Ladies First!

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 (Emily Grove with David Ford singing her favorite Dylan song, “Oh Sister” at The Saint)

Monmouth County, though still in “recovery mode” after Super Storm Sandy,  is lucky enough to have three emerging major talents (also of the female persuasion) to make it feel like “home” again.  And while  there may be more than that, I’ve narrowed it down to just three for the purposes of this article!  That’s no small task, believe you me, but in this case it wasn’t so difficult after all;  let’s take a look at Emily Grove, Tara Elliot, & Eryn Shewell.  Chances are you’ve heard these names before –but until you’ve heard their music you’re missing more than half of the picture!  And while they all perform in and around Asbury Park here in Monmouth,  their successes take them beyond our County, beyond New Jersey, and dare I say even further!  All three of these women are headed for international stardom and deservedly so…

 

Emily Grove

Emily Grove has just finished recording a new album and a European tour through Scotland, England & Ireland in support of it.  This is especially big news since she toured with David Ford, who’s getting a lot of attention across the pond.  Even bigger news is that internationally acclaimed producer, Jason Rubal, of Seventh Wave Studios who has become famous for making some of the “most edgy and unique records” has produced her lastest work!  While Ms. Grove may site artists such as Dolores Riordan (Cranberries) and Alanis Morrisette as influences, she’s been compared stylistically in respected music magazines like The Aquarian to legends like Carly Simon, Carole King and John Prine.  When I see pictures of her in her preferred authentic Victorian garb all I can think of is Rasputina!  She performs regularly with Glen Burtnik, an international artist who made his mark playing with Styx most notably, perhaps.  Ms. Grove has won a handful of local music awards including Asbury Music Awards as well as Jersey Acoustic Music Awards.

Tara Elliot

Fellow Top Female Vocalist Asbury Music Award winner, Tara Elliot has been called “The Bastard Child of Janis Joplin and the Stooges” by Thomaxe of New York Waste Newspaper.  If that’s a lot to live up to, Ms. Elliot certainly delivers through her live shows.  Show up and you might get to see Emily Grove painted completely in gold paint while Elliot rips into “Goldfinger” –a song immortalized by Shirley Bassey in a 1964 James Bond film.  Or maybe you’ll catch a rendition of “Paradise by the Dashboard Lights” by the likes of Mr. Entertainment himself, Tony Clifton!  Tara Elliott and her band, The Red Velvets, is a bluesy-punk power trio driven by Tara’s red-hot vocals.  Their sound is said to reflect iconic influences by artists like: Muddy Waters, Janis Joplin, Tina Turner, The Velvet Underground, & The White Stripes as well as Iggy Pop & the Stooges.  Tara has also been invited to join Glen Burtnick on stage for his Summer of Love concert at the Count Basie Theater which is where she first worked with Emily Grove.  Chris Rotolo, Editor in Chief of Speak into My Good Eye, wrote: “ I’ve said it before and will continue to stress that Tara Elliott and company is in the top tier of Rock N’ Roll acts to call the Jersey Shore Its home.”  Tara is in negotiations now with management that’s worked with some of the biggest names in rock ‘n roll.  You can catch Tara Elliot and The Red Velvets at The Crossroads in Garwood, NJ on May 2nd or May 9th when you’ll be able to win a G & L Tribute Series ASAT Guitar! To see more of what Tara’s up to, click here to get the latest. 

 

Eryn Shewell

Eryn Shewell has been nominated for Asbury Music Awards since she hit the scene in 2007 and was took home Top Female Vocalist in 2009.  She did it again in 2011 and her band won Top Blues Band that same year!  This year she signed with Blue Raven Entertainment and is working on her third album, the self-titled, “Eryn Shewell” with her new band The Whiskey Devils.  Known as the Jewel of New Jersey, it has been said that Eryn’s incredible vocals have the capability to give even the most hardened critic chills.  Eryn sang with the country band Sundance for 10 years, landing the gig at the tender age of 13.  She sang back up with Jody Joseph and the Average Joes and spent several months with national touring outfit, “Soul Project” and Walter “Wolfman” Washington down in New Orleans.  You can catch her debuting her new album and band at Tim McCloone’s Supper Club in Asbury Park on Sunday, June 2.  The fun begins at 6pm and also features performances by Alice Leon, Jeffrey Gaines and Sandy Mack.  For ticket’s to Eryn’s upcoming band and record debut, click here for tickets:  erynshewell.com/tickets. 

Things are warming up here in Monmouth County and down on the shore where much love and support is needed.  They’re will be plenty of opportunities to rebuild, help out, do the right thing.  They’re will also be times when you’ll want to kick back and take advantage of some of the local beauty that we enjoy here…  Make sure to take some time to get to know some of these beauties as well:  Emily Grove, Tara Elliot, and Eryn Shewell.  They’re all very different artists with a few common elements:  they’re Monmouth gals, they’re incredibly gifted, and they’re going places!

 

Carl Chesna
carlchesna.com

photo credit: Thomas Hawk via photopin cc

6 Months After Sandy: Looking Back and Looking to the Future

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Painting by Kyra Martyn, St. Rose High School

Last Thursday evening, Monmouth Arts celebrated the power of great arts education at the annual Arts Education Awards & Showcase.  Held at the new Asbury Park Musical Heritage Foundation, community arts education leaders and arts educators spoke of the power of the arts to inspire students, give educators professional direction and development, and support school programs in the visual and performing arts.

This year in particular, the power of the arts has helped communities to recover and begin to heal from the effects of the recent disaster of Hurricane Sandy. St Rose High School, in Belmar, suffered complete devastation of the arts department located in the lower level of the school. Flood waters reached nearly to the ceiling and nothing was salvageable. Linda Devlin, Chair of the Visual and Performing Arts Department at St Rose High School, shared their experience and response, with eloquence:

“Unfortunately disaster, natural or man made, strikes us without warning, and when we least expect them.   We don’t get to choose our disasters. Disasters select us. And we can’t foresee its level of intensity or its degree of impact. We all hope it’s not going to happen to us.

While we don’t choose our disasters, we do get to select our pathways for recovery and make those choices that reflect the strength of our character. It is our choice how we react and deal with disaster.”

 In the days following, Ms. Devlin and her co-teacher Ms. Mary Lou Fulton, along with the entire St Rose Community, found the support to carry on.

“Like everyone else who lost so much in this storm, we looked forward and our feet, mind and spirit followed.  It was a team effort. The students held us up with their resilience and their belief that we wouldn’t let them down. We moved ahead so we wouldn’t disappoint them and because giving up was not an option.”

Six months is not a long time to rebuild a school, or restore a community, yet recovery and rebuilding has proceeded for St Rose and other communities in the county. 

In Keyport, the Arts Society of Keyport lost both of their community arts projects, the Butterfly Project and the Murals at the Waterfront, in the storm surge; pieces of the mural were pushed uphill into the town and some butterflies were found washed along the bay. Yet, within a few months, ASK met with Monmouth Arts with a plan they hoped to restore spirits and symbolize “rebirth” of the Jersey Shore. First they started the process of replacing the mural with a similar community project and launched a new idea incorporating the Butterfly Project into a new one that would travel the length of New Jersey’s coast.

In Asbury Park, the newly established Asbury Park Musical Heritage Foundation last fall was in the process of finding a permanent home. The superstorm gave the search an urgent push, as Susan Pellegrini, Executive Director of the Foundation, explained:  

“This space is the answer to Sandy for us. Because we realized that after everything that happened, we really needed to step up and let people know that the music is here and alive and well at the Jersey Shore.  We weren’t really ready but we knew that we needed to open, so we did.”  Intended to be a home for all the arts, the facility has a stage, photo displays of famous and nearly famous musicians, and a performance schedule up and running. Looking forward, they are planning events and educational opportunities for the community and its members.”

Monmouth Arts created ArtHelps to work with local artists and help the community affected by Hurricane Sandy because we know the arts are a powerful force when it comes to community building. Art is great for restoring & rebuilding spirits.

To quote Ms. Devlin, “Art inspires us and unites us. Art heals and allows us to move forward.  The hurricane’s devastation gave us opportunities to focus on the importance of the process of making art, not so much the end product.  In essence, it is the journey of making art, rather than the destination.”

 At Monmouth Arts, we believe that ArtHelps.

Sandy Taylor
Arts Education Director, Monmouth Arts

Arts Education Awards & Showcase, April 25

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The Monmouth County Arts Council’s annual Arts Education Awards & Showcase celebrates those individuals, schools, programs, administrators and organizations who support our mission to “enrich the community by inspiring and fostering the arts.”  The evening also showcases teen artists from the recent Monmouth Teen Arts Festival, held each year at Brookdale Community College, who were designated outstanding in performance and presentation at the festival. The Arts Education Awards & Showcase will be at the new Asbury Park Musical Heritage Foundation, 28 Cookman Avenue, Asbury Park, on Thursday April 25, from 6-8 pm.

One Community Arts Education Leader to be honored is Yvonne Scudiery, Art Education Director for the Count Basie  Performing Arts Academy, who recently won national recognition for Count Basie Theater when it was named a partner in The Kennedy Center’s Partners in Education Program, based in Washington, D.C., a program designed to assist arts organizations throughout the nation to develop or expand educational partnerships with their local school systems (Red Bank Borough Public Schools). The primary purpose of these partnerships is to provide professional learning in the arts for teachers.

photo by Danny Sanchez

Director Robert O’Connor of the highly successful Atlantic Highlands Arts Council’s program Film One Fest will be recognized with a Community Arts Education Leader award for his work creating and growing the festival, and for his support of film education for teens, by teaching and by including a teen film category. Additionally, O’Connor was instrumental that the film festival this year sponsored a new awards category called the “Spirit of the Shore” for inspirational videos that highlight the struggles, triumphs and rebuilding efforts following Hurricane Sandy.

Superstorm Sandy affected many Monmouth County schools and towns, and the power of the arts and the teachers who inspired and led the way in restoring a sense of community became the focus of the selection of Leaders in Art Education.  Dance, visual art, music and theater teachers whose students and programs were deeply affected by Hurricane Sandy used the arts to inspire and restore the spirit of the community. In Union Beach, Band Director Mally Metz  hope for replaement musical instruments became a reality; Director Paul Buresh at Keansburg High School continued theater rehearsals, in spite of the fact that almost 50% of the towns’ students were displaced around the county. Eventually after delays, Keansburg High proudly presented their school production, providing the students a “sense of belonging”. In Belmar, St Rose High Schools’ entire Art Department was in the lowest level of the school; after the storm the water touched the ceiling and everything was lost. By banding together as a community, painting new walls with inspirational messages and moving forward, St Rose arts teachers led by Art Department Chair Linda Devlin rebuilt their programs in music, art and theater.

Vaune Peck, Monmouth University
 Community Champions of the Arts provide and support artistic opportunities to the broader Monmouth Community. Last year Monmouth University brought “Caravanserai: A Place Where Cultures Meet” to the Monmouth community, creating new pathways for Americans “to experience the diversity of contemporary Muslim artistic expressions” and meet exciting and dynamic artists from the Muslim world.
Vaune Peck, Counselor and Coordinator of Arts Programming at the Center of Distinction for the Arts, Monmouth University, will be honored as a Community Champion of the Arts for her work bringing Caravanserai to the college, local schools, and the community.
 
In this photo: Renee B. Swartz, Monmouth County Library Commission Chair; Lillian G. Burry, liason to the Monmouth County Library; Sandy Taylor, Monmouth Arts Art Education Director; and Janet Kranis, branch librarian for the Eastern Branch Library
The Monmouth County Library System will receive a Community Champion of the Arts award in recognition of their support of the teen artists of the Monmouth Teen Arts Festival with the acquisition of the “Identity Art Installation” at the Eastern Branch, and the ongoing efforts promoting teen education initiatives within the Monmouth County Library System. For the past four years, the Library System has displayed the installation art piece from the festival at the branches around the county, and thousands have enjoyed the work. “Identity” will now be permanently displayed at the Eastern Branch, Shrewsbury.

Please contact Monmouth County Arts Council if you would like to attend the annual Art Education Awards Showcase reception on Thursday April 25, 2013 from 6:00-8:00 PM at the new Asbury Park Musical Heritage Foundation, 708 Cookman Avenue, Asbury Park, New Jersey.  We hope that fellow faculty, staff, and friends will support this special recognition and the Arts Council by attending the awards ceremony and reception.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.monmoutharts.org or at the door. Tickets for purchase: adult tickets are $10, student tickets are $5, which includes 3 months membership to Monmouth Arts, and supports art education programs such as the Teen Arts Festival and Teen Arts Connection. For tickets or more information, contact Sandy Taylor sbt@monmoutharts.org  or call 732-212-1890 x 6.

 

Who Sold What Where

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I wrote my first ‘Who Sold What Where’ post for Monmouth Arts in February last year. I like to write this post for a couple of reasons. One, because artists always ask me what’s selling and want to know the details: What sold, how much did it sell for, and where did it sell. Two, I want to provide encouragement to artists – work is selling, maybe not a ton of it, but it is selling.

So, let’s get down to business.

"Seaside Heights," by Mike McLaughlin

In Red Bank, Mike McLaughlin’s show at McKay Imaging, “The Silence After,” opened to a crowd of over 400 visitors. Mike showed his photographs of the now unfortunately commonly-seen after-effects of Super Storm Sandy upon our environment. Mike sold two 20” x 30” prints for $300, including “Seaside Heights, December 19, 2012,7:17 AM.” He also sold several 12” x 18” pieces for $100, and some 8” x 12” pieces for $50.

''The Goldfinch and the Peach Tree'' by Katie Anne Stone

''The Goldfinch & the Peach Tree'' (Left), by Katie Anne Stone

Across the street at the Art Alliance of Monmouth County, Katie Anne Stone sold a diptych entitled “The Goldfinch and the Peach Tree.” The piece is graphite on paper, 8” x 12” inches, and it sold for $225. Katie has been a member of the Art Alliance since 2007 when she graduated from Tyler School of Art.

Around the corner at Gallery U, Kristina L. Kraft sold a 24” x 24” mixed media pieceentitled “Hope for Haiti.” At the same show, SWART – An exhibition of Artwork by NJSocial Workers and Art Therapists, Lindsey K. Kretschy sold a 19.5” x 23.5 photograph called “Safekeeping.” Lindsey studied visual arts at Rutgers University and received her Masters in Art therapy and Creativity Development from Pratt Institute.

''Hope for Haiti,'' by Kristina Kraft

''Safekeeping'' by Lindsey Kretschy

  

 

 

 

 

 

Untitled, by David French

Over at The Painted Frame in Atlantic Highlands David French sold a 16” x 12” acrylic ink on paper piece for $95. The Painted Frame, owned by Robert O’Connor, recently moved and is now located at 78 1St Avenue. Says David, “In attempting a watercolor composition, I hope for collaboration in allowing the materials to show me something unexpected.”

''Grid Lock,'' Laura Petrovich-Cheney

Laura Petrovich-Cheney is full-time practicing, professional artist who lives and works in Asbury Park, NJ.  In addition, she is a National Board Certified Art Educator. Laura’s work focuses on resurrecting debris found in the natural environment. She had a show at the Abington Art Center in Jenkintown, PA where she sold a 35” x 34.5” x 1” salvaged wood pieces, “Grid Lock,” for $600.

 

I wish you a satisfying creative experience.

Ellen Martin

And the Oscar Goes to…Arts Education!

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First Lady Michelle Obama presented the nominees for Best Picture and announced “Argo” as the winning film via satellite.

And the Oscar Goes to…Arts Education ! (Posted by Kristen Engebretsen Feb. – 26 – 2013)

 The Arts Education Weekly News Roundup is a listing of Arts Education programs, initiatives and information that is sent out weekly from Americans for the Arts.

We at Monmouth Arts wish to share this post from Kristen Engebretsen, Arts Education Program Manager, about the important and timely connection between the Oscars and Art Education:

The big winner at Sunday night’s Academy Awards was arts education. In two key moments, a spotlight was shone on the important role the arts play in children’s lives.

At the end of the broadcast, there was the wonderful statement of support by First Lady Michelle Obama. She said, “They (the arts) are especially important for young people. Every day they engage in the arts, they learn to open their imaginations and dream just a little bigger and to strive every day to reach those dreams.”

But before the First Lady’s surprise appearance, there was another big moment for arts education during the Best Documentary Short category. The winning film, Inocente, is the story of a 15-year-old girl who refuses to let her dream of becoming an artist be stifled by her life as an undocumented immigrant forced to live homeless for the last nine years.

Inocente was introduced to the arts through a program in San Diegocalled ARTS | A Reason To Survive, which uses therapeutic arts programming, arts education, and college & career preparation to create pathways to success for youth facing adversity.

ARTS/A Reason To Survive (http://www.areasontosurvive.org/) believes that the visual, performing, and literary arts can literally transform lives – especially those of kids. They use all art forms as a vehicle to create positive, long-lasting change in children and youth facing major life challenges – giving them not only a reason to survive – but to also thrive.  They believe that even an hour spent participating in the arts can have a tremendous influence and impact on a child.

ARTS/A Reason to Survive Founder Matt D’Arrigo is a member of Americans for the Arts. Kudos to filmmakers Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine for the incredible job they did conveying the power of the arts to build resiliency and transform lives.

Thanks to Matt and his team for providing these essential arts programs to youth inSan Diegoand for sharing this success story with the rest of us!

To sign up for Art Education Weekly News Round Up go to: http://artsusa.org/networks/arts_education/

 Sandy Taylor
Arts Education Director, Monmouth Arts

Robert Redford, Sundance Man

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"To us, Sundance is and always will be a dream. What you see, smell, taste and feel here is a dream being carefully nurtured. It is an area whose pledge is to people. What we offer in the form of art and culture, spirit and service, is homegrown and available to all." ~ ROBERT REDFORD ~

Vanity Fair had this to say about Redford, “Movie stars can generally be separated into two categories: the supernaturally talented and the supernaturally attractive. And then there’s Robert Redford, whose matinee-idol looks never stopped him from pursuing—and achieving—greatness as an actor, director, festival founder, and activist.”

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences recognized his contributions to the medium in 2001 with an honorary award for serving as an “inspiration to independent and innovative filmmakers everywhere.”

Inspiring independent and innovative filmmakers is exactly what Redford had in mind when he founded the Sundance Film Festival.

[Wikipedia]- Sundance began in Salt Lake City in August 1978, as the Utah/US Film Festival in an effort to attract more filmmakers to Utah. It  featured films such as Deliverance, A Streetcar Named Desire, Midnight Cowboy, Mean Streets, and The Sweet Smell of Success. [2] With chairperson Robert Redford, and the help of Utah Governor Scott M. Matheson, the goal of the festival was to showcase strictly American-made films, highlight the potential of independent film, and to increase visibility for filmmaking in Utah.

(The Sundance brand has grown to encompass so much more. Check out their webpage for more information):

In this article by David Germain, on Huffington Post  1/13, he examines that Sundance effect… that many films, directors and actors we know and love got their start at the festival. Germain starts by saying “Everybody wants a piece of Robert Redford. Young filmmakers talking him up for advice on the street. The stewardess on an airplane who mentions her son has this idea. The guy with a videotape under his arm who looked so grungy Redford thought he was a panhandler.”

This, according to Garmain, is how Redford met  Edward Burns, who talked Redford into looking at a comedic drama that he had written, directed and starred in. Burns’ film, The Brothers McMullen premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1995. 

 Redford has this to say about the festival’s current success (there were 46,731 attendees in 2012):

“It’s become like a monster’s ball. I’m not displeased about it. But it gets more and more difficult. It’s wonderful on one hand, and it’s monstrous on the other hand,” Redford said. “Because of the monster size of the festival, because it’s grown so big, it puts so much pressure on me the first days that I can’t take a whole lot more, and I have to go away after a few days. Because of how much I like to see the films, it’s become an issue. So I kind of like to retreat, then sort of sneak back in disguise later in the festival and just try to see the films.”

If you were watching the Academy Awards, you saw that Beasts of the Southern Wild scored four Oscar nominations: including best picture, best director (newbie filmmaker Benh Zeitlin) and best actress for the adorable newcomer Quvenzhane Wallis. This film (which is also a  Sony Pictures Classics film), like many others, got it’s start on the road to success at Sundance, which is deeply gratifying for Redford. In a quote from Germain’s article:

“That’s why we’re here. When somebody comes out of nowhere and with our support goes somewhere, that’s a real pleasure to me.”

Check out "Beasts" facebook page: facebook.com/BeastsoftheSouthernWild

Redford’s latest project, which he directs and stars in, is sure to thrill. The Company You Keep, with an incredible, star-studded cast, centered on a former Weather Underground activist who goes on the run from a journalist who has discovered his identity.

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The Company You Keep, directed by Robert Redford on Thursday, February 28 at 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. at Clearview Cinema, 36 White Street, Red Bank. The film and reception are sponsored by Springpoint Foundation and provided to Monmouth Arts through the generosity of Tom Bernard, Co Chair of Sony Pictures Classics and through Clearview Cinema. A reception will be held at Readies Fine Foods, 39 Broad Street from 5:15–6:45 in between the two screenings. PURCHASE TICKETS 

 Tammy Laverty
New Media Manager
Monmouth Arts 

photo credit: qbac07 via photopin cc

Imagine, Envision, Create! Monmouth Arts has a plan for a thriving arts community

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After 18 months of research and assessment the Monmouth Arts is excited to share the updated County Arts Plan – Imagine//Envision//Create..  The plan builds on the success of the original Blueprint for the Arts and identifies challenges for the future. 

Clearly Superstorm Sandy has brought new challenges with so many towns needing to rebuild their boardwalks, businesses and homes.  It is a testament to how connected our artists and arts groups are to their communities that they responded immediately in so many ways.

At Monmouth Arts, as soon as we got electricity back we opened our office to those without heat, light and internet.  We compiled information on resources for artists, arts groups and businesses and reached out to assess how the hurricane had impacted them.  We were able to connect those in needs to resources, sometimes within minutes thanks to social media.

This effort became ArtHelps which included an Indiegogo campaign to bring artists and arts groups to rebuild spirits in communities hardest hit by Sandy and to help Monmouth Arts provide programs, services and information to artists and arts groups dealing with the aftermath of the storm. 

Two River Theater’s lobby became a community recharging station for both people and Electronics.  Colorest opened their studio space to artists who needed space.  Belmar Arts Council suspended their programs and jumped in to help their town when their space was taken over for a relief staging area.  Belmar then asked their Arts Council to paint the concrete barriers along Ocean Aveenue to lift spirits.  Middletown Arts Center gave respite to out of school students (and their parents) with a place for creative activities.  Atlantic Highlands Arts Council quickly changed an upcoming concert into a benefit for their town.  The Ministry of Artistic Intent brought over 40 local musicians, poets, artists and comedians together to benefit the Monmouth Arts’ and the Union Beach Middle School’s Band.  And the Asbury Park Musical Heritage Foundation decided this was the time to take on an exhibition/performance space to give people another reason to visit Asbury Park.

The arts can help with both the emotional and economic impact of the storm.  We can give those working to restore their lives respite from this hard work.  We can enliven downtowns with performances and exhibitions even if the beaches and boardwalks aren’t yet open.  Artists can help communities traumatized by the storm to express their loss and hope for the future.  The arts community can be part of community and economic planning taking place through our towns, the county and long term recovery efforts. 

The updated plan will take us through 2017 which may be a little hard to imagine.  As we learned this fall we can plan, but the unexpected happens.  As with the original plan, it does not belong to the Monmouth County Arts Council’s or any one organization.  It’s up to all of us to move the arts forward in the county and as the expression goes be the change we want to see.  We invite every artist, arts group and arts supporter to see how you can Imagine/Envision/Create a place where the arts contribute to Monmouth County’s future.

 

Mary Eileen Fouratt
Executive Director, Monmouth Arts

photo credit: Jellymon via photopin cc

The Key to Social Media Success

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Photo from Photopin

It's all about relationships!

Having just completed the first of a new Monmouth Arts series on social media, The Social Media Playbook, I have media engagement on the brain!

What I found in the class, and in conversations with artists and business owners is this: the top questions from anyone promoting a business or professional practice in the arts are usually related to engaging their audience and increase sales. How do we build our audience? How do I make money? Can facebook/twitter/pinterest/ etc. etc. really increase my level of business (and financial) success?

Social media provides rich opportunities to reach potential customers, members and supporters and engage in conversation at a personal level. It can also frustrate anyone looking for quick success and easy money. It’s not easy to make money and get your message to stick… but it is easy to feel overwhelmed by what seems like an ever-changing set of rules and social media outlets. With hashtags and @tags and photo tags… it can all get a little confusing! Add to it that you only have 100 “likes,” and you aren’t sure what to do to get beyond that.

What if I told you that maybe you are focusing on the wrong area… that it is all so much more simple, yet more difficult than that? What if I said numbers don’t matter?

What I have noticed on Monmouth Arts channels, both facebook and twitter, is what I have found IRL (in real life) as well… your truest friends are the ones who always turn out. How do you build good friendships that last? It takes work! In some ways, your social media fans and followers are no different than your IRL friends. On her blog, Dr, Susan Giurleo points out that relationships (real ones, beyond the like button) are at the heart of success . Her post is titled: In Social Media the Numbers Don’t Matter. Pay Attention to This Instead. In it, she argues that the size of your following isn’t all it’s cracked up to be… its really all about your level of engagement. THAT is the key. But how can you build engagement?

According to Susan, “The problem, friends, is relationship marketing requires that you, in fact, build relationships with people. You cannot act like you have a relationship with them. You can’t fake it, pay it lip service, or manipulate people into liking your stuff and then start to be all Mary-marketer with them.”

She goes on with an anecdote about a business friend, On his facebook group (which had only 350 people in it), he posted about a retreat to his small group of followers. The retreat cost $5000. He sold out in 4 hours. In another example, he asked for responses ant thoughts on a larger gathering… and got over 100 responses from followers who were ready to sign up. 350 in the group, and 100 responses. Compare that to facebook’s average engagement rate of 2%, and this guy seems to be onto something. Is it magic? Nope! 

Susan has this to say (which i love, by the way!):

“Stop. Slow down. Yes, they really  need to Know. Like. Trust.

Nothing else matters.

Not how swanky your website, or the number of people who sign up for your well copywritten free report.

They need to get to know YOU.”

She goes on to advocate spending time to nurture relationships. She is all about getting out there (literally and digitally) and having real conversations with people. She argues that fussing over your SEO and perfecting your social media tech-savvy techniques means diddly squat (my words, not hers ;-) if you aren’t 1) selling something that’s great in the first place and 2) actually talking to folks! 

Susan ends on this note:

“Please do not chase numbers. Talk to people.

Show them who you are and ask them how they are.

And when you do have something to sell, they will be thrilled to buy from someone they know, like and trust.

Relationships are  really  how business works.

Tammy Laverty
New Media Manager
Monmouth Arts 

photo credit: -RejiK via photopin cc