Four Digital Campaigns That Worked (#2):
Pianist Jim Brickman

Pianist Jim Brickman wanted to engage his audiences and build his fan base through social media while on a tour bus traveling to new towns in America.

Method: Twitter

Effort: Participate in a Sydney, Australia, challenge to take a photograph based on the challenge subject of the day and then disseminate it. Jim did this by tweeting it to his fans. On one recent day, it was to take a photograph of "5:00pm"—wherever you are, whatever you see, and then tweet it in. The assignment was delivered as: 5:00 #marchphotoaday. Fans could take their own photos and send them back to Jim, thereby participating in the challenge as well. To see all of the photos from the Brickman effort in this challenge, the fans could search on Twitter and view them grouped together.

When: Ongoing

Cost: Consultant Fee (undisclosed)

Results: 6,000 (and growing) Twitter followers

Tips:

• Organic message content: Aside from the basic restriction that a Tweet is only 140 characters in length, the content is more flexible than you would initially imagine. Social Media consultant Jessica Dover stresses, "An artist must write the content of the Tweets in his/her own voice. That authenticity is extremely important."
   
• Get a "look!": The character of Maria Callas is emphatic about this in Terrence McNally's play, Master Class. It's important here, too. Over time, artists develop signature styles in their microblogs; their preferred style of writing and whether to include emoticons, etc., are choices that evolve into a recognizable style.
   
• Write a catchy subject line: An innocuous "check me out" doesn't work, unless you are Chubby 'Check'-er.
   
• Create a compelling call to action: It must be "fun and creative." This was the mantra of the daily Tweets from the Romanza tour bus this spring.

Other campaigns from Special Reports' Four Digital Campaigns That Worked

#1: Attracting Donations— Composer/Soloist Tracy Silverman

#3: Selling Tickets, Discovering New Talent—The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space / 'Battle of the Boroughs'

#4: In-Concert Information: The New World Center WALLCAST Concerts