Using Social Media Strategically for Theatres

A Presentation by Beth Kanter
Thursday, April 29, 1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. ET

For the first time ever, TCG is opening up their Leadership Teleconference series to invited guests who are not TCG member theatres! The fee for participation is $50/line (feel free to use a speaker phone so others can listen with you). The registration deadline is Friday, April 23. Callers will be on a muted line but will have an opportunity to ask questions.

Join Beth Kanter, social media guru and co-author of The Networked Nonprofit, as she shares her insights about how to effectively integrate social media with your theatre's internet strategy or marketing plan. She will also talk about how to address organizational culture issues that often arise when new technology is introduced. This Leadership Teleconference will help you learn how to think strategically about social media for audience development and external communications strategies for your theatre in order to maximize staff time and resources.

Visit the TCG Teleconferences section of the website for more information and to register.

The Shrinking Arts Media

If you missed our panel discussion a few weeks ago with the Community Media Workshop on the topic of shrinking arts media, you can now listen to it online. Check it out and share any thoughts or questions.

http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=31735

Web 2.0

What is it? If I’m asking the question is it already too late? Are you using it? Do you have an on-line community? Do they come to the theatre? To what extent? Are the big participants in your on-line community participating on the same level in your actual community? Does more content equal more ticket sales? My biggest worry is theatre doesn’t happen on line, it can’t and it won’t. It needs an actual (is that the word?) community or it doesn’t happen at all. Are people joining our on-line communities and then coming to the theatre? I think they join our community by attending a show and then they join our on-line community. And, yes these are great tools to keep us constantly connected. But, the question is are we/can we actually use it to sell tickets? How do we bring new people into our theatres using these new tools? It’s definitely cost effective but can we actually measure the results, is it time well spent? I heard one use recently that I thought was brilliant, I can’t remember how I heard it or who did it, but before the show the announcement actually said, please take out your phones and tell your friends where you are. But…did it sell any tickets? Don’t know.

Deb