Industry Insider: A Quick-Start Guide to Social Media for Theatre

Social media has become an increasingly-present aspect of our society. When used for good, it has the opportunity to share some amazing content and boost your theatre into the public eye!

A full guide diving into best practices, analytics, and more could probably fill a book, so we're here to share some quick tips and tricks to turn your content into engaging posts that will prove beneficial to your theater organization.

Make use of your audience!

Your followers follow you for a reason! While it's important to take advantage of the content you have from production photos, the latest theater news, and more, it's also super important to be engaging with your followers.

Throughout 2020, we made use of our audience by asking them questions through our prompts, encouraging them to participate in fan art challenges, and more. Not only will you get to know your audience a little bit better by connecting with them in the comments and replies, you can also turn it into a fun roundup to share.

Check out our most recent roundup of fan responses: 22 Motivational Broadway Quotes to Read When You Need a Pep Talk.

Give a behind the scenes look with Instagram takeovers

We love having Broadway and theater stars take over our Instagram story to promote their shows and projects. Even with theaters shutdown, we have still had the opportunity to host takeovers with some incredible line-up of stars including Jessica Vosk, Alice Ripley, Sierra Boggess, and many more!

These stars were able to promote their virtual concerts and use the fun features on Instagram like...

• Questions: Fans send in questions for the guest to answer!
• Quiz: Guests can creative fun quiz questions to interact with the fans
• Poll: Guests can set a poll to let the fans vote on whatever they'd like!
  • (A fun example of the poll feature was when Girl from the North Country's Kimber Elayne Sprawl had our fans vote on her opening night accessories)

Watch some of our past takeovers here on our recap playlist.

Follow BroadwayWorld on Instagram to be notified of our next takeover!

Go live on Facebook

During the shutdown, we've had the opportunity to start multiple livestream shows that now have large fan followings! Each show is streamed weekly on our Facebook page, connecting with theater stars or just to chat. Check out some of our shows below!

Backstage Live with Richard Ridge

Seeing your favorite Broadway stars live on a Broadway stage may not be a reality for a while, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy them live from your screen. BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge is keeping up with all of their latest projects on Backstage Live, bringing you in-depth interviews twice weekly.

Watch recent episodes of Backstage Live here!

The Chaos Twins

Join Broadway stars Sasha Hutchings and Nik Walker on The Chaos Twins. What's it all about? "In a world of extremes, where the divides are deep and the struggles are real, sometimes, the only way back to the calm... is Chaos," say Sasha and Nik. "Enter The Chaos Twins. Join us, two Broadway artists/goofballs, as we break through the noise and break down current events, with our unique brand of humor and insight. A talk show filled with special guests, non-sequiturs, stories, trivia and more, all aimed to help us find our true north again... by any means necessary."

Watch recent episodes of The Chaos Twins here!

Next Year, Some Year

Every Tuesday at 12pm ET, BroadwayWorld's own "Ben Rimalower's Broken Records" podcast co-hosts, Ben Rimalower and Daniel Nolen, will be broadcasting "Next Year, Some Year," a weekly hour-long livestream video chat show where they will offer their trademark takes on the music and video content they've been enjoying. This is a fun and fast-paced program of fan favorite segments like "All-Beef Patti," "Who Do You Think You Are?" and "Dolly, Concert, Kill" as well as a whole new roster of features and interactive games with the viewers, plus special guest star appearances sure to delight.

Watch recent episodes of Next Year, Some Year here!

Jim Caruso's Cast Party

We've partnered with Jim Caruso to stream his Cast Party show weekly on our Facebook page! After hosting his weekly Cast Party every Monday night at Birdland since 2003, showman Jim Caruso wasn't about to let the temporary pandemic shutdown of the iconic NYC nightclub put a halt to his award-winning open mic night. Instead, with the technical expertise of producer Ruby Locknar, he went virtual, to bring the popular musical variety show into the homes of viewers everywhere via the YouTube Cast Party Network.

Watch recent episodes of Cast Party here!

Virtual Halston

We've partnered with Julie Halston to stream her virtual show weekly on our Facebook page! Broadway actress/comedienne Julie Halston has come to a laptop near you! After ranting and raving on stages and cocktail parties, the comedy queen hosts "Virtual Halston," a weekly hour-long gab-fest spotlighting her famous friends.

Watch the latest episode of Virtual Halston here!

It's the Day of the Show Y'All

The shows that viewers will learn about may appear familiar, but do they REALLY know these lesser known pieces? Every episode of "It's The Day of the Show Y'all" is an ode to musical underdogs that deserve air-time, beginning with a description of the show's plotline and detailing cast-spotlights, fun facts, and awards received. Concluding with a featured song from the musical performed by the host, Spencer Glass, this digital series is a must-watch for the little theatre nerd within all of us, or even for those new to the show biz scene!

Watch recent episodes of It's the Day of the Show Y'All here!

Like BroadwayWorld on Facebook to find out when our next live show is happening!

Livetweet events, movies, and more

While most events have been placed on hold during the past year, we still had a ton of fun livetweeting some virtual events that took place in 2020 like Miscast20 and NBC's One Night on Broadway.

A tool that is a must-have for livetweeting is GIPHY Capture, which allows you to capture anything that's on your screen and turn it into a gif! We were able to create and upload the gif in real time as we tweeted along each event.

Encourage your followers to tweet along with you using a pre-planned hashtag, either one that the actual event is promoting or by creating your own.

And rather than waiting for more events to livetweet, why not host your own? Use online tools like Netflix Watch Party to host a virtual movie night with your followers-- just don't forget the popcorn!

Tweet along with BroadwayWorld on Twitter HERE!

Pick up on the latest TikTok trends

Wondering how joining this social media platform will benefit your business? Check out Chloe's article on why your theatre needs to be on TikTok.

There are so many trends and theater memes that have been coming from TikTok the past few months, like the Grocery Store musical, the Ratatouille musical, and even a Bridgerton musical!

Theater kids have taken over the app, creating fun series like The M. Tea or just sharing fun facts other theater fanatics may not know. Don't be afraid to join in on these trends and make your own videos!

We'll definitely be chatting more about TikTok at our industry webinar, which you can register for below!

Follow BroadwayWorld on TikTok HERE!

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Want to learn more about social media for your theatre company? Then make sure you register for February's Industry Pro Webinar:

The Ins and Outs of Social Media for Theatre with the BroadwayWorld Social Team!

Join BroadwayWorld's Chloe Rabinowitz and Taylor Brethauer for a discussion of the in's and out's of the various social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook Twitter, and TikTok), how BroadwayWorld has grown their accounts in the last year, what posts they've found to be successful, how best to work the algorithm, and what the biggest trends (and how to spot them) are on theatre TikTok! The presentation will be followed by a q+a to answer your questions about social media.

Register Now to Join us Wednesday, February 24th at 3pm Eastern!