From Holbein to Cambridge Curry Houses, the Alley draws inspiration from all sources.

The Alley Theatre recently took part in a Audience NI training session in Belfast which was all about reaching the student audience. From research it seems that students are certainly having a different experience than maybe students 10 or 15 years ago. The most interesting point, but not totally relevant to arts marketing, is that students take 3 holidays per year....3 holidays on a student loan, how do they manage it?


Anyway the guest speaker on the day covered a number of different points on how to appeal to the student market, however the Alley was already working on a number of projects that he suggested.

He did offer two gems of information however which made the whole trip worthwhile.....


1. When using Facebook, one of the essential sites for students today, always ensure you page is a "fan" site, rather than a "group" page. The main difference being that by running a "Fan site", you can directly post into their newsfeed, while in "groups" page you can only email the member.
Research shows that students on Facebook never really bother opening emails in their Facebook page, meaning students join various interest groups, then never really interact. The opportunity to get into their newsfeed ensures you are constantly reminding them of their membership at the Alley Facebook page and what's coming up, hopefully developing further interaction.

Since we relaunched the Alley Facebook page, not only have we seen a increase in numbers, but also a "better quality" of member. Before I hear a flood of complaints about that comment, what I mean it that gone are all the Alley staff members friends and family who join the site out of loyalty, but now the new site has appealed to a host of people who are seriously interested in receiving and interacting with the Alley. We now have 140 members, 99.9% from Northern Ireland, with a few ex-pats also joining to keep up to date with news back home Strabane.

One small comment about the relaunch..since we did it, other venues copied us within 48 hours! Once again the Alley led the way.




2. Develop Facebook ambassadors.

The world of ambassadors have moved on from the time of Henry VIII and Hans Holbein, however a few things are timeless....the power to influence through letters, words, images and recommendation.

Would Henry had married Anne of Cleeves if he had not received a personal recommendation on her looks from his Ambassadors or a sketch from Holbein? Certainly not.

The same can be said in the 21st century with people now using social networking sites, online friends and Youtube clips to work out what purchases to make, which shows to see or things to do at the weekend. One quick example of this in action was when friend was in Cambridge at 11 p.m. on a Saturday night and wanted a recomendation for a Curry House for a post-pub trip. He put the call out on Facebook and within 2 minutes he had received 3 curry house addresses and indepth personal recomendations. If it can work for a Curry house, it can certainly work in the arts!

Therefore the Alley is working on developing links with key Facebook users in the North West, with the intention of making them our Facebook ambassadors. It's in the early stages of planning and execution, so I think I will give a more detailed desciption on how we intend it to work in a couple of weeks once it is full up and running.

To check out the Alley Facebook page or maybe apply to be our new Facebook Ambassador click here.