Background Image

Communication - what to look at

The buzz around the next generation of social media and mobile apps means many artists and arts and cultural organisations are probably asking where they need to be focusing their communication efforts.

In December, Forbes announced that social media apps experienced large growth numbers over the past year. They also announced a plethora of new social media start-ups capitalising on our more mobile focused lives. Apple’s new Watch product announcement earlier in March has all but sealed the deal – mobile mixed with social will be huge in 2015 and beyond.

All the growth and hype around mobile and social media can make it difficult to know where to allocate precious marketing resources. Fortunately, we have the data and the results might come as a surprise.

In the Arts in Daily Life survey, Queenslanders engaging online 1 were asked what channels they used to engage with the arts online.

Researching an artist or arts organisation topped the list with 73% of Queenslanders who engage online choosing this option. Visiting the website of an artist or arts organisation followed closely with 57%. This means Queensland art organisations need to have a good online presence. This includes having a website where customers can easily find more information as well as continuing to invest in search engine optimisation (SEO) of the website.

Next up, 54% of respondents who engage online told us that they visit the Facebook page of an artist or arts organisation. Facebook is the largest social media network and crucial to arts organisations reaching the public. Facebook ads are also a great way to increase your exposure to the massive Facebook audience base for a low cost while also being highly targeted. Organisations can target users based on location, age, gender, interests and other criteria to make sure their ads are only shown to a certain group of people.

49% of Queenslanders who engage online told us that they use social media to comment or share news about an artist or arts organisation. This shows that social media isn’t going away as a crucial channel for the arts community. If you don’t have a social strategy and have been holding out, there’s no time like the present to start becoming social. If you do have a social strategy, it might be worth a revisit and thinking about ways to continue to optimise as this sector becomes more mobile-focused over the next few years.

Rounding out the important communication channels for arts organisations, 48% of people who engage online told us that they read a blog or email newsletter by an artist or arts organisation. Blogs and email newsletter are almost ancient in internet-years (similar to dog-years for you K9 friends) but they’re still a must-have channel for the arts community. Some savvy arts organisations are using tools like MailChimp, Feedburner, WordPress and many others to combine their blog and email newsletters into one. These tools will send out an automatic email to subscribers when the organisation publishes a blog post.

These results highlight that Queensland arts and cultural organisations should be continuing to invest in a multi-channel approach. Social media and mobile apps are spaces tipped to develop quickly for the next few years but don’t forget about maintaining a high quality website, continuing to invest in SEO, updating a blog and hosting an email newsletter. Even the experts are convinced that email isn’t going away anytime soon.

What communication channels are you investing in for 2015?

For more information about how Queenslanders engage in the arts see Arts in Daily Life: Queenslanders and the Arts report . The Arts in Daily Life research was commissioned in partnership with the Australia Council for the Arts.
Notes

1. Respondents who selected: ‘research, interact or engage with artists, art events or arts-related communities, for example on social media, blogs, forums or websites’ OR ‘Follow or interact with an artist or arts organisation (e.g. via Twitter, Facebook, blog or websites)’ in Question D2 of the Arts in Daily Life survey.