December 13, 2007

The Columbia Ballet Collaborative Promotes Performance on Facebook

The Columbia Ballet Collaborative, a group formed by Columbia University students earlier this fall to increase awareness of ballet on campus, has successfully used the social networking site Facebook to promote their weekend performances (tomorrow and Saturday).

To access their Facebook pages, you'll need to register. You can visit the Columbia Ballet Collaborative page and also view the details about their weekend performances.

Here's a screen shot of their performance/event page - you can click image for larger picture:

Here's screen shot of the same page that highlights the Facebook event invitation tools. On top right visitors can RSVP. Then on bottom and in right-hand column, you can see who will, might and will not attend - click for larger image:

This morning I spoke by phone with Lydia Walker, a part-time Columbia student and professional ballet dancer who was one of five students who created The Columbia Ballet Collaborative. Lydia said that they used Facebook since all the students were already using this social networking site and it took the fewest resources to get up and running with it. She said that this application will work well for anybody who has a good friend base and it's a really easy way to let people know what you'll be doing.

To promote the Ballet Cooperative, they set-up a Facebook group and event page, and asked friends to join. Once you join this group, you then automatically receive updates from the group in your newsfeed on your Facebook profile page. Plus, your friends who visit your profile page will then see info. about the Columbia Ballet Collaborative.

Here's the mini-feed that appears on my profile page after I signed-up for the Columbia Ballet group:

Simply a great form of viral marketing. Once you sign-up to do something all your friends know what you'll be up to. (The Columbia Ballet Collaborative's Facebook initiative has inspired me to get more serious about Facebook. I have not been very active at all and I think I should start using it more.)

Lydia said that a good place for dance companies to start their Facebook explorations is with dancers under 35 who have a lot of friends on Facebook.

I would be delighted to hear from other dancers/dance companies about how you are using social networks to build audiences and sell tickets. Do you have success stories to share?

Other Articles/Posts about Columbia Ballet Collaborative

- Pictures of the Columbia Ballet Collaborative.

- Ballet Collaborative mentioned in this post about Dance at Barnard.

- Preview of Columbia Ballet Collaborative in Time Out New York by Gia Kourlas

Posted by Doug Fox on December 13, 2007 1:57 PM

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