This one goes together with tip #1 about the 80/20 rule. You may ask, why should I waste time tweeting or posting about stuff that has nothing to do with my event when I’m trying to sell tickets? Well, that is pretty simple to answer.

If you are engaging with people, you will be top of mind so that when they do hear something about you or your event, they will remember the interaction and be much more likely to check it out. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 9%

So, I’ve gone through the entire stream of tweets using the hashtag #AFTA11 (all 2389 of them!) cut out all fat, and filtered them down to my picks for the top 50 most-useful tweets to me from this year’s Americans for the Arts Annual Convention. I say most useful because I wanted to separate out things that can be acted on, resources/measurements that can be explored, impactful facts and figures, and new “lightbulb ideas.”

Here are the second half of my picks for the 50 top tweets from AFTA 2011:

26. @GordonJayFrost The #afta11 sessions on #philanthropy will be available on-demand: http://t.co/id3vwYc

27. @SheWhoTravels Go Marcus! RT“@artfulmanager Sidewalk Poetry project in St. Paul. Turning concrete into canvas. Wow. #afta11 http://t.co/b6mcrgK”

28. @trishamead oooh. Direct link to mobil-ready video trailer? I’m thinking how to maximize QR code on coffee s hop poster, i.e. #2amt #afta11

29. @crystalewallis oooh! RT @wkradio: #AFTA11 DO NOT be fooled into using QR Codes >>> Excellent design will always transmit more information. #techfads Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 17%

Ron Evans

I wasn’t able to attend the Americans for the Arts Annual Convention this year, but I did get to participate in the next best thing: following the conversation on Twitter.

There were lots of great discussion and opinions. But unless you were following 24/7, you may have missed some gems.

So, I’ve gone through the entire stream of tweets using the hashtag #AFTA11 (all 2389 of them!) cut out all fat, and filtered them down to my picks for the top 50 most-useful tweets to me from AFTA 2011.

I say most useful because I wanted to separate out things that can be acted on, resources/measurements that can be explored, impactful facts and figures, and new “lightbulb ideas.”

A big thank you to these great posters for posting meaty tweets – If you like something you see, follow the author on Twitter.

So here goes, from oldest (public art pre-conference) to newest (end of conference) order… Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 16%

David Seals

In the height of the 2007 football season, shortly after the Audience Experience Initiative project began talking about a new vision for audience engagement, I found myself on my Monday bus commute after a Steelers defeat.

“What if these people felt as opinionated about what happened at the ballet this weekend as they do about the Steelers?”, I thought. Be careful what you wish for.

Last week, Squonk Opera had the moxie to place their critically-acclaimed work in front of an incredibly unforgiving audience: three judges and millions of viewers on NBC’s America’s Got Talent.

The initial responses (which, in the long run may be the least important result of this experience for Squonk) seemed to be abject confusion—both from the judges and the Twitterati. The comments were not exactly the sort you’d find in a theatre review, but the gist was a lot of strong opinions ranging from visceral reaction to technical critique. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 11%

Tim Mikulski

I have now successfully attended four Americans for the Arts Annual Conventions (Philadelphia, Seattle, Baltimore, and San Diego) as a member of the staff.

In my previous two roles, I worked with the dedicated members of the State Arts Action Network while in the Government and Public Affairs Department and I managed the Arts Education Network under the Local Arts Advancement Department.

While in those positions, I was happy to attend conventions as a way to get to the know our members beyond email addresses and phone numbers, but it was through Twitter that I was able to network with my new arts education colleagues from across the country before I even met them.

It’s amazing what kind of relationships you can build 140 characters at a time. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 7%

Adriane Fink

Social Media. We know we need it. But are we really getting the most out of our Facebook accounts and Twitter feeds?

Corporations across the country are paying close attention to the online craze and have discovered that using social media to partner with nonprofits allows them to reach the broadest possible audience in a cost-effective way. The results show a stunning use of creativity benefiting the nonprofit world. Let me share a few statistics with you.

With over 500 million active users, one in every 13 people on earth now uses Facebook. Over 50 percent log in every day. 48 percent of 18-34 year olds check Facebook when they wake up, and 28 percent do so before getting out of bed. Not to be left behind, Twitter has also rapidly expanded, with over 200 million registered accounts and 155 million tweets per day. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 12%

Rich Mintz

At the Americans for the Arts Annual Convention, I had the pleasure of listening to Camille Schenkkan of Arts for LA giving an unusually lucid and helpful introductory summary to online tools for donor development and management.

I think those of us who work in online fundraising for a living — especially those of us who mostly work with large organizations, the kind that have a dozen or more people in the marketing department, and technical staff to handle the donor database, and so forth — sometimes forget how mystifying all of this stuff is to a lot of people.

If you’re doing three jobs at once, in an environment where there’s never any extra money lying around, with a board of directors (or a major donor, city council, etc.) breathing down your neck — sound familiar? — what you want is not a bunch of platitudes about the “next generation” and the “new normal.” You want someone to tell you the dozen or so things you need to know, and the half-dozen or so things you should try to do this month or this quarter. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 13%

Tim Mikulski

Although I successfully avoided using Twitter for a while after it was first introduced to the world. I figured that I didn’t need another time suck added to my life beyond Gmail and Facebook.

While that is still probably true, I also discovered a better use of Twitter than just reading the crazy Tweets of Kanye West. It actually helps me do my job.

When I moved over to become arts education program manager at Americans for the Arts, I brought along our weekly newsletter, Arts Watch, with me to the new position.

I already had too many Google News alerts and also have a Post-It with 12 search phrases that I use each week to collect information that goes into that publication.

What I didn’t realize is that Twitter can be used in a way that I would never have thought of until a friend of a coworker mentioned it to me – it’s a news gathering system.

By “following” other arts and arts education organizations, practitioners, managers, etc., you end up having information delivered to your feed throughout the day.     Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 9%

Let me begin this post by saying: If you’re an arts marketer but aren’t on Twitter, get an account before next year’s conference in Louisville. I promise you that you will have a richer conference experience because of it. Seriously.

Why? Twitter brings people together. It’s such a powerful, real-time communication tool that naturally facilitates dialogue. One of my favorite experiences at this conference is actually meeting people in person that I follow on Twitter. In a way, I actually feel more of an affinity towards them because of the fact that I’ve read their tweets! We’re not just tweeting back and forth and never engaging in conversation in real life; if anything, Twitter is an online tool that actually facilitates face-to-face communication at events like conferences.

Twitter’s also a great way to experience other parts of the conference, like other sessions or roundtables that you’re not able to attend. It’s pretty easy to take a general snapshot of how attendees are feeling just by monitoring what’s going on with the event hashtag (which is #NAMPC10 for this conference). If there’s a strong reaction, positive or negative, to something that’s said in a session, you will know about it. You’ll know what funny quotes are said, valuable insights are shared and random observations are made. Thanks to Twitter, I know I’m not the only one who was confused by the cricket chirp ringtone in one of the sessions! Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 13%

Here is a look at what convention attendees are writing on Twitter about their experiences in Seattle. You can follow the full conversation by searching #afta09 and #aftaconvention09 here.

• davidseals Identity through heritage + autonomy through creativity = sustainable community. Bill Ivey #afta09
• ArtAgenda Philanthropy’s driving groups to bottom-line mentality of sustainability. Should fund to mission. (John Killacky) #afta09
• redgen Bill Cleveland: Practice of Democracy. Keep practice/theory/policy together. To insinuate creativity into government? Examples? #afta09
• kat4eleven In the wing luke museum session. The only pan Asian museum/community space in the nation. #afta09
• lisamaysimpson Dr. Peter Seng: being a good leader means continually living in the question “what are we trying to create?” #afta09

Popularity: 1%

We’re here! Many of us, anyway. And we’re tweeting. Several of you pointed out that the hashtag #aftaconvention09 is awfully long, given the 140-character limit. So many people are using the hash tag #afta09, which was given AftA’s official blessing earlier today.

For Twitter newbies: a “hashtag” is a way of adding community context to your tweets–they are similar to the tags used on other community sites such as Flickr, but included within the text a post.

I must admit I don’t know how to set up an automatic search for hashtags … I just searched for people posting about the Annual Convention and added them to my follow list. Does anyone out there know a better way?

Hope to meet many of you soon … in person!

@artagenda (Lex Leifheit)

Popularity: 1%

All you have to do is google “FedEx Twitter” to understand why some organizations are freaked out about social media.

For those who don’t know, an ad agency rep was on his way to FedEx HQ to discuss social media with the corporation’s worldwide communications division.  (FedEx was already a client of this ad agency.)  Upon the rep’s arrival in Memphis, Tennessee, he tweeted:

A viral poop-storm quickly erupted on the Web. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 1%

Thank you to all the advocates from across the country who attended the 2009 Arts Advocacy Day in Washington, DC this week.  And thank you to Americans for the Arts for facilitating and convening this event.

Despite my snarky title, I learned a lot of excellent stuff at Arts Advocacy Day and I met many incredible and fascinating people.  I also got to connect with the offices of many members of the Illinois congressional delegation.

The fact that attendance was just a few folks shy of 2008 speaks to the importance and power of advocacy – especially in tough times.  The debate over funding for the arts in the stimulus was a wake-up call that we must be savvy and vigilant in our advocacy.  And as many speakers and presenters said at Arts Advocacy Day, “If we don’t do this, no one will.”

Before I share some of experiences and lessons-learned from DC, I’d love to hear from you about your advocacy and lobbying efforts.  What successes have you enjoyed?  What mistakes have you made?  What prompted you to speak out?  What has held you back?

I was live-Tweeting from Arts Advocacy Day and a few folks from Pennsylvania joined me (a special shout-out to @philaculture as well as @tiffany_gpac).  Below are a few highlights from our coverage. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 1%