Scotland's Culture

Each year the Scottish government conduct a Scottish Household Survey that gives us an insight into the composition, characteristics, attitudes and behaviours of Scottish households and individuals. The research is used by the government to support their work in transport, communities and local government policy areas and allow for the early detection of national trends. The Survey covers a range of topics including housing, communities, economic activity, finance, education, transport and travel, the internet, health and caring, local services, volunteering and culture and sport.

I’ve been looking over the last three published reports going back to 2007 to see what trends we can detect about cultural attendance and participation in Scotland. I’ve picked out some of the things which caught my attention and I’ll let you interpret the facts in the way you want. However this type of information can help you to identify either how big a potential local or national audience you could have, or help us to identify areas that we need to grow, develop and support.

Sian’s Top Insights into the Scottish Household Survey

I’ve been looking at the reports from 2007/2008, 2009/2010 and the most recent report 2011 to see what patterns or trends I can see. These are some which stood out.

Participation and attendance

• 63% of the population read for pleasure, by far the most popular cultural activity to participate in (the second most popular activity is dancing with 17%). There are approximately 5.2 million people living in Scotland, so this means around 3.3 million people read for pleasure.
• When we then look at the cultural activities that people attend in Scotland it shows that only 5% of the population attend book or writing related events, that’s about 261,100 people. A fraction of the total number of people who read books.
• A similar trend emerged for dance – 19% of the population participate in dancing, however only 5% attend a live dance or ballet performance. It is not clear what the survey means by ‘participate in dancing’ and whether that refers to classes or dancing on a night out.
• However in music, art, theatre and cinema the behaviour shows the opposite trend.
• Around 11% of the population play an instrument, however 28% have attended a live music event (that’s around 1.5 million people).
• 9% of people actively create art or sculpture, while 17% have attended a gallery, and a further 17% have attended an exhibition or viewed an art collection (together that’s around 1.7 million people – although I would imagine that people who said they have visited a gallery are likely to be the same people who say they attend exhibitions).
• And in cinema, 53% of the population have been to the cinema to see a film (the most popular activity attended in Scotland), however only 2% of people in Scotland actively make film or video’s.

Age

I noticed three possible trends in the data around age and attendance.

• There has been a small rise (2%) of the number of 16 to 24 year olds in attending cultural events in the last 5 years (2007-2011).
• Similarly for people aged 25 to 34 there has been a 2% increase in attendance.
• Together that’s about an extra 25,000 people under the age of 34 attending cultural events.
• However, this is compared to a 3% decrease in the number of people aged 75 and over attending cultural events – this equates to a drop of around 10,970 people.

 Frequency of Attendance

• A quarter of people go to the cinema once a month in Scotland (that’s about 705,000 people), while 42% of people go 3 or 4 times in a year (around 1.1 million people).
• On average 27% of the population have attended the theatre in the last 5 years (1.4 million people), of these less than a third have been 3 or 4 times a year (approximately 469,990 people), just over a third had been twice a year and less than a third once a year.
• Similar patterns emerged from museum attendance, live music attendance, exhibition and gallery attendance. Around about a third of people will attend 3 or 4 times a year, a third twice a year and a third once a year.
• In Crafts, although the survey does not clearly outline what a craft exhibition is and whether that includes craft fairs or visiting craft shops, approximately 11% of the population (574,430 people) have attended a craft exhibition. Around 23% go 3 or 4 times a year, 35% go twice a year and 36% go once a year.
• There has been an increase in the frequency of craft exhibitions people attend in the last 5 years – we can see a 5% increase from 21% of people attending craft exhibitions 3 or 4 times a year in 2007 to 26% in 2011 – that’s an increase of approximately 28,700 people in 5 years.
• In opera and classical music 6% of the population attend these events (that’s around 313,330 people). Of these 40% attended one event per year, 30% saw 2 events per year and 22% saw 3 or 4 events, which is approximately 68,930 people.
• We can also see some rises and falls within opera and classical music attendance over the last 5 years. In 2009/2010 there was a big rise in the number of people attending classical and opera events. In 2007/08 27% of people saw 2 events per year, and then in 2009/10 34% of people had seen 2 events. However in 2011 only 29% of people went to see 2 classical or opera events – that’s a drop of 5% – approximately 21,932 people from the previous two years.
• A similar fall can be seen in the number of people who see opera or classical music once a year. In 2007/08 44% of people went to see at least one classical or opera concert (that’s around about 137,863 people). While in 2011 this dropped by 5% to 39% – which is a fall of about 15,666 people.
• Finally dance showed a different trend, of the 5% of the population who attend live dance or ballet performances, over 50% go to see a show once a year, 25% go twice a year and 15% go 3 or 4 times a year.

Rural versus Urban

For the first time in 2009/2010 the survey distinguished between urban and rural attendance and participation. Although we only have two reports worth of data to compare there are some interesting trends to be brought to your attention.

• Attendance of live music events in urban areas and accessible rural areas has increased by 5%.
• Theatre attendance across urban and rural areas has stayed the same since 2009.
• Museum attendance has increased by 5% in remote rural areas.
• Gallery attendance has increased in remote small towns by 5% and 4% in rural areas.
• Nearly twice as many people in rural areas attend craft exhibitions as they do in urban areas. While 10% of urban populations go to craft events, 19% do so in remote rural areas and 17% in accessible rural areas.
• 8% of large urban populations attend dance performances compared to 7% of people in accessible rural areas; only 5% attend dance performances in remote rural areas.
• Of course there are individuals who do not attend any cultural events during the year, and the report shows us that 22% of people in urban areas do not attend, while 30% of people in remote rural areas do not attend.

There is a lot more information available in the reports which you can download directly from the Scottish Governments website (all links made available below). And if you would like any advice on how to use and interpret this kind of data then you can get in touch with me.

Scotland’s People

Scottish Household Survey 2007/2008

Scottish Household Survey 2009/2010

Scottish Household Survey 2011

Improve your online sales with these 21 Tips

If you are selling directly from your website as an artist or crafts maker then you might be wondering how you can increase your traffic, improve your website and most importantly increase your sales. After working with a number of different makers over the last 3 years and keeping on top of the latest developments in online selling, these are some tips that could go some way to increasing your online sales. Much of what is recommended here are techniques at improving customer service and customer relationships, which are key to generating sales and repeat sales. You certainly don’t have to implement all of the 21 tips outlined here, but it might be worthwhile to experiment with a couple and see if you notice any change.

One of the best pieces of advice I have come across while research online is to be brave and test things, don’t be afraid to experiment. The mantra ‘Test Everything, Assume Nothing’ is something to keep in mind when using any new online technology. You will never know what strategy or angle is going to work for you best until you test it. Testing is the only way to discover what works, and what doesn’t work, on your website.

1. Offer one product or service on your home page
2. Reposition your opt-in offer to boost your opt-ins and build a bigger list of loyal subscribers.
3. Feature different benefits in your headlines
4. Establish a problem in your copy and show how you can solve it
5. Add credibility to your copy and enhance your visitors trust in you
6. Focus on your site visitors – not yourself
7. Instil urgency in your copy – and convince readers they need to buy now!
8. Remove any references to ‘buying’ from the top fold
9. Boost your products desirability by adding images
10. Grab the attention of ‘Scanners’ by changing the format and appearance of your copy
11. Fine tune your follow-up processes to maximise sales and attract more repeat business.
12. Have a clean call to action
13. Know your 30 second elevator pitch
14. Make sure you have a transparent About You page
15. Add an online video
16. Review your product line up
17. Review your order handling process
18. Look for broken links
19. Include inserts with delivered products
20. Make sure you are cross-selling ­
21. Use the language of sales

#1 Offer one product or service on your home page

If you sell a number of products or service on your website then it is recommended that you test whether or not this is the best strategy for you. Offering fewer products in one place with more copy describing those products tends to translate into higher sales.

Why? It helps to focus people. Instead of trying to please everyone who visits your site by offering a large range of products – you can really focus on one key set of benefits and answer all the possible questions and doubts your visitors might have about your product.

It doesn’t mean you have to stop selling the other products, but you can always offer them to your customers from other web pages or by using follow-up offers.

Sales Test: Write up a sales copy letter for your lead product and put it on your home page – run this as a test for two weeks/ month and watch what impact it has on your sales.

#2 Reposition your opt-in offer to boost your opt-ins and build a bigger list of loyal subscribers

Your opt-in offer (enewsletter sign up, email sign up, competition etc – anything which requires a customer to provide you with their email address) is your tool for gathering your customer’s email addresses and building your email list, which will allow you to regularly keep in touch with your subscribers, build relationships, trust and loyalty, and sell them your products.

Where you place your opt-in offer on your site has a huge impact on the number of subscribers you can attract.

Sales Test 01: Place your opt-in offer in as prominent a position as possible on your home page, preferably in the ‘Top Fold’ of your home page (the area of the screen first visible to a visitor before they scroll down the page)  – the Top Left of the page  is where the visitors’ eyes are often drawn first.

Sales Test 02: Place you opt-in offer within the second ‘page’ of text, after you have caught your visitors’ attention and established your credibility, impressed them with your skills, experience and testimonials from happy customers.

Sales Test 03: Place your opt-in offer on every page of your site so it’s always in front of your visitors. The more sign up opportunities you provide, the more subscribers you are likely to get.

#3 Feature different benefits in your headline

Your headline has a huge impact on your sales, it is often the first thing that visitors’ to your site sees, so it must grab their attention and compel them to read your sales copy.

A successful headline should highlight a problem your target audience faces and stress the main benefit of your product in solving this problem. It is not simply a matter of telling your visitor what the product is, but what it does for them.

#4 Establish a problem in your copy and show how you can solve it

In the first few paragraphs of sales pitch you need to go into more detail about the problem you introduced in your headline – you need to show your audience that you relate to them – only when your audience feels you understand their problem will they feel more confident that you can solve it.

Once the problem is established, you can then begin to introduce your product or service as the solution to this problem. By emphasising how your product or service will solve your reader’s problem, you should see a boost in sales.

#5 Add credibility to your copy and enhance your visitors trust in you

It’s vital that your sales copy establishes your credibility – it is through this process that your visitors come to trust you and feel comfortable enough to buy from you.

Establishing Credibility 1: Include customer testimonials in your sales pitch. These should be excerpts from genuine feedback from customers expressing how your product or service helped solve their particular problem. A customer testimonial that states how your product benefited them is much more effective than one that just says something like “Your product is great”.

Establishing Credibility 2: Add a section to your copy that outlines your credentials, experience and any background information that makes you qualified to solve your target audience’s problem. Your aim should be to effectively convince readers that you are the best person to offer them a solution to their problem.

#6 Focus on your site visitors – not yourself

The most successful sales copy focuses on the reader. Look carefully at your sales copy, is it filled with references to ‘I’, ‘me’ and ‘we’? If your copy is filled with these then you need to shift the focus towards the ‘You’ and ‘Your’.

#7 Instil urgency in your copy – and convince readers they need to buy now!

It’s important that your sales copy instil a sense of urgency in your visitors, compelling them to buy now. The best place to do this is towards the end of your sales pitch, near the call to action (when you ask for the sale).

Sales Test: Try using each one of these against your copy and monitor their impact

• Offer a limited-time price discount where visitors must buy before a certain date in order to qualify for the discount.
• Offer additional bonuses for free if visitors buy within a certain time frame.
• Offer only a limited quantity of your product or services.
• Offer a limited quantity bonus.

#8 Remove any references to ‘buying’ from the top fold

People usually go online looking for free information. If you start your sales pitch too early in your copy, you may end up losing them before you’ve had a chance to hook them. Only once you have established the problem and how you can solve it, can you start selling to them.

Sales Test: Remove all references to ‘buying’ ‘cost’ and ‘sale’ from the top fold of your website and compare the results to the copy you’re using now.

#9 Boost your products desirability by adding images

Images of your product makes them seem more tangible and ‘real’ to your visitors and are a powerful sales tool.

Sales Test: Try placing images near the top your page vs. placing them near the call to action at the bottom, where you are asking for the sale. You could also test adding images to your order page. By monitoring your sales during each test, you’ll learn exactly where to place product images for maximum impact.

#10 Grab the attention of ‘scanners’ by changing the formatting and appearance of your copy

Very few visitors to your website will read every word of your sales copy from start to finish. Most will ‘scan’ your copy as they scroll down the page, reading only certain words and phrases that jump out at them or catch their eye.

Sales Test: Test highlighting your key benefits to find the right combination that will grab the attention of people who scan rather than read online, these includes:

• Using bold, italics and highlighting (sparingly) to emphasize the most important benefits of your offer.
• Varying the length of your paragraphs so the page doesn’t look like a block of uniformly formatted text.
• Adding sub-headlines that emphasize your key messages and compel your visitors to read the paragraphs that follow.
• Leaving the right-hand side of your text ragged (as that’s easier to read than ‘justified’ text that uses the whole width of the page).
• Centering important – but short – chunks of text or sub-headlines to further draw them out of the main body of text.
• Using bullet lists (like this one) to emphasize key points.

#11 Fine tune your follow-up process to maximise sales and attract more repeat business.

Following up with your customers and subscribers with an email is crucial to generating more sales as it often takes several contacts before someone buys from your site.

Following up with new subscribers: Start by restating your offer and asking for the sale again. Try sending an immediate follow-up after new subscribers sign up, giving them a reason to return to the site the same day as they subscribe. You can test this against sending a follow-up three days after subscribers first visit your site to see which method works best.

Following up with existing customers: A third of customers will buy again if they are given the chance – repeat customers helps you to develop profitable, long-term relationships with them and allows you to offer products related to their original purchase. Try offering them a special offer immediately after they make a purchase, against sending one three days afterwards to see which approach generates more repeat business.

#12 Have a Clean Call to Action

What are you asking your potential customer to do? What is the one thing you most want them to do? Getting your potential customer (or prospect) to click on the ‘Buy’ button has to be done tastefully and professionally. You need to make it really obvious what you want them to do, and if at all possible, the benefits they receive should be close by so that clicking through is compelling.

Don’t try to cram all your content onto the one screen, you want to communicate not confuse people.

#13 Know your 30 Second Elevator Pitch

You need to be able to boil down your message into a 30-second elevator pitch, less is often better. 

#14 Make sure you have a transparent About You page

Customers like to know who they are doing business with. If you offer a generic page which doesn’t tell people who you are and why you do what you do – change it. It is important that you are transparent. This might not drive sales alone, but it has a significant impact. If you have website analytics have a look at how many people are clicking through to your ‘About’ page.

#15 Add an Online Video

People don’t read as much anymore, which is probably why You Tube is now the second biggest search engine – people prefer to watch and learn. Video offers a dynamic, interactive and immersive experiences for potential customers. Even if you create a simple screen cast demo about your products, you will be ahead of the competition who still build text-heavy websites.

#16 Review your product line up

Ask yourself what is selling and what isn’t and why. If a product isn’t selling don’t waste your time promoting it. If it is producing you very little revenue, find another product to promote. Devote your time and effort to the products that are producing for you.

#17 Review your order handling process

From web copy through to the delivery of the product, review each element of the purchasing experience, and ask others to place orders and evaluate their experience. Look for points in the sequence where a prospect might be turned off. Is there something about any page sequence that might generate doubt or negative feelings in the prospects mind? A significant number of customers abandon their orders at the order form or during the checkout process. Examine yours closely to reduce this happening on your website. Make sure your order process guides the customer through step-by-step while providing continual reassurance.

#18 Look for broken links

Having webpages load with a broken image or having visitors get a lot of ‘File Not Found’ messages can create a negative impression. Fix any broken links immediately to improve sales. Periodically surf your site to confirm everything on your page functions as you intended.

#19 Include inserts with delivered products

When you have products which you mail out to your customers make sure you include a brochure or flyer for other products in the package. These customers are your best prospects for repeat sales. When they open the package they have been waiting for, and are thrilled with the product, they are instantly in a receptive buying mood. For instance you might have sold an item of jewellery to a customer, include in the package a flyer encouraging purchasers to consider giving other items you make as a gift.

#20 Make sure you are cross-selling

Use cross-selling to sell complimentary products on your website. Increase sales by highlighting all complimentary products at high selling product pages. The scope and flexibility for cross-selling your products will depend on the shopping cart software you choose.

#21 Use the Language of Sales

Don’t know what type of words to use to get people to act? Below is a list of words that can be used to grab people’s attention in your web copy:

Phrases that sell

• Ask for your free…
• At Last!
• By popular demand
• Check out these great features:
• Don’t miss…
• Good News!
• Here’s what you get:
• New low price!
• Now for the first time…
• How you can too…
• The first…
• The only…
• This is your last chance to…

Of course we still rely on and serve our local communities and again we use the web and online technologies to connect with our communities. But how many people are online in Scotland and who are the groups we are not reaching with our online promotion?

What is Digital Participation? It basically describes people’s ability to gain access to digital technology and understand how to use it creatively. The Scottish Government’s Social Research arm published a report on Digital Participation in Scotland this month, which gives a summary of the various data available to us around the topic of internet usage.

Across the UK 74% of people have a broadband connection at home, this is compared to 61% in Scotland – so why the difference?

The report suggests that to a certain extent the figures are skewed by the large number of people online based in the South of England, and that Scotland’s digital participation rate is not actually that different from communities across the rest of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. However it does ask the question – who is not online?

Based on a review of four different research studies conducted by Ipsos Mori, Ofcom, the Scottish Household Survey and the Oxford Internet Survey, the Scottish Governments report found that the demographic make-up for non-internet users appears to be mainly older people, who have low household incomes and are not working.

Unsurprisingly the report found that people of an older age, or on lower incomes, with fewer educational qualifications, who are not working, that have a disability or long-term illness, or are from areas of deprivation are much less likely to be digitally engaged. There are some pretty obvious reasons why some of the people in these groups might be digitally marginalised, and, again, unsurprisingly the biggest barriers to getting online were associated with cost and infrastructure (in some areas of Scotland we know it is virtually impossible to get a reliable internet connection).

What was interesting were the levels, from the non-user groups, of disinterest in the web. The Scottish Household Survey found that of the individuals who do not use the internet 62% said they were unlikely to ever use it. The report suggests that a possible explanation for this is a lack of knowledge about computers and the internet and therefore people are unable to recognise the benefits being online can have for them directly. It was also interesting to learn that there is ever so slightly more people accessing the internet from home in rural areas than urban areas in Scotland – but we are talking 1 or 2% here.

So what relevance does this have for us and audience development? It lets you know which groups will not respond to an online campaign for a start. If you are looking to engage with people identified in the non-users groups then you can’t rely on your online marketing to reach them alone. 

The other advice that the report gives, which is of use for us when thinking about targeting audiences through the internet, is the recommendations on how to encourage people to get online. It is suggested that by communicating the relevant and specific benefits to a non-engaged group is one way of breaking down any barriers. Second is to provide reassurance that the internet is for them. It is a commonly held belief that the internet is time-consuming and detracts from daily life, to break this perception down we could emphasise how much fun the internet is, that it helps to keep the mind active and can save you money.

The Scottish Government set out its Digital Ambitions for Scotland in October 2011, which stated that ‘the rate of broadband uptake by people in Scotland should be at or above the UK average by 2013, and should be the highest among the UK nations by 2015′. If Scotland can achieve this target our job of promoting online should be made easier, but we will need to wait till next year to see if this ambition has been achievable.

Digital participation in Scotlandor you can visit the Scottish Government website.

If you are planning a digital marketing campaign or would like to explore the options available to you through the web then do get in touch to arrange a meeting with me. You can also check out our Tip Sheets for Digital Marketing.

Blogging has become quite the social media phenomenon in the last 2 years. They’re a fantastic tool to be using for both marketing and promoting yourself, your artwork, your organisation, basically anything that you do, or it can also be a brilliant way of putting your thoughts and inspirations down into words, a creative journal if you like.

Below are just some of the creative Blogs I’ve come across recently.

If you have a blog you would like to add to this list please do contact me.

ARTS AND CULTURAL ORGANISATIONS

• Creative Cultures Scotland  – A place for creative practitioners to network and represent their skills.
• The Editorial – The Editorial: The Temporary Projects Season: Ruth Barker’s Blog
• Rowan Gallery – The Rowan Gallery in Helensburgh
• Craft Research –  Knowledge through making
• Craftspace – A Crafts Development Organisation
• Innovative Craft – The latest developments at IC: Innovative Crafts
• Caritas Music –  Music promoter, distributor, store and production company blog
• Creative Industries Shetland – Textiles and music in the North Isles of Scotland

 ARTISTS AND MAKERS

• Judy Scott Textiles and Mixed Media –  A Vintage Girl who just loves to create with fabric paper thread and paint
• Elizabeth McCrindle’s Art from Scotland – The journey of a Scottish artist, equine, canine, landscape and sporting art
• The Thoughts of An Artist – A blog from Ralph Taylor, a Fife based Painter
• Jan Patience Journalist and Art Lover – Blogs about the art she’s seen and artists she met on her travels in Scotland
• Lightstalker’s Blog – Glen Campbell – Highland based photographer
• My Minds Eye – A blog from an Edinburgh based artistic dabbler – Alexander J Blair
• Mad Cat Art Studio – A blog from Marion Boddy-Evans in Skye
• Tim Wootton – A wildlife artist based in Stromness, Orkney
• Lesley McInally Ceramic Art – A Scottish ceramic artist living and working in Canada
• Pure Art and Soul – An artist’s blog inspired by music, by dreams, by hope for a better world
• Feltsket – A crofter and textile maker in Shetland
• Austin Taylor Photography – Freelance Photographer based in Shetland
• Felt Addiction – A blog from maker Joni Phippin
• Home in the Highlands – A Midwest American transplanted to the Highlands
• Red 2 White – A self-taught designer-maker based in the Highlands
• Ebba Redman – Jewellery Designer who runs Tayberry Gallery in Perth
• Taking Time – A touring exhibition from Craftspace curated with Helen Carnac
• Text-Isles – Shetland’s Contemporary Textile Group
• Kerrianne Flett – Third Year Duncan of Jordanstone Art and Design Student
• Mary-Ann’s Cottage – Two artists inspired by the maiden voyage of the Westland in 1879
• Paper Boats – Documenting the Paper Boat Fundraiser and Exhibition to raise funds for Mary-Ann’s Cottage
• Joanne B Kaar – Journeys of an Artist in residency in Durness, Sutherland
• Timespan Artists in Residence – A place for artists staying with us to record their ideas, encounters and thoughts.

WRITERS & MUSICIANS

• Breathing Out – Occasional journal of Scottish writer and musician Clare O’Brien
• The Truth About Lies – A writer based in Glasgow
• Sea Penguin – The view from nowhere, to everywhere – or should that be the other way round?
• John Crosbie – Various bits of writing, opinions, plays, screenpalys, poems etc

THEATRE & DANCE

• Theatre in Scotland –  Theatre in Scotland aims to inform the theatre going public of Scotland which shows are playing around the country and when, with reviews, interviews and much more
• Scottish Ballet – Latest news from the Scottish Ballet
• Citymoves Dance – Dance news and opportunities in the North East

CULTURAL COMMUNITIES

• The Spill Blog – An open to all music and culture blog which originated from the Guardian’s Readers Recommended community
• Artists Talking – Artists Talking is a unique space to explore artists’ insights and perspectives on contemporary practice
• UK Handmade – UK Handmade is a design led online magazine committed to showcasing and promoting the best creative talent the UK has to offer

AROUND THE GLOBE

• Las Vegas Art and Culture – Arts and Culture from the other side of the pond
• Granny Sue – Storytelling, writing, life and all that intervenes based in the USA
• Writing, fishing and sesenach’s Scotland – A freelance writer in Staffordshire
• Natalie De Koning – A blog from an Aspiring Artist from the Netherlands

* We’ve recently changed our blog set up on Northings which means that some of the content on the ‘old’ audience development blog hasn’t been available recently. However, I’ve finally found some time to copy and paste the most important content across to the ‘new’ audience development blog.

Created: April 2010

Updated:

April 2011

April 2012

Sian's Facebook Timeline

At the end of last month Facebook users saw one of the biggest refurbishments to the social network there has been, since it went global. The introduction of the Facebook Timeline has created a lot of controversy, as we all grapple with the changes to the design features of the site, while trying to continue to engage with our fans. Some love it, others hate it. But what kind of impact is this having on our pages and their abilities to connect with Facebook users?

Facebook states that “the new Pages helps businesses and organizations express their identity through features like cover photo and Page timeline” (Facebook Pages). Brittany Darwell of Inside Facebook reiterates this when writing:

“Timeline is primarily a design change and is unlikely to be directly responsible for any differences in fan engagement because most interaction occurs on posts within News Feed, not on pages themselves. Page owners should recognize the importance of Timeline as a first impression for visitors, but should not count on the redesign to change the way fans interact with their page.”

Facebook Timeline, according to Facebook, is only about changing design. They want to see businesses design interesting pages to capture people’s attention, and then focus on engaging fans through the news feed. But there have been reports that we are seeing less posts from pages getting through to people’s individual news feeds, and a marked drop in engagement with fans.

EdgeRank Checker and HubSpot released studies that looked into brand pages last month. They took 3,500 brand pages and found that all, regardless of whether they converted to Timeline of not, lost traffic (March 2012). HubSpot indicated that content scheduled to be published automatically to Facebook, after the company switched to Timeline, saw a 234% decrease in user engagement.

An eye movement study conducted by SimpleUsability found the Facebook Timeline that brand pages were forced to switch over to are “flawed”, with many of the new features going unnoticed or being misunderstood.

“The average user doesn’t fully understand the new layout, or interact with it in the way intended,” said Guy Redwood, managing director of SimpleUsability. “This will likely change over time, but as the mechanics of obtaining ‘Likes’ has become more difficult for brands, they now need to drive engagement more than ever.”

From the study SimpleUsability discovered the following:

• Cover photos are not as important as they think – most users in the study ignored the cover image entirely or disregarded it as ‘advertising space’. In most cases the first action a user took when landing on a facebook page was to scroll down the page to orientate themselves.
• The Timeline is a valuable feature – the benefit of the Timeline is that it has the ability to tell a brands story. The study found that it was easier to learn about a brand through their Facebook page then it was on their official website.
• The timeline only works if it is current – an outdated timeline confuses people, but the study found that most users do not look beyond one month in the Timelines reverse chronology.
• Users notice when a Friend ‘Likes’ or interacts with a brand – users are more likely to interact with a friends comment about a brand that they consider timely.
• Users rarely, if ever, interact with Apps – this could change over time as people become more familiar with Timeline, but for now, few people notice the customisable app button, it’s almost exclusively used to view photos.

Social Media Management platform Wildfire conducted their own research into how the Timeline has impacted on their partners pages by comparing how pages were accessed before the Timeline was adopted and a month after adoption. They found that top volume pages saw a marked increase in engagement, while other pages saw a general decline in all engagement areas. Wildfire also analysed types of posts and their impact pre- and post-timeline.

Pre-Timeline status updates were the best way to generate ‘likes’ and comments in comparison to other post types such as photos and video. However video posts were the best ways to generate ‘shares’ and outperformed all other post types. Post-Timeline the data revealed that status updates were still generating the most ‘likes’, that photo posts were slightly better at generating comments, and that videos were still the best way of generating ‘shares’.

What Wildfire has demonstrated is that the Timeline is working best for visual media – so it you have available visual media (photography, animation, illustration and videos) get these loaded onto your Facebook page.

Any change that takes place on a platform such as Facebook is going to cause some confusion, irritation and therefore some decrease in engagement. The old adage ‘time heals all wounds’ might well apply to this recent change, and after a while, once we understand how to use the site again, posts will start to reappear and our engagement increase.

On the other hand this could be the first sign of the tide turning against Facebook. The first group of people to leave the network won’t be those with pages, it will be the users, the people we are using the network to talk to. If this is something which concerns you then there are other alternatives such as Twitter (which is currently having a greater impact on search engine optimisation then Facebook is) and Google +. 

Of course a social network is about cultivating your community through providing useful, interesting content of value, and building a meaningful dialogue between your audiences/customers to engage them effectively, rather than fancy design and layout changes. However, if the fancy design and layout changes are effecting engagement with meaningful content, then does this not defeat the purpose of the network for businesses?

—

What are the main changes that will impact on businesses pages

1. Introduction of the Cover Photo (measuring 851 x 315 pixels).
2. No more default landing pages, now when users come to your Facebook page they will land on one page only, the main page with your cover photo and wall.
3. Private messaging – you will now have the ability to private message your fans.
4. Pin Posts – you can now ‘pin’ selected wall posts to the top of your wall. This will highlight the post so that it appears at the top of your wall.

Other recommended articles:

 15 must know tips to rock your new Facebook timeline business page

How to engage your audience with the new Facebook timeline for pages

Facebook Timeline for Pages – FAQs

Can you name 3 reasons I should give a rip about your Facebook business page?

Facebook Timeline pages and how to use them to promote your business

8 Tactful ways to use your personal Facebook account as a marketing tool

Good examples of Facebook pages

For good use of Photo Covers – http://www.facebook.com/fanta?ref=ts

Good use of Twitter App’s and Timeline – http://www.facebook.com/edfringe?ref=ts

Good use of Multiple Apps (see Show Your Best) – http://www.facebook.com/olympics

Good use of photography and video and Highlight feature – http://www.facebook.com/smallpetitklein?ref=ts

Social Media Platforms Authors Should Explore by Tyora Moody

A-Z of Social Media – A Helpful Guide by Media Square

Creative use of social media to increase public engagement– by Dr. Sophy Smith, Institute of Creative Technologies, DeMontfort University

social media guide for small organisations by Simon Duncan

Sharing Good Practice – Social Marketing Scotland’s Outdoors Beyond the Usual Suspects by Atlas Social Martketing

Twitter for Artists and Arts Organisations by @hannahnicklin

Creating and Customising a Brand Channel by You Tube and Google

State of social Media: The Social Media Report by Nielsen

2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by the Social Media Examiner

How Voluntary Organisations can use Flickr for Social Media Success by Connect Communities

10 Social Media Tips for Arts Organisation – The Guardian

23 Social Media Facts to Share with Executives – Jeff Esposito  

Social Media. The Facts – by Generate

I will keep updating this page as I gather more information, and if you come across something of interest please post a link to the site using the comments function below.

Happy Tweeting everyone!

Often or not people are surprised at how excited I get about statistics, data and research information. It’s a genuine excitement as well, I often refer to myself as a bit of an information geek. The reason why I love cold hard statistical evidence is because it can’t really lie, these are the facts that we cannot ignore. Although what saddens me is often it is ignored and sometimes overlooked as having any direct relevance, and in the really extreme cases can be manipulated to suit predetermined opinions.

Last year I worked on an evaluation for a new festival, I looked at and analysed their audience survey, which was completed by those attending the festival events and activities. As a result of the evaluation, and of course the success of the festival itself, it has now been able to secure additional funding to rerun the festival this year. The value of the audience survey is one which cannot really be matched by any other means of evaluation (although others might disagree). However when we are in the business or providing arts, cultural and creativity, the ultimate indicator of success is the audience experience, is it not? It is my belief that even if the art exhibited is not ‘understood’ or recieves, what we might consider to be, negative feedback, this is all helpful, useful and reliable information. If we were constantly praised for the work we do, then we would never develop, never grow, never seek to engage with new ideas and new audiences. It is much easier to address constructive criticism then it is to be told everything is perfect all the time.

I have had the opportunity of evaluating a number of organisations audience surveys now, and I am always on the look out to evaluate and analyse other’s audiences! If you engage audiences or customers in an arts, creative or cultural setting, and are interested in learning more from them, then the time has come to drop me a line.

If you are looking for audience survey design, implementation, evaluation and/or analysis then please contact me at HI-Arts (sian@hi-arts.co.uk).  

 I genuinely look forward to hearing from you!

Are you constantly looking for the right funding route but coming up empty handed? Are you looking for alternative routes to fund your project that doesn’t rely on public bodies? Would you like to start engaging people with your project now? Crowdfunding could be your answer.

Crowdfunding is a modern, online and interactive way to raise funds directly from the public – or the Crowd – for your projects and activities. With the advent of Crowdfunding we can now turn our audiences into supporters and funders, by collecting multiple small donations online and offering unique incentives to encourage giving, not only can you raise funds to get your project of the ground but you can start to build a ‘buzz’ around it before hand.

Crowdfunding is the latest addition to your Fundraising toolkit.

The practice of asking people to donate to a cause, charity, project or initiative is not a new concept, however Crowdfunding formalises a process of fundraising for projects through the internet and social networking. Crowdfunding is the collective cooperation, attention and trust by people who network and pool their money together, via the internet, in order to support the efforts initiated by other people or organisations. A Crowdfunding project relies on a number of small donations from your community in exchange for a reward and the ability to support your project.

Crowdfunding is an advantageous addition to your abilities to raise cash in large or small amounts to support a project you initiate; it can replace or support the need to apply for specialised Funding or Investment from traditional funders such as arts councils, enterprise development, trusts and foundations.

Crowdfunding relies on the offline and online communities you cultivate, the crowd can exist as a community but they can also form from disparate groups around the world who share an interest in funding a person, project, event, campaign etc. The advantage of an online fundraising solution such as Crowdfunding is that the internet allows for the fast and effective flow of information around the world, increasing awareness and the pool of potential funders who can engage with what you do.

 How is Crowdfunding relevant to me?

The beauty of Crowdfunding is that you can fundraise for any idea, project or campaign that you have a passion to deliver. It enables you to access new funders who ultimately become your supporters, without having to rely on traditional methods and formal processes of funding.

 In a time when budgets are being reduced Crowdfunding offers an enterprising solution to raising the funds you need. It takes the pressure off you to find the right funding route or investment strand that fits your idea or campaign. It gives you the freedom to pursue the project you and your community want to see happen.

Which is perhaps the most important aspect of Crowdfunding, it enables your community to mobilise around the things that they really want to see happen; the crowd becomes the investors in their own future. Which also means it is a good indicator of the eventual success of your project.

 So how does it work?

1. You select the creative project, idea, campaign, event etc that you want to organise and that needs funding.
2. You identify how much you need to raise in order to deliver this project.
3. Identify your story and your pitch, how are you going to encourage people to donate.
4. Consider how you will reward your new funders.
5. Pick a Crowdfunding website to launch your campaign.
6. Tell everyone you know, and those interested in what you do, all about your Crowdfunding campaign.
7. Watch as people start donating to your project.

 Crowdfunding Sites:

• Crowdfunder – Allows people to raise funds for almost any type of project and give rewards to their community of funders. www.crowdfunder.co.uk
• Crowdcube – Enables start-up companies to raising funding be offering real equity in the business. www.crowdcube.com
• Indiegogo – an online social marketplace connecting filmmakers and fans to make independent film happen. http://www.indiegogo.com/
• Unbound – For books (currently published authors or new authors via agents). http://unbound.co.uk
• Bussbnk – Crowdfunding for donations and loans, ventures must deliver a clear social or public benefit. www.buzzbnk.org  
• Go fund me – An easy way to raise money online for personal fundraising ideas. This site is geared towards individuals interested in raising money online for personal causes. http://gofundme.com
• RocketHub – A platform for grassroots Crowdfunding of creative projects. www.rockethub.com
• Sponsume – fundraising platform for creative projects based in the UK and Europe. www.sponsume.com
• Pleasefund.us – a risk free way for people to raise money to fund their creative ideas and projects. www.pleasefund.us
• Wedidthis – A UK based site, which featured selected projects each month.  www.wedidthis.org.uk
• NewJelly – Founded in Oslo, Norway in 2010, NewJelly allows talent to showcase their work, goals and dreams. www.newjelly.com
• Akamusic – Founded in 2008 Akamusic is a community side that gives artists the possibility of having an album or a single produced. http://www.akamusic.com/
• ArtistShare – a Service for musicians to fund their projects outside the normal recording industry. http://www.artistshare.com
• Soloco – currently in development, based in Glasgow, they support community projects and initiatives. www.soloco.co.uk
• Angel Shares Scotland – recently launched in Edinburgh, this is a site dedicated to funding arts projects and administed by Arts& Business Scotland. www.angelsharesscotland.com/

Read Northings Interview with Ed Whiting the Founder of Wedidthis.org.uk

HI-Arts Craft Development and Audience Development are delivering a Crowdfunding workshop in Orkney at the end of February. For more information please click here.

HI-Arts Audience Development will be providing a Crowdfunding workshop in association with Arts & Business very soon. Please contact sian@hi-arts.co.uk for more details.

16 new outcomes were identified to deliver sustainable economic growth, of which Cultural Engagement is one. This is encouarging for the Cultural and Creative sector, as it enables us all to recognise the objectives of Scottish Government in relation to the objectives and corporate plan laid out and delivered by Creative Scotland.

While the term ‘cultural engagement’ has not been defined by the Government, it does suggest that in the coming years cultural organiastions and providers will be guided towards increasing cultural engagement (this could refer to the total number of people engaged in cultural activities, the level and type of engagement people have with the cultural sector or the ways in which people engage).

There are a number of other performance indicators that the cultural and creative sector can help to deliver on, these are the New Indicators which I can identify has having a significant impact for the cultural and creative sector:

• Increase businesses; we are seeing a rise in the number of independent creative businesses across the Highlands and Islands, with the advent of accessible online selling this has enabled a low-cost alternative to setting up fixed premises and shops.
• Increase exports; perhaps this is more focused on large scale exports, but it should not be overlooked that there is a large international export of craft products from across Scotland to countries like America and Canada.
• Improve Scotland’s reputation; culture has to be at the heart of this, particularly if we focus on tourism reputation. The live arts, festivals, theatre and dance have a huge role to play in international relations.
• Improve skills profiles; it is my impression and experience of cultural sector practictioners that we continually improve or learn new skills in order to grow our organisations. Audience development and marketing are key examples of the skills development that the cultural sectors adds to the wider economy.
• Improve mental wellbeing; the positive impact that the arts, culture and creativity has for mental health and wellbeing is well known, organisations such as Artlink demonstrate this in abundance.
• Improved healthcare experince; I believe this refers directly to the level of care that you recieve, but there is an arguement for the whole experience including the environment and appeal of hospitals, doctors and dental surgeries. Having had direct experience of visiting a loved one in Hospital in both Inverness and Aberdeen last year really brought home to me how important it is to have visible positive messages and images for both patients and their visitors. Artwork can play a major role in improving both the aesthetics and environment, of course it then ties in directly to improving mental wellbeing.
• Improve people’s perceptions of the quality of public services;  this is important for all us who are and will be in reciept of public service funds now and in the future.
• Widen use of the Internet – a lot of focus has been given to the digitisation of arts organisations and providers in the last few years, being online nowadays is essential not just for communicating your message to people but to enable those who might not otherwise engage with you, (be it for reasons of geography, finance or confidence), be given an accessible route to do so, via the internet. While surveys show that more people in Scotland use and access the internet more then any other country in the UK, we are still hampered by decent broadband and download speeds, which ultimately hampers the digital opportunities of arts organisations.
• Improve people’s perception of their neighbourhoods – projects like Invergordon Off the Wall fit directly into this particular indicator, community cultural engagement is essential to improving people’s positive perceptions of their communities.
• Improve the state of Scotland’s historic sites – again you can probably interpret the word ‘state’ to mean many things, there is the obvious practical state of historic sites, building maintenance, accessiblity etc, but then there is the improvement in the ‘experience’ and widening the cultural experience within historic sites, although museums and heritage have traditionally been off the radar of the Arts Agenda, there is a major arguement for greater joined up working between historic sites, heritage museums and the arts sector, after all our work is informed by our culture and culture is history.

To read the latest National Performance Indicators publication click here

http://scotland.gov.uk/About/scotPerforms

Barriers

Let’s take a look at the possible barriers that could be facing your potential audience.

Time Considerations

1. When I am free, they are shut – Are your opening hours appropriate for your audiences? Can people who work long hours during the week or work anti-social hours still have access to your arts event/activity/venue?
2. I can’t make it at those times – Are your performance times the most accessible for your audiences? Can parents collect their kids from school, take them home and still have enough time to attend a performance? Do your finishing times fit in well with the local public transportation schedules such as the local buses and trains?
3. I am just too busy – a lot of the time individuals cite time constraints – they feel they don’t have the time to engage or participate. It might be that they are too busy to participate in the types of events you provide, but present them with something that they are genuinely interested in and I bet you they will find the time to get involved.

Cost Implications

1. It’s too expensive to travel to and from the venue – With rising fuel prices, and the reliance on private transport in rural and remote areas, the cost of travel is a real and genuine barrier to attendance.
2. The whole experience is too pricey – ticket prices are not really a barrier any longer, research and practical experience has demonstrated that ticket price is not as pivotal a barrier to attendance, as people are willing to pay as long as it is value for money. However, when you consider the whole experience and the cost implications then a night out to the local theatre can become a pricey affair. Additional experience costs include food and drink, travel, accommodation in some cases, time and of course the cost of buying the tickets (and if that is for a family of four it can obviously be a big financial commitment).

Location

1. I don’t know where it is – How accessible is your location for the diversity of audiences you currently or could be serving? If you are situated in a more remote or isolated area then considering how people travel to an area and how they can then navigate to your location is key in understanding what barriers are presented to people who do not have a local knowledge of your area.
2. I can’t see find the venue – How well signposted is your venue? Have you ever looked at your location from the point of view of a visitor who has never visited you before? The biggest and most practical barrier is signage. Is your venue well signposted along main roads for instance? Or have you offered a Google map on your website so people can locate you easily? How well signposted is the entrance to your venue? These small but practical issues can make a world of difference if you address them early in your marketing and communication plans.
3. The weather prevented me from attending – this is particularly appropriate for rural and more remote audiences who will experience harsher weather conditions, which through no fault of their own or yours, prevents them from attending your events, or simply puts them off from booking for fear of being stopped by the snow, wind and rain. Have you considered what kind of Rainy Day or Bad Weather refund you can offer, or how you can still involve those who were unable to attend by sending them a personal email with images from the event, the review, a programme, anything that thanks them for their commitment.

Lack of Accessible Information

1. There was no available information about the show – Are you communicating all that you can to your potential audiences? A major barrier to attendance is a lack of visible information that is available to people who are not already committed attenders. Not everyone is going to look to the same resources or places for information, and for non-attenders they are not going to be looking at all. So making sure the information you have is more widely accessible is essential to breaking down such a fundamental barrier to attendance and participation.
2. I didn’t know they did that – Have you clearly communicated all of the services you offer? It is easy to communicate to people who already come through your doors the diversity of services you offer, but how well are you communicating that outside of your doors? If non-attenders are not aware of the services you offer then you are unlikely to attract them to your offerings.

Transport

1. I can’t get there easily – Access to public transport is a big issue, particularly in more rural and remote areas. If your audiences can’t get access to public transport, or it is limited in terms of its service, then this can really hamper your ability to attract new or non-attenders to your offerings. Although there is little you can do about directly improving your local public transport services, you are in a position to help your audiences who do not have access to private transport. Proving information about public transport routes and times on your website to considering how the start and finish times for the performance fit with local public transport timetables, or considering how you can encourage groups of people to come together – car sharing, or sharing the cost of a taxi to and from your venue might be the simple solution you are looking for.
2. Where can I park? – We rely heavily on private transport, but does your venue provide adequate parking facilities? You may be restricted in developing or improving parking facilities, however you can always point out to your audiences where they can park locally, especially if you are trying to attract people out with your local area or tourists, the last thing you want to encourage is a build up of traffic and parked cars outside of your venue each night. Alternatively you can use you website to promote the available public transportation options. Perhaps there is an opportunity to partner up with a local restaurant or hotel who have available parking facilities, might they be able to offer your audiences a place to park for the duration of the performance? (You will need to consider what is in it for your local restaurant owner first though).

It’s not for me

1. I am not interested – The arts is not for everyone, much like sport or science isn’t of interest to everyone. It’s important to acknowledge that you can’t change everyone’s minds, but understanding that there are people who consider the arts as something on the periphery of their lives is important when you consider your marketing messages. If the subject matter or art form doesn’t particularly appeal to an individual, maybe the socialising element or the enjoyment of going out for the night is something that you should focus on communicating.
2. I have no one to attend with – for some individuals attending on their own is not an option, not everyone is as confident in attending an event solo, and feeling self-conscious is not particularly conducive to a good night out. There is also the added peer pressure which individuals (predominantly young people) experience in attending something which is not necessarily part of their peer group experience.
3. I wouldn’t understand it – knowledge and prior experience of arts and culture is a key element in creating attendance and repeat attendance. If your non-audiences do not feel they possess the knowledge or understanding to appreciate a piece of art or theatre, then they are unlikely to see their attendance at an event worthwhile or value for money. This is a barrier which can be addressed through providing more useful background information, particularly when showcasing an unusual or contemporary art form. Reviews and features are a great way of giving an insight into the artform, the event and the experience, using your marketing materials to give more information about the art form is another effective way of engaging those who might not otherwise consider attending.

Of course, as I mentioned in the introduction, there are numerous barriers that face audiences, above is only a selection. Some of the other barriers which have been identified by research and practical experience include:

Other Barrier’s to Attendance and Participation

• A lack of cultural diversity in the programme
• A bad past experience – either of the art form or the venue
• Unclear and misleading marketing messages
• Poor customer service
• The historical or past image of the venue/organisation.
• Relationship or family responsibilities keep me from attending
• Work responsibilities keep me from attending
• Physical or health limitations
• Language – particularly for those who English is not their first language.
• I don’t ‘Get It’
• My friends and family don’t attend
• There is a lack of facilities that meet my needs
• Lifestyle change I’ve just had a baby/moved house/ got married/ gone on an expensive holiday – there are obvious lifestyle changes which can impact on free time, disposable income and therefore the ability to attend.
• The number and/or age of my children – there might not be anything appropriate for them, or it might cost too much to take the whole clan.
• Local aesthetics – unfortunately the local aesthetics of the area can be a barrier, it can put people off. (This is probably more a significant barrier for those who live in more urban and city areas).
• Safety – this can be a concern for individuals especially when attending evening performances.
• Arts activities are boring
• I have never experienced an arts event before
• I am too old/young/middle aged
• The lack of quality and talent in productions
• The lack of choice in my area.

Questions??

Tomorrow I am off to Melrose in the Scottish Borders to talk to a network of venues and promoters in the arts and cultural sector about Audience Development (and a little bit on social media). While putting together the talk and presentation I made a list of some of the questions I would want to be asking my audiences on a regular basis. Below is a list of the initial questions that sprung to mind. As I mentioned in my blog post ‘Measuring the Success of your live event‘ I am working on putting some template surveys together for you to use, adapt, play with etc. This is the kick start to this process.

This is by no means a definitive list of questions, this was just a 30 minute brain storm, the answers will have to come later.

What is your postcode?

Your age group?

What is your gender?

Your Profession?

We are in the business of providing an experience, one which is enjoyable and rewarding; however we don’t often measure this impact. When we talk about the enjoyment factor of live performance experiences we don’t necessarily mean that the event was entertaining, we want to look to all the types of impacts that an audience member might define for themselves as enjoyable. For instance audiences might be looking for a challenging and intellectually stimulating experience, which would be equally enjoyable for them as someone who was looking for the emotional and spiritual experience of attending an event.

It is about time we started looking to measure the intrinsic impact of the types of events we present to audiences, rather then whether we hit the numerical and demographic targets our funders so often ask us for. At the end of the day you might have been able to attract 100 people to attend your event, but what it 99 of those people did not enjoy the experience, have the arts made a positive difference in their lives that day? And are they likely to come back to your venue or attend another one of your events again? The reality is that repeat attendance will be unlikely, especially if they are first-time attenders. What we really need to know about our audiences is what they are interested in experiencing, or what they might need in advance of the event to truly appreciate the experience, even if they didn’t express an interest in that particular art form or event.

Audiences communicate impact as it is happening – their facial expressions, body language and audible reactions – have you ever thought of measuring how long audience applause lasts or how loud it is for your live performances? I have certainly been more likely to take a standing ovation and clap for minutes, even when my hands begin to hurt, when a live performance has been more then just enjoyable, but uplifting, compelling, and has hit right at the heart strings. On other occasions I have been witness to measly applause for a live performance that has been disappointing and unsatisfying – basically a polite applause to give you time to figure out where your closest exit is – surely that is a more reliable measure of the emotional and intellectual success for a live arts performance then how many men, women and children attended?  

In 2007 Alan Brown and Jennifer Novak of WolfBrown (consultancy agency for the non-profit arts sector) conducted a study in America to attempt to define and measure how audiences are transformed by a live performance. What I found both enlightening and encouraging is that there is a way to measure the success of a live arts performance without relying on the typical sales/attendance data and truly begin to get to the heart of why arts and culture is so important in our everyday lives.

The study ‘Assessing the intrinsic impacts of a live performance’ looks at how we can begin to measure the emotional and intellectual impact or benefits of live arts performances. Brown and Novak identify three levels of intrinsic impact:

1. The intrinsic impacts of an entire arts system on its community.
2. The cumulative intrinsic impacts or ‘value-footprint’ of an institution on its community.
3. The intrinsic impacts of a single performance on an individual.

These are surely impacts which we, as arts providers, strive to provide and measure, particularly as we begin to face a more challenging economic climate and funding, support and sponsorship becomes more difficult to secure.

Brown and Novak identified the key constructs that determine both the readiness of audiences to receive a live performance and the intrinsic impacts of a live performance. Basically, they outline how there are a number of stages or phases that individual audience members will go through in preparation of an event and the impact that event then has on them during and after the experience.

The study looks at how important the context, relevance and anticipation prior to a live arts experience is to the overall impact of an event on your audiences. The prior knowledge and experience of an arts attender influences their anticipation in advance of an event. Relevance is important in assessing how comfortable your audience is in receiving the type of art or culture on offer. And their anticipation will set the basis of their expectations – whether high or low.

In terms of the intrinsic impacts, the study draws on a number of constructs that help us to define how audiences engage with the arts experience, as it is happening. They look at Captivation, Intellectual Stimulation, Emotional Resonance, Spiritual Value, Aesthetic Growth, and Social Bonding. It is important to remember that arts experiences are multi-dimensional, and that not all performances should be expected to generate the impacts across each of these areas, and you must not assume that a live arts experience can generate these impacts in every individual you engage with. 

The full report itself is about 170 pages, so I won’t start an overview here, but you can download the report and the summary report of the study by selecting any or both links below.

• ‘Assessing the intrinsic impacts of a live performance’ by Alan Brown and Jennifer Novak Full Report 
• ‘Assessing the intrinsic impacts of a live performance’ by Alan Brown and Jennifer Novak Summary Report

Based on the findings in this study and another fantastic handbook ‘Capturing the audience experience’ (created by The New Economics Foundation, Independent Theatre Council, The Society of Theatre and Theatrical Management Association) I have set myself the task of drawing up some template surveys that you can utilise in measuring the impact of your own live events and experiences. I will post back here once they have been completed. In the mean time if you would like to talk more about measuring audience experiences then please do get in touch.

Family Friendly

The Family Friendly Iniative

– Making Your Arts Venue Family Friendly Getting Started. Imaginate (an arts organisation that promotes and develops the performing arts for children and young people in Scotland) was funded by the Scottish Arts Council to run the Family Friendly Initiative in 2003 over two years. The aim was to improve children and families access to and participation in arts activities by encouraging Scottish arts organisations to become more child and family friendly.

The guide produced gives a step by step  approach to making your centre, event, activity more family friendly.

Family-Friendly.net is the website which resulted from the Imaginate and SAC Family Friendly Iniaitive project. It is a vast resource of information and guides on how to implement your own family friendly initiative. Their Resource page offers free downloads including:

• Consulting with children and young people
• Making your arts venue user-friendly for families with children and young people with disabilities
• Arts for All published by Mencap (is a charity that campaigns for children with learning disabilities)
• Making your venue family friendly – getting started
• Marketing to families
• Family friendly checklist and action plan.  

The Family Friendly Toolkit (2006) was produced by Arts Council England in partnership with Network (an audience development body based in the UK) to devise a national family friendly framework for the arts and cultural sector. This is a really practical guide designed to support arts organisations seeking to build relationships and connect with families, making it easier for families to take part in the arts, as audiences and participants.

The toolkit also provides an introduction to the concept of being a family friendly organisation, an Audit to assess how you support families, tools for getting started, facts and figures about family friendly audiences and tried and tested ideas to develop your work.

What to do with the kids? was set up in 2004 as a useful resource for parents on the web. It is an online listing of all the information that would be useful and of interest for families with children. This is a great resource to discover the breath of activities on offer for families with children. This site would make for a fantastic markting tool to help promote your activities across the UK. You can add your own event as well as an attraction, the site offers a really comprehensive database of venues across the UK.

Glow – There has been alot of discussion around Glow, Scotland’s online education community, and a number of arts and cultural organisations have worked successfully through the Glow network to engage with young people. Glow is ‘The world’s first national intranet for education which is transforming the way the cirriculum is delivered in Scotland.’ It has been designed to break down ‘geographical and social barriers and provides tools to ensure a first class education for Scotland.’ (Glow website)

Glow has been designed to engage with pupils, practioners and parents, it is the advent of virtual learning for all. All 32 Scottish local authorities now use Glow, with the purpose of enhancing the quality of learning and teaching in the classroom, through supporting the Cirriculum for Excellence. Glow provides a National Directory, where users can find others within similar areas of interest or expertise, to collaborate across the country and make connections with others to improve learning as well as teaching.

In 2010 ten arts organisations were selected to deliver projects in partnership with local authorities, teachers, learners and new media/technology companies. These ten included Citizen’s Theatre, Drake Music School, Feis Rois, Horsecross Arts, Imaginate, Scottish Youth Dance, NVA, Street Level Photoworks, Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum and Art Gallery, and the Visible Fictions Theatre Company.  These ten organisations formed the basis for the Co-Create Glow Arts Project and was set up to be a ‘pioneering new iniaitive to bring arts education resources online for schools across Scotland…[with the] potential to enable artists, performers, writers and schools to work and learn together in new ways, developing practice and demonstrating the key role the arts and creativity play in supporting the Cirriculum for Excellence’. For mroe information about the Co-Create project and Glow visit the LTScotland website: http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/ and http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/usingglowandict//

Flags of the European Union

“Culture and creativity are important drivers for personal development, social cohesion and economic growth.” European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Back in 2007 the Education and Culture Directorate-General of the European Commission commissioned the TNS Opinion & Social to carry out a survey of public opinion on culture and its value within Europe. 26,755 people across the EU were interviewed across the 27 member states, including residents in the UK.

The survey was designed to look at how Europeans conceive the idea of culture, their involvement in cultural and artistic activities, their opinions on the value of culture and the barriers that they face in accessing cultural activities.

Although the survey was conducted back in 2007, the information and the findings give an illuminating look at Culture across Europe, which can help to inform you if you were considering touring a production across Europe, or considering a wider audience development initiative locally. I’ve highlighted below some of the key findings from the survey, the full document can be downloaded from the Europa website. http://ec.europa.eu/culture/pdf/doc958_en.pdf

Key Findings

People were asked ‘What comes to mind when you think about the word ‘Culture?’’ They answered:

• 39% Arts – performance and visual, architecture, painting, galleries etc.
• 24% Traditions, Language, Customs and Social or Cultural Communities.
• 24% Literature, Poetry, Playwriting, Authors.
• 20% Education and Family Upbringing.
• 18% Knowledge and Science.
• 18% Lifestyle and Manners.
• 13% Civilization
• 13% History
• 11% Museums
• Under 10% said Leisure, Sports, Travel and Fun, Values and Beliefs and Other.
• Only 2% of people said they were not interested in Culture, and only 1% said they thought Culture was elite, snobbish, posh and boring.

‘Culture’ was found to be associated closely with Creative activities – in the form of arts and literature – as well as describing your social and cultural community, it is encouraging to see so few negative reactions to culture.

There was a wide range of answers across countries, some of the more interesting statistics to emerge were: 

• 39% of Italians and 36% of people from Spain said education and family upbringing came to mind.
• In Spain 36% said Education and family upbringing, both much higher then a EU average of 20%.
• In Cyprus 43% said lifestyle and manners (only 18% across the EU).
• While in Greece 38% of people said civilization came to mind (only 13% across the EU).

These types of insights begin to show you the divergence across European countries and how closely resident’s attitudes and opinions on Culture are tied to their historical and social identities.

The Survey also asked people ‘How important is culture to you personally?’ They answered:

• 31% Very Important
• 46% Fairly Important
• 17% Not Very Important
• 5% Not at all Important
• 1% Don’t Know.

This means a huge 77% of all Europeans feel culture is important to them personally. Culture, regardless of how it is defined, occupies an important role in the lives of many Europeans.

• In France and Italy 88% of people said Culture was important to them personally.
• In Poland 92% of people said Culture was important to them personally.
• While in the UK 67% of people said Culture was important.

The survey found that urbanization exerts an influence on people’s opinions, with a higher proportion of urban based respondents indicating the importance of culture in their lives (80%) then in rural villages (72%).

The survey also asked people about their cultural consumption habits over the last 12 months (2006 – 2007). Typically these lists include mainstream media such as TV and radio, which can at times dominate survey findings, although little is different here, the survey did strive to ask respondents to indicate their consumption of Cultural TV and Radio programmes.

The following were the most popular forms of cultural activities:

• 78% of people watched one cultural TV or Radio programme in a year, 46% watched more than 5 programmes.
• 71% said they read one book, 37% said they had read more than 5 books in the last year.
• 54% had visited a historical monument once, 12% had visited 5 or more times in the last year.
• 51% of people had been to the cinema once in the last year, 17% had been more than 5 times.
• 41% of people had been to a sporting event in the last year, 15% had been more than 5 times.

Interestingly performing arts, visual arts, heritage and music did not feature in the top 5 responses despite ‘Arts’ being the predominant answer when people were asked what ‘Culture’ means to them.

• 41% of people visited a Museum or Gallery in the last year, only 7% visited more than 5 times.
• 37% of people attended a concert in the last year, only 5% had been more than 5 times.
• 32% of people had been to the theatre in the last year, 4% had been more than 5 times.
• And only 18% of people had attended a Ballet, Dance or Opera performance, with 2% having attended more than 5 times in the last year.

These are quite revealing statistics when you considered that the majority of people said Arts were what came to mind when they think about culture, that 77% of all Europeans feel Culture is important to their lives, and yet attendance, particularly repeat attendance, is very very low. Only 5% of people attend the theatre more then once in a year compared to 46% of people who will watch a cultural television programme. This can give a real insight into the habits of European cultural consumers, and perhaps hint towards the attitudes around active engagement – ie. getting out of the house to partake in culture as opposed to sitting in front of the TV.

The survey found that participation was highest among the youngest, more educated and urbanized respondents across the EU. There was a marked decline in participation as people get older:

• In cinema 82% of 15 to 24yrs old will have attended the cinema, 53% of 40-54yrs old ands only 24% of 55yrs+ have been to the cinema in the last year.
• 52% of people aged 15 to 24yrs have been to a concert in the last year; where as only 27% of 55yrs+ have been to a concert.
• While in theatre there is less of a decline; 35% of people aged 15 to 24yrs have attended the Theatre, 32% of 25 to 39 yrs, 33% of 40 to 54 yrs and 27% of 55yrs+ have attended the Theatre.

The Commission also wanted to know about the active involvement in cultural activities on an amateur basis, as an individual, as part of a group or in a class.

The most popular activity was found to be Decorating, Handicrafts and Gardening (36% of EU respondents) and 38% of people had not taken part in any of the artistic activities suggested. The next most popular answers were:

• 27% photography or made a film.
• 19% dance.
• 16% artistic activities such as painting or graphic design.
• 15% singing.
• 12% written something.
• 10% played a musical instrument.
• And 3% acting.

Artistic participation was highest in Sweeden with only 7% not taking part in an activity. Whereas in the UK 26% of people had not taken part in an artistic activity. In Portugal a huge 73% of people had not taken part in an activity.

Participation in artistic and creative activities was generally found to be higher amongst the younger age groups, except for handicraft, decorating and gardening which was lowest amongst younger age groups.

The last question I will feature here looks at the barriers faced by respondents in accessing culture. They were asked ‘Sometimes people find it difficult to access culture or take part in cultural activities, which of the following, if any, are the main barriers to you?’ The survey found that:

• 42% of people said their lack of time was a barrier.
• 29% said it was too expensive.
• 27% admitted a lack of interest.
• 17% said a lack of information about the activity was a barrier.
• 16% said that limited choice and poor quality of activities in their area prevented them for participating.
• 13% said a lack of knowledge or cultural background was a barrier.
• Only 8% said there were no barriers, 3% other and 1% said they did not know.  

The survey concluded that 9 in every 10 people find at least some difficulty in fulfilling their creative lives, and that 3 in 10 people lack the interest or the money to engage. The responses varied across the socio-demographics of the respondents. It was found that men were more likely then women to cite a lack of interest (30% and 23% respectively) and women (31%) were more likely then men (26%) to cite expense as a key barrier. 44% of 15 to 24 year olds said a lack of time prevented them from participating in culture.

What the survey has shown is that there are varying levels of engagement and participation in culture across countries, gender and age groups. Education levels played a significant role in determining the level of engagement in culture equally, finding that people who had more years in education had a higher level of engagement. The report explains in more detail the specific breakdown by socio-demographics, and gives an interesting look at how these key aspects aide our attitudes towards culture, and ultimately how we then value culture.

This is a great document to use for supporting your own market research, or to give a overview of how culture is viewed by different countries. Although the sample was very large, 26,755 people were interviewed, it is important to bear in mind that this was a EU wide study, and of those 26,755 people interviewed 1,310 were from the UK (which represents 0.002% of the UK population). To see all the figures for the UK I complied the stats into a document called European Cultural Value Statistics EU vs UK that you can download here.

http://ec.europa.eu/culture/pdf/doc958_en.pdf

As described on their website Culture Segments is…

‘A new, sector-specific segmentation system for culture and heritage organisations. The system is powered by data from Audience Atlas UK, and draws upon a decade’s leading-edge practice helping our clients to truly understand and meet the needs of audiences for arts and heritage.

‘The principle objective of Culture Segments is to provide the sector with a shared language for understanding the audience with a view to targeting them more accurately, engaging them more deeply, and building lasting relationships.

‘Culture Segments is designed to be more subtle, granular and sophisticated than existing segmentation systems. This is because it is based on people’s cultural values and motivations. These cultural values define the person and frame their attitudes, lifestyle choices and behaviour.

‘The segments are distinguished from one another by deeply held beliefs about the role that art and culture play in their lives, enabling you to get to the heart of what motivates them and develop strategies to engage them more deeply.’

I must confess, this is really exciting stuff, especially for marketers and those offering to sell a cultural experience. Ultimately we always want to know why people engage, attend, participate or consume culture, but often we are left with data such as 53% of women said they would attend the theatre, 2/3’s of teenagers who attend the cinema live in urban areas, people who live in KW6 are busy families who want to attend family events…etc etc etc. We kinda know this already, you see it when people buy their tickets, when they show up for the performance, or when they leave a post on your Facebook page. What it doesn’t tell you is Why! Ultimately cultural consumption is based on your own motivations to be part of culture, and your postcode, gender, age or occupation can’t really tell marketers or audience development the real motivations behind the engagement or lack of engagement.

What Culture Segments does is explain Why people engage, participate, buy and consume culture in the UK. Morris Hargreaves McIntrye is sharing the products of their year-long analysis, in manageable Persona’s – you can find these on their website http://www.lateralthinkers.com/downloadculturesegments.html. However here is a short overview of the types of cultural attenders, why they attend and how you can then use these to motivate attendance or participation or spending or donating or….. the list will go on.

First off some Stats

• 85% of the UK (16+) population are in the market for arts, culture and heritage – that amounts to 42,688,100 individuals.
• Between them they spent a total of £13.6 billion on arts, culture and heritage in 12 months.
• 73% state their spending on arts, culture and heritage will stay the same or increase in the next year.

The Culture Segments

Enrichment

The enrichment segment is characterised by older adults with time to spare who like spending their leisure time close to the home. They have established tastes and enjoy culture that links into their interests in nature, heritage and more traditional art forms.

They know what they like and their visits to cultural organisations are driven by their own interests and not those of others, or what is considered to be new or fashionable. Their cultural consumption fits with their interests in heritage, gardening and nature. These personal interests, along with the desire to experience nostalgia, awe and wonder, motivates them to engage with culture.

Essence

The essence segment tends to be well-educated professionals who are highly active cultural consumers and creators; they are leaders rather than followers. Confident and discerning in their own tastes, they will act spontaneously according to their mood and pay little attention to what other’s think.

The arts and culture are an integral, even essential, part of their life. Rather than a social activity or form of entertainment, culture is a source of self-fulfilment and challenge, a means for experiencing life. They are inner-directed and self-sufficient, actively avoiding the mainstream.

Stimulation

The stimulation segment is an active group who live their lives to the full, looking for new experiences and challenges to break away from the crowd. They are open to a wide range of experiences, from culture to sports and music, but they do like to be at the cutting edge in everything they do.

This segment wants to live a varied life of novelty and challenge – partaking in a wide variety of art forms and taking risks with their cultural consumption. As early adopters and innovators, they are keen to break away from the mainstream, to try new things and to ensure they remain the ones in the know amongst their peer group.

Release

The release segment tends to be younger adults with busy working and family lives who used to enjoy relatively popular arts and culture, but have become switched off as other things have taken priority in their lives. Consequently they feel they have limited time and resources to enjoy the arts and culture, although they would like to do more.

This segment is preoccupied with meeting life’s demands and seeks opportunities for relaxation and socialisation in their leisure time. They need to be encouraged to view culture as a social activity and an alternative means to taking time out from their busy lives. The arts and culture can offer them a means of staying connected to things that are current and contemporary – keeping them in the loop.

Expression

The expression segment is in-tune with their creative and spiritual side. They are self-aware people who have a wide range of interests, from culture, to community, to nature. They lead an eclectic lifestyle, trying to cram in as much as possible to make the most of their free time.

Open to new ideas, they pursue challenge, debate and intellectual stimulation through their cultural engagement. They enjoy being part of a crowd and seek communal experiences. The arts offer a means of self-expression and connection with like-minded individuals who share their deeply held values about the world.

Affirmation

The core of the affirmation segment comprises young adults, often studying or looking after family at home, for who the arts is one of many leisure choices. They welcome cultural consumption as a way of improving themselves and developing their children’s knowledge. They are looking for larger, non-specialist events and activities, as they offer a low risk means of satisfying their needs.

The arts and culture also provides this segment with a means of validating themselves with their peers. They care what others think about them and as a result want to be seen to be engaging with cultural activities, not just popular entertainment.

Perspective

The perspective segment is fulfilled and home-orientated. The arts and culture are low among their priorities, however their spontaneous nature, desire to learn and make their own discoveries provides a focus for engagement with them.

This segment is optimistic and prioritises their own needs above others. Whilst this means they are highly contented, their horizons have become somewhat narrow. Nevertheless, they do see some forms of culture as providing the opportunity to broaden their horizons.

They tend to gravitate to a limited ‘day out’ focus in their leisure time, based upon a small number of habitual interests. Beyond this their cultural-consumption is one-off and generally led by others.

Entertainment

The entertainment segment tends to be conventional, younger adults for whom the arts are on the periphery of their lives. Their occasional forays into culture are usually for spectacular, entertaining or must-see events, and compete against a wide range of other leisure interests.

This segment looks for escapism and thrill in leisure activities. They are largely socially motivated to attend, looking to pass the time in an enjoyable way with friends and family.

The entertainment segment prefers to stick to the tried and tested and are not looking to be challenged or take risks in discovering something new. They do not want to try new things that are not well established, strongly branded and with popular currency.

Of all the segments only the Entertainment Segment likes to and wants to be marketed too!  

To read all about the individual personas you have to download this pdf http://www.lateralthinkers.com/CultureSegments/CultureSegments.pdf it’ll give you the background you need to consider who your audiences are.

What these very concise overviews gives you is the sense of how varied our current, potential and non-attenders are. That arts and culture plays and important part in each of these segments lives is encouraging, and now you have been given an insight into how you might craft your message, your events, or your offerings to acknowledge their differences in attitudes, opinions, motivations and most of all Interest!

 http://www.lateralthinkers.com

Swans on Loch Ness

Knowing who your audience is, and who it could be, is not only essential when marketing, promoting or selling, but it also makes it much easier for you when thinking about potential new markets or opportunities.

One particular group which presents us a regular opportunity is Scotland’s tourism market. We all feel the surge as tourists start to descend from their tour buses, or we see more tents appearing along lochsides, and all the B&B’s get booked up, but what do we really know about our tourists, beyond the fact that they come from somewhere else.

Visit Scotland have regularly commissioned segmentation research, and continue to refresh this research as tourism engagement changes over time.  Their current model of segmentation was devised in 2006 and looked to divide UK tourists into unique sub groups based on their geographic location, their attitudes and behaviour towards Scotland and their method of planning and booking for a holiday or short break. (Currently 79% of the UKs tourism value to Scotland comes from 32% of UK households).

“In order to market Scotland effectively it is vital that we completely understand who our customers are and how we can best target them.” Visit Scotland, 2006, Scotland An Insight into our Segments.

Of course this type of research and segmentation hugely benefits the marketing campaigns that Visit Scotland runs over the year, it means they can pick and choose and area of greatest demand to focus on, or try to stimulate demand in new under represented areas. But this type of research can also benefit the cultural and creative sector. 

UK tourists are our audiences, our customers, and our participants, whether that’s at a theatre event at a village hall, or buying an item of craft at a fair, or taking part in a guided tour of gallery or museum, which ever aspect of culture and creativity they engage with, we still need to know who they are, why they came and how we can get them (or other tourists like them) to come again. Here is where the Visit Scotland research comes into play.

An Insight into our Segments

Visit Scotland identified 6 segments, you can read their published report here, but I have also highlighted the key points in this blog post.

Affluent Southern Explorers (W1’s)

Profile: The most affluent segment, wide age range, mostly professionals, based in the Midlands and South UK (36% from London).

Lifestyle: Not materialistic, makes time for themselves, prefer authentic experiences and the environment.

Motivations: Travel in the UK and abroad is an important part of their lives, they will take longer breaks and explore the local culture, and like to get off the beaten track.

Scotland:  Like to take holidays and short breaks in Scotland, it is geographically distant enough but feels a strong connection to Scotland. Looking for an authentic, inspiring and new Scottish experience.

Interests:  Walking, wildlife and nature, culture, golf, food and drink, local events and festivals.

Younger Domestic Explorers (W2s)

Profile: The youngest segment, average age of 42, a third have children, live across the UK.

Lifestyle: They ‘work to live’, limited by disposable incomes, have busy lives, like to discover and explore new places, and are more likely to consider environmental and green travel options.

Motivations: Looking to escape from the routine, to relax and explore, love UK breaks, like convienience and ‘good value for value’.  

Scotland: Taking holidays and short breaks, attracted by the beauty and stunning environment, likes the diversity, to discover new things and the freedom to explore. They are looking for diversity, discovery and stimulation when holidaying in Scotland.

Interests: Sightseeing and exploring, castles, culture, wildlife, events, festivals, music, active sports and family attractions.

Mature Devotees (W3s)

Profile: The oldest segment, often retired, with a lower then average income. Living in Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland.

Lifestyle: Likes the familiar, is risk adverse, prefers traditional values, they buy and think local.

Motivations: UK orientated, Scotland is their favourite, they know the country well, will take longer breaks or tour an area, they will revisit special places, seek out offers and deals and love to plan in advance.

Scotland: Currently taking holidays and short breaks, are loyal ambassadors and come every year to Scotland, they ‘love it like an old, dear friend’.

Interests: Sightseeing, historical sites, museums, castles and gardens, good food, local produce, farmer’s markets.

Affluent Active Devotees (W4s)

Profile: Above average incomes, average age 50, professionals, they are confident and discerning, based in Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland.

Lifestyle: Although they lead busy lives, this group likes to discover new things, likes the finer things in life, new challenges and being active.

Motivations: This group is well travelled across the UK and abroad, travels for escape and relaxation, seeks experiences, and likes to try new destinations, likes to be culturally and physically ‘active’.

Scotland: Currently taking holidays and short breaks. Believe’s Scotland is the best part of the UK for holiday.  This segment is looking for an active, inspirational and rewarding holiday in Scotland.  

Interests: Exploring landscapes, hiking, cycling, golf, good food and drink, and spending quality time with partner or family.

Better Off Traditionalists (C3s)

Profile: Above average income, average age 51, lives in Mid/South UK (34% from London) includes Wales and South West. Unlikely to have children at home.

Lifestyle: Hold traditional values, unlikely to take risks, they are knowledgeable and well educated, like the news and current affairs, and is a daily newspaper reader.

Motivations: Interested in travel and culture and quite adventurous,, they prefer to go abroad but recently interested in the staycation, attracted to the strong cultural element of UK holidays.

Scotland: Don’t currently take holidays and short breaks in Scotland, these are lapsed visitors, they think Scotland is difficult to get to and not the best part of the UK for holidays. They would be looking for a cultural, high quality and relaxed experience if they were to travel to Scotland.

Interests: Sightseeing, historic castles, museums and national parks. Also hiking for the more active.

Northern Sometimers (C5s)

Profile: Average age 44, average income, jobs not careers, living in Northern England, North Ireland and 1/5 live in Scotland.

Lifestyle: Family is important to this group, they are less active and curious then others, enjoy populist culture, are a bit sedentary and habitual in behaviour.

Motivations: Prefer to travel abroad for the sun, sand and sea. They are looking to relax and do ‘nothing’. In the UK they are looking for city breaks and believe that the UK is poor value for holiday money.

Scotland: Do take some breaks to scotland, but prefer abroad. They are open to ideas on good value city breaks with relaxation and a ‘fun’ focus. They would be looking for a fun, entertaining and good value experience from a holiday in Scotland.

Interests: Cities, shopping, theme parks, theatre, christmas markets, social breaks with friends and family.

The report looks also at their accomodation preferences, media habits, and looks at a ‘day in the life of’ an example tourist within each segment.

Family Friendly

Thank you for visiting the Audience Development Blog – this is one of the most popular posts – and I was wondering if I might be able to ask you for a little bit of your time before reading about Family Friendly Policies for Arts Organisations.

I am keen to find out if this tip sheet has answered the questions you were searching for, if you have 2 minutes to spare I would really appreciate your feedback in a quick poll, thank you.

Please click here for the poll.  

When considering how to make our venues and events more accessible and welcoming to family audiences, it is important to consider the whole experience of family attenders, from the decision to attend an event right through to the event itself.

Exercise

Within your own organisation, consider the following seven stages that people might go through when attending an arts event, and think about how you might be able to make the process easier, more welcoming and enjoyable for family groups and children.

1. Awareness

The first stage in attracting new audiences is how they become aware of what you have to offer.

• Where and how might families find out about what you have on offer?
• How do they know it is something that will be suitable for them and that they might enjoy?

2. Choices and Decisions

A family group might decide to attend an event by weighing up a wide variety of options, including price, when the event takes place, the running time, travel arrangements, the age suitability of the event, what it will involve, etc.

• Is your organisation taking family audiences into account when planning events?
• How are you communicating relevant information to allow them to make an informed decision about attending?
• How easy is it for family groups to find out more information about your organisation or to book tickets in advance?

3. Journey

It is easy to forget that the journey to the venue may prove more difficult for family groups to undertake – especially those with young children.

• How easy is it to find your venue? 
• Have you included information about your location and how to reach it in your print and on your website? 
• Is there a car park within walking distance? 
• Are there special parking arrangements for families with young children? 
• Does public transport stop nearby? 
• Is the venue clearly signposted? 
• Is the venue easy to access with a push-chair and a small child in tow?

4. Arrival

Your audiences’ arrival of your venue is extremely important, and will dictate how welcome and comfortable family audiences feel.

• Do your venue’s staff appreciate the requirements that family audiences may have?
• Are staff visible and available to assist your audience on arrival?
• Are refreshments and facilities readily available?
• Is the environment safe and secure for young children?
• Are families with young children actively made to feel welcome at your venue, or are they simply tolerated?

5. Product

The product that you offer the audiences goes way beyond the event itself, and includes the venue’s facilities, customer care, staffing, signage, merchandise, box office, etc.  The entire experience that audiences have from making the first contact with you, through to leaving your venue, will determine whether they are likely to return.

• What are you offering to your visitor?
• How do they engage with it?
• What does it mean to them?
• What will they get out of it?

6. Departure

As with arrivals, the audiences’ departure is the perfect opportunity for you to make a meaningful contact with your audience.

• What kind of farewell do your audiences received?
• How easy is it for them to find information about, or book for, future events if they have enjoyed their experience?
• How do you gather feedback from your audiences and how do you react to feedback received?

7. Memory

Your audience will take away certain memories from their visit to your venue or event.

• What memories and feelings might they take away with them at the moment – tangible or intangible?
• What memories would you like them to take away with them?

This seven stage approach is taken from the study ‘Not for the Likes of You’ by Morton Smyth Ltd. Consultants

Directory of Performing Arts Companies in Scotland producing work from Children and Young People#

You can Download this Tip Sheet and many more by visiting out site HI-Arts Audience Development.

Customer Care

Customer care is what makes your customers want to come back.

A quality product can only do so much, in such a competitive environment the quality of customer care can be the deciding factor in determining success or failure.

You should really review your Customer Care strategy regularly. In order to do this you first need a benchmark to measure it against. 

Consider the following:

• Who regularly and consistently monitors your Customer Care operations?
• Can you clearly identify your customer groups?
• What are your customer’s saying about you?
• How is your organisation’s management engaged with your customers?
• How quickly can you respond to changes in circumstances and how does this impact on your customers?

Putting the customer first

Putting the customer at the heart of your organisation means understanding the needs of your customer and ensuring that everything in the organisation is geared to their needs.

Facts to Bear in Mind

• Bad news travels twice as fast as good news. Dissatisfied customers tell an average of ten people about their bad experience. Satisfied customers tell 5.
• If 20 customers are dissatisfied with your service, 19 won’t bother to tell you.
• Customers expect a certain level of service.
• Most dissatisfied customers will become loyal supporters if their complaints are handled quickly and efficiently.
• You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. The first 30 seconds of a phone call or meeting can set the tone for the remainder of the contract.
• It costs an average five times more money to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one.
• Customers are prepared to pay more for better service.
• Customers entering your establishment are enjoying a rare experience.
• Most customer complaints are doomed to be repeated because when the problem is reported the symptom of the problem is addressed but not the root cause.

No business exists without customers and that applies to the public sector and non-profit businesses every bit as much as commercial organisations.

 Customer care or customer service plays a key role in customer retention. This is what separates long term customer loyalty and business success from short term and one-off purchases.

Establish a Customer Service Culture

Often displeased customers are not the result of a poor product or performance, but a disappointing customer experience.

1. Customers are the reason for work, not an interruption of work. Be careful not to lose sight of the importance of the customer and become consumed by the lesser day-to-day tasks. Of course there are tasks that need to be accomplished but you can’t afford to sacrifice service to get them done.
2. Train, Train, Train. Continual and cross training across all departments and staff is essential – so everyone in your organisation can deal effectively with customers rather then shuffle them between different people.
3. Empower your staff to serve. Establish a system of resources for your staff to serve the customer – allow them to take necessary actions to provide exceptional service and resolve issues. Ask your staff what tools would enabled them to provide a better service.
4. Make service personal. Greet customers by name when possible, introduce yourself, and thank customers for their patronage. Creating services that are personal will not only retain customers but help diffuse any difficult situations.
5. It’s okay to say “yes” when you really mean “no”. Support your staff they should really work without fear of repercussion as long as they are meeting a customer’s needs. Saying “no” can have huge implications; are you willing to potentially lose 10 customers as a result of a single interaction.
6. Offer solutions. Put yourself in the position of the disgruntled customer, shift a problem to the process of resolution and offer options for customers. Involving the customer in determining the solution, and explaining the constraints and limitations you are bound too, will help generate a more amicable solution.
7. Recognise your staff for outstanding service. Taking the time to recognise them in front of their peers can make a real difference.
8. Ask your customers what they think of your service. The best way to find out if your satisfying customers is to ask them – talk to them informally, collect surveys or questionnaires, conduct interviews or comments/ suggestion cards.

Loyalty Schemes

Good overall customer service is the best way of generating customer loyalty, but sometimes relationships can be strengthened or old relationships refreshed, using customer loyalty schemes.

Types of Customer Loyalty Schemes:

• Providing fixed or percentage discounts
• Rewards for customers for behaviour that benefits you
• Encouragements to persuade repeat attendance.

Reward Customers for…

• repeat custom
• cumulative spend
• group bookings or orders, high value bookings or orders
• Advanced payment or bookings
• Length of relationship.  

Customer Decision Making: Going to an Arts Event

Top Tip: People want to connect with humans.

Adding a personal touch to your communications, website, ticketing service and marketing is key to attracting and retaining customers.

In order to deliver the best in customer care it is important to consider the whole series of decisions customers make before and after attending your event, visiting your venue or interacting with your organisation:

1. Deciding to go

2. Agreeing with others

3. Check what’s on

4. Buying Tickets

5. Getting there

6. The building/ venue

7. The Event

8. Eating out/ drinking

9. Getting Home

10. Deciding to go again.

You can Download this Tip Sheet and many more by visiting out site HI-Arts Audience Development.

Audience Development

Knowing who your audience is, how you can engage with them, how to retain and develop your audience, building their commitment to, knowledge or and appreciation of your specific arts or cultural event, discipline, or organization. Audience Development does include, but is broader then, marketing, and encompasses programming, education, accessibility etc. 

Marketing

 The promotion of products, distribution and selling of services, activities, venues, or organizations, particularly through advertising and branding.

Marketing Strategy

A written plan (usually a part of your overall business/ organisational plan) which combines product or service development, promotion, distribution, and pricing. It defines your marketing objectives (goals), and explains how they will be achieved within a stated timeframe.

Tactics

The specific ways you’ll carry out your marketing strategy.

Mission 

Defines the fundamental purpose of your organization, basically describing why it exists.

Mission Statement

Tells you the fundamental purpose of your organization, concentrating on the present. Defines your customers and what you do and how, and informs your desired level of performance.

Vision

Is where, or how,  you want to see your organization or venue in the future, taking into account your Mission or strategic direction 

Vision Statement

Outlines what your organization wants to be in the future. This should be a source of inspiration, and provide a clear set of objectives.

Values

Beliefs that are shared among your stakeholders. The values drive an organisations culture and priorities.

Objective

Your desired or needed result, or goal, to be achieved by a specific time. An objective can be broken down into a number of specific goals.

SMART

Useful when defining your objectives, SMART is an acronym for

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Actionable

R – Realistic

T – Timebound

Market Profile

A summary of the characteristics of a market, including information of typical customers or audiences, and competitors. Often this will also include general information on the economy and audience patterns of an area.

Target Market/    Target Audience

A specified market/ audience or demographic group for a marketing campaign or message to be directed to.

Segmentation

Is the process of dividing your current or potential audience by shared characteristics, these can be demographic, geographic, or by specific interests. 

Positioning

A process by which marketers create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for your organisation, venue, or brand.

Capacity

A range of measures that quantify the amount of something that is made available by an arts facility through an event (or sequence of events) such as a performance, series, exhibition or workshop.

Lapsed Attender

Someone who has been to an art facility on at least one occasion in the past, but now appears to have stopped attending.

Sample

A specific number of people from an overall population, usually used as part of a survey or analysis exercise.

Marketing Research

Gathering, recording, analyzing and the use of data relating to your activities, services and audiences.

Desk Research

Is relevant information that is available in the public domain that may relate to your current or potential audiences, or to other similar organizations or services in your area.

Secondary Research

Is historical information that you already have about your organisation and its audiences; this may include past research and financial reports. 

Primary Research

Is the research you will need to carry out to answer the questions that you have identified, such as surveys or focus groups. You should only undertake primary research when you have ascertained that the information you require is not available from Desk Research or Secondary Research.

Qualitative Research

Tries to understand people’s beliefs, experiences, attitudes and behaviour and interactions, the non-numerical data – audience’s verbal answers in interviews, focus groups, or written commentary on questionnaires.

Quantitative Research

Uses statistical methods to count and measure results from your primary research– all information other than commentary i.e. ratings, rankings, yes’s and no’s. 

Area Profiles or Area Profile Reports

 A detailed summary of model data relating to a catchment area (based on selected drivetime area) and the people who live in it.

Model data

A source of summarized statistical information that gives a representation (or indication) of the essential nature of an area and the people who live in it.

Demographic Profile

A statistical representation of the groupings within a market, community or area, classified, for example, according to age, social grade, economic status and life cycle.

SWOT

Is a method used to evaluate your internal Strengths and Weaknesses and the external Opportunities and Threats to your organization or venue.

Penetration

The extent to which a venue or organisation is attracting actual users or attendees from within its relevant identified markets.

Direct Marketing

Sending a promotional message directly to audiences, rather than through a mass medium (i.e. generic email, advertisement).

Marketing Mix

The levels, and how they interact, of your organization or venues marketing efforts. This is usually referred to as the ‘4 P’s’:        

Promotion

Place

Price

Product

USP (Unique Selling Proposition)

What element, characteristic, benefit does your organization, venue, activity offer that others do not.

You can Download this Tip Sheet and many more by visiting out site HI-Arts Audience Development.

Where are you going?

 Do You Need a Mission Statement?

The answer depends on whether or not the mission statement you compose has significant meaning to you, or is this just another business planning exercise in futility?

 A mission statement can guide you through good times and bad, act as a moral compass, and help you make decisions aligning with your values and goals.

The foundation stone for all strategic planning, and of course effective management of an organisation, is an agreed mission statement.

What is a Mission Statement: A mission statement needs to be a focussed account of what an organisation’s core purpose is.

A mission statement answers the question: ‘Why do we exist?’

If your organisation has not already defined your mission, now is a good time to do so.

It is important that the mission statement is incorporated into your marketing thinking, development and strategy planning. Your marketing plan will be far more effective if your chosen strategies relate to the organisations stated purpose.

Missions tend to take into consideration a number of aspects

• The vision of the organisation.
• The purpose or reason for being, of the organisation.
• The things that the organisation values, considers important.
• The long-term goals of the organisation.

Good mission statements can be invaluable if they;

• Provide a long-term perspective
• Create unity around a common vision and identity
• Make it clear to everyone in and outside of the organisation what it is and isn’t about
• Create an overall sense of purpose from which strategy and action can follow.

Write a Mission Statement in 4 Easy Steps

1. Describe What you do – No need to be elaborate, simply express what you do. I.e. design jewellery, tour theatre, promotes music.
2. Describe How you do it – This is not a detailed description of your physical operations, but a description of how you operate, this really refers to the values that are important to you and the way your organisation is run. I.e. Provide high quality products, provide superior customer service, ensure equal access for all, or encourage innovation and creativity.
3. Why do you do it– This is where you can describe the passion behind the organisation. Why does your organisation do what it does?
4. Finally Who are you doing this for? –  Closely linked to why you do what you do, can you take it one step further to say who you are actually doing this for?

3 Tests for a Meaningful Mission Statement

• Pass the Mother Test – A mission statement is a concise paragraph describing what you do and for whom. Show it to your mum (or someone you trust), if she doesn’t understand it, start again.
• Self-Igniting – Your mission is for you and your organisation, it does not have to be an earth moving statement, but it does have to inspire you.
• Value Alignment – If your organisation is creative, focus your mission on creativity; try to be what your core competency is.

Vision Statements

A vision statement should be big and bold, they are meant to inspire, energise and create a captivating picture of where you see your organisation going in the future.

What is a Vision Statement: A vision statement should be a clear, motivating message about what your organisation wants the future to look like. It provides the inspiration for both your daily operations and your strategic direction.

The foundation stone for all strategic planning, and of course effective management of an organisation, is an agreed mission statement.

What Should Your Vision Look Like?

There are two schools of thought as to what a vision statement should look like.

The Ideal Organisation

This type of vision statement describes what success looks like, what your organisation will always strive for. This needs to be realistic and ambitious, challenging but not overwhelming for the individuals who have to carry out that vision. 

This type of vision statement is useful for creating benchmarks to monitor your success; it encourages you to look at where you are now and what you need to do to fulfil your vision.

The Ideal World   

This type of vision statement provides an answer to the question ‘What would a perfect world look like?’ Alternatively, you can think about it as ‘What would a world that no longer needed our organisation look like?

8 Steps to Writing a Good Vision Statement

1. Have your Mission Statement to Hand

Your mission statement is a great starting point, clearly outlining ‘Why you exist? What you do? How you do it?’

2. Dare to Dream

Aim for the moon and there are plenty of stars to fall back on. To write a vision statement first focus on the basics of your mission statement and extrapolate: Where is your organisation going to be in 5 or 10 years from now? What will the organisation have accomplished? Forming a mental image of the future will help you to form an ambitious vision.

3. Shape your Vision

While picturing your future you might have envisioned a list of accomplishments or imagined a series of disjointed clips, to write a vision statement this then needs to be distilled into a usable form.

4. Why do you do what you do?

Your vision statement should begin with what you believe, why you do what you do – your purpose or cause, beyond what you do or make. You could try starting with the statement ‘I believe…’ or ‘I envisage a world…’ (You can always take out the opening words later). A vision statement should not be a tome, long winded descriptions are expelled from the Vision Statement. The opening of your statement should be limited to a sentence or two and capture the world you imagine.

5. How do you do it?

Once you’ve explained why you do what you do, it’s time to explain how you do it. The How refers to the characteristics or values about how you operate, and importantly why that makes you unique. These are not amorphous ideas, but should be specific and accountable. It is hard to hold someone accountable for Innovation for instance.

6. What do you do?

Finally, what are you doing to bring your vision to life?

Once you’ve articulated the Why and the How, now it is time to explain what you do – the things that you create/provide/sell that will prove you have achieved your vision.

7. Commit to your Vision

Once you have completed the written Vision you now need to turn to the actions you are going to take to realise your Vision. Are you using your vision as the basis for your organisational planning? As a vision statement provides you with a destination, all your goals and strategies should focus on making that happen.

8. Keep the Vision alive

You can tell a person your vision once, but it is likely to fade and disappear. Share it with potential partners, or staff and employees if you have them. Reinforce your vision by keeping it physically prominent, print it out and post it somewhere visible, feature it on your website, add it to your stationary, whatever it takes to keep your Vision alive, do it.

Have You Got it Right?

 It isn’t particularly hard to write a vision statement, but it can be difficult to write a vision statement that truly reflects and encapsulates your vision for the organisation. When you write your vision statement, make sure that you have picked a vision which is most important to you. If you don’t believe in your vision statement, no one will.

Top 5 Things to Keep in Mind When Writing Your Vision Statement

1. Describe outcomes that are five to ten years out.
2. Dream big and focus on success.
3. Write your vision in the present tense.
4. Infuse your vision with passion.
5. Paint a graphic mental picture of the organisation you want.

Summing Up

The difference between a Mission Statement and a Vision Statement is that a mission statement focuses on an organisation’s present state while a vision statement focuses on an organisation’s future.

The mission statement is a combination of what your organisation does and how and why it does it, and is designed to encapsulate the values that are important to you.

While you vision statement is an articulation of a view of the world that your organisation and your people are working towards, not what they are expected to do now. It should strive to inspire loyalty, hard work and innovation.

Putting your Mission and Vision to Work

Often we write lofty mission or vision statements, and then they are filed away in a folder, only to reappear once the dust has settled. Forget this and make sure the time and effort you spend in developing your Mission and Vision has not been in vain.

Your Mission and Vision statements should direct your organisational planning and be at the forefront of the minds of everyone who works with you and engages with your audiences/customers/visitors. You could go as far to make your mission or vision statements themes for marketing campaigns. If you do nothing else, your mission and vision should be highly visible in your premises, on your website, and on all your marketing materials.

You can Download this Tip Sheet and many more by visiting out site HI-Arts Audience Development.   

Setting Marketing Objectives

From Mission Statements to Marketing Objectives

 All strategic planning needs to take the overall mission and purpose of the organisation as their starting point.

Your mission statement gives you a sense of the overall purpose of the organisation and what it aspires to do, therefore your mission will be an important reference for what your strategic marketing might be expected to achieve, and how your marketing could contribute to the organisation’s realisation of its mission.

The first step is to take the overall mission, identify the implications this has for marketing activity, and then turn these implications into a set of marketing Aims and Objectives.

You need to involve everyone who will be working to achieve these aims and objectives to make sure they are capable of achieving it. Setting targets that are obviously ridiculous does not motivate anyone; energy and enthusiasm for the task is paramount to its success.

You can set as many aims and objectives as necessary to achieve your mission and vision, but you should make sure that multiple objectives are consistent and not in conflict with one another. You need to also consider all the elements that make up your marketing strategy – the strategy, budget, actions and measures – and how these support your marketing objectives.

What is a Marketing Aim?

An aim (or goal) describes what you are trying to achieve. Your Aims are designed to revolve around the key elements of your Mission and Vision, as well as key issues identified through your market research, situational analysis and any other challenge highlighted during your organisational or marketing planning.

Marketing aims can include setting broad targets for new visitors/audience members you would like to engage with, groups of people you would like to reach out to, or the type of income you would like to generate.

Objectives, on the other hand, are much more detailed and should be the key statements that drive your marketing strategy, and are entirely useless unless they are SMART.

What is a SMART Objective?

Effective objectives follow the SMART acronym:

Specific – Your objective needs to be precise, specifying exactly who or what you want to be involved, how many or how often and what you want them or it to do.

Measurable – Include something that you can quantify so you can judge your success. Structure your measurement so that it ties in with the method that you are going to use to assess it.

Achievable – You need to be able to take action to achieve your objectives.

Realistic – You must be able to achieve your objectives, there is no point in being overambitious. 

Timebound – You should be able to say when you want to achieve your objective, this will also indicate when you need to start measuring.

Your Objectives might involve:

• Your Product – the development of the product in terms of the programming, the venue, amenities, new schemes.
• Your Audience Size – size of audience you want to attract, sales targets for total audiences or particular products.
• Your Audience Profile – changing or developing an audience profile by attracting people from particular areas, particular demographics or audience groups such as regular attenders, lapsed attenders or non-attenders.
• Your Income – targets for box offices, specific income streams from your products or offerings, other earned income and funding.

Your Objective Should be…

You can Download this Tip Sheet and many more by visiting out site HI-Arts Audience Development.

Research

Research is imperative!

Most arts promoters and organizations will need to conduct market research at some point. It is better to do this now, then wait until it’s too late!

Why Bother?

• To collect information for a specific purpose or to resolve an identified issue. For instance, finding out which method of promotion will work best or what barriers to attendance exist.
• To find out more about your current or potential audiences/ customers.  
• Often within small organizations information about audiences is kept in an informal or unrecorded way, risking losing everything when personnel changes. Keeping up-to-date research will help sustain audience development even through fundamental personnel changes.  
• Successful audience development relies upon talking to your current and potential audience/ customers, and acting upon the information they provide.  
• Research demonstrates to funders and stakeholders that you are achieving your objectives, or that you are serious about achieving them.  
• Research can also support your case for funding.  

Research Planning

All research projects should go through five stages, illustrated below.

1. Define you research objectives

2. Develop your research plan

3. Collecting the information 

4. Evaluation and Analysis 

5. Present and utilise your findings  

1: Define Your Research Objectives

Don’t conduct research just because you feel you should – you’ll waste your time and money.

The answers to these questions will guide and define your research project:

–          What do we want to know?

–          Why do we want to know it?

–          What will we do with the information?

2: Develop Your Research Plan

With your objectives set out, you now need to consider the following:

–          Who is best to answer these questions, who should be surveyed?

–          How many people should be surveyed to ensure accurate and credible results?

–          How will you choose which people to survey?

3: Collecting the Information

There a plenty of methods of collecting research data, it is up to you to decide the method. Ask yourself:

–          What will be most appropriate? What method will garner the most responses?

–          Will you be commissioning a researcher, or will you do the research in-house?

–          Will you need to recruit any help or train any staff when collecting the information?

4: Evaluation and Analysis

Evaluation and Analysis is a time consuming task, but is the purpose of all your time and effort spent on planning and conducting your research.

Identify who will be evaluating and analyzing the information from the start.

5: Present and Utilize Your Findings

–       Who you are presenting your findings too?

–       How will you present your findings?

Who will be responsible for acting upon these findings?

Picking the Right Research Method

There are 3 types of research that are available to you:

Desk Research:

Is historical information that you already have about your organization and its audiences; this may include past research and financial reports. 

Secondary Research:

Is relevant information that is available in the public domain that may relate to your current or potential audiences, or to other similar organizations or services in your area.

Primary Research:

Is the research you will need to carry out to answer the questions that you have identified in your research plan. Your should only undertake primary research when you have ascertained that the information you require is not available from Desk Research or Secondary Research.

Thorough research projects are likely to include and contrast findings from all three of these research types.

Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research

Quantitative Research: uses statistical methods to count and measure outcomes from a study – all information other than commentary i.e. ratings, rankings, yes’s and no’s.

Qualitative Research: tries to understand people’s beliefs, experiences, attitudes and behaviour and interactions, non-numerical data – audience’s verbal answers in interviews, focus groups, or written commentary on questionnaires.  

Desk Research

This includes research or information readily available in-house, and may include:

• Your customer database
• Information included in past funding applications or annual reports
• Ticket sales and financial information/ audience figures for past performances
• Past publicity material
• Your own and colleague’s knowledge of the history of your organization.

Secondary Research

This refers to publically available research, carried out by other organizations.

Sources include:

• VisitScotland.org
• Highlands and Islands Enterprise
• Scottish Arts Council
• Census Reports
• Target Group Index

Primary Research

Once you have discovered all the relevant information about your region and audiences from secondary ‘public’ information, you will most probably need to do some of your own primary research.

By comparing and contrasting your own research with secondary data you will be able to determine the most about your current and potential audience.

There are a variety of different methods of collecting primary data, it is always best to start with what is readily available to you and then collect new information.

Popular Research Methods

1. Box Office information on audiences and attendance
2. Questionnaires and Surveys
3. Focus Groups
4. Mystery Shopping

HI~Arts Audience Base software provides a free downloadable box office system for arts and cultural organizations, click through to the HI-Arts website for more information and to download.

A. Information already to hand

If you have computerized or manual booking information available from your Box Office operation you may want to collate this first, especially if it includes information on customer profiles.

 On analyzing this data you can determine:

–        Patterns of attendance

–        Your audience profile

–        The rate at which you are gaining or losing customers.

Touring Companies – you can ask the venues you visit to provide you with this information. It is advisable to agree this with the venues in advance to ensure that they are dealing with Data Protection in a way which will allow you access.

Computerized Box Office systems make is much easier to capture and analyze this type of information. If you are not doing this already you may want to consider how you can collect more information from your customers.

B. Questionnaires and Surveys

The most common form of research, however preparing a questionnaire is something of an art in itself. Customer Research Methods include:

• In-house questionnaires, completed by the customer.
• Postal surveys to your mailing list.
• Online self-completion questionnaires.
• Telephone surveys of attendees and non-attendees.
• One-on-one interviews (i.e. street research of non-attendees, in-house of attendees).

• Observing customer’s behaviour within your centre.

Costs: Relatively inexpensive.

For hard-copy questionnaires you’ll need to arrange printing and enough pens for people to fill them in.

For postal questionnaires not only will you need to arrange printing and postage costs, but you’ll need to consider how they will be returned – do you need to include postage and a return address?

Who will conduct the questionnaires? Are you going to employ additional staff to survey or assist audiences complete the questionnaire – this will certainly add an additional cost.

Online questionnaires are becoming more popular with arts and cultural organisations. There are a variety of free or low-cost websites which provide online questionnaire services, such as www.surveymonkey.com and www.questionpro.com. You’ll need to utilise your mailing list for an online approach.

Tip: When using a questionnaire bear in mind you will only get answers to the questions that you have asked.

Tip: Asking audiences to complete your questionnaire anonymously and in private will yield more honest and reliable information, as opposed to being interviewed by an organisation representative.

To bear in mind:

• Audiences are unlikely to spend more then a couple of minutes completing a survey – especially if they are not regular or committed customers. Therefore you’ll need to keep your questionnaires short and to the point.
• If opting for self-completion questionnaires it is important that your staff or volunteers proactively approach a wide range of audiences with questionnaires.
• Open question responses can provide excellent quotes from customers, which you can use for potential marketing campaigns or for funding applications.
• Questionnaires are most useful for indicating general trends, rather then exploring issues in great depth (that is, most questionnaires give a finite number of potential answers to each question that the customer can tick circle). This type of research is called quantitative research.  
• Open questions elicit more qualitative information. When it comes to analysing the data from questionnaires, qualitative information is harder to compare across a sample the quantitative information.

How to get a good Questionnaire response

• If conducting questionnaires make sure they are clearly laid out, has an obvious structure of questions, and is as brief as possible.
• Either attach an introduction or post a notice explaining the purpose of the questionnaire, or have your volunteers and staff explain to audiences beforehand.
• You could offer a prize draw as an incentive, this works particularly well with online questionnaires, and can prevent people from submitting in multiple answers.
• If not collecting completed questionnaires by hand then clearly identify a space/box for audiences to return them, or leave boxes by exits.
• Anonymous questionnaires do elicit more honest answers, however you can use this as an opportunity to expand your mailing list by adding a section for audiences to sign up and leave their details.
• Consider how respondents will return their questionnaires, they may feel uncomfortable handing it back to a member of staff, who may read it right away. Try and ensure anonymity when required.
• Make sure that staff members of volunteers are fully informed about the research you are conducting, so they can assist audiences. 

C. Focus Groups

Focus Groups are an excellent way of collecting qualitative research from a group of people on a specific issue, campaign, product or service. This is an interactive setting where audiences are encouraged to talk in an open forum.

Focus Group sessions should last no more then an hour, be held in a comfortable and informal environment, sometimes holding these sessions away from the venue up for discussion.

Choosing your focus group – the composition of your focus group is key. The dynamic of focus groups work best when you have between 6 and 10 participants– any more then this and it can become unmanageable and people will not get a chance to speak.

Leading the focus group discussion: 

• Make sure you have a structured discussion, preparing a series of 4 to 6 questions with entry level questions leading towards more focused and direct questions.
• When conducting focus groups ask open questions to stimulate debate, rather then closed, one word answer, questions.
• You should aim to spend the vast majority of the time listening not talking. Your role as lead will been to keep the conversation on topic, or steer the conversation towards areas you want to explore, without stilting the conversation or cutting it short.
• As leader you need to ensure individual participants do not monopolise the discussion, and to draw quieter participants into the discussion.
• Try to remain detached as a leader, even if they criticise your organisation, it is your role to listen rather then become defensive.  
• If you are inviting current non-attenders, perhaps you should provide a tour or invite them to a performance prior to the focus group so you can explore their experience compared to their expectations.

Tip: Avoid ‘mix and match’ focus groups. Try and include people who have the same level of participation with your venue or organisation (i.e. don’t mix frequent attendees with non-attendees.

Costs: Depending on who you aim to invite, you may need to provide a small incentive for people to take part (£10 and travel expenses for instance), often people are flattered to be asked and quite enjoy the experience.

If your focus group is to consist of supporters or current audiences, you may find that you do not need to pay participants.

It is good practice to provide drinks and nibbles. Don’t forget this is a good public relations opportunity for your organisation.

D. Mystery Shopping

Involves sneaky but enlightening research approaches of eliciting information about your organisation, which you might otherwise be impossible to get.  

1. Recruit someone to ‘road test’ your organisation. By going undercover as a customer to experiencing your venue or show, and then reporting back on their experience. The areas to cover should include, but is not limited to; customer service, staff knowledge, décor, signage, information available, quality of experience, etc.
2. Recruit someone, who is not known locally, to visit other venues (i.e. the post office, library, Tourist Information, Council, etc) to ask about your venue – Where is it? Is it worth visiting? Is it expensive? Genuine good word of mouth is worth more then any paid advertising.

Samples

When conducting a research project you it is essential you obtain information from a representative sample of your audience or non-attenders.

The challenge is getting an accurate cross-section of people – otherwise your answers will be relatively meaningless.

If you have access to your audience figures it’ll be easy to determine a representative sample for your attenders and non-attenders.

Don’t pick a certain time of day or day of the week to hand out questionnaires – even in busy times make an effort to get your audience to complete one – make sure your whole audience get an equal chance of completing one.

Sample sizes

• An accurate sample and reliable results depend on you having control over who gets a questionnaire. It is important that who is handing over the questionnaire do so without fear or favour.
• Depending on the type of venue or event you are running you will be able to best determine how you approach people. Is there a certain point where people walk into the venue you could offer the questionnaire?
• Most people enjoy having their opinion sought and will generally be happy to co-operate provided they know what you are trying to do.

How many people should you sample? In order to be able to draw conclusions with confidence fro your survey you will need a sample large enough to compare:

• Day of the week
• Type of event/exhibition
• Male/female
• Regular as well as first-time attenders
• Catchment areas.

 You will find you’ll give out more questionnaires then you will have returned.

Postal Questionnaires are lucky to return a 10% response rate.

In-house questionnaires ensure a higher response rate, as there is a higher level of motivation for the participant to fill them out there and then.

Rather then setting a number of questionnaires to be completed, which will limit your sample and your results will be incomplete. Instead plan to cover a minimum number of events or the run of an exhibition.

Online questionnaires have been found to garner a higher response rate for similar reasons, the ease and minimal effort required, as opposed to returning postal questionnaires, they tend to encourage potential participants to respond.

It’s all in the Math

The Basic Rule: the larger your sample size, the more likely it is to be representative of the market as a whole.

• You can begin by applying normal distribution statistics to sample sizes over 50 people (and non-parametric statistics to smaller sample sizes), it is usual to interview a minimum of 150 people.
• Tracking Research: if you want to know whether your results are better or worse then last time, you should really use samples of over 200 people on each occasion. This will allow you to say that one year’s results are better or worse then the previous results if you are 10% apart or more (where the scores are nearer 50%) or 6% or more (if the results are nearer 0% and 100%).
• If you’re using a sample of 1,000 people on each occasion, the results will only need to be 5% or 3% or more apart respectively

Target Markets Under 300

You can do with a sample of less then 100 – however the need to obtain a good random representative sample becomes even more critical.

Often with smaller target markets, it is easier to get as close to the entire 300 (or less).

Target Markets Over 300

You should use a sample size of at least 100 to 200.

If you want to separate the sample into several categories, you will roughly want 100 in each category. i.e. if you want to compare consumers aged 18-35 vs. consumers aged 36-55 vs. consumers over age 56, you will need to gather at least 100 responses in each category.
 

Sample types

The way you choose your sample will have an inevitable bearing on your results and what you will be able to conclude and analyse from your results. Below are a number of possible sample types you can apply:

• Random: e.g. every customer has an equal chance of being picked.
• Systematic: e.g. every third customer is chosen to be part of the sample.
• Cluster: e.g. people are chosen from a specific area (i.e. living within 5 miles of the venue).
• Quota: e.g. sample is selected on the basis of the characteristics of customer profile (i.e. first time attenders, friends membership subscribers, tourists).
• Stratified: e.g. choosing people from a specific group in the population (i.e. young people, people with disabilities).

Remember: The results of research are only representative views of the people you have surveyed, and not of the public as a whole.

Checking your sample

You should aim to get back at least 70% of questionnaires you hand out.

It is advisable to check three main points to make sure you have a good sample:

1. The number of questionnaires you give out
2. The number returned and completed
3. The number of attenders on the days you sampled.

Using Your Results

When analysing your data always start by reviewing your research objectives. This will help you organise your data and focus on your analysis.

Analysis of qualitative research

1. Read through all the data.
2. Organise comments into similar categories e.g. concerns, suggestions, strengths, weaknesses, similar experiences, recommendations.
3. Label the categories thematically.
4. Attempt to identify patterns, or associations and casual relationships in the themes.
5. Keep all commentary for several years after completion for future reference.

Analysis of quantitative research

1. Make copies of your collected data and store away the master copies, using the copy for making edits etc.
2. Tabulate the information i.e. add up the rankings, ratings, yes’s and no’s for each question.
3. For ratings and rankings consider computing a mean, or average, for each question.
4. Consider conveying the range of answers.

Interpreting you research

• It is important to put your research into perspective – compare the results to what you expected, or found in your desk research.
• What were the discovered strengths and weaknesses of your organisation/ event/ activity/ venue, and the potential opportunities and threats?
• You may need to look at why frequent attenders choose your venue/ event/ activity over other activities.
• You’ll need to compare your frequent attenders with first-time attenders, are they the same type of people? How do they differ?
• Consider the recommendations to help your staff or volunteers to improve your programme, service or activity.

Reporting your Results

The level and scope of content depends on whom the report is intended e.g. board of directors, funders, customers, the public.

Be sure that your staff or volunteers have an opportunity to review and discuss your findings. Translate recommendations into action plans, with assigned tasks to carry forward the research results.

You can Download this Tip Sheet and many more by visiting out site HI-Arts Audience Development.

Who is your audience?

Common Marketing Misunderstandings

1. The belief that because you find what you do interesting, everyone else should too. This often leads to marketing and promotional materials that miss the point – what is it that actually interests your audiences and will motivate them to engage with you?
2. Limited budgets force you to adopt a one-size-fits-all style and approach for your marketing strategy, but it is impossible to effectively reach all the people all the time.

If you are not doing this already, then it is a good idea to begin targeting your audiences and therefore you’re marketing sooner rather then later. Recognise the diversity of audiences and people; don’t try to please all of them with the same message and offering.

Definitions

Market – A market is any broad collection of people who might have an interest in exchanging something, coming into contact or engaging with your organisation.

Target Marketing – Is the breaking down of a market into segments and then concentrating your marketing efforts on one or a few key segments.

Target Market – Is who you aim your marketing efforts to. This is the group that you want to engage with and who have an interest in what you have to offer.

Market Segmentation – Is the act of dividing markets into discrete groups to be treated individually. It is about understanding the needs of your audiences, and with this insight you can form groups who share the same or similar needs.

Of course you can target the entire population of an area, a region, a country or indeed the world, but do you have the resources to reach the entire world? With limited resources you will want to focus using your resources in places where they are most likely to have an effect in helping you to achieve your marketing aims and objectives.

Audiences themselves don’t notice how businesses segment their markets, when choosing between competing offers people will select the offering that meets their needs better than any other. To win over a market segment then, a business or organisation has to ensure that their offering meets these needs better than any other at a price your market perceives as providing superior value for money (which does not mean it has to be the cheapest!). This is how people operate within all markets.

Where to Start

1. Identify the kinds of people who make up your organisation’s current and desired markets
2. Subdivide these people into potential market segments
3. Then gain some understanding of the nature and size of these segments.

How to Differentiate and Define Your Markets

Not all people are the same, or share the same attitudes, opinions, or motivations. These differing attitudes, opinions and motivations shape behaviour.

Geographic Segmentation

• By Region – continent, country, council area, village etc.
• By Size of Area – size of population, number of businesses etc.
• Population Density – urban, suburban, rural, remote
• Climate – common weather patterns to certain geographic regions.

Demographic Segmentation

Age, Gender, Family size, Family Lifecycle (single parents, extended families, grandparents), Generation, Income, Occupation, Education, Ethnicity, Nationality, Religion, Social class.

Psychological Segmentation

• According to lifestyles what activities, interests and opinions do they hold?
• What values do they uphold?
• What are their aspirations?
• What relationship do they have with the organisation i.e. friends, members, volunteers.

Behavioural Segmentation

Based on audience/ visitor behaviour:

• Benefits sought from the offerings
• Usage of the offerings
• Loyalty to the organisation
• Engagement Status – potential audience member, first time attender, regular attender
• Attitudes and Opinion – are your audiences passionate and active, or disengaged with the attitude: ‘this is not-for-me’.
• Occasions – what holidays and events stimulate engagement.

Purchasing Segmentation

Based on audience/ visitor purchasing behaviour:

• Frequency – who are your regular, frequent, infrequent, lapsed and non-attendees. .
• What types of events/ activities are engaged with most often, least often.
• Which groups engage with multiple offerings?

Understanding why people buy things (products, services, activities, events etc):

• To satisfy basic needs
• To solve problems
• To make themselves feel good.

How could we apply this to our understanding of audiences?

• Theatre performances – satisfies a basic need to experience live entertainment.
• Craft Fairs – solves the problem of what to do with your weekend guests
• Musical performances – the audience member leaves feeling entertained and culturally enriched.

Businesses, companies and organisations have to work harder to ensure their marketing has the greatest impact possible. Increased competition makes it impossible for a mass marketing strategy to succeed. Audiences and customers are becoming more diversified and selective; businesses have to diversify their products relative to their customers.

Market Segmentation

To effectively engage people your marketing strategy has to recognise their needs. Different audiences have different needs, and it is rarely possible to satisfy all customers by treating them alike.

First you need to examine who you are already engaged with – who are you talking to and most importantly who is listening? Then think about what you already know about them.

Benefits of Market Segmentation and Target Marketing

• It makes the promotion, pricing and distribution of your products and offerings easier and more cost-effective.
• Provides a focus for your marketing activities.
• Helps you to better understand your audience’s needs and desires.
• Enables you to better target and position your offering.
• Encourages two-way communication between your audience and organisation.
• Maintains more effective relationships with audiences.
• Helps to retain audiences and attract new ones.
• Improves service delivery standards (or customer care).
• Reduces the cost/expense of marketing activities and increases your market share.
• Guides market research.
• Identifies competition and opportunities.

Areas to Consider When Segmenting Your Audience

• Identifiable – can you measure the differentiating attributes of the segments?
• Accessible – can you reach them through existing communication and distribution channels?
• Substantial – are they large enough to justify the resources to target them?
• Unique Needs – to justify separate offerings, the segments must respond differently to the different marketing mixes.
• Durable – the segments should be relatively stable to minimise the cost of frequent changes.

Is Your Market Segment Worth It?

Market segmentation enables you to focus your marketing efforts and resources for the right types of people, but it is also important that you check this segment will be worthwhile developing, for instance does it fit with the relevant marketing objective or are there enough people in this segment to justify the time and money spent on developing it?

Market Segments worth bothering with are likely to be:

• Measurable – you will be able to count how big the group is
• Accessible – they are easy to reach and get to
• Substantial – they are big enough to justify the time and expense
• Unique – they are demonstrably different from any other segment
• Appropriate – they fit with the organisation’s Vision, Mission and objectives.
• Stable – they are unlikely to change in the short term, justifying building a relationship with them.

10 things you need to know about your audiences

1. Who They Are – If you sell directly to individuals find out their gender, age and occupation. If you are selling to other businesses, find out what industry they are in, the size and type of business they are.
2. What They Do – If you sell directly to individuals what are their occupations and interests. For business to business it is good to have an understanding of what they are trying to achieve.
3. Why They Buy – If you can understand why audiences buy a product or offering, it is far easier to match their needs to the benefits your organisation can offer.
4. When They Buy – If you can approach a customer at the time they want to buy, you will massively increase your chances of success.
5. How They Buy – Some prefer to buy from a website, others prefer it face-to-face.
6. How Much Money They Have – You will be more successful if you can match what you’re offering to what you know your audiences can afford.
7. What Makes Them Feel Good About Buying – if you know what makes them tick then you can serve them in they way they prefer.
8. What They Expect of You – if you customers expect quality productions and you don’t disappoint them, you stand to gain repeat business.
9. What They Think About You – if your audiences enjoy dealing with you, they’re likely to buy from you more. And you can only tackle problems that customers have if you know what they are.
10. What They Think About Your Competitors – If you know how your customers view competition, you stand a much better chance of staying ahead of your rivals.

Where do I get this information?

Organisations with computerised box-office systems or customer relationship management systems, have a good starting point in terms of the size of their audience, but they might not charge for admissions, or collect the type of data which streamlines the process of segmentation. But don’t worry if you haven’t got any data – there are other ways and means of understanding your audiences.

If the information on your target markets or current audiences isn’t immediately to hand, you could consider doing a piece of visitor/ audience research. Failing that, start with your best informed guess.

You can build a picture of general trends using published market information – you can access government statistics and market reports from commercial providers. Your own contacts and sales records can also be a great resource.

You can add to your knowledge by using field research – from surveys to discussions to testing offerings and products – to investigate audience’s attitudes and examine questions specific to your organisation, this is a far more valuable form of information, especially if it is then supported by statistical market information.

Market Intelligence

Try to find answers for:

• Demand for your product/ offering – is it growing or shrinking?
• What are the current general economic and market trends?
• How customer requirements and buying behaviour could change in the future.
• What new products are in your competitors pipeline – could yours look outdated?
• How competitors are changing – what are their plans?
• What do competitors offer and what prices do they charge?
• How do competitors advertise and promote themselves?
• Is there any forthcoming legislation which could affect your market?

You can Download this Tip Sheet and many more by visiting out site HI-Arts Audience Development.

On the other hand, if you don’t already have an established website, then it can be more challenging to reach out to readers. So starting to think about how you will promote your blog in advance of its launch can be both effective and time-efficient.

Here are a couple of ideas to help you promote your blog before its launched:

• A “Coming Soon” Post – If you can create a simple but attractive first post, which is geared towards getting people excited about your new blog, then this can begin to stir peoples interest to return to the blog at a later date. Give new visitors a small taste of what is to come and make sure you offer them the opportunity of signing up for an email alert, or follow your twitter, or like you Facebook page, so you can keep them informed of your Official Blog Launch. 
• Start Building an Email List – As mentioned above, the main element of your “Coming Soon” Post will be an email signup box to get updates on the launch and future blog posts. Use your email databases (if you have one) and invite people to read your blog and sign up for email alerts. (If you already have an email mailing list, perhaps you want to consider what additional value these readers will have when signing up for another email alert from you – perhaps you offer an exclusive incentive or competition to coincide with your blog launch, ask them to visit your blog and sign up for a discount, giveaway or prize. This will stimulate people to visit your website and potentially engage with the incentive, and in the long term continue to engage with your blog). 
• Guest Blogging – To build a name for yourself without having your own platform you could consider offering to write a guest post on related blogs.

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  • Most bloggers will be happy to have a hand with content, do don’t be afraid to ask.
  • Try to guest post for a relevant blog with some established visitor traffic, there is no point in guest posting for another blog if it isn’t read by your potential audience or anyone else for that matter.
  • Stay in your field. Find a blogger in your niche and write about what you know to start to build a name for yourself.

• Comment on Other Blogs – This goes beyond the typical “Hey, great post, thanks” towards significant contributions to the conversation and topic. At this point (before you have your own blog up and running) this is the only opportunity for you to express your views.
• Build on your Social Networks – Twitter and Facebook are great tools for promoting your blog. Using your social networks will help you to establish relationships, by the time you launch, hopefully you will have a small community ready to engage with you.
• Give Something Away – Another way of attracting attention is by giving something away. Contests are very powerful if you know how to ask for something in exchange. You can ask people to follow you, to subscribe or use their social networks to participate but the main drive is to establish a readership for your blog.
• Ask for Help! – Ask your established networks to help you out by promoting your new blog to their own unique networks. Depending on who you have in your corner and how much support they can give, will have an influence on the traffic they are able to generate towards you. This should be a reciprocal arrangement, consider what you can, in return, promote across your own networks on their behalf.

There are lots of reasons to use pages to support your blog posts, they can give you the space to include more general information about who you are, the project you are blogging about or links to your online shop, website or social media platforms.

Highlighted below are a few ‘page’ ideas that you may want to develop to promote your blog to different groups of people.

1. About Page – Possibly the most common uses of the ‘page’ function on blogs is the ‘About’ page. This is definitely a priority page, it can offer the essential information about who you are and what you do for new visitors and provides the overall context for the blog.
2. Contact Page – Lots of bloggers don’t offer any means of contacting them on their blog, obviously visitors can leave comments, but you could be missing out on all sorts of opportunities by not giving your readers, potential audiences/ customers, partners, press and other bloggers a way of contacting you. This is also a great place to add in links to your website and social networks.
3. Press Page – A press page is a great chance to offer potential journalists and media outlets specific information about you and what you do, but it can also be a great place to show journalists what other people have written about you. Providing a list of previously published articles, reviews, features etc, from the press gives you a little credibility and gives journalists a head start in finding an angle to pursue for their own articles about you.
4. FAQ Page – If you find you are often asked the same questions by different people, then a Frequently Asked Questions page can come in very useful. Not only will it cut down on your own workload but it demonstrates that you can anticipate your customers or audiences needs and questions. If you link this prominently from your About page or Contact page and point people towards it if you still receive similar questions from visitors, then this page can become very effective for communicating with your blog visitors.
5. Subscription Page – Having a page dedicated to how people can subscribe to your blog, sign up to your Facebook page, join an eNewsletter – all the ways your online audience can engage with you, can also be extremely useful. This can be really useful if your visitors are unsure what an RSS feed is or have issues about privacy and what it means to ‘subscribe’.
6. Series Page Compilation – This is an approach that enables you to compile a series of posts on a single issue, project, theme and publish them as a series to a page. This is not done very regularly by bloggers, but can be very effective if you have a series of posts that develop around a story or offer advice on a single topic.
7. Services Page – if you offer services to customers or audiences then developing a dedicated services page for yourself and linking to it within your blog can be very useful. Having a dedicated services (or sales) page enables you to really sell yourself more expansively than through a quick mention elsewhere on your blog or in a single blog post.
8. Key Information Pages – Do you have information that you are regularly providing to people over and over again – whether that it is through your blog, email, Facebook, over the phone etc? Creating a page about it and having the link handy at all times can cut down on the time you spend providing this information to individual people.
9. Sneeze Pages – one way to engage people within your blog is to develop a Sneeze Page, or a ‘Best of’ page that highlights some of the better articles on your blog around a particular theme. Add links to these pages from your sidebar or refer to them in posts and you should see your page impressions per visit statistics go up.
10. Testimonial Pages – these are fantastic if you are selling something (even if it is yourself) to have some sort of testimonial page can be very worthwhile. People base their buying decisions increasingly upon the opinions and reviews of other people, not always that of critics and the media, in fact peer-reviewed content is far more valuable and enriching.
11. Event Specific Pages – Are you leading a workshop? Showcasing your work at an exhibition? Running an outreach project? Then create a page specifically for those attending these and mention that you’ve done so in at the start of your workshop, exhibition or project. This way you can tailor a specific message to those visitors, their needs, your work and create an action for them (subscribe to your blog, engage with other activities, buy your work or services).
12. Resource Page – You will no doubt have resources – websites, books and information – that you would recommend to someone, so why not add this to a blog page. This is a great way of adding additional value for your blog visitors.
13. Giveaway Page or Winners Page – Not everyone will have Giveaways, but you might run competitions, and often or not we don’t really get to find out who the winners are.
14. Crowdfunding Page – if you are launching a crowdfunding project then creating a dedicated page for it from your blog is essential. Crowdfunding was borne out through the social engagement and interactivity between social networks like blogs and would attract donations from the individuals who already understand the value of crowdsourcing and crowdfunding.

Archive: Blog posts grouped by month.

Blog Roll: A list of the blogs that you enjoy reading, find informative, adds additional value for your blog readers, and provides you with essential linking search engine optimisation.

Blog Templates: A variety of different designs (the look of your blog) that you can select to apply to your blog.

Blog Feed: This is the transfer of information between your blog another other websites. Your blog posts can be downloaded regularly by visitors to their own websites, email or directly onto their computer’s hard drive.

Categories: Is a term to describe a collection of blog entries that you decide to group together. You can have as many categories as you like, and as many entries within a category.

Comment: A response added to your blog by an online reader.  

Comment Spam: Spam posted in the comment section of blogs, these usually contain a few lines of text and a link which is entirely unrelated to your post and blog. These comments are usually posted by spambots crawling the blogosphere. Most good blog hosting services will have a high level spam filter and you should always authorise comments from new visitors first, to ensure that they are indeed genuine. 

CSS: Is an abbreviation for Cascading Style Sheets, this is the format of the visual appearance of your blog, you can specify (or use templates with a CSS) for instance that all Titles are blue, 16pt, Ariel. A CSS defines the style for your whole website to ensure consistency.

Header: A blog’s header is the equivalent of a newspaper’s masthead. This is where your blog name and/or banner image is displayed.

Incoming Links: these are links on other people’s blogs or websites directing visitors to your blog.

Meme: An idea passed down from one human generation to another, the cultural equivalent of a gene. For bloggers, meme refers to an idea passed from one blog to another, and spreading across the blogosphere.

Permalink: This is a URL on a website which points to a specific blog entry where it is permanently archived – a permanent link. These will help to strengthen a blog’s ranking in search engines.

Posts: Posts make up the body of your blog. Posts can include text, images, videos, streamed audio and links to other websites. Blogs are like articles, but with a blog you offer a simple way for readers to comment on your post. 

Post Slug: This is the final element of your permalink to your blog, the bit that appears at the end of your url, for instance www.yourblogname.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/blogging-tip-sheet

Ping: A ping is an alert in your trackback system that lets the original poster of a blog know when someone else writes an entry concerning that original post.

Pingback: A technological method that notifies you when an incoming link from another blog or website is established.

Reciprocal Link: When one blogger exchanges links on its blogroll with another blogger’s blogroll.

Rich Text Editor: An online rich text editor presents a ‘what-you-see-is-what-you-get’ interface for editing your text within web browsers. The aim is to reduce the learning curve associated with using HTML.  

RSS: This stands for ‘Really Simple Syndication’ and by adding an RSS link allows your blog visitors to subscribe to your site – updating them whenever you add a new post.

Sidebar: A sidebar will run along one or both sides of your posts. Your sidebar might contain items such as a short bio, a blog roll (a list of the blogs you enjoy reading), a search box, ads and an RSS button.

Spambot: A program designed to collect email addresses from the internet in order to build mailing lists for sending unsolicited emails, known as spam.

Tag: A keyword or term associated with a piece of content that provides a description and allows visitors to find it when using a search tool or search engine.

Tag Cloud: A visual representation of the keyword terms that are associated with your blog. A Tag Cloud usually contains single words, with the most relevant and popular displayed with larger type, bolder text or prominent colours.

Thread: The term used to describe the succession or series of posts that relate to a specific topic.

Trackback: A technological method similar to pingback that notifies you when an incoming link from another blog or website is established.

Troll: A user who contributes to online discussions for the purpose of generating intense debate, often with intentionally inflammatory rhetoric. These people are ‘fishing’ for reactions from contributors to stimulate arguments.

Widgets: these are stand-alone applications you can imbed into other applications, like websites and blogs. These could help you do things like subscribe to a feed, do a specialised search or make a donation.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation

Provides a complete legal guide for bloggers, particularly in using images, video and audio files.

Creative Commons

You may also want to copyright your original work through Creative Commons, they offer several different types of licenses.

• It gives your readers a way to privately contact you – Comments are a very public way of communicating with a blogger and there may be some topics which your visitors might want to discuss privately. Having an email address or contact form allows you to keep the channels of communication open to all your blog visitors.
• It gives readers a sense of power – Having a direct line to a blogger might not seem like a bit deal at first, but it can mean a lot to some visitors. Giving them a route to quickly and easily let you know their thoughts, pitch an idea, or introduce themselves is an empowering and personal thing that many readers will appreciate. It helps then to create a sense of ownership, interactivity and your blogging community.
• It’s about accountability – Giving readers a way to get in touch also shows that you are willing to be held accountable for your blog and that you are not hiding from criticism. The most common type of blog that doesn’t have contact details is the spam blog, who hides the identity of the blogger for obvious reasons.
• It identifies problems – While no one enjoys receiving an email outlining what is wrong with what you have written or done, it is important to know it. Whether it is when features are not working, or you have server issues which is making your blog load slowly, or an image won’t load or download, or a spelling mistake, it’s the emails from readers that help you to improve your blog.
• It opens opportunities – Giving a direct route and private route to contacting you means you are open to the opportunities your blog could potentially generate for you. This might be commissions, project work, sales or potential partnerships.

1. Be Passionate. You are writing a blog because you have something to say, so say it with enthusiasm and passion. When it comes down to it, it is your voice that will make your blog stand out from the millions of others out there.
2. Be Funny. The power to make some one laugh out loud or chuckle to themselves is priceless. Humour not only makes your posts more enjoyable to read but are more likely to be linked to by other bloggers or shared across your blog visitors social networks.
3. Be consistent. It is really important that you post on a regular basis so that your readers keep coming back and you attract new ones. You can set the regularity of your posts, but the more often the better. Don’t post if you don’t have anything to say, no content is better than bad content, but consistency should be a main priority. 
4. Be Useful. It is important that your blog posts provide value for your readers. That could be entertainment value or educational value, it is important that you reach out to readers with something that they need – an insight, a tool or a new way of looking at something.
5. Be Readable. It is important to bear in mind that you are writing to the computer screen, so it’s good to make sure your posts are easy on the eyes and not too long. If you do write a lengthy post consider breaking it up with visuals, bullet points or selectively bolded text.
6. Be Responsible. Blog posts should contain links to other websites, as it is important to give credit where credit is due and link back to a site if you have used it as a reference.

So if 1 in every 100 readers comment on your blog then understanding ways to encourage more interactivity on your site is essential.

10 ways to increase comments on your blog

1. Invite comments – inviting people to comment upon your post triggers a response to some extent, and although by its nature a blog is about interacting and leaving comments, you need to keep in mind that new readers might be unfamiliar with blogging and don’t always know about comments or how to use them.
2. Ask Questions – asking specific questions in posts helps to encourage commenting. Adding questions in your titles or headings is particularly effective as you plant the question in your readers minds from the very start of your post.
3. Be Open Ended – If you say everything there is to be said on a topic you are less likely to elicit responses and opinions from your readers, as it will already be covered. It is a balancing act, you don’t want to leave too much unsaid but leave room for your readers to be experts too.
4. Interact with comments left – If you are going to engage with your comments section then why would anyone else? If someone leaves a comment make sure you interact with them. Of course this gets harder as your blog grows but it is essential in those early days. Comments create value, a culture of interactivity and gives the impression to your readers that you value their contributions. Over time your readers will start to take over, answering questions and creating a community, which is when you can be slightly less active, but don’t ignore them!
5. Set boundaries – it is important to set rules for your comments section, so that your readers know what is acceptable and what is not, and enables you to remove comments which are too personal, abusive, insulting or defamatory. Keeping a well managed and moderated comments section that is free of spam and trolls helps to stimulate the trust between you and your readers, which really determines the success of your blog as an open interactive community.
6. Be humble – People are attracted to humility and are more likely to respond to it than a post that has explained everything. Don’t be afraid to show your own weaknesses and gaps in your knowledge, as this is where your community will support you, fill those gaps and strengthen what you do.
7. Be gracious – There will be times when you get something wrong, maybe spellings or grammar, the basis of your argument or some other aspect of your blogging, and when someone leaves a comment highlighting that it is easy to respond in the defensive. A gracious approach to comments where you admit your mistake can bring out the readers who don’t contribute or engage with you, it will make them feel a little more secure in leaving comments.
8. Be controversial? – This doesn’t always work, but there is nothing like a good controversial opinion to stimulate a reaction. Bear in mind however, that controversy can also putt off those readers who are the less vocal elements of your community.
9. ‘Reward’ Comments – Drawing attention to your readers by acknowledging their contributions is a great away of drawing the attention of other readers to make use of the comments section. There are lots of ways you can reward good comments by simply flagging them as a ‘good comment’ or highlighting them in future blog posts.
10. Make it easy to comment ­– the essence of blogging is interactivity, therefore you don’t want to ask your readers to jump through the hoops of signing up or logging in before they can leave their opinion. Moderate comments by all means, registration is a just another hurdle for your readers to engage with you, so it’s important then to keep your comments section as simple and easy to use as possible.

Creating a Blog is easy, maintaining a Blog is hard.

As an artist you might want to blog about:

• The development/ evolution of your artistic practice.
• Your residencies, exhibitions, productions, events and activities.
• New projects you are working on i.e. recording an album, working with youth groups
• Building your venue, studio, exhibition space etc.
• Touring your productions.
• Preparing for publication.

Kickstart your blogging ideas:

1. Respond to something you have read on the web – a good way to start blogging is to link to and comment upon something you feel is interesting or that you disagree with. Think about constructively responding to something someone else has posted or has been published online, and use links to provide the context for your opinion.
2. Suggest an idea – perhaps for a story or a way of doing things. But it is important that you then invite people to respond on the comments. Ideas can travel very far so can be effective in attracting readers.
3. Interview someone – this is a particularly straightforward and simple way of generating blog posts. An email interview can work well, but if you can add in audio or video this will add so much more value and interest for your visitors.
4. Blog an event – if you are attending a relevant event – a conference, meeting, public talk, demonstration, workshop, seminar, exhibition, performance etc – write about it. You could, if you have the technology, photograph the event, record mini-interviews with other attenders, or film elements of the event itself, to continue to add something new and dynamic to your blog.
5. Ask a question – this tends to work best once you have established a readership who already contribute to your blog through comments and their own blog posts, or if it is for a worthy cause. This approach can be really effective in generating useful insight and knowledge into a particular area.
6. Reflect on something – it might be something that happened to you recently, a decision or choice, a change in perspective or direction, a new story, anything which has made you think and feels is worthy of sharing with your blog visitors.
7. Do something visual – take photographs and video where ever you can. Make sure you explain what they are, include links and ask questions.
8. Let someone else post – if you know of someone with a particular expertise or experience, invite them to write a ‘guest post’ on their specialised area. Even if they have their own blog this will give both of you the opportunity to reach new audiences, or to write in a different context, and it will improve your own knowledge.

Things to consider when posting a blog

• They are meant to provide fresh content and provide an answer for blog visitors.
• There are no specifications on the length, type, format or style of a blog.
• Keep it simple.
• Always assume people know nothing about you.
• Your writing style can be entirely casual.
• You can write about personal experiences.
• It is helpful to link to related articles, blogs and websites.
• Make sure you involve your blog visitors with an open comment feature.

Popular Types of Blog Posts

1. Lists. People really love lists, they are easy to read and fun to write. Lists are often linked to by other sites and can help promote your blog.
2. Reviews. People like to read about other people’s opinions, and basically that is what blogging is all about. Thoughtful reviews attract visitors and provide insight and value for both your blog and your readers.
3. How To. These types of posts really provide value for your readers and can have a much longer lifespan then the average blog post. This are regularly linked to by other sites and allow readers to benefit from your own knowledge and expertise.

Consistency is one of the hardest elements to achieve when first starting out. Set yourself a target of posts to be reached each week (i.e. one post per week, 3 posts per week, once a day) as well as an idea of the themes you can blog about. If you are blogging about a specific project then you can easily blog about the progress of that project each week. If you are blogging more generally about your venue, organisation or business then consider writing a list of all the different elements you could potentially write about, something to provide you with inspiration.

1. Write a Title – in the Title Field give your post a name.
2. Write your Post – Most blogging services use a Rich Text Editor that operates exactly like a word processor (such as Word for Windows) to enable you to type up your blog post.
3. Insert images or video – you can insert multimedia by select the button ‘Add Image’ or ‘Add Video’ (often this is a graphical button that looks like a mountain scene, but if you hover your mouse over the graphical buttons the alternative text will appear to let you know what its function is).
4. Links – add relevant links to other blogs or websites to enhance the value of your post. You can insert the full link URL address into the body of your post, or alternatively you can hide the link behind text to describe what the link is. Most blogging text editors will give you the option to create links, click on the button which looks like a link in a chain, and you will be prompted for the URL address and a title to describe the link.  
5. Categories – some blogging services offer you the ability to categorise your post, which is great if you are blogging about lots of different things, for helping your blog visitors navigate around your blog, and provides essential search engine optimisation.
6. Tags – some blogging services also offer you the ability to tag your individual blog posts. Unlike a category, which is a more broad way of identifying posts, tags can provide more detailed information about your post. For instance if you were to blog about your next exhibition then you might Categorise it as an ‘Exhibition’ and use multiple Tags to give the name of the venue, the location, the themes of the exhibition and the names of the artists involved.
7. Publish – When you have finished writing your post, click on the ‘Publish’ button to save your post and publish it to your blog.

All you need to get started is an email address and something to say.

Step One: Define Your Niche

Before you consider where you are going to blog it is important to decide on the theme or subject area that your blog will be about. The two main factors to consider when picking your subject is Your Audience and what you are Passionate about.

Who are you writing this blog for?

Really think about who you are blogging for, this will determine the type of blog host you use, the content of your blog, whether you need to promote that blog and how you will measure the success of your blog.

Have a think about the following 3 questions:

1. Are you creating a blog for yourself, your friends and family?
2. Do you want to create a blog for the people in the arts and cultural sector or who share your interest in arts and culture?
3. Is your blog an extension of your business?

What is the theme?

That’s for you to decide. The beauty of blogging is that there are no rules. As long as you figure out who your blog is for, then you can begin to form the theme of your blog.

How focused your blog is on a particular subject is entirely up to you. It could cover the things that interest you and need not be defined beyond that.

 If you are targeting your blog at a specific audience or niche, these are a couple of things to consider:

1. What are you interested in?
2. What are you an expert in?
3. Would your profession make an interesting subject?
4. Do you have a goal that you are trying to achieve that could be documented online?
5. Will you be able to blog about the subject you choose consistently over a long period of time?
6. How many other blogs exist on the same subject? What are you going to do to stand out from the crowd?

Step Two: Name Your Blog

There is no limit to what you can call your blog.

 Some blogs have titles that relate to their subject matter i.e. contemporaryartscotland.blogspot.com. Others have completely nonsensical names that are catchy and memorable i.e. paintisthickerthanwater.blogspot.com. The easy way out is naming the blog after yourself, this works well for individual artists and makers, but not so well for project, organisation or event based blogs).

While you can name your blog anything you like, you may be limited to what you blogs URL or web address can be. Whatever you do decide on, ensure that the blog name is memorable, easy to spell and free of hyphens!

Using a Hosted Blog

If you use a Blog service such as wordpress, typepad, or blogger, you have two options. When you create a blog through these services, you are automatically assigned a web address which will look like this:

www.yourblogname.wordpress.com

www.youblogname.typepad.com

www.yourblogname.blogspot.com

It’s quite alright to have your host service’s name in your web address, it clearly indicates to readers that this is a blog, and it makes it a lot simpler for you to get your blog up and running, particularly if this is your first blogging experience.

Using Your Own Domain

Alternatively, if you would like your web address to read www.yourblogname.com, you will need to purchase a registered domain name. You can check for domain name availability one a number of websites including 123-reg.co.uk, names.co.uk, register-domain-names.com.

Once you have checked for the availability you will need to purchase both the domain name and hosting. Sites like 123-reg.co.uk offer hosting from between £3 – £15 per month.

After you set up your blog with your chosen service (i.e. wordpress, typepad), you can then “point” your new domain name to your blog. This process differs from service to service:

Blogger – Under the ‘Settings’ tab click on the ‘Publishing’ button to switch to a Custom Domain.

WordPress – Under the ‘Settings’ tab click on the ‘Domains’ button to Add a Domain.

Typepad – Under the ‘Control Panel’ tab there is a link to Domain Mapping under the ‘Site Access’ sub-tab.

Step Three: Choose a Blog Host

The service you choose will depend on the purpose of your blog, your budget and your technical abilities, and there are a variety of different blog hosting services out there.

Hosted Blogging Platforms – For Ease and Simplicity

If you are new to blogging or don’t have a great deal of technical abilities, then a hosted blog service is definitely the way to go.

A hosted blog means that the service (such as wordpress or typepad) “hosts” your blog at their domain. These services offer you designed templates, a web address and an editors ‘kitchen-sink’ of tools and applications, so you can create blog posts simply without any technical expertise. With a hosted blog you can be up an running in 15 minutes.

Pros

Often these services are free or inexpensive to use, and they make the set-up and use of the blogging service easy for those without technical knowledge.

Cons

Blogging service hosts are not as flexible design-wise, so if you do have technical expertise and would like total control of how your blog will look, you may feel limited by the hosted blog.

Stand Alone Blogging Platforms – For the Professional

Although these are designed for the technically proficient, it is good to have an understanding of what a ‘stand alone’ or ‘server-side’ blogging platform is.

This type of blogging platform is hosted by you and your own domain and will allow you to have full control over the design of your website and enables you to use any domain name you wish.

To use a ‘server-side’ platform you will need to download a content management system from a hosting service such as laughingsquid.com and dreamhost.com. You can also download a blogging platform from wordpress.org or Movabletype.org. This route is more costly and requires a certain amount of technical literacy. But in exchange you get a fully customisable site in your own name and image.

Step Four: Create Your Blog

The next step is to set up your blog. With numerous blogging services available, it’s key to pick one that meets your needs and is easy to use based on your skills.

Pros and Cons of Blogging Services

Blogger

Pro: No tech expertise is required and you can use a registered domain name.

Cons: If you want to change the templates or side-bar add-ons you will need HTML knowledge.

Ideal for first time Bloggers.

WordPress.com  

Pro: Free with some advanced design pay options. No tech experience is needed, blog traffic statistics is build into your dashboard, and you can register your own domain name.

Cons: The interface is simple, but not as simple as Blogger. Some knowledge of tech or blog related jargon is helpful (see our section on Cutting through the Blogging Jargon), templates are not fully modifiable unless you purchase CSS editing options.

Ideal for savvy beginners who want to know about their visitors, and if you might like to switch to a stand alone host in the future.

Typepad

Pro: No tech knowledge required, broad menu of side-bar add-ons, blog traffic statistics built-in, full Photoblog capabilities and photo album interface. Can use a registered domain name.

Cons: Cost (offer 4 pricing levels), basic HITML required to use all of the sidebar add-ons, some knowledge of tech or blog jargon is useful (see our section on Cutting through the Blogging Jargon), and limited design flexibility at the Basic Pricing Level.

Ideal for savvy beginners who would like develop their blogging service as their own technical skills evolve.

Registering for a Blog

Once you have chosen your ideal blogging service you then need to sign up. All you need is an email address and click on the appropriate button to Create Your Blog. You’ll be asked by the service to create an account, where you will enter your email address, choose a password, input the name of your blog and accept the terms and conditions of the site.

You will also be prompted to choose the blog’s URL address (if you have purchased a domain name you would like to ‘point’ your blog to, then you should look out for the Advanced Setup options, or set the domain name once you have completed the registration).

You will then be given access to the services blog content management system, where you can select your template (which will determine the style and font – CSS style sheet of your blog). Pick one now, but remember you can always change it later.

Blog posts can consist of text, images, links to other websites and most typically a way for readers to leave comments about the post.

There is more then one free blogging service that can have you up and blogging in less then five minutes. Plus you don’t have to be a technical wizard to get going.

What can a Blog do for you? 

• Showcase your recent works
• Build an audience for your work
• Establish yourself as an expert
• Helps you to establish your own brand
• Gives you visibility online
• Keeps those interested in what you do informed immediately.

Open Up Your Windows

   There are a wide range of support mechanisms out there in the funding world, including grants, loans, investments, award schemes and many more to suit your organisation, group or project. While governmental bodies sort out how and where their public funding cuts will take place, we are actively sourcing and investigating alternative funding streams such as the Big Lottery Fund and trusts and foundations providing grants for cultural projects. Below is a snapshot of some of the funding opportunities that are available for the cultural sector that may benefit your project or give you some inspiration for a future project.              

The Big Lottery Fund – Investing in Communities Area: Scotland Application open/close dates: 30 June 2010 – 30 June 2015  Min/Max – £10,000 – £1 million  Investing in Communities focus on three investment areas:  

• Growing Community Assets – aims to help communities take more control and have more influence over their own future through ownership of assets.
• Life Transitions – aims to support projects that help people at key times of change, helping them to make their lives better for the future.
• Supporting 21st Century Life – aims to support projects that build stronger families and stronger communities.

The fund seeks to fund projects which will bring about lasting change, with equalities, environment and empowerment at the heart of the projects they will support.  

Please click on this link to view the full guidance notes for the fund.  

 Awards for All Scotland  

Area: Scotland  

Min/Max – £500 – £10,000  

Awards for All Scotland aims to help people become more actively involved in projects that make a positive difference to their local communities. They aim to fund projects that meet one or more of the following outcomes:  

• People have better chances in life – i.e. trying out new activities, volunteering, learning new skills or playing a more active role in their community.
• Communities are safer, stronger and more able to work together to tackle inequalities – i.e. by enabling different communities or younger and older people to tackle common issues together.
• People have better and more sustainable services and environments – i.e. by improving community spaces or increasing recycling.
• People and communities are healthier – i.e. by enabling more people to take part in activities that improve their health and well being.

For more information and guidance please click on this link for the full Awards for All Scotland Guide.  

Trusts and Foundations 

Below are just a snapshot of the trusts and foundations that fund arts and culture.  

Esmee Fairbairn Foundation– The foundation aims to improve the quality of life throughout the UK. Their primary interests are in the cultural life of the UK, education and learning, the natural environment and enabling disadvantaged people to participate more fully in society.  

Clore Duffield Foundation– A grant-making organisation that concentrates its support on education, the arts, museum and gallery education, cultural leadership training, health and social care.  

Foyle Foundation– Is an independent grantmaking trust that distributes grants to UK charities. The Main Grants Scheme for the Arts supports applications with a strong artistic case for support in either the performing or visual arts. The Arts Programme aims to help sustain the arts and to support projects that particularly help to deliver artistic vision.  

The Macrobert Trust– The trust was established by Lady MacRobert during World War II. The Trust’s categories of interest include: science and technology, youth, services and sea, education, disabled and handicapped, community welfare, and their minor categories include agriculture and horticulture, arts and music, and medical care. The MacRobert Trust gives preference to organisations based in Scotland.   

The Robertson Trust– An independent Scottish grant-making Trust, this exists to provide financial support to charities in Scotland. Their four main priority areas are care, health, education and training, community art and sport.  

Other Support 

Scottish Community Foundation Grants   

The Scottish Community Foundation aims to improve the quality of life and chances for the people of Scotland. Their work covers a wide range of social welfare and community development activities through a number of different grant programmes.  

The two grant programmes open to groups throughout Scotland are:  

• Community Grants – grants of up to £5,000
• Woman’s Fund for Scotland – grants of up to £5,000.

Community Grants are one off grants directed at locally based work carried out, and often initiated by, members of that local community.  

Please click on the following link for more information about the Scottish Community Foundation and the grant making programming.  

In-Kind Advertsing for non-profit organisastions from Google  

Google Grants offers an in-kind donation programme awarding free AdWords advertsing to select charitable organisations. Google supports organisations sharing their philosophy of community service to help the world in areas such as science and technology, education, global public health, the environment, youth advocacy and the arts.  

]]> http://northings.com/2010/08/24/a-world-of-opportunity/feed/ 2 http://northings.com/2010/08/20/the-conundrum-of-the-workshops/ http://northings.com/2010/08/20/the-conundrum-of-the-workshops/#comments Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:18:08 +0000 http://sianjamieson.wordpress.com/?p=374

Rudyard Kipling

When the flush of a new-born sun fell first on Eden’s green and gold,
Our father Adam sat under the Tree and scratched with a stick in the mould;
And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to his mighty heart,
Till the Devil whispered behind the leaves, “It’s pretty, but is it Art ?”

Wherefore he called to his wife, and fled to fashion his work anew –
The first of his race who cared a fig for the first, most dread review;
And he left his lore to the use of his sons — and that was a glorious gain
When the Devil chuckled “Is it Art ?” in the ear of the branded Cain.

They fought and they talked in the North and the South, they talked and
they fought in the West,
Till the waters rose on the pitiful land, and the poor Red Clay had rest –
Had rest till that dank blank-canvas dawn when the dove was preened to start,
And the Devil bubbled below the keel: “It’s human, but is it Art ?”

They builded a tower to shiver the sky and wrench the stars apart,
Till the Devil grunted behind the bricks: “It’s striking, but is it Art ?”
The stone was dropped at the quarry-side and the idle derrick swung,
While each man talked of the aims of Art, and each in an alien tongue.

The tale is as old as the Eden Tree – and new as the new-cut tooth –
For each man knows ere his lip-thatch grows he is master of Art and Truth;
And each man hears as the twilight nears, to the beat of his dying heart,
The Devil drum on the darkened pane: “You did it, but was it Art ?”

We have learned to whittle the Eden Tree to the shape of a surplice-peg,
We have learned to bottle our parents twain in the yolk of an addled egg,
We know that the tail must wag the dog, for the horse is drawn by the cart;
But the Devil whoops, as he whooped of old: “It’s clever, but is it Art ?”

When the flicker of London sun falls faint on the Club-room’s green and gold,
The sons of Adam sit them down and scratch with their pens in the mould –
They scratch with their pens in the mould of their graves, and the ink and the anguish start,
For the Devil mutters behind the leaves: “It’s pretty, but is it Art ?”

Now, if we could win to the Eden Tree where the Four Great Rivers flow,
And the Wreath of Eve is red on the turf as she left it long ago,
And if we could come when the sentry slept and softly scurry through,
By the favour of God we might know as much – as our father Adam knew!

Rudyard Kipling — 1890

Follow Me!

To follow on from ‘How to Use Facebook’ check out these excellent videos for using Twitter.

Twitter in Plain English

Getting Started with Twitter

Twitter Lists in a Nutshell

Twitter Tools Explained

How to Create an Attractive Profile

Finding Followers

How to Tweet from your Phone

How to use Twitter for your Business

Facebook

I think that most of us now recognise the value of being on a social network like facebook. The interaction with audiences or customers, the instant feedback, the ability to promote events or activities to your core supporters, and having a more ‘social’ side to your organisation has opened up a whole new dimension of being able to promote what you do, while engaging your audiences on a whole new level.

But that doesn’t mean that we all instantly know how to use facebook. So I’ve scoured the medium of You Tube to find some good examples of facebook tutorials. If you find these useful, or not at all, do let me know. I’d like to produce our own set of online video tutorials, but if these do the job already then do let me know!

How to Register and Join Facebook

Signing Up and Explore the Home Page

Facebook Basics: How To Use Facebook

How to Find, Invite and Add Friends on Facebook

Create a Page on Facebook

How to use Facebook Events to Promote your Business Part I

How to use Facebook Events to Promote your Business Part II

Using Facebook Privacy Settings.

The Source