A two hour workshop by digital media production and promotion company Inner Ear on how to use social media to attract audiences and sell tickets to arts events. Devised and delivered for The Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

1. Digital Audience Development
Using podcasts and social media to attract audiences and sell tickets
An interactive seminar by Inner Ear Ltd. (www.innerear.co.uk)

2. Schedule
• 11.30
– Introduction
• 11.35
– How to make a podcast in ten minutes
• 11.45
– Examples of how podcasts and social media are used by:
• Promoters
• Performance companies
• Venues
• 12.00
– Scenarios
• 12.05
– Group planning
• 13.00
– Evaluations
• 13.20
– Further information
• 13.30
– End

3. Inner Ear Ltd.
• Digital Media Production and Promotion
Company
• Incorporated September 2000
• Established Radio Magnetic in
March 2001
• Longest running independent internet
radio station

4. Inner Ear Ltd.
• Created in store music system for Beanscene
coffee shop chain
• Provide expert training and consultancy
• We have delivered courses and workshops with
Urban Learning Space (The Lighthouse),
4Talent (Channel 4), Stills Gallery, The
Fruitmarket Gallery, IC:Innovative Craft,
Edinburgh Festival Fringe and more

5. Inner Ear Ltd.
• Leading arts and media podcast production
company in Scotland since 2005
• Create content for arts events and brand
marketing activities
• Tune Up tour diary series
• The Edge Festival previews
• Bulleit Originals podcast
• 4Talent Head to Head podcast for Channel 4
• Trocabrahma podcast for Brahma Beer

6. Podcasting
• Digital media format
• Media files distributed online via RSS
• Grew out of blogging
• Dictionary.com
• Wikipedia.org
• First podcasts distributed 2004
• Invention largely attributed to Adam Curry
• Popularised by iTunes Podcast Directory
• Incorporated into social networks and online
communities
• Used in marketing, communications and development

7. Social Media
• User generated content
• Paradigm shift from industrial media
• Reference.com
• Wikipedia.org
• Blogging (e.g. Wordpress)
• Micro-blogging (e.g. Twitter)
• Video sharing (e.g. YouTube)
• Photo sharing (e.g. Flickr)
• Audio sharing (e.g. Soundcloud)
• Social networking (e.g. Facebook, MySpace, Bebo)
• A platform for content, concepts and connections

8. How to make a podcast
• Make a recording
• Edit the recording
(we recommend Audacity)
• Author RSS code
• Upload to server via FTP
• Locate feed URL
• Subscribe to podcast feed

9. Examples
• Digital media content is used for many purposes
• Created by amateurs and professionals
worldwide
• For podcasts, and other digital media tools, to
succeed they require idea, purpose and quality
• Can be used to promote events
• We will look at examples of digital and social
media use by promoters, performers and venues

10. Promoters
• Tune Up
– Tour previews series for Scottish Arts Council
– Communicate funded tour programme
– Pushed through website and directories
– Personal point of view
– Reaches audience members, artists, managers
• The Edge Festival
– Concert previews series for DF Concerts
– Raise awareness
– Available from multiple platforms
– Attract audience members

11. Performers
• Frantic Assembly
– Video clips throughout website
– Effective YouTube channel
– Facebook fan group
• Amanda Palmer
– Strong Twitter following
– Very popular Facebook and MySpace profiles
– Tweets from The Fringe while performing

12. Venues
• The Traverse Theatre
– Dynamic social media-friendly website
– Recently established branded YouTube channel
– Twitter feed, both informal and informative
– Young writing group just been setup on Facebook
• The Lyceum Theatre
– Share buttons throughout site
– Short relevant YouTube videos
– Recently started Tweeting

13. Social Media Planning
• Choose the most appropriate tools and platforms
• What’s the purpose of the content that you create?
• What are the production requirements?
– Software
– Hardware
– Recording
– Editing
• What is the format and structure?
• What copyright considerations are there?

14. Developing your audience
• Devise three audience development plans, in groups
• Consider everything that you would have to do to create
a viable social media marketing strategy that will attract
audiences and sell tickets
• Plan content, production requirements, marketing,
spending, promotional value and revenue
• Given a budget, buy hardware, software and outsourced
services as required

15. Marketing
• Which tools and platforms will you use?
• How will the content reflect the activity?
• What is the target audience?
• How will you reach your audience?
• What is the call to action?
• How much will your plan cost?
• How will you measure its success?
• Budget: £2,000

16. Scenario 1
• You an independent comedy promoter with a show at
the Underbelly
The Brief
• You are going to devise a podcast series to market
emerging talent
• Consider the content of the series, the format of the
programmes and how they will be produced
• Will you use audio, video, slideshows, blogs, etc.?
• How will this distinguish you from other comedy
promoters?
• How will the series be marketed and how will it be used
to reach new audiences?

17. Scenario 2
• You are a new theatrical performance company with a
piece of serious new writing running at C Venue
The Brief
• Use social media to publicise your production
• Consider the content of the series, the format of the
programmes and how they will be produced
• How will you engage with your audience?
• What advantages are there over traditional forms of
communications such as newsletters (both printed and
electronic versions)?
• Do other performance companies do this? If not, why not?
In what ways can using social media benefit you?

18. Scenario 3
• You are a new performing arts venue in Tollcross, South
Edinburgh with a wintern programme of new work
The Brief
• You want to establish your reputation and build an
audience
• Consider how you will create your content
• Which social network platforms will you use and why?
• How will you engage with your audience?
• What will you do to convince potential audience
members to buy tickets for shows?

19. Plan Evaluations
• After group discussion time, we will evaluate
each of the three plans
• Comedy Promoter
• Performance Company
• Arts Venue

20. Further Information
• delicious.com/innerear
• innerear.co.uk
• radiomagnetic.com
• Dougal Perman, Managing Director
dougal@innerear.co.uk
• Anny Deery, Development Producer
anny@innerear.co.uk
• Andy McColgan, Content Manager
andy@innerear.co.uk
• Bobby Perman, Chief Editor
bobby@innerear.co.uk