A Rant Against Facebook
Ok, not Facebook per se, but a rant about theatres using social media inauthentically. I get it, you’re busy, there are a lot of social media platforms, and you’re not exactly sure which one(s) are worth your time. So, you decide to link your Facebook account to your Twitter feed and not bother checking in on your Twitter community. A full 25% of TCG theatres on Twitter have committed this tragedy (see autosync below).
I’ll be going more in depth about each of these segments at the TCG conference next week, but for now, let’s focus in on this Facebook issue (MailChimp, TwitterTools, and TwitterFeed are also culprits, but far less popular than the Facebook method). If you’re a theatre on Twitter, you probably care a lot about the volume of buzz: the number of tweets mentioning your brand. I call this @mentions. The graph below shows the difference in this metric between “Real” tweeters (any theatres that posted specifically to Twitter, via any method they want, anytime in the last month) and “AutoSync” tweeters (those theatres who blindly and shamelessly fill their tweet stream with solely Facebook posts.
On average, if you’re tweeting daily for real, you’re seeing 5x the volume of buzz each week about your brand. Now of course, there are also those special theatres that get nearly 100 @mentions each week. I’ll be talking about them too next week. Next, check out the weekly blue line compared to the daily red line (still on the above graph). Even if you have time to update Twitter just once a week, you’ll get higher buzz on average than simply autosyncing your Facebook profile.
And what about the fan base?
Say you can only update Twitter once a month (!); you’re still likely to have a higher fan base than those theatres who “tweet” daily Facebook updates. And just who are these culprits? n00b’s who don’t know any better?
It turns out, sort of. It looks like once theatres hit their one year anniversary on Twitter, they tend to start really paying attention to How to Tweet. And the longer they’ve been around, they more frequently they’re tweeting. That’s real good news.
So maybe I’m being a little too harsh? Let’s see what the fans have to say. But first, let me say, the theatres I’m calling out here are by no means the only bad guys — I just happened to notice these tweets while finishing up my research. I also have no way of knowing if the theatres may have reached out to these tweeps in some non-public way (via DMs or on another platform). But let’s get real here folks.
So you offer a give away, an eager fan reaches out, but nobody ever responds. A disenchanted fan? Oops.
You’re promoting a show, an eager fan wants to ask a question about said show, but nobody ever responds. A potential lost sale? Oops.
Don’t forget it’s not only your audience members who are tweeting about you. Also your sponsors. Those folks that give you free stuff. Bet they would have appreciated a thank you & a you’re welcome. Oops.
Here’s another fan, a subscriber it seems. For now at least. No response to her. I wonder if she would have invited friends along the next time she attended a show. Oops.
You’re always wondering if social media sells tickets. Here’s a potential sale. But no response. Oops.
What a great compliment from an awesome colleague. Too bad there was no response. Oops.
A student, excited about a play, willing & able to recommend it to all her friends. What a missed opportunity for audience engagement. Oops.
Other times, it’s potential artistic collaborators you’re missing out on. What a bummer. She could have been a great playwright to bring on board. Or at least, chat with for a moment online. Oops.
The sad thing is, most of these theatres will never know I was calling them out. I’m not their Facebook fan, I haven’t liked their page, I won’t be commenting on their blog, and I won’t be bothered to call their box office. But I will be talking about them on Twitter. Do you want to guide the conversation about your brand online, or do you want to leave it in my very capable hands?
