Where Should Orchestras Find New Audiences?

I was talking to an orchestra administrator recently, describing the virtues of social media for driving audience growth. The administrator frowned and said, "Actually, I find that email is our most cost-effective marketing tool."

He was completely right. Does that mean I was wrong? Not exactly, but I hadn't been clear. We were talking about two totally different groups of people.

He was talking about people who already know about the orchestra, and who may or may not have bought a ticket before.

I was talking about people who know nothing about the orchestra, and who have never even thought of buying a ticket.

From a marketing perspective, the difference is enormous.

So let me be clear: email is the single best tool in any organization's marketing arsenal. Done right, email is your best shot for getting audiences to take action (like buying tickets). That said, email is powerful but complicated. It's not enough to just send emails with pretty photos and "buy tickets here" links. Email and social media need to be healthy and working in tandem, each feeding the other.

So why does social media excite me? Because email lists don't grow themselves.

What Did We Do Before Social Media?

Social media is the most powerful and most economical platform for introducing new audiences to classical music. It's also the best for nurturing people through the middle of the sales funnel, that stretch of time between their first awareness that you exist and the moment they finally click the link to your website.

What are the alternatives to social media? What did orchestras do before everyone used Instagram?

In recent decades, orchestras have had Google retargeting ads, but those only work for people who've already visited your site. Cold-traffic Google ads are difficult to target and rarely cost-effective for reaching new audiences. Billboard and print ads are not only difficult to target, but almost impossible to track. Direct mail and telemarketing are too expensive and rarely effective for cold outreach. Radio seems to be declining in our age of streaming music and podcasts.

The tactic that gives you detailed data and pays increasing dividends over time is building a strong social media presence. (Note that I'm focusing on organic reach rather than paid ads. If you'd like to dig into the reasons why, feel free to reach out here.)

Of all the platforms, Instagram is my favorite for arts organizations. There are a lot of variables, but for the past several years (and likely several more to come), two things stand out:

Reach

Younger generations are heavy Instagram users, and affluent Boomers are rapidly joining their ranks.

Algorithm/Platform Stability

Instagram's algorithm has been remarkably consistent for years. This is critical, since attracting followers is an art that requires practice. If the algorithms are constantly changing, the people doing the posting can't get their bearings. It's like trying to win a game in which the umpire constantly moves the goal posts and changes the rules.

Facebook is very popular with older users, but its algorithm has been falling apart at the same time that Instagram has gotten more consistent. My sense is that Meta has been ignoring Facebook while lavishing attention on Instagram and Threads. As for older users leaning heavily on Facebook and YouTube, neither is as viable as Instagram, for reasons I'll get into below.

TikTok's trends shift almost daily, and keeping up isn't optional; it's the price of admission. For this platform, the problem isn't so much the algorithm as user behavior. What's "in" today is "out" tomorrow. Also, the mindset people bring to TikTok scrolling is the most passive of all the platforms. A single post can rack up millions of views while the account it came from gains only a few hundred followers. People move through TikTok almost on autopilot, and even something as small as checking out a profile feels like too much of an interruption.

Converting a TikTok viewer into an email subscriber is a long shot. As Gen X and Boomer adoption grows, orchestras should keep an eye on it, but it's not where I'd start.

Traditional YouTube content is relatively long and difficult to produce, so I don't see orchestras spending the time or money needed to rack up millions of views on this platform anytime soon. I think YouTube would be an excellent investment, but making this content isn't easy. YouTube also still seems to be figuring out where Shorts fit into its strategy, which makes ongoing algorithm changes for Shorts likely.

Threads has the most thoughtful algorithm at the moment, probably because it's newer and Meta is actively investing in it, but its total membership is relatively low. My personal opinion is that Threads is a good fit for orchestra audiences. Which might lead you to wonder: "Why not post on lots of platforms? Why not all of them?"

The short answer is because it's hard. Each platform has its own aesthetic and unspoken rules. Mastering each is a bit like learning a language. There are only so many hours in the day.

The platforms more conducive to real action (following an account, joining a mailing list, or buying a ticket) are Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and regular YouTube. And of those, only Instagram combines ease of use, broad membership across age groups, and a stable, learnable algorithm.

Conclusion — Classical Music's Future Depends on Instagram

If you want to sell tickets, send an email to a huge list of names. Where did you get that email list? Someone has to find you first, like what they see, and decide you're worth giving up their email address. Instagram is the best catalyst to make this happen. It's the top of the funnel that makes everything downstream possible.

Classical music's future depends on growing exposure, education, and access for many different demographics and geographies. Arts organizations' best hope for making this happen is by creating outstanding, engaging Instagram accounts.