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:

•    A theater in the Pacific Northwest noted that social media allows them to: “Directly reply to people who tweet they had a bad experience. It allows us to immediately reply and offer refunds and credits so we can turn them into fans again, even when they had a bad experience.”

•    A medium-sized presenter in the Midwest put promotional videos of rehearsal footage and cast member interviews on YouTube to build awareness and noted, “It clearly affected ticket sales.”

•    A small music presenter in the West uses social media to promote last-minute events, noting, “We had a last-minute noon time concert to promote a musical series and no budget to advertise. By solely using social media and email we were able to get a large audience for the event.”

Twitter seems to be the “little social media engine that could” and creative ideas abound in our open-ended feedback.  Here are three of our favorites:

•    Tweet Seats – contacting fans about last minute, half-priced tickets offers
•    See Your Tweet in Lights – a campaign where audience members could see their tweet reviews on the theater’s marquee
•    Twitter Ambassadors – recruiting local Tweeters with lots of followers to write about their experiences with an organization’s performances in exchange for free tickets.

But don’t overlook the importance of having a social media policy. Even the most motivated staffers and fans appreciate guidance on what’s needed and how to be most helpful.

As one presenter noted: “Having a formal policy in place makes this (social media) much less difficult for everyone involved. It helps employees determine what is appropriate to post or 'like' with our organizational accounts.”

Of course, digital communications and social media is a moving target.

Most groups we surveyed – almost two thirds -- feel that it’s worth the effort and report positive attitudes on the part of management. There’s less and less internal resistance and more tolerance of experimentation and loosening control.

The most effective organizations are willing to make changes based on audience feedback.  Listening to audiences -- surely a winning strategy!

We’ll be presenting the survey at the NAMP Conference in Louisville and you can see the full report on our website in mid-November. We’d love to get your input on interesting uses of social media to turn audiences into fans and fans into evangelists for your organization.

Please tell us your story by posting a reply here or at www.trudelmacpherson.com.