Social Media Strategy

Yale Rep & Social Media
A recommended strategy for 2010

Agenda

Why is Social Media Important?
Because 3 out of 4 Americans use social technology.
Forrester, The Growth Of Social Technology Adoption, 2008
Visiting social sites is now the 4th most popular online activity—ahead of personal email.
Nielsen, Global Faces & Networked Places, 2009
85% of social media users believe that a company should go further than just having a presence on social sites and should also interact with its customers.
Cone, Business in Social Media Study, September 2008
*Thanks to Brand Espresso for statistics on Social Media

Social Media Adoption among Theatres

Yale Rep’s Social Media Goals
Listening to what audiences are saying about us
Empowering audiences to promote us
Deepening our relationship with current audience
Attracting new audience members to us
Leading theatres in the social media field

The Key 3

Facebook Demographics
*approximately ¼ of CT’s population

96% of LORT theatres are on Facebook. On average they have:

Important Research Findings onFacebook
Based on a study of Kansas City Repertory Theatre:

Example
Reference production, add personal commentary, ask a question
10 comments x
130 friends each = 1300 reached

YRT Goals for utilizingFacebook
Empower fans
Every time they post a comment to Yale Rep’s fan page, we get exposure to their friends via News Feed
Deepen Yale Rep’s relationship
Extend our relationship with the audience outside of the theatre
Use Facebook Insights to measure results
Look to Kansas City Rep, Actors Theatre Louisville, and Denver Center for the Performing Arts as examples

Tactics for engaging fans on Facebook
Acquire more friends by
Linking YRT fan page to YSD and Yale Cabaret’s fan pages
Promoting fan page on print & online marketing materials
Friending YSD students, staff and faculty
Advertising on Facebook
Post new content at least once per day (wall comments, links, photos, video) about artistic & administrative life at YRT
+ respond to fan’s comments
Long term:
Consider if/how to unify fan pages and alumni groups across YRT & YSD
Implement Facebook Connect on yalerep.org
Expand FB contributors beyond marketing office

Success Metrics onFacebook

Twitter Demographics
*based on Facebook’s penetration of area

82% of LORT theatres are on Twitter. On average they:

Important Research Findings onTwitter
Based on a study of American Repertory Theatre:

Connect with other local businesses
Update on admin news
Reaching out to a fan who has expressed interest
Show personality; not a “marketing voice”
Notice ratio of direct production reference to all other tweets
Reaching out to a potential audience

YRT Goals for utilizingTwitter
Listen to our audience
They’ve already begun the online conversation—this is an opportunity to gather audience insights and an informal method of customer service
Empower them to spread the word
In the longer term, consider if/how to adjust the marketing expense budget to reflect this “free” word of mouth buzz
Use Twitalyzer and Hootsuite to measure results
Look to ACT Theatre, Portland Center Stage, and ART as examples
Long term
Expand use of twitter to customer service, market research, fundraising, etc.

Tactics for engaging followers on Twitter
Consider using Hootsuite Twitter desktop client
Create a Twitter username that’s easy to search for (@yalerep)
Find followers by
Searching for who’s already talking about YRT
Promoting YRT’s Twitter username on print & online marketing materials
Following other Yale & theatre organizations
Post new content every day
Use an authentic voice
Respond to and retweet every @mention
Comment on other user’s tweets
Ask questions to followers

Success Metrics onTwitter

YouTube Demographics
*based on Facebook’s penetration of area

88% of LORT theatres are on YouTube. On average they:

Important Research Findings onYouTube
Based on a study of top 20 viewed LORT theatre videos:

Example

YRT Goals for utilizingYouTube
Empower the viral video
YouTube has proven to be the most cost effective way to reach tens of thousands of people interested in your product
Attract new audiences
This is the best opportunity prospective audience members have to preview high quality Yale Rep productions
Use YouTube Statistics to measure results
Look to ART, Center Theatre Group, and Portland Center Stage as examples

Tactics for engaging viewers on YouTube
Upload a new video to YRT’s YouTube channel every month
LORT average = every 10 weeks, but 34 theatres average 1+/month
Don’t assume that only a certain “type” of video will attract high viewership.
Understand current viewership demographics of YouTube
Make videos easy to find
Embed videos on Facebook and yalerep.org
Link to videos on Twitter
Use keyword tags
Put videos into playlists
Monitor and moderate comments

Success Metrics onYouTube

Don’t Waste Time On
Except maybe for YSD

How much time will it take?
~10 more hours/wk

2010 Implementation Timeline

But what if…

In the future
Professional networking
Blogs
Location-based games
Mobile apps

Questions?
*From Espresso’s “What the F**k is Social Media: One Year Later

Created by Devon Smith, Director of Research & AnalysisYale Repertory TheatreCommissioned by Anne Trites, Director of Marketing and Communications
Email: devon.smith@yale.edu
Follow: @devonvsmith
Read: http://www.devonvsmith.com

Social Media Strategy

by Devon Smith on Mar 31, 2010

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