Marketing & Public Relations Intern, The Cleveland Orchestra

The summer of 2021 I served as the Marketing and Public Relations intern with The Cleveland Orchestra. Regarded as one of the top orchestras in the world, and nominated for "Orchestra of the Year" in the 2021 Gramophone classical music awards, The Cleveland Orchestra has a rich history of elevating the world of instrumental music through prestigious performances. The 2021 summer Blossom season marked The Cleveland Orchestra's return to performing for live audiences after almost two years since their last Iive concert.

Overview

My role was to manage social media campaigns that aimed to inform audiences about the significance behind each program in the Blossom 2021 season, in addition to campaigns that delved into the history of the orchestra, classical music in general, and current events in music. Although much of my work was in social media, I also wrote promotional pieces such as the press release for choral auditions and emails promoting student programs. Additionally, I helped optimize digital marketing by researching and demoing social media marketing tools as alternatives to Hootsuite to reduce marketing spend.

Public Relations

Much of my role also involved public relations as it relates to managing relationships with media contacts at news outlets and partnered organizations to coordinate media coverage at live concerts and events. At concerts I would escort media to locations best for coverage, and at events I would escort artists to the location of their stage and set up chairs and stands in preparation for the performance. At one arts festival I coordinated a meeting between a musician of The Cleveland Orchestra and a visual artist who commissioned a portrait of the musician.

Organic Social

Given that The Cleveland Orchestra's Blossom 2021 season marked a huge milestone in their return to performing for live audiences, my goal was to engage audiences through social media to further their excitement about seeing the orchestra live in concert once again. My first initiative was employing social media tactics aimed to drive engagement and provide value. To do this, I incorporated social media trends into my content and focused on relevant topics showcasing The Cleveland Orchestra's attention to current events.

Content Marketing

Some campaigns I managed included social media quizzes about composers and the history of Blossom, giveaways that called on fans to share their lawn displays at Blossom for a chance to win TCO merchandise, and video interviews with TCO archivists and artists to provide historical context on the Blossom landmark and featured pieces in the program. I also compiled a list of ideas for content related to Hispanic Heritage Month before finishing my internship so that The Cleveland Orchestra could continue responding to important cultural phenomena through their social media content.

Social Media On-site

I also noticed that The Cleveland Orchestra lacked live social media coverage of concerts and events on their own accounts, and so I attended concerts to post facebook and Instagram stories and live tweet to encourage fans to share their own experiences while attending TCO concerts and events. My stories yielded the most high-performing social media posts on Instagram and Meta during the months of July and August, driving audience engagement by 30% and accounts reached by 45%.