Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra Strikes A Chord With Social Media To Drive Increased Concert Sales

Indianapolis, IN (Top40 Charts/ Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra) - Social media, mobile marketing and email marketing has helped the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (ISO) boost sales for concerts and add nearly 5,000 Facebook fans and 1,500 Twitter followers in less than a year. The ISO, which connects with concertgoers through Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, the ISO blog, Foursquare, YouTube, its ExactTarget-powered email marketing SymphonEmail and text messaging series, and customized iPhone and Android applications, has experienced online success with more than 40 percent of email subscribers purchasing concert tickets this past season.

"Interactive marketing has allowed the ISO to extend its reach beyond the traditional classical music audience, and that has contributed to helping our bottom line," said Mark Newman, vice president of marketing and communications for ISO. "We want to provide a great experience for our fans, as well as attract potential new audience members."

By using multiple channels to communicate, the ISO allows followers to engage and communicate with the orchestra on multiple levels. For example, the ISO's Facebook posts encourage fans to read new blog posts from orchestra members. Similarly, Facebook integrates with the ISO Twitter stream and YouTube channel. Through the iPhone and Android apps, users can stream music, access program notes, view upcoming concerts and even purchase tickets.

The ISO's Happy Hour, Symphony on the Prairie, and the Symphonic Hits have all seen increases in attendance thanks in part to ISO's social and interactive marketing activities. The four-concert Happy Hour series tripled its attendance this past season, and Symphony on the Prairieposted record ticket sales with a 19 percent increase since 2008.

The ISO earned national acclaim for its integrated marketing programs earlier this year from ClickZ. The national publication awarded the ISO with the ClickZ Connected Marketing Award for its interactive marketing program to connect people around the world through music and social media.

"The ISO is a great example of an organization that understands the power of social media, and is using it in real time to be responsive to its fans, while also bridging the gap and adding new audiences," said Tim Kopp, chief marketing officer at ExactTarget.

The ISO announcement comes less than a month after the release of ExactTarget's Real-Time Marketing: Data is the New Creative of the Real-Time Web, which is available for free download at https://pages.exacttarget.com/DataCreative/.