Theatre and Social Media

Yes, another social media post. But I can't help it. I'm drawn to it. It's combining two things I'm interested in. Since I was in charge of monitoring the social media for a professional theatre and currently monitor the Facebook and Twitter sites for my university's theatre, I'm always interested in new ideas; Things I would like to implement if I could focus all my time on it.

The LA Times ran an article about how The La Jolla Playhouse is implementing social media as one form of marketing. They started a contest, "Your Life, Our Stage," in which people could submit stories about their lives through videos/photos/writings/etc. through Brickfish. The winner would have their story written by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning playwright, Doug Wright.

This is a great idea for two reasons:

1. It helps build a relationship with the consumer. The audience feels connected to the theatre because they were able to share a part of their life with them. They also get the comforting feeling that the theatre truly cares about their audience's lives, so this helps to build equity. For the winner, he or she will always have a connection to the theatre, and will pass on his or her story to friends, thus building a larger loyal audience.

2. The La Jolla Playhouse was able to combine marketing through social media with traditional marketing. By having their public make these submissions, the theatre is able to collect demographic data to get a better sense who their public is. This is a more creative way to collect this data than the typical questionnaire or audience survey.