PUBLICITY

Publicity Committee Report

4 August 2014

Publicity Committee members: Alicia Weimer, Jeff Saxton, Jim Gartner, Jim King, Joanne Cronin, John Lamb, Michael Mitsch, Nancy Kelner, Pam Robinson, Pat Brangs, Paul Fisher, Loretta Brooks, Jean Scully and Cathy Ballard

Webmaster Report – John Lamb

July was another good month for the web team. We updated the Ukefest and Acoustic Getaway pages in support of those upcoming events. The HSNOI page was updated to point to their wonderful YouTube site with videos of many fine shows. The main Swingin' Tern page was updated to remove dated material and add a phone number for those seeking more information. We looked into a couple of longstanding problems - Allan coming one step closer to figuring out why images on the Minstrel calendar are sometimes truncated, and Lori contacting PayPal about a known bug in their system that is sending notifications to webmaster@folkproject.org instead of to festreg@folkproject.org, where we specified they should go. Another new subdomain, ukenj.folkproject.org, was set up in support of UkeFest. In forward-looking work, Allan should have some welcome improvements available in a month or two on the HSNOI page and he is also working on changing some of our pages from fixed width to variable width so they present a better appearance in a whatever size browser window is available.

As always, many thanks to my team of Lori, Charles and Allan. Please direct any questions, suggestions or comments to webmaster@foklproject.org.

Facebook Report – Pam Robinson (slightly edited by Pub Chair)

The FolkProject's FaceBook page is chugging along.

We have almost OVER 1,000 likes (1003 as of today). Go Pam!

Looking for ways to make the page more engaging, any suggestions?

Twitter Report – Jean Scully

We're following 877 individuals and organization; being followed by 300.

I've tweeted 500 tweets.

My phone wasn't usable for a good portion of Falcon Ridge, or I would have tweeted more than the half-dozen times I did from there, but I'm going to go through the program and methodically follow everyone who was there, tweet about the ones I saw and get more follows that way. Dave and I are still unpacking or I'd have done it already. :-)

I also started an Instagram account which we can use to upload pictures quickly and easily; still figuring it out and will report more on that later.

Jean

Report From “The Chair” – Paul Fisher

Another complex month with some improvements but not a lot of details to report.

We have been handling a lot of requests related to Uke NJ 2, including requests to help set up interviews. The Daily Record asked to interview both Christine DeLeon and someone for Uke NJ 2.

The committee continues to function smoothly, getting out releases as needed when the chair provides them on time. There has been a lot more proactive activity, with people raising issues and questions and all those involved following up on them. Some good promise there.

We received an offer for help from someone who has worked in media and I am waiting for her to follow up with an email (I gave her my card).

We also will follow up with Susan Lembo specifically on improving radio access.

Nancy continues to be very helpful with ideas, suggestions and reminders.

Other news:

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Online

· The Minstrel continues to be frequently listed among the Top Ten Monthly Events by the Morris County Tourism Bureau.

· Our uke fest was listed in njskylands.com (Nancy requested a correction for our website address).

· Folk Project events listed on northjersey.com

· Several Minstrel events and Uke 2 NJ have been posted on http://www.njartsmaven.com/.

· MorristownGreen.com did a good writeup on Cliff Eberhardt.

· http://morristowngreen.com/2014/07/21/cliff-eberhardt-and-the-greatest-love-of-all-from-the-minstrel-in-morris-township/

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In Print

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Working with Performers and Their Publicists

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On the Radio

· There is an ongoing discussion on connecting Minstrel performers with local radio stations and how to most effectively provide promotional CDs.

· Some performers have been sent lists of media contacts for their own outreach efforts.

· A discussion is ongoing about providing free tickets to The Minstrel to a small group of radio stations (such as WFDU, used by a number of other venues this way) for giveaways.

Other Items

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