How to add value in social media networks I

To be able to create and maintain an active community in social media networks, we need to add valuable content. "Add value" is often an imperative used by social media experts. Our social media messages should be transferable, clickable and sharable and give an urge to answer, discuss and participate within the community. How can we add value in the performing arts?

As representatives of performing arts organizations, we can add value (1) in our own community networks, (2) when visiting other sites, blogs and communities and (3) by creating longer, qualitative information in blogs. Here are some thoughts of how we can create value in our own community networks. 


HOW TO ADD VALUE IN OUR NETWORK COMMUNITY
Most theaters have their own social network communities today. However, the communities we create on Facebook, Twitter or Myspace don't differ very much from our newsletter groups or email groups if we don't add the right value. If we keep on sending out the same marketing messages that our audience can find on the website, in the newspaper, in the newsletter or in other ads, we will quite soon lose their attention. We need to add real value to our community:

Every time you send a message, ask yourself if the information is useful!

Before sending out a message, we have to ask ourselves if this information is valuable to the community. Is it likely that they have gotten exactly the same information elsewhere? How likely is it that they will respond to the information and spread it further? And the golden rule is, don't send out impersonal marketing ads.

If you want to send out reminders, add information!

The people in our community are not satisfied when getting the same message that they saw in the newspaper this morning or in the newsletter last week. They need more. They must get extras, more information and background information. This group considers our organization as a friend and we should treat them as one.

Be personal but not exclusive

It is good to keep a personal tone, but being too familiar can make people feel excluded. The local theater/dance/music scene can be quite limited and it is not impossible that we personally know a lot of people in our organizations' social media communities. It is however unlikely that we know all of them and we have to avoid a too familiar tone, esteeming that everybody knows who and what we are talking about.

Answer questions and comments

The key to community participation is to make people feel seen. As soon as people start to write, think, like and participate, we have to answer, communicate, like and make them participate more. We always have to take time to answer, otherwise the person will go participate somewhere else and make someone else's community grow and glow.

Don't stick to text messages

Use image, audio, link to events, show backstage photos, videos of work in progress. Make the community site come alive and look groovy.

Retweet and link to things that might be interesting to your community

Our community members are not just interested in us and our organizations. If we accept that and retweet, share and link to articles, events, parallel activities our community will not just be our fan page but a source that members might visit daily: Let the community know that an actor that uses to perform in the theater is now staring a coming film or that a national contemporary playwright that was recently performed in the theater is now going international. There are so many little things that can make the community site sparkle.

Ask questions

Having a community of a couple of hundreds or a couple of thousands is a gold mine! It is a great place to ask questions about our organizations. And asking questions is also a great way of showing our community members that we care about them and their opinion.

Show that you are listening by making change

We can't enter social media if we are not ready to listen, answer and/or change. Creating a social media community is all about creating a dialogue with our audiences. We have to know how to react and how to act when we get information about how our community members experience our organization. The level of change or interaction with the audience can of course be chosen but silence is not an option.