+

Yale Rep & Social Media

A recommended strategy for 2010

+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 Infiltration for statistics on Social Media

+Social Media Adoption among Theatres

Flickr

Blogs

MySpace

Twitter

YouTube

Facebook

- 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

November Unique US Visitors (MM)LORT

+YRT’s Social Media Goals: 2010

1. Listening to what audiences are saying about YRT• Success: YRT’s responsiveness to audience research; # of fan’s

positive and constructive interactions

2. Empowering audiences to promote YRT• Success: # reached in second order impact, increased awareness

3. Deepening YRT’s relationship with current audience• Success: increased loyalty, increased positive perception of YRT

4. Attracting new audience members to YRT• Success: increased acquisitions, increased ticket sales

5. Leading theatres in the social media field• Success: conferences, awareness among TCG & prospective students

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

+Strategies for engaging fans on Facebook Goal: Empower & Deepen

Create a fan page for YRT

Acquire 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

Use Facebook Insights to measure results

Look to Kansas City Rep, Actors Theatre Louisville, and Denver Center as examples

+Success Metrics onFacebook

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

+Strategies for engaging followers on Twitter Goal: Listen & Empower

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

Use an authentic voice Respond to and retweet every @mention Comment on other user’s tweets Ask questions to followers

Post new content every day

Use Twitalyzer and Hootsuite to measure results

Look to ACT Theatre, Portland Center Stage, and ART as examples

+Success Metrics onTwitter

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

+Strategies for engaging viewers on YouTube Goal: Empower & Attract

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 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

Use YouTube Statistics to measure results

Look to ART, Center Theatre Group, and Portland Center Stage as examples

+Success Metrics onYouTube

+Don’t Waste Time On

Except maybe for YSD

+How much time will it take?

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4.8Facebook

4.4Twitter

2.9Blog

2.9 YouTube

1.2, Flickr

1.3, Other

9.5CreatingMaterial

2.7Learning

1.7Measuring

Social Media Weekly Staffing Hours

~10 more hours/wk

+But what if…

+In the future Professional networking

Mobile apps

Geo-aware games

Blogs

+

Questions?

+Appendix: More Reports on 24 Usable Hours Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

Flickr

MySpace

Blogs

Staffing for Social Media

+Created by Devon Smith, Director of Research & AnalysisYale Repertory Theatre

Email: devon.smith@yale.eduFollow: @devonvsmithRead: http://devonvsmith.tumblr.com/