Making a Splash

Sorry I haven't been as up to date on this blog as I have been on my other one, but after getting back from the hubby's family reunion, had much to do and then last week, a hideous cold struck.  It's been five days already and I'm still recovering.  But that doesn't mean that social media has not been on my mind!

I'm going back through the book Trust Agents to pull some interesting tidbits to put here, although you really should go out and get a copy - perhaps your library has a copy.  But thanks to my Linked In group and Tony Gates, here's another take on social media:



But do you believe in the wisdom of crowds?  If something is popular, does that make it good?  I did go to Reddit and searched for art topics and guess what?  Nothing was there.  So because nothing is there, does that mean it's not good?  Let me know... and Merriest of Holidays and the best of the New Year!

PR for Playwrights on the other side of the Pond

I suppose you can tell I'm from the East Coast originally, the way I reference Europe as "across the pond".  But a theatre in London is doing a very smart thing right now, using technology to help themselves and playwrights!  So being the old reporter that I am, as well as also being a playwright,  I had to check it out.  The theatre is also promoting the site as a social network for playwrights. You can read about it HERE.

I got the tip on this from one of my contacts on the Linked-In Technology in the Arts groups.  PR for the arts is one of the most difficult of all PR jobs.  It seems that here in the US, the arts are the poor stepsister to film, TV and tech-related entertainment.  Like many of the performing arts, theatre is thought of as elitist and beyond the ken of the regular person.  This is just so much crap because theatre is generally always about people and there is nothing like feeling the energy created by actors on stage. 

Unfortunately most of the media "gatekeepers" forgot that while we need to support many groups that are trying to help solve the problems of  homelessness, hunger and job creation, we also need to support the arts because they feed the soul.

Views on PR and Social Media

Here are more views on Social Media from Linked In professionals around the country.

• Kathy Griffith, who is in Administration for Qoro, LLC Fine Art Services in the Philadelphia area has this to say:  "Qoro, LLC (www.qoro.com and www.qoroart.com) is using all forms of social media to forward our new website and online art gallery. We have used Facebook, LinkedIn, blog and Twitter (all joined together) to reach more artists and end clients. We have seen increase in our stats to our website in the few months that we have ramped up the social media PR but have not reaped the ROI/Sales from those hits yet. 

• We have reached many artists we wouldn't have with just cold calls or emails but what we need to reach is the end clients that want to purchase the fine art giclees.  This is our dilemna, how do you friend people you don't know or reach them? We are hoping that providing the artists with information they will come to us for their prints and that is working slowly.   If you would like more information on our social marketing plan, please feel free to call at 877-470-4278 or email kgriffith@qoro.com. 

• On the West Coast, David Dubrino an Online Marketing Manager at DRS & Associates chimed in with this comment: I think the key is that you have to use all of the social tools out there together to help each social account and platform. You also just can't create the accounts and then leave them, whether it's a blog, twitter account, fb page etc... you have to be consistent and stick with it... every day.   If it's NOT your goal to get people to your website so that they will contact you to hire you for your services or purchase something, then you don't need to worry about social networking. Otherwise it's going to be crucial to your business sooner than later.

• And finally we hear from Giselle V, who is a Sales Director at the Deco Design Center in the Miami Beach area:  Deco Design Center http://www.decodesigncenter.com is using all forms of social media but we prefer twitter and linkedin the best out of all of them. Facebook is more difficult I think and less targeted clients. You can follow us on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/DecoDesignCente 

It seems to me that everyone who has commented on this issue realizes the importance of Social Media  in the 21st Century.  Apparently it's more of a PR than an marketing tool from the comments we've listed over the past few posts.  Which is something that I've always felt.  If you disagree, tell us... leave a comment!

Since this blog is already linked to FB, I'm going to go Twitter about it now...

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Feedback on Social Media

Posted a question on a Linked-In group on how people are using social media and what results they are seeing and got some very good responses!  Like this one from Jennifer Smith who is the founder and president at Southeast Decorative Arts Center, Inc in Wilmington, NC:

When I hired my Member Services Coordinator, one of the top five questions was, "Do you know how to use Facebook?" She replied, "I check my Facebook as soon as I open my eyes." She got the job. 

She has built a following for my start-up business and I credit our Social Media efforts with much of the word-of-mouth buzz SEADAC is getting! As I am tightening my advertising budget for 2010 I am less stressed knowing that we can utilze Social Media to keep our name in front of people. Check out Social Media Revolution on You Tube if you don't think Tweeting and Facebooking is important!

 Thanks Jennifer for letting us know what it's doing for you in the Southeast.  However, I've read some reports that the recession is faring differently in different parts of the country.

Tomorrow we'll hear from Niki VanEch on what social media is doing for her in the Washington, DC area.

Honest PR

Many people confuse public relations with advertising.  Yes, they are both part of a marketing campagin, but they differ widely.   If  these confused people also happen to be one of your clients, then you are in big trouble because of probable diminished expectations.  I always tell clients that PR is just a crap shoot, sometimes you get lucky and other times you don't.  With advertising, you simply get what you pay for - an ad.  Perhaps it's easier for me to understand media because I was once a journalist who was pitched by PR people. 

I always tell clients this first off before we even get to talk about strategies and the like. The reason I do this is that I too have had clients who expected way too much from one or even a series of news releases that I wrote for them.  Then there is also the problem of importance.  Clients think their service/product/event is the most important thing going on that day.  It can be difficult to break the news to them that journalists don't think that way.  If there's a big say ax murder on the day of your launch, the media won't care two figs about you.  Even in these days of changing media, if it bleeds it leads!

I belong to many (probably too many) groups at Linked-In.  One of these is Freelance Professionals, where Brian Salisbury's post and link to his blog got this line of thought going. He's got some interesting thoughts HERE

If you've found this blog, you might be interested in my other blog: Ann Tracy's Waiting for the Muse, my blog about life as a Sacramento artist and theatre person.  You can find it HERE