Summertime for many arts organizations is a time for artists, staff and others to take a break and refresh. Many ‘seasons’ in Canada run September to May and summer poses a tough time to keep audiences engaged with your brand when they are focussed on outdoor fun, festivals, and relaxation.
As an arts marketer, it can be a real challenge to find sources of content during the summer months to stay on the radar of your patrons. In this summer series, I will share some of my favourite quick and easy ways to beg, borrow and steal content to keep your current and potential audience engaged.
Take five minutes and sign yourself up for a series of Google alerts. These have proven to be one of my top sources for new articles and announcements.
How to sign up for Google Alerts
- Go to google.ca/alerts and login with your gmail account. I have my gmail account linked with my work email so I get the alerts delivered to my work account.
- Sign up for the subject that you want to monitor. I include upcoming artists that I will be presenting, as well as generic terms like ‘grand theatre’, ‘arts marketing’ and ‘public art’.
- Choose how often you want the alert, the sources, language, region, number and email account for delivery.
- After the show is over, I cancel artist-specific alerts to cut down on inbox clutter.
Google alerts pull for a variety of sources including videos, blogs, websites and media sites, so this is a great way to get testimonials, show reviews, and content that can be great to share on social media.
Follow my content ideas series all July to supercharge your summer content calendar.
