When thinking about how to build audiences and engage consumers, what better sector to study than the Arts?
They live or die based on community buy-in to their products. They’re often maligned when seeking government assistance and the community has strong ideas about how “art” should be made, even with no experience in artistic practice themselves. Sound familiar, agriculture?
So, I attended the Australia Council’s Marketing Summit to see what they know!
What a treat to hear from Andy Levey from Cirque du Soleil (currently based in Las Vegas) who spoke about their digital engagement strategy.
Cirque du Soleil’s digital strategy has evolved from a transactional one (selling tickets / earning “likes”) to one that fuels and builds relationships – creating a “family.”
Here are some lessons I took from Andy’s presentation that I think apply to promoting agriculture:
Learn from the audience. Find out what matters to them and address those interests.
Cirque du Soleil uses an engagement cycle that includes plenty of listening, observing and then responding. This helps keep their content relevant and targeted.
In agriculture we talk about ourselves a lot – we defend ourselves, explain ourselves – but are we talking about what matters to consumers?
And it's crucial to understand WHO the audience is before you can effectively engage. Should agriculture spend more resources engaging with animal activists or supermarket shoppers?
Think like a “fan.”
People are talking and they want to be heard. Andy asks how you want to be treated by your favourite brand?
There’s a strong undercurrent in agriculture’s engagement that focuses on “educating” people, particularly urban Australians. Would you like to be educated? Or would you like to feel involved and valued?
Invite them behind the curtain.
Cirque du Soleil employs a range of strategies that lift the veil of secrecy and show people what goes on behind the scenes. It makes fans feel part of the process, and by extension, the family. They then become your greatest ambassadors.
This is where agriculture is making huge gains. Social media has given us the power to invite city people on to farms to see how we really grow food and fibre, without them having to leave the couch. There are some great examples of people doing this, but could we do more? Are we converting urban consumers into ambassadors?
Humanise the brand and speak in language they understand.
People engage with people, so ensure you engage authentically.
Again, we have this in spades – lots of fantastic people in agriculture who can add a human dimension to our production methods. We just have to remember to drop the jargon and scientific terms to engage at our audience’s level of interest.
Context, not content, matters.
A really great point! We’ve all been told content rules, but as Andy points out the context for that content is important to activate your audience. Don’t just post because you can. Make sure it’s meaningful.
I guess it’s like us posting photos of outback sunsets as the debate rages around live export. Where’s the relevance?
In the end, Andy said it’s simply about remembering:
It’s not about YOU it’s about your AUDIENCE
What do you think Agriculture does well?
How could we engage better?
