{"id":723,"date":"2016-02-16T23:43:41","date_gmt":"2016-02-17T07:43:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/?p=723"},"modified":"2016-03-07T09:52:35","modified_gmt":"2016-03-07T17:52:35","slug":"get-your-damn-ads-out-of-my-social-media-they-dont-work-anyway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/02\/get-your-damn-ads-out-of-my-social-media-they-dont-work-anyway.html","title":{"rendered":"Get Your Damn Ads Out Of My Social Media! (They Don’t Work Anyway)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Times_Square_1-2_Distortion_Removed\"<\/a>Anyone you know like ads? No. They’re the cackling crows getting between you and what you’re after. They’re uninvited, unwelcome, and we do whatever we can to swat them away. So why is my social media packed with ads for the arts? What’s the point?<\/p>\n

Every arts organization does social media. But much of it is essentially self-serving product promotion. “Catch this show…” “This awesome artist is coming…” “We just had a rehearsal and it was incredible…” “See our fascinating behind-the-scenes process…”<\/p>\n

What\u00a0value does this really offer? This kind of Tweeting or Facebooking is bazaar (sorry) – as in laying out your goods on the racks of the local market and waiting for passersby to stop and inspect. Fine if the passersby are in a shopping mood and trust you. Mostly valueless if not. Artists who are on social media advertising their every little activity quickly grow tedious (and tuned out).<\/p>\n

You’re doing incredible work. You want to get the word out. But is this the way? Big brands are finding that laying-out-your-wares type of advertising is less and less effective<\/a>:<\/p>\n

It is getting more and more difficult for brands to get their voices heard amidst the noise. People are reaching a saturation point where only so much content can be consumed, liked, or shared. At the same time, turning up the volume by increasing content production does not seem to be the answer, according to the report.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So why do it?<\/p>\n

Instead of thinking of social media as a way to “get the word out,” or an add-on to what you really<\/em> do, how about thinking of it as a way to talk about your aesthetic, to define your aesthetic, to provide value to those who choose to engage with you? As opposed to self-serving advertising.<\/p>\n

The fastest growing category on YouTube is how-to<\/a>\u00a0videos:<\/p>\n

Searches related to “how to” on YouTube are growing 70% year over year,\u00a0and more than 100M hours of how-to content have been watched in North America so far this year.\u00a0<\/sup>The most popular how-to educational searches<\/a> show a range of interests\u2014from the practical (“how to tie a tie”) to the creative (“how to draw”), from style (“how to curl your hair with a straightener”) to cuisine (“how to make a cake”). And although we see these searches across age groups, it’s most pronounced among millennials. In fact, 67% of millennials agree that they can find a YouTube video on anything<\/em> they want to learn.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sites like Houzz<\/a> are hugely successful by creating massive communities of people – in this case of people looking to redecorate their homes – by using what visitors share to help other people hone their aesthetic. Members of the Houzz community get better (and make Houzz\u00a0more useful) just by using it.<\/p>\n

One last example. In the past year, sportswear companies have all bought their way into the fitness app business. Asics just bought Runkeeper<\/a> and its 45 million users for $85 million.<\/p>\n

Runkeeper is one of a number of fitness platforms that have been picked up by sports clothing makers in recent times. Indeed, today\u2019s news comes six months after fellow fitness app Runtastic was snapped up by Adidas for $239 million<\/a>, while American sports clothing company Under Armour bought<\/a>\u00a0MyFitnessPal and Endomondo \u2014 two massive fitness platforms \u2014 for $560 million<\/a>, a year ago this month.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Companies have discovered that:<\/p>\n

The big takeaway here <\/a>is that social collateral is key. When brands make community involvement part of the process to engage and motivate customers; when they can converse with, and see how they stack up against, others, people are more likely to stick with a program.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So what would how-to arts social media look like? Next post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone you know like ads? No. They’re the cackling crows getting between you and what you’re after. They’re uninvited, unwelcome, and we do whatever we can to swat them away. So why is my social media packed with ads for the arts? What’s the point? Every arts organization does social media. But much of it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-723","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-audience","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Times_Square_1-2_Distortion_Removed.jpg?fit=3872%2C2592&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ePZm-bF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1107,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/09\/this-weeks-aj-arts-highlights-has-entertainment-made-art-irrelevant.html","url_meta":{"origin":723,"position":0},"title":"This Week’s AJ Arts Highlights: Has Entertainment Made Art Irrelevant?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"September 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This Week: Major shakeup in London's museum world... Nobel laureate says entertainment has killed art... Latest study of Hollywood reaffirms cultural inequality... Why did Wells Fargo disparage artists?... Did the Glenn Gould Foundation get ahead of itself in announcing arts Nobel prizes? Seismic Changes In London's Museum World: Two high-profile\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Weekly AJ Top Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Weekly AJ Top Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/weekly-aj-top-stories"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/crowd-of-people-1209630_1280.jpg?fit=800%2C403&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/crowd-of-people-1209630_1280.jpg?fit=800%2C403&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/crowd-of-people-1209630_1280.jpg?fit=800%2C403&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/crowd-of-people-1209630_1280.jpg?fit=800%2C403&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1078,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/08\/tv-dying-video-streaming-surging-so-this-is-how-people-are-getting-their-news-uh-oh.html","url_meta":{"origin":723,"position":1},"title":"TV Dying, Video Streaming Surging – So This Is How People Are Getting Their News (Uh-Oh)","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"August 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A flood of stories this week show how TV is dying and video is on the rise. You think changing audience behavior is tough on arts organizations? Try it when you're a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate like NBCUniversal Comcast or Verizon. Olympics TV ratings were down 18% from 2012. NBC had paid\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "arts & tech"","block_context":{"text":"arts & tech","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/arts-tech"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/The-revolt-against-mainstream-media-news-BBC-News.png?fit=948%2C526&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/The-revolt-against-mainstream-media-news-BBC-News.png?fit=948%2C526&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/The-revolt-against-mainstream-media-news-BBC-News.png?fit=948%2C526&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/The-revolt-against-mainstream-media-news-BBC-News.png?fit=948%2C526&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":348,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/04\/why_dont_arts_organizations_ha-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":723,"position":2},"title":"Why don't arts organizations have critics in residence?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"April 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Lots of arts organizations have blogs on their websites. Most aren't very good, and they're difficult to maintain well. There are many out-of-work critics. And less and less arts coverage in local press. So why not critics-in-residence? Yeah independence. But let's suspend for a moment the idea that criticism's highest\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 14 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 14 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/04\/why_dont_arts_organizations_ha-2.html#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2771,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2024\/03\/how-subsidy-for-big-tech-wrecked-the-arts-and-journalism.html","url_meta":{"origin":723,"position":3},"title":"How Subsidy for Big Tech Wrecked the Arts (and Journalism)","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"March 5, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Companies like Netflix, Amazon, Facebook, Spotify, Apple and Google have subsidized what they offer (super-cheap or free content, faster service and better accessibility) to capture audience and attention in ways that have played havoc with culture producers and artists everywhere, whether or not they create on any of these platforms.","rel":"","context":"In "arts & tech"","block_context":{"text":"arts & tech","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/arts-tech"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/seo-441400_1280-1.jpg?fit=1000%2C666&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/seo-441400_1280-1.jpg?fit=1000%2C666&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/seo-441400_1280-1.jpg?fit=1000%2C666&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/seo-441400_1280-1.jpg?fit=1000%2C666&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2650,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2023\/07\/inflection-point-a-crisis-in-paying-for-culture.html","url_meta":{"origin":723,"position":4},"title":"Inflection Point? A Crisis in Paying for Culture in the Age of Abundance","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"July 23, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Our consumption of culture has never been higher. So why are culture producers melting down?","rel":"","context":"In "arts and business"","block_context":{"text":"arts and business","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/arts-and-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/lego-g28bd3326a_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/lego-g28bd3326a_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/lego-g28bd3326a_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/lego-g28bd3326a_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/lego-g28bd3326a_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1084,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/09\/artists-erased-from-the-web-and-our-growing-problem-with-facts.html","url_meta":{"origin":723,"position":5},"title":"Artists Erased From The Web And Our Growing Problem With Facts","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"September 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Are we comfortable letting shareholder-driven companies - any private company - have absolute control over infrastructure that is increasingly essential for the functioning of civil society? Deciding who is visible and who is not? What is acceptable to say and what is not? Who has access and who doesn't?","rel":"","context":"In "arts & tech"","block_context":{"text":"arts & tech","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/arts-tech"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/social-1157114_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C818&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/social-1157114_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C818&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/social-1157114_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C818&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/social-1157114_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C818&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/social-1157114_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C818&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=723"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":789,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723\/revisions\/789"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}