Celebrating the Process of Trying New Things on Social Media: Minnesota Orchestra

I complain frequently and often about how arts organizations are just blowing it with social media. They post too infrequently. What they share is not in character with the other content on the platform. The content they post is not engaging and pushes sales messages too often.

So as I continue my week of posts on arts social media, I want to celebrate the Minnesota Orchestra whose content is just getting better and better on all of these fronts. I started following them when I saw a post on LinkedIn that they were really going to try to make social media a priority a couple of years ago. I wanted to watch to see how their content changed. I knew it would take time, and I’ve seen an acceleration recently in the frequency and quality of their content, specifically how they’re using what’s interesting, fun, and quirky about orchestras and matching it with the norms of content platform.

In particular, I’ve noticed that they’re finding their groove on TikTok these days. Some of my favorite recent posts have been:

• a hilarious take on the longstanding rivalry between violists and violinists combined with sibling rivalry
• a great example of an educational video about prepared strings and a contemporary piece for string quartet
• an ongoing series about being stand partners in the orchestra

Not every video hits, but that’s true for even the most successful content creators. The point is that they’re putting out content frequently, finding their voice, and getting everyone in the organization used to showing themselves in a relaxed, funny, engaging, accessible way.

I know how much internal work this takes to get people throughout the management structure to support this work. Big kudos to the Minnesota Orchestra marketing team – give them a follow.

UPDATE May 30, 2025: Alexandra Robinson, Social Media and Content Manager for the Minnesota Orchestra posted this explainer on LinkedIn of how she works with the artistic talent and staff to get them to participate in making content – read and learn!