Objectives:

Interact Theater Company in Philadelphia is a theater with a 23 year history and is just emerging onto the social media scene. This report is intended to increase the amount of followers, likes and ultimately, audience numbers, so as to create an engaging social media strategy. By looking at other theaters and why their social media is effective, I hope to expand Interact Theater’s community engagement and have them see that an audience goes beyond the people that sit in the seats of the theater.

 Background research:

Research. Who are the top 3 organizations similar to this one that are using social media most effectively? Why? What are they doing? How are they doing it? Why do you think it’s effective?

1. Atlantic Theater Company (New York, NY): ATC has a great contingence with its followers on Facebook and Twitter. On Facebook, the profile picture pops and displays the advertising poster for the current show that is running. ATC posts pictures not just of the professional photos taken by photographers but also ones that they take themselves, of the theater and of colleagues in action, giving the theater a face to their followers. ATC has a description of their mission, overview and history allowing the readers to learn more about the theater without having to go look for it in a brochure somewhere that would most likely just get thrown out. On Twitter, ATC tweets often and announces ticket deals for current shows. But more than that, the theater also retweets a lot of what their followers say about them. This simple action suggests that ATC cares about their fans and wants to hear more from them. They effectively use their Twitter as a collaborative center of advertising where audience members can become a part of the company by the push of a button.

2. Tricycle Theater (Kilburn, London, England): From my first observations, Tricycle has a lot of personality. The theater, like ATC, also has a good amount of followers due to frequent posts and tweets. On Facebook, the theater’s strongest component is the community interaction. Not only does Tricycle use Facebook as a promotion tool for their shows and actors/actresses, but it also utilizes Facebook as a way to communicate with other theaters such as Talawa Theater in London. This cross-section of promotion benefits Tricycle because the followers of Talawa will notice their recognition and possibly also become fans of Tricycle. It also uses Facebook as somewhat of a mini-blog, recapping the cast’s night on the town for instance. On Twitter, Tricycle is very active, tweeting multiple times a day for different purposes: marketing a show, showing pictures of the production team hanging out, or retweeting someone else’s tweet. Almost every tweet for Tricycle contains either a mention of another Twitter account or a link to an article, website, etc.

3. Steppenwolf Theatre (Chicago, IL): Steppenwolf’s website is very slick and organized and allows its users to explore easily and efficiently. On Facebook, Steppenwolf’s biggest asset is that it sparks discussion from its followers and from the local community. People ask questions to which Steppenwolf responds in a timely manner and it is apparent that the community admires what the theater does as an organization. Moreover, the photos posted are personal – from events, backstage, etc. Again, Steppenwolf is given a face. On Twitter, the theater continues community discussion and also tweets regularly to keep their members informed about promotions and upcoming shows. The theater also tweets about things that are completely unrelated to the organization as a whole. For instance, someone tweeted a YouTube of Elton John they liked and decided to share it. Little things like this get noticed and attract followers.

Analysis:

This section is an analysis of the organization’s existing social media strategies, divided into relevant sections

a. Website: Interact’s website is not up to par with other theater’s professional work. The colors do not fit well together, the font is hard to read, and the right column continues on for too long mentioning things that should be more towards the top of the page. For instance the “Now Playing” is in the right column. There should be a much more prominent image of the show in the middle of the page and an organized layout on how to buy tickets, what the show is about, etc. The site is more complicated than it has to be and I think Interact is trying to hard with its aesthetics and cool fonts. It needs to be toned down.

b. Facebook: The Facebook page is a mystery to me. First of all, the default picture is nice and all but it does not stand out in terms of a good advertising piece. It’s a good idea but there are ways to make it more prominent. Maybe instead have a poster of the show playing on the stage currently? Secondly, the posts say the same thing and are posted too sporadically. There was a period where Interact did not post on their Facebook for more than two weeks. Third, the pictures on the page are bland and give no insight into the “life and times” of the theater. Production photos, in my opinion, say nothing about the character of the theater. I want to see the people; not the people as actors.

c. Twitter: Interact’s Twitter account is also very sporadic. Twitter should be used for daily conversation, not just as a promotional tool for upcoming shows and ticket codes. Interact does not tweet enough – there needs to be tweets at least two or three times a day, constantly updating followers. This shows that the theater is engaged and is not afraid to interact with the community. I mean, that is their name right? I also feel like everything that is on Twitter is on Facebook – so why have both? Interact needs to define the goals of each social media tool and use it to that effect.

d. Blog: Interact’s blog is really not that bad. The posts are engaging and informative. However, there are not enough of them. There needs to be a consistent pattern of blog posts, especially when a show is the rehearsal and production stage. I suggest posts from different people within the Interact community – directors, choreographers, musicians, producers, backstage crew, etc. This would bring diversity and a broadened insight into the “life and times” of the theater.

e. YouTube: The theater’s YouTube channel is bland. There are only trailers of the shows that are running. While that is informative and gives the members a glance as to what they can expect when they see the show, it does give Interact a face. Take videos during rehearsal, take a video backstage while the actors get ready, take a video of the production team in a meeting. What do you have to hide? These are the things that people want to see but never get to.

Recommendations

This section details a sustainable and engaging media strategy for the organization.

Social Networks are like playgrounds, they’re where all the fun stuff happens. And your customers are like your kids. Given the choice, would you have rather have your kids playing in your own backyard on your playground, or in someone else’s? You’d want them in your own, where you can keep an eye on them, right? If that’s the case, then why would you want your customers hang out in someone else’s social network when you can build your own?

Because the theater economy is so fragile, it relies on a great deal of direct response discount initiatives (direct mail, email blasts, etc.) to put butts in seats fast. When Twitter burst on the scene, many shows immediately saw it as another way to build a list that they wouldn’t have to pay for, but could offer discounts to any time they chose. What shows learned very quickly was that the social media consumer doesn’t respond to direct response at the same rate as other consumers. Social media users are not interacting with someone socially to save money on a product, but rather they’re interacting with people for the same reasons you interact with your friends: they enjoy the experience of those interactions. Imagine if one of your new friends tried to sell you something five minutes after meeting them. You’d be turned off, wouldn’t you? That’s what happens when people use social media, especially Twitter, as a direct response tool.

The shows on Broadway that have succeeded with Twitter have used it to enhance the experience away from the theater. Next To Normal a musical about a family dealing with mental illness, performed their entire show via 140 character tweets over the course of several days, for example. Rock of Ages plays games of 80s trivia with its followers. By interacting with the customer, the shows have succeeded in keeping the product fresh in consumer’s minds, thereby making it that much more likely that the consumer will talk about the product in the next 24 hours. E-mission accomplished.

Theater is not a product consumed by individuals. People go in pairs, with families, and often with big groups. The big group is one of the most sought after prizes in the search for customers for obvious reasons.

Social networks are natural collectors of people with common interests. Using another, more adult analogy, social networks are like online nightclubs. People frequent social networks and socially-interactive websites for the same reasons that you visit a nightclub: to meet people that are similar to you that you can have fun with.

What’s exciting for the future of theater and the continuing embrace of social media as a tool for audience development is that for the first time, they know exactly where our fans are.

And they can talk to them.

I suggest all of the above ideas as a landscape for a better social media strategy. The people want to hear you, not just the promotions you have to offer. And even moreso, link your social media tools to each other. Tell your followers on Twitter to like your Facebook page and to subscribe to your YouTube account. Tell your Facebook fans about your fun and engaging tweets into the “life and times” at Interact Theater Company because they probably don’t even know that you have one. Social media users want to be led; that’s why they call them followers. They want to be led to new ideas and more importantly, showed how to spread them.

Rico came to the United States from Mexico to escape poverty. Yet, her story is different in that she went with a group of her friends as a teenager to look for work and “a good time.” She reflected on what she learned since crossing the border. What surprised me was how welcoming everyone was to them. I’ve always heard generic stories about how those who immigrate illegally are treated with disrespect. There are U.S. citizens who don’t believe that they should have the same rights as us. But they’re people too right? Just because they crossed a line that means that they shouldn’t be treated as human beings? This is what I liked about Rico’s story. She challenged the typical sterotype that we all hear about illegal immigration.

Moreover, I liked the layout of the website. The immigration stories were structured the way Storycorps had their stories. There is a picture of the person being interviewed and a short description of their story. You can then click on “Learn More” to hear the full interview.

The stories are dramatized through David Finkel’s book, The Good Soldiers. This American Life chose actors to read excerpts from the book and convey them in a way that would reach the audience on an emotional level even though the stories would not be coming from the direct sources themselves. I thought this was extremely well done – the actors’ inflection, tone and attitude reflected the stories they were telling. I wasn’t sure how this would work through an audio story but with each retelling I became increasingly more engaged, wanting to know more.

Two stories in particular stand out. One soldier reflects on where his home actually is: where his kids are or here, a place where he is informed intermittently of his children’s lives like a distant relative would. He wonders whether he would still be the “dad” when he returns home and able and willing to make a mutual decision with his wife. He worries about is communication and how it will ultimately affect the family. Another solider says that he has been deployed for a total of 1,000 days (not at once). His role in the army doesn’t matter anymore; he cares not about merit. He wants to be home but worries how much he has changed. Has he become violent? Would he ever raise a hand to his wife? These are thoughts that never would have occurred if he was not deployed. Unfortunately, wartime has become a part of who is; he is a soldier. Being a soldier should only be a part of who is. It should not consume him.

As I listened to these stories, I reflected on what made them work as audio stories. I had already seen pictures of the war. I had read the news and been informed about the political circumstance that still allows the war to persist. However, I had not heard any personal stories. I had heard generalizations about how soldiers were affected upon returning from Iraq but I knew it varied from person to person. That’s what I wanted to know. These stories allowed me to enter into the minds of soldiers and see how they thought. One always wonders how they see wartime, if they really see it as bad as we do. Unfortunately, that answer is yes.

The amazing documentary was produced by Kurt Kuenne, Andrew’s life long friend. He journeyed across the country to track down an interview anyone who was close to Andrew, which was a lot of people. I can’t even imagine how much footage he must’ve gone through just to cut the documentary down to an hour and a half.  Days, weeks, months of footage was beautifully created into a masterpiece that honored the legacy that Andrew left behind.

For me, the post powerful aspect of the documentary was the interview/reactions of Andrew’s parents. Obviously I can’t overlook the extensive montage work of the piece through images and audio, especially phone call clips, but I was overwhelmingly touched by the Bagby’s. While they were so open in talking about their son’s life, they could not help but show their true emotions – painful sorrow, furious anger, and tearful sadness. I was just amazed at how much they loved their son and their commitment to making sure that Zachary was well-taken care of and not wound up in the wrong hands. They knew they had a responsibility to their son and were integral in keeping Andrew’s spirit alive.

Major props go to Kurt for his masterful work. The documentary was beautifully done. He knew exactly when to throw in a good amount of humor and when to bring in the more sorrowful parts of Andrew’s life. I would also like to commend him for highlighting the Bagby’s work in fighting the legal sytem after Andrew’s death towards the end of the movie. He told a story. It had a purpose. And inspired other people to have a purpose as well.

While I think their label of “oral histories” is accurate, I, myself, never would’ve put that label on it. That term seems so ancient to me. However after listening to a few of them, I realized how appropriate the term is. It gives the opportunity for a story to be heard that would not have been heard before, becoming passed down from generation to generation.

Looking around the website, I saw how committed StoryCorps actually is to give every story the opportunity to be heard. Not only are they published on the website in full, but they are also publishing a book with the best stories so far. It’s entitled “Listening is an Act of Love.” I thought to myself, “That title could not be more true.” When we listen to someone else’s story, we become engaged, interested, and even willing to share our own, much like a loving relationship. We can visually show that person that there is nothing else we would rather be doing that listening to them. This is the way most loving relationships are formed to begin with and I think StoryCorps’ initiative to condensing all the best stories in one book should be commended.

I think one of the more powerful stories I heard on the website was between Majid Al-Bahaldi and Diana Klatte. They remembered the day they first met – at a gas station. Now taking a first glance at their photo next to their story, one could obviously tell that he was from the Middle East and she was White. “Never judge a book by its cover” though. It’s incredible how they met and no one, at first glance, would’ve known that about them. Thankfully, StoryCorps gives them the chance to relive that moment and share it with others.

I look forward to perusing the site further and finding other things that inspire me to make my interview as powerful.

What I find interesting was my phone use. Before I did this I felt like I use my phone a lot for media but after doing this assignment I found some eye-opening facts. I pretty much use my phone about 15 to 20 times a day for 20 seconds each time. That averages out to about 400 seconds a day, which is about 6 minutes. Other than using my phone for actual calls, that’s really not a lot. So that surprised me.

The chart below is a rough estimate (based off percentages) of my media consumption:

Possible ideas for research:

• Interview SJU students
  • Asking on my Facebook status if there is anyone in the SJU community or you know of someone who stutters to message me so I can reach out to them.
  • I do know of 2 students off-hand that I can interview though.
• Find a speech therapist in Philadelphia and ask her about her experience…?
• The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has a Stuttering Program that focuses on:
  • Diagnosis and therapy for children who stutter
  • Consultation and continuing education for professionals
  • Research
  • Advocacy, support and guidance (local and national)
• My goal is to interview with a consultant/therapist at the Hospital to get more details about their programs, how they help children overcome their speech impediment, and the results they found. I will most likely call the number they have on the website. Additionally, they have a large array of links for online resources for parents that I’m going to check out.
• Research the statistics behind people who stutter (how many stutter in the U.S., what age it starts, etc.)
  • Google

That’s about all I have for now but any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

The Nieman Storyboard essays were, to say the least, inspiring. They got me excited to start writing my story however daunting the task may seem. Because while narrative journalism writing can be enjoyable due to the freedom of creativity the writer is given, it can also be intimidating. Not only must the story contain the narrative arc that captivates a reader but it must also embody the empirical style of reporting that every journalistic piece has. Nevertheless, my excitement still remains high.

I love to listen – to anything: stories, anecdotes, music, radio, all of it. I feel like I’m a lot like LeBlanc, the writer of Stories Are Everywhere. I look for stories all the time and wish I was as disciplined as she was (or even had the job that she had) where I could have files for story ideas – phrases, slang words, and little idiosyncracies found throughout the day. Even moreso, I love to just call people up and say, “Hey, do you want to grab a cup of coffee? No reason…just to talk.” This is the essence of human connection: talking. We all strive to be connected to something and when we enter into simple conversation with another person, we become the most authentic versions of ourselves. Effectively, we can create the narrative pieces of journalism that I feel are the most powerful. When there is a story behind a fact then it can’t be ignored. It’s been given a face.

Now how to do this is a different story. However, Walt Harrington, writer of A Writer’s Essay: Seeking the Extraordinary in the Ordinary, gives some useful suggestions on how to create captivating and informational literary works of journalsim.

• Capturing a narrator’s voice and/or writing the story from the point of view of one or several subjects
• Gathering telling details from our subjects’ lives, details that evoke the “tone” of that life
• Gathering real-life dialogue
• Gathering “interior” monologue
• Reporting to establish a time line that will allow us to write
• Immersing ourselves temporarily in the lives of our subjects
• Gathering physical details of places and people
• Stories are primarily meant to enlighten, caution, criticize or inspire, and always resonate, in the lives of readers

I will strive to fulfill these sound pieces of advice in the piece that I write because I believe that they all have some credibility to them.

Lobotomies are definitely something that I had no idea about so hearing the way in which Walter Freeman ambitiously structured his groundbreaking surgery. From a reader standpoint, I found the article to be informational in terms of its medical background – from Freeman bringing the surgery to America to how he actually performs the surgery. From a writer’s standpoint, the audio story was definitely more interesting than the article that accompanies it. The article does not necessarily follow the narrative arc that I look for in these narratives, which is why listening to the interview with Dully is a much better route.

I found this story to be powerful for the same reason that Crazy was: it gave mental illness a face. Dully’s situation was indeed tragic because he had absolutely no say in his surgery. Most people heard about Freeman, made a decision to have the surgery, and, in some cases, suffered some tragic consequences but by their own accord. Dully had to trace his surgery on his own because had no memory of it at all. I did enjoy listening to him say that talking about it with his father was the happiest moment of his life.