ArtsCareer May 2011 eNews
ArtsCareer May 2011 eNews
Sent : 11 May 2011
Welcome
Welcome to the 2nd ArtsCareer eNews! This issue looks at how Social Media can be used in professional development. We talk to social media expert Emily Doig about how arts practitioners can use social media to build their profile and sell their work. Also this issue’s Feature Practitioner Nell Greco, talks about how she uses social media as part of her practice. Plus don’t miss our exclusive competition for ArtsCareer eNews subscribers.
Scroll down to find out more!
Happy professional developing!
From The ArtsCareer Team
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If you’re not sure what benefits social media can bring to the promotion of your arts practice, Emily Doig, contributing editor of socialmediadaily.com.au and social media speaker, advises approaching it as a way to simply tell people who you are and what you do, without them having to find you first. The informality of these sites helps you to personalise yourself and your product in a way that is difficult to do on a website. Emily herself has used Facebook and Twitter to help her build relationships with the customers of her online business and so keep them coming back.
She recommends that before you get started it’s important to ask yourself what you want social media to do for you. Is it to generate awareness of your brand, or to connect with new audiences, or something else? Once you have a main aim you should work out how you are going to achieve it and this will help to inform the type of content you post and how it's written.
Next, according to Emily, you need to find your “sweet spot” and research which social media platform suits you and your needs. She says that it’s essential to feel “comfortable and confident” in using whichever social media platform you decide upon. So if you don’t like to talk too much then she suggests that maybe Twitter isn’t for you or if you prefer to communicate through images then perhaps Flickr is the right choice. Whichever you go for, just start off with one, get good at it and then branch out. Only take on what you’ll have time to manage as you’ll need to keep your social media platform regularly updated. If you’re not talking, people will lose interest.
In that sense Emily sees social media as a conversation. She laughingly comments that you wouldn’t walk into a bar and just join a conversation without listening to what’s just been said. It’s the same with social media. Find out what your customers/potential customers are saying and then join in.
If you already have a platform set up but you’re struggling to gain fans/followers then Emily advises not to be dormant and to start “engaging in conversations”. If you give people a reason to follow you then “people will want to connect”.
Emily’s final points of advice are to just “be yourself” and to be “open and honest”. You’ll win many more fans.
Ultimately, the best way to see what works for you is to just get out there, or rather online, and try it out. The websites below have some great hints and advice for both new and experienced social mediaites plus don’t miss Emily’s daily tips on socialmediadaily.com.au.
Useful websites
- Social Media Daily provides advice to small businesses on how to use social media as part of a marketing strategy. The site is aimed at both new and experienced social media users. http://socialmediadaily.com.au/
- SocialMediaNews.com.au delivers the latest social media news from around Australia and internationally. http://www.socialmedianews.com.au/
- Hootville offers social media tips and advice. http://www.hootville.com/
- Netregistry is a domain provider but also gives advice on email marketing and e-commerce. http://www.netregistry.com.au/
- Blogger’s Domain is full of blogging tips, tools and resources. http://bloggersdomain.com/
- Social Media Examiner is a free online magazine designed to help businesses discover how best to use social media. http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/
Useful websites for teachers
- http://www.schools.com/articles/teacher-facebook.html lists nine example of social media being used as a teaching tool.
- http://www.slideshare.net/kitchenerd/social-media-for-teaching-learning is a presentation on the use of social media for teaching.
- http://socialmediaclassroom.com/ provides teachers with an integrated set of social media that can be used in learning.
- http://www.digitalrhetoric.org/socialmedia.html Elizabeth Losh, a writing director at the University of California, Berkeley, has put together this page of notes about teaching social media.
- This article looks at how a group of professors are using social media as a teaching tool. http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/43747152.html
Ten Social Media Tips
- Before you think about setting up a Facebook or Twitter page for your business, make sure you have a website you can direct your future fans/followers to.
- Set up a page for yourself before you set up a page for your business so you can find out what suits you, what’s out there and what’s being said.
- Listen to what others are saying and keep a note of the kind of posts that interest you. This could help to start you off when you begin to comment or tweet.
- Decide what you want your social media platform to do for you before you get started. This will help inform the type of content you post.
- Once you are underway, make sure other organisations and people in the same field find out about you by following them. The likelihood is that they’ll follow you in return.
- Keep your updates/posts short but interesting. Your posts don’t always have to be about your work; they could just be commenting on something you’ve seen that day. This gives you and your brand some personality, which should keep your followers engaged.
- Encourage interaction from your fans/followers by asking questions, starting discussion topics or running a competition.
- Help people who like you and your work to spread the word by including share functions such as Twitter’s “Tweet” button or Facebook’s “Like” button on your website. Facebook have also just introduced a new “Send” button which enables users to send a page that interests them directly to their friends.
- Struggling to find people to follow on twitter? Try TweetDeck’s Directory of Twitter users.
- And finally, as Emily said, just be yourself! GOOD LUCK!
This eNews feature practitioner is Nell Greco, a freelance writer, producer and cultural commentator who is also host of FBi’s ‘Canvas’ program and Arts Editor of Two Thousand. We asked her to tell us what she loves about writing and how she uses social media in her practice.
ArtsCareer: Can you tell us a bit about your writing practice, what you do, and how you got started?
Nell Greco: I’ve always had an interest in the arts and music but after spending enough years dappling in photography, theatre and music, I realised the greatest expression of my ideas was through words. Having always enjoyed ‘chewing the fat’ with other people about the work of artists and creators, I simply started writing about those whose work I had an opinion about (positive or not), then volunteering my writing to street press and online publications. Eventually, I built up a large enough portfolio to get paid work as a writer and have been working as Arts Editor of Two Thousand as well as being a freelance contributor to both online and print publications like Das Superpaper, The Brag, Concrete Playground, Demo Magazine and The Music Network.
AC: What do you enjoy about writing and writing about music?
NG: Like I mentioned earlier, writing is the medium that allows me the greatest expression of my ideas. As for writing about music, feature interviews (my favourite form of writing for music or art) allow me to indulge in extracting the ideas other people have about their practice. It’s an opportunity to converse directly with the artist, to share my interpretations of their work as a ‘consumer’ and their intentions as the creator. Plus I find it fun dissecting the elements of music and reviewing it.
AC: How do you develop your writing skills?
NG: Like any creative endeavour, practice is essential. However, it can sometimes be difficult to know if your work is heading in the right direction without having feedback from an external, informed source. Listening to comments from editors - so long as they’re constructive, is often a good idea.
I’m not particularly interested in taking formal writing courses since I’ve often found that, in the past, formal training tends to restrict my exploration of my practice, rather than enrich and encourage it. I prefer to not be overly concerned with formal ideas of how one should write but rather like naturally exploring and playing with words. So I read a lot, spending a great deal of time reading the work of other writers – be it works of fiction, journalism or academic dissertations. As I’ve had no formal training in creative writing or journalism, discerning other writer’s ‘voices’ has helped me recognise the ‘voice’ of my own work and continues to help me structure and develop my writing further.
I also go to great effort to keep abreast of what is happening in the local art and music scenes and use that ‘research’ to develop my work. Working at FBi has been a great help for this (in music) and I spend a lot of time visiting galleries, going to gigs and talking to practising artists (and industry folk) about what they’re interested in at the moment.
AC: How do you use social media, such as twitter and blogging in your practice?
NG: Social media is kind of an after thought in my practice. However, I keep a blog, which is linked to Twitter so whenever I post a new blog entry, it’s immediately posted to my Twitter profile too. My blog acts as a public, central record of my published work (selected pieces) but I also post creative writing pieces on it, along with recorded audio packages, produced for specific radio stations. I will from time to time, promote published online articles via Facebook as well, but this depends on what the article is about and whether I want to be recognised more widely for writing about that subject.
AC: How effective do you feel social media is in terms of promoting yourself as a writer?
NG: It’s really successful, especially if you have a group of ‘friends’ or ‘followers’ who are interested in the type of work you’re involved in. So the nature of sharing information on these sites is great for promoting my work. It’s particularly useful for promoting the online content I produce and sometimes friends will promote stories for me. Otherwise, when promoting print-published work, I have to be the proactive one (as I’m the only one with the electronic copy).
The sometimes-difficult thing about promoting writing on these sites is that there are rarely accompanying pictures. That might sound like an irrelevant and naff problem but it’s a fact that people will stare at a blog with pictures twice as long as one without them (and three times as long if the image is moving!). So, if ever you can include images with your writing, it’s sure to get a few more hits.
AC: Have you got any social media tips for writers and other arts practitioners?
NG: Social media sites can be a public portrayal of who you are and what you do. Posting content and examples of your work will always be beneficial in promoting it – so long as you don’t over promote your work (spam-post). Another good idea is to befriend organisations, publications and people who are relevant to the field you’re working in (galleries, publications, directors etc) and try to initiate friendly, work related dialogue with them.
AC: What projects have you got coming up next?
NG: I’m currently working on extending my creative writing body of work (which, at the moment includes script writing and short stories) and I’m also about to embark on a culturally enriching trip to London.
You can connect with Nell at:
Feature Practitioner website:
Jessica Tremp
Born in 1981, Jessica Tremp grew up in Switzerland before moving to Melbourne at the age of 18. She brought with her a love for theatrics, romanticism and nature and has started combining these with her growing passion for the art of photography a few years ago. She uses herself as a model in most of her images and prefers an uncomplicated, organic, spontaneous and naturally lit approach to shooting.
Feature Practitioner blog:
Richard Pilkington – Chance Operations
Richard Pilkington is an artist and creative technician mainly working in the medium of sound. Richard’s work is mainly based around composition and live performance incorporating the ideas of chaos and indeterminacy.
ArtsCareer, in collaboration with Hopscotch Films, are offering ArtsCareer eNews subscribers the chance to win one of 20 double passes to a sneak preview of OCEANS.
Nearly three-quarters of the Earth's surface is covered by water, yet most of this submerged world is virtually unknown. OCEANS’ Directors Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud (Travelling Birds) dive deep into the very waters that sustain all of mankind, exploring the harsh reality and the amazing creatures that live within. An astonishing look at the world of the oceans, with never-seen-before imagery captured by the latest underwater technology, it is awe-inspiring stuff. Shot over four years, it reveals inspiring wildlife, including endangered marine species. Not a standard nature documentary, it is also part thriller and part meditation on the vanishing wonders of the aquatic. It's a powerful celebration of our underwater world; a place that requires our attention. Visually spectacular yet with a salient eco-message, it will mesmerise and educate in equal measure. OCEANS is already one of the most successful documentaries of all time grossing almost $100 million to date.
Check out the trailer here: http://www.hopscotchfilms.com.au/trailers/#video-199/
ArtsCareer and Hopscotch are giving away 20 double passes. For your chance to win one of the 20 email your name, address and contact details to artscareer@visualarts.net.au
The passes are valid over the weekend of the 20-22 May.
Please note that it is 'first in best dressed' and the competition will close once the first 20 passes have been claimed.
Tickets are valid at the following cinemas:
Sydney
Cinema Paris
Palace Norton
Melbourne
NOVA
Palace Como
Brisbane
Palace Barracks
Adelaide
Eastend
Perth
Cinema Paradiso
