Organizational Approaches to Content Marketing and ......Marketing is storytelling. The story of your product, built into your product. The ad might be part of it, the copy might be

Organizational Approaches

to Content Marketing and

Storytelling

2016 Conference ▪ Baltimore, MD

Eileen AndrewsVice President of Public Relations

Liz MadejaDirector of Marketing

Gregory HughesSocial Media Manager

Ricky O’BannonWriter in Residence

Today’s Presenters…

…CONTENT

The Secret Ingredient

To Storytelling Is…

Because after all…

…we are all

content producers.

We are all part of the

same story!

Thou shalt not quibble over

whose content it is.

Will this content move more tickets?

Will patrons donate

more $$?

Will we attract younger audiences?

Can our organization use the

content in other ways?

Will people like us more?

Can

we

measure

the success of said content?

“But what’s the goal?”

(a resounding)

“YES!”

“So, can your intern

take care of this?”

(Umm…)

“NO!”

(Uh-Oh…)

►Assess your unique marketplace

Every orchestra’s needs are different

► Evaluate current resources and distribution channels

Do you have the people, the talent … and do

you actively use platforms where people

will see your content?

► Be honest about your organization’s current strengths

and weaknessesStrong social media? A killer video team?

Media-friendly musicians?

or a “web team” made up of one guy named Joe

Making the Case for Content

► Be intentional about HOW your chosen strategy fits

into your brand.

► Patiently grow your content. EXPERIMENT!

► Be at the center of your organization’s storytelling and

be open to content ideas from outside your area.

► As it evolves, communicate your successes

and failures. Educate your Execs and your board.


► Dynamic content on your website drives site traffic.

It increases your reach to new audiences.

► Great content on your website is also great content on

your social media channels.

► You likely already have the tools: Social media presence, video content, musician

interest, patron loyalty, creative staff, an abundance

of ideas, and a more flexible IMA.


It’s

All

In

The

HOW

Content Conundrum

Liz Madeja

Director of Marketing

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association

Draft – For discussion only

Background

• Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, founded in 1890,

presents over 250 concerts a season at Chicago’s Symphony

Center/Orchestra Hall; a 2500 seat hall built in 1904.

• Concerts consist of over 130 Chicago Symphony Orchestra

concerts along with Symphony Center Presents Chamber, Piano

Recitals, Visiting Orchestras, Jazz, CSO at the Movies, CSO

Family Matinee, Beyond the Score, Art Institute Chamber Series,

MusicNOW, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and a large number of

special event/one-off performances.

– Annual ticket revenue $23 million

– Tessitura user since 2005

– Extraordinary cross-over among ticket buyers within database


Overview

I. Content Creation and Tests

• CSO Sounds & Stories

• Verdi Requiem Live Stream

• Beethoven 9 On-Demand

II. Analysis of findings of social media efforts for

a season




Sounds & Stories: the CSO’s multimedia magazine

• Proactive response to changing media to

provide preview articles, in-depth interviews,

and quality content that could be shared on

CSO social channels and beyond.

• Depository for all types of content for the

institution (i.e. Video, articles, radio broadcasts,

program notes)

• Condensed various websites to one central

place

• Responsive design

• Not integrated with Tessitura at this time highly

integrated with Brightcove

• Internal and freelance writers are hired to write

on various topics throughout the season; writers

will also pitch ideas to editor


Sounds & Storied Stats

• Averaging approx. 10,000 page views per week, with monthly total usually around

46,000-47,000.

• Most popular category: CSO Radio.

• Most popular kind(s) of post:

– Human Interest (e.g., Gene Pokorny's essay about his teacher and mentor Tommy

Johnson,

– Li-Kuo Chang's recollection of his student days in China,

– Alison Dalton's account of learning to cope with diminished eyesight;

– Short, quirky features (the recent "Planets" and pop culture short, Yo-Yo Ma

"appearing" on "The Simpsons") and

– obituary tributes (salutes to Jose "Pepe" Martinez of Mariachi Vargas, Pierre Boulez,

Paul Freeman).

- Photo galleries with a news peg (e.g., tour-related or promoting a world premiere or

highly newsworthy event, such as "A Pierre Dream”)

• S&S is attracting more traffic than 80% of other arts-related blogs/sites.


Sounds & Stories Challenges & Oppertunities

• Achieving good mix of content (short vs long form articles, photo galleries, video...etc.)

• Evergreen vs. Seasonal content vs. In the Moment

• Improving communication within the institution to remember that S&S is always an

outlet for stories

• Various contributors keep content fresh but artist managers don’t always realize it’s an

internal outlet so pitches have been declined.

• Strong editor getting pulled into additional content areas

• Still aiming for “write once post everywhere”

• Only promotion of S&S is CSO Social channels, Cso.org potential to expand promotion

of certain content through online advertising


Content Creation: Video Pilots

I. Verdi Requiem Live Stream October 10, 2013 and On-Demand

• Captured streamed during live sold-out concert on Verdi’s 200th Birthday

• Posted edited and approved video less than 1 hr. of live stream

• Expensive production

• Hosted live stream events in Chicago and all over the world

• Had several online partners to pick up stream including Chicago Tribune, Sun-Times,

NPR, Italian, German and Japanese outlets

• Garnered almost 4k new Facebook followers in a single evening, almost 10,000 in

the first week of posting.

• 10,500 likes for the stream post, 942 Comments, 1505 shares of post, 65k post-

clicks

• Twitter 1169 tweets with #CSOVerdi activity strong

• Garnered 107,000 Youtube views before coming down

• Currently has 64,000 Brightcove views to-date

Shared worldwide moment created powerful moment for the organization


Verdi Requiem



Concert Creation: Video Pilots

II. Beethoven 9 On-Demand Launched May 7 2015

• Captured Beethoven 9 live performance in September 2014

• Posted edited and approved version in May, the premiere date of Beethoven 9 in 1824

• The Youtube response continues to grow

• 2.8m views, 10,700 shares to-date

• CSO’s most viewed video


Social Media Analysis (FY15 Season)






CSO Social

• Content creation and mix of content will continue to

evolve

• This content is branding and not seen as direct sales

• Strong content has major impact on engagement

Storytelling in the post-

digital world:

3 TAKEAWAYS FROM A SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

Hi,

I’m Greg.

Marketing is storytelling.

The story of your product, built into your

product. The ad might be part of it, the copy

might be part of it, but mostly, your product

and your service and your people are all part of

the story.

Tell it on purpose.

“

SETH GODIN

Social as a second

screen.1

1Planning your social calendar should now be a two-step process.

The story unfolds in two acts:

1. Market the performance.

2. Engage while it's happening.

187% of users use a second screen device while watching TV.

How can you harness these

behaviors for live performances

and still preserve what is so

special about the experience?

(And no, I’m not advocating for tweet seats.)

Think of your social media

as a key media outlet. 2

Think about it.

The weekly print circulation of

The New York Times is around

700,000.

What’s your average weekly

reach on social media?

2

• More than 600,000 views on NSO/Kennedy

Center channels.

• More than 239,000 from external sources;

Pigeons and Planes, Vice, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, etc.

• Viewers 25-44 account for more than 70% of

traffic.

Meet people where

they are. 3

Your current patrons,and your aspirational customers.

• 56% of Instagram users follow at

least one brand they have not made

a purchase from—yet.

• 60% indicate they’re likely or very

likely to purchase from the brand.

3

*MIT Sloan Management Review

Meet people where

they’re going.3

Meet people where

they’re going.

• 150 million daily users (more than

Twitter)

• More than 10 billion video views

per day (more than Facebook)

• Most users like the fact that the

experience is ephemeral (what

else could that be said about?)

3

Baltimore Symphony OrchestraStorytelling

BSO Story OpportunitiesAround Baltimore

TechnologyThink Pieces/Studies

Trends Off Beat

Video Content

Data/Infographics

Organizational Approaches to Content Marketing and ......Marketing is storytelling. The story of your product, built into your product. The ad might be part of it, the copy might be

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