Americans for the Arts

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One of the best conferences I’ve ever attended was BIF-6, held in Providence, RI, and hosted by Saul Kaplan of the Business Innovation Factory.

Saul and his team collect an eclectic mix of pioneering thought leaders ranging from Tony Hsieh of Zappos to Fast Company co-founder Alan Webber, Jason Fried of Rework, and Keith Yamashita, who believes many of us “fritter away our greatness.”

Each presented a TED-like 18-minute presentation introducing their latest invention or insight.

I was on the edge of my seat the entire two days.

There was a recurring, underlying theme to each presentation. These visionaries had either:

A) seen something wrong and thought, “Someone should DO something about this. After being bothered about it for awhile, they finally concluded, “I’m as much a someone as anyone. I’LL do something about this.”

B) witnessed something that wasn’t what it could be. They thought, “It doesn’t have to be that way. There’s got to be a better way. An easier, greener, more satisfying, profitable way. And I’m going to come up with that way.”

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At last year’s NAMP Conference in San Jose – near the heart of Silicon Valley – my partner, Rory MacPherson, and I announced a national survey to gather input on how arts organizations and collaboratives are faring in the dynamic digital communications landscape.

Responding to input from arts organizations and regional arts collaboratives that are striving to get the most out of the latest digital communications tools and social media, we wanted to take a national snapshot of how arts groups are doing with adoption and integration of new social media platforms into their overall marketing outreach.

We decided to conduct a research project to collect hard data on how groups are managing messaging alignment, resource allocation, and how well they perceive their digital communications and social media efforts are working.

It seemed to us that even those who are leading the field and getting outstanding results are not completely sure they're communicating consistently, clearly and compellingly, wonder if they are connecting authentically with patrons and fans, and are concerned about how to sustain and improve the effectiveness of what they're doing. And universally, arts organizations reported struggling to measure the return on investment of their digital efforts.

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Earlier in this blog salon, Mary Trudel advocated connecting with audiences via mobile technology.  CTIA, the international association for the wireless telecommunications industry, recently revealed that mobile phone market penetration in the United States reached 93% for the nation’s total population in June 2010.  With usage numbers like that, there is no doubt that arts organizations should be investing in mobile engagement.

The dilemma lies in whether to invest in a mobile website or a mobile application.  If your organization’s budget allows you to invest in both, then you need not read any further.  Congrats!  However, if your organization’s budget dictates that you choose between investing in a mobile website or a mobile app, then here are some things to consider.

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From irreverent/provocative videos to sincere/humanizing videos, arts organizations are experimenting across the map with online video. NAMPC '10 video playlist is a collections of video campaigns from NAMPC '10 participants.Read More