Mary Carty

I read this blog post late last week. It is amazing and truly inspiring, recommended reading for artists/creatives everywhere. Enjoy, it may change your world.

I’m giving a training day in Belfast next week with the VAI on promoting your work online. This course will teach artists and arts organisations how to grow your profile, build your network and promote your work online. I’m delighted to be back in Belfast again as it is always great to catch up with such a lively arts scene.

You can sign up here.

Course: Promoting your work online

Where: Belfast Exposed, the Exchange Place, 23 Donegall Street, Belfast, BT1 2FF

Date: Apr 14, 2011

What is it?

This coursse will teach you how to grow your profile, build your network and promote your work online. By using social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Flickr effectively, you can grow your audience and position yourself as an expert in your field. I will use case studies and practical walk throughs to help you get the most from your time online. Time will also be given to set up and test promotional platforms during the session. To finish the day, I will help you develop an easy to use marketing plan to take with you.

Topics I will cover:

Social media trends
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Blogs

Flickr
Creating an easy to use marketing plan

If you would like to join us on the day here are a few questions to consider:

1. How would you describe your experience and confidence online, beginner, intermediate, advanced?

2. Do you have a Website, Twitter, Facebook, Blog, Flickr, LinkedIn account? Please list all that apply to you.

3. What do you want to achieve from this course?

4. Do you work with any voluntary or national arts organisations/collectives/etc?

5. What are the barriers holding you back form communicating online?

Hope to see you there on the day.

Image (C) Aaron Schmidt

Arts organizations and voluntary groups spend lots of time organizing and promoting events each year. We all know it’s good to share, but how important is sharing your event using social media tools like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter? How much are social shares worth in real terms?

Eventbrite have just published two reports on the value of social sharing and it makes for interesting reading. On Facebook, most people (60%) share information about an event after they have completed their ticket purchase. While 40% like to share pre-purchase. However, the share that is made after the sale or registration is much more valuable; for example, a “post-purchase share on Facebook drives 20% more ticket sales per share than a pre-purchase one.”

Why do people share this kind of information? There are lots of reasons for social sharing: showing you are part of a group, flagging something important/fun with your peers and inviting friends to come along. Events most likely to be shared are music events, fundraisers and social events.

In monetary terms, Eventbrite found that a share on Facebook is worth $2.52, an email share is $2.34 while a Twitter share is $0.42. Finally, a LinkedIn share is worth $0.90. And the good news is, these values are increasing all the time.

Key Outcomes

Looking at this data, it is worth thinking about where you share your events online and more crucially, where your audience shares this information. Then concentrate on the most valuable. It’s not about leaving any social media platform out; rather, it’s about focusing your attention on what shares will increase your audience numbers.

When promoting your event online, make sure to provide “share this” opportunities for your audience. A great resource to use is www.sharethis.com. Another bonus for social sharing is an increased amount of traffic to your website. Make sure to capitalize on this with specific landing pages for your events and email sign-up forms to capture new users.

Images (c) Eventbrite

Last June I had the pleasure of interviewing UK children’s laureate Anthony Browne for Inis The Children’s Books Ireland Magazine. After all the discussion on the merits of the “50-book challenge” as proposed by Education Secretary Michael Gove, I thought it would be refreshing to read Browne’s approach to children’s literature and most importantly picture books. I hope you enjoy it. To see my article with pictures, why not pop over to the beautiful Inis Magazine Online here.

Picturing a world of story: a conversation with Anthony Browne

Children’s Laureate Anthony Browne is on a mission to promote picture books. Appointed as the 6^th U.K. Laureate on the 9^th of June 2009, Browne believes that picture books are often overlooked and hold a value way beyond that of introducing children to reading. He passionately advocates that picture books should not be discarded in the race to teach children how to read. Browne believes that picture books are not just for children but to be enjoyed by people of all ages. I was fortunate to interview Anthony Browne recently and ask him a few questions about life as Laureate, his work as author and illustrator and the passions that drive this highly successful and globally acclaimed author.

Browne’s work is characterised by its warmth and humour, its bold, inviting colours and vivid landscapes. His stories invite the reader in through stunning visual imagery and characters that resonate deeply with readers young and old. Browne has authored over thirty books to date and his repertoire has given birth to some of the most beloved characters, both animal and human, in English children’s literature. Browne brings a masterful combination of superb draftsmanship coupled with an intuitive sense of language to each book.

Read the rest of this entry »

The School Library Journal, wrote an interesting article on British Education Secretary Michael Gove’s measure to promote literacy in the U.K.  Grove recommends that children, as young as 11, should read 50 books a year.

Wanting to improve literacy levels is a really worthy and necessary initiative but the message is pretty confusing, since the government has decided to close 500 libraries across the UK as well as some school libraries.

UK Children’s authors have spoken out rather than promote Grove’s “50-book challenge” and so they should. Among them, U.K. children’s laureate Anthony Browne said, “It’s always good to hear that the importance of children’s reading is recognized, but rather than setting an arbitrary number of books that children ought to read, I feel it’s the quality of children’s reading experiences that really matter.”

All of this leaves one burning question, where will these children get access to 50 books?

See the full article here.

Image: (cc) by Mike Haufe

I watched an amazing marketing documentary last night called Art & Copy. It was a really insightful piece looking at the development of new wave advertising agencies in the USA. The role of the maverick creative was also a central theme. In days gone by the rebel creative was sent west to San Francisco, banished forever from the New York office. Sent to Coventry so to speak! What I find amazing is the growth of these new agencies in California that were able to harness the creative potential of the whole team, account guy, copy writer, art director, maverick or not. From this new creative milieu some of the most moving and inspirational marketing campaigns of out time were made. Art in its truest form.

Three stats stood out for me:

Global marketing will reach $544 billion in 2010
Billboard advertising in USA is $7 billion each year
Four holding companies control 80% of all advertising output worldwide.

A great documentary on inspiration, creativity and having the vision to think outside the box. Go see!

I have been thinking about the next generation of arts centres. What will they look like, who will fund them, will they exist outside the white cube, will they reside in communities, or will they encompass something completely new, totally online or a regular meet up of artists, creatives and an interested tribe of followers (audience). In discussing this with some friends, colleagues, curators and arts managers recently the question of audience development really stood out.

I believe that our approach to audience and audience development is far too linear, we broadcast rather than involve in a conversation.

This old paradigm has served arts organisations rather badly, I believe, over the years. When we broadcast only there is only one way for the conversation to go and that’s usually to deaf ears. I know what it feels like to spend months putting a great programme, festival or exhibition together only to be disappointed in the numbers come to visit and engage with the events.

The Lesson is, we need to start real conversations with our audiences.

Image by Ell Brown