How to engage bloggers in Performing Arts Marketing

Public relations and third party ink have always been, and still are, very important for the performing arts industry. The art sector is short of money for advertising and there is almost a silent agreement that performances and other artistic events have the right to media cover and critics. This agreement is supported by the close relations between the performing arts and journalists, and also by the fact that many theater critics are also theater professionals, and vice verse. The journalists have a specialized knowledge; they see theater several times every week and are far from always representative to your audience. And yet, they are the only persons that press and PR agents exclusively target to reach out to their audience through media. But now there are also social media…

A couple of days ago, I wrote about the importance of targeting the influencers when applying a social media strategy. Influencers can be found amongst the people who produce social content, like bloggers. The span of blogs varies from personal diaries to big specialized blogs which can be as important as newspapers. It is impossible to neglect the role that bloggers have and will have for us to gain third party ink in the future, so we'd better get started engaging them in our cause straight away! 



Here are some tips when engaging bloggers in the performing arts marketing:

• Get to know: Follow the blog for a while to find out if the blogger is a serious and frequent writer. Read the comments and try to find out if the blog is popular and have many followers. Does the blogger comment on other blogs or appears on comments and blog lists on news sites etc.

• Comment and discuss: Don't try to enter a relation with a blogger if you have never commented on his/her blog before. Always engage a discussion before you invite to an event or performance. This is the moment of pay off if you are a real passionate, because then it is likely that you already know the bloggers in your field, that you take part in forum discussions and quite likely have already commented on blogs before. A played interest is quite unattractive, and pretty easy to detect.

• Personalized contact: The blogger is not a journalist- And even if he/she happens to be a journalist, the blog is the blogger's private playground. Don't approach the blogger as you would approach a newspaper or other off line media. Get into a personalized contact with the blogger. Send a personalized email.

• Don't pitch a story: Never tell a blogger what to write! Good classical press releases are formed as short articles so that if the journalists don't have the time to write a story they can pick parts of the "almost article" and publish it, and new agencies can publish the release straight off. This does not work in the blogger sphere. As mentioned the blog is the bloggers personal playground, and is supposed to say something about the individual behind the blog, so the bloggers will never write anything that they are asked to write.

• Invite to events: After having created a relation with a blogger and shown him/her that the blog is seen, valued and appreciated, your can go ahead and invite the blogger to events. Don't expect the blogger to write, but don't keep inviting if they never do.  

• The blogger probably have a day job: If you want to invite the blogger to a press conference or a day event, think about that the blogger probably have a day job and send invitation early. 

• Are you and your organization ready to engage with bloggers?: Before adapting a social media strategy that includes engagement with bloggers you have to consider if you have the knowledge to maintain an ongoing relation with a blogger. Really good bloggers are often experts in their field, and to be able to team up you have to be strong in your field. It is again pay off if you are a passionate!

• Blogs are not newspapers: Try not to make "mistakes". Influential blogger can be as be opinion formers, but their medium is not a newspaper. The blogger is personally responsible for the blog and they don't have the same rules as a newspaper. They could be verbally hard on your organization if things turn out bad.