The Los Angeles Philharmonic is a 106-year-old nonprofit symphony orchestra. Our average ticket buyer is 53. Our Instagram had long served as a digital concert calendar - polished photos, event announcements, recaps. It was beautiful. It was also safe.
In 2025, we began rebuilding our Instagram strategy. The goal: transform our presence from an institutional broadcast channel into a people-led storytelling platform - showing that a symphony orchestra is built with people of all ages, simply passionate about bringing music to all.
Our objectives:
- Complement promotional content with personality-driven storytelling that lets our musicians, staff, and community be the voices of our brand
- Deepen engagement - not just grow followers, but build an audience that watches, shares, and comes back
- Reach younger demographics and close the gap between our digital audience and our in-venue ticket buyer
- Position the LA Phil as a cultural institution for all of Los Angeles - not just a concert hall, but a civic presence that shows up for its city
The challenges:
- No one wanted to be on camera. Shifting towards people-first content meant asking musicians and staff to become on-screen storytellers - but these are busy professionals with their own demanding jobs, not content creators. Most were camera-shy and nervous about sounding unpolished or forced - a natural tension between the precision they bring to their work and the vulnerability of being featured on social media.
- Every idea had to be lightweight to produce. With no agency and no dedicated video shooter, we needed content concepts that could be captured on our mobile phones in the margins of already-packed days - not elaborate productions that would burden already-stretched staff.
- A generational gap: Our average ticket buyer is 53. We needed content that could resonate with audiences decades younger without alienating the loyal subscribers who are the backbone of donations to our nonprofit orchestra.
The plan of action:
We had to go first. The social media team started by putting ourselves in front of the camera to build trust and prove the format before asking anyone else to participate. Only after colleagues saw that the content was low-pressure and fun - not scripted, not overproduced - did they start volunteering.
We restructured Instagram around three content pillars designed to let our people - not just our programming - tell our story:
- Behind the Music. Musicians and staff as on-camera storytellers: instrument demos, programming explainers, personal season picks, warm-up and rehearsal moments. A celesta demonstration held viewers for a 30-second average watch time and generated nearly 39,000 engagements - proof that the format worked.
- Happening at the Hall. Collab Reels with performing artists - Christina Aguilera, Natalia Lafourcade, Hayato and Moritaka, and others - extended our content to their audiences without paid partnerships. Subscriber stories featured real patrons' and staff members' voices as part of the Gracias Gustavo farewell season, honoring Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel's final year.
- Angelenos Community. The LA Phil as a civic institution, not just a concert hall. When the January wildfires devastated LA, we responded within days with donation drives and free rehearsal space for displaced artists. When the Dodgers won the World Series, we celebrated alongside the city. We followed YOLA to summer camp and invited all of LA to the Gracias Gustavo Community Block Party on Grand Avenue.
- The breakout: Coachella. In April, the LA Phil became the first major orchestra to headline Coachella. A team of three - no crews, no agency - published 54 pieces of content in real time. Coachella collab reels with Dave Grohl, Cynthia Erivo, Laufey, and Zedd reached their 30+ million followers with $0 contractual obligation to share. Coachella proved the strategy at scale, but it was the year-round foundation that made the moment possible.
Full-year 2025 Instagram performance:
- 40.6 million impressions (up from 38.3M in 2024)
- 892,470 total engagements
- 10.3% engagement rate by reach (up 41% from 7.3% in 2024)
- 4.7 impressions per person reached, up 52% from 3.1 in 2024, a signal that the algorithm kept serving our content because audiences kept watching
- 42,990 new followers, the strongest growth year in the account’s history, capping five years of sustained growth (17K → 14K → 25K → 33K → 43K)
- 295,189 total followers at year-end, up from 252,199
Audience transformation:
- 68% of our Instagram audience is under 45 - nearly a decade younger than our average ticket buyer age 53.
- 45-65% of views from non-followers across most months, demonstrating consistent discovery by new audiences year-round
Conclusion:
In 2025, we asked a simple question: what happens when you let the people behind a 106-year-old symphony orchestra tell our story? Musicians stepped in front of the camera. Staff shared what they loved. Subscribers spoke in their own voices. And when the city needed us - whether in the desert at Coachella, in the aftermath of the wildfires, or on Grand Avenue celebrating another Dodgers' World Series win - we showed up for it all. Our Instagram growth followed: strongest follower year in the account's history at nearly 2x the four-year average, engagement rate up 41%, and an audience nearly a decade younger than our average ticket buyer. Every metric pointed to the same thing: the strategy is working, and it is sustainable.
