This webinar focuses on how small cultural organizations, teachers, and students might share and promote their cultural stories on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, etc. The webinar covers based tips for social media use, creating content, hashtags, local publicity, and more. This is the fourth of four webinars created for the "Be Here: Main Street" project in conjunction with the Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street program. The four webinars in this series specific address teachers who are working with student storytellers.
2. #bHereMainSt
@MuseWeb
Selwyn Ramp
Project Director
Heather Shelton
Digital Curator
Selwyn@MuseWeb.us
@SelwynRamp
Heather@MuseWeb.us
@MuseumsAgo
www.MuseWeb.us/be-here-main-street
http://www.slideshare.net/MuseWeb/be-here-main-street-project
3. Last Webinars Covered:
• Cultural Storytelling
• What Makes a Good Story
• Platforms for Posting
• Creative Commons Use
• Free software and tools
Find slides and video versions of those on MuseWeb’s YouTube and Slideshare.
5. Good Content
Outlives Technology
"Quill" (CC BY 2.0) by sure2talk
"Books!" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Kirrus
"typewriter" (CC BY 2.0) by plaisanter~ Photo by Hans Hillewaert. Wikimedia
Commons. CC 4.0, International
"Rosetta Stone - British Museum" (CC BY 2.0) by bortescristian
6. Good Content
Outlives Technology
43
21 Place the content where people
are: around town, in local library,
at a restaurant, at a café, bar or
even grocery store.- but also
online!
Try to use the content in a variety
of ways: both digital as well as in
the physical environment.
Use content to market for your
organization or community:
placing ‘bites’ can lead people
back to the whole story.
Make sure your content is
accessible for a variety of users:
consider your audience, or
perspective audience.
9. Marketing/Promotion vs. Archiving
• Some sites like YouTube can not only help you archive your
story, but their built-in commenting and sharing capabilities
are also a well-adapted to promotion too! SoundCloud also
has social sharing!
• Other platforms are purely for social promotion because it’s
not intuitive how to retrieve/search for a particular topic later
on. Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook fall into these categories.
• BUT, Facebook’s “Memories” post make you feel like your
content is being saved for future generations. Marketing gold!
10. Using Social Media
Pick a platform you’re familiar with to start. Make sure you have a
complete profile, describing you/your organization + mission.
Tell friends when/what you’re sharing and ask them to share as well!
(reshare)
Tag or call out to people who helped with creation.
Don’t be afraid to bring attention to great content!
Let students spread the word on platforms they use!
Today’s social networks are ideal places to share stories with everyone!
11. Strategies for Great Posts
• Tie content into current events that are trending: Immigration, Water Quality,
100th anniversary of . . .
• Use the “Awwww” factor: Elicit emotional responses
• Amazing! Cite something amazing that happened as a result of this project
• Make it quirky: Local diner serves up crunchy insect feast
• Brag on your town: We have the cleanest water in the country
• It’s unbelievable: Believe or not, the smallest animal in the world lives here.
• Ask questions: What do you think about this local controversy? We have ideas.
Make sure to use hashtags that relate to #storytelling
and the #bHereMainSt or other projects
12. What is a hashtag?
Hashtags are ways to categorize posts. They’re search terms.
• Use a # symbol before your search term
• Don’t separate letters. They are all one string: #TuesdayMotivation
• Search for hashtags that have already been used if you want to join an
existing conversation: #DowntonAbbey
• Make sure hashtags you use don’t have unintended implications
• Don’t fall victim to funny hashtag letter mashups!
• One famous example: #susanalbumparty (British singer Susan Boyle)
• Was supposed to be Susan Album Party
• Many sources out there for how to properly use hashtags! They are the key
to getting your content seen in a sea of social media posts!
15. Go Visual
Beautiful pictures never disappoint.
Ask a student or local photographer to
document your process or the locations in
your stories.
Social media posts with compelling images
generate MUCH more interest than those
without!
Shoot pictures of people involved in your
project!
16. Audience & Timing
1. Think about your audience? To whom does your story appeal? Are those people already
part of your existing followers, or do you need to reach out to people outside your
network?
2. Follow anyone whom you believe has shared interests.
1. Example: Follow @LocalHistoricalSociety on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, YouTube,
etc. Reach out! “Hi @LocalHistoricalSociety, check out these student videos about
our favorite historic tavern. Priceless!”
3. Think about timing. If your interested in sharing with other students or teachers . . .
1. Post outside of school hours
2. Post stories to coincide with school events. Have a story about football? Post it
before the big game on Friday night.
17. Scheduling
Did you know that Facebook allows you schedule posts in advance?
Other free platforms such as Hootsuite and Tweetdeck permit you to schedule
other types of posts in advance, such as Twitter or Instagram.
Use this feature so that you can
post when your audience is online.
Even if that means posting at night
or on the weekends!
18. Short Links & QR Codes
Many versions out there, all do about the same.
Simply search online for:
“shorten URL” “QR Code Generator”
When adding web addresses to print materials, try creating a memorable link or even a bar
code that takes people right to the story!
19. Get Physical
Identify 2-3 amazing things that happened as a result of this project
Inform local press outlets
Inform anyone who was mentioned or cited in a story
Host a film- or audio-story screening in the town square, library, high school
Print fliers about the event and post in store windows
Promote on social media
Host your own version of the Oscars in your town; Present (donated) awards
Invite local business leaders and politicians
Take a group picture of all storytellers and interviewees to post on social
media and send to local news outlets
Local promotion: Make sure your own community knows about it!
20. Community Involvement
Ask local restaurants and
businesses to support the
project by posting tent cards or
fliers at the cash register with a
link/QR to story
Create pro-quality print
materials like window decals or
fliers using E-Z Print tools like
VistaPrint or Moo.com. Also
check out www.museweb.us for
ideas and resources.
Ask
Around
Regular
visit
Physical
markers
Fun
Design
Ask storytellers about places
that they work, visit, or worship.
Could these locations host
meetings, post fliers, cards, or
share your stories?
See if you can place a
sticker, stoop tile, or erect
a plaque, or info sign with
information about the research
you discovered? Think about:
“On this spot in 1936 …”
21. 43
2
Archiving Locally
1
Contact your local Library,
museum or historical society and
inform them about your project.
Contact a state library and/or
university archives that may have
collections about regional history
and county history.
Ask whether they might be able to
“accession” the collection of stories
based on the topic or region.
Create a one- or two- page document
to explain the context of the project,
who the storytellers were, the year,
the county, etc.
23. Promotion &
Evaluation
• Evaluate: What
worked well, what
didn’t?
• Use “content” for
promotion and
marketing
• Ensure longevity of
content
Funding & Planning
• Determine need for
future funding
• Use content as
examples for request
for future funding
• Start planning cultural
stories as part of
regular operating
projects
Repeat! Repeat!
Repeat!
• You now have
equipment, resources
and skills:
• Look for additional
free resources at
Museum on Main
Street & MuseWeb.us
Ripple Effect: The Road Ahead
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jstephenconn/5340093717
This Webinar is made possible through a partnership between partnership between the MuseWeb Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street program.
Selwyn
Selwyn
Always remember, good content will outlive technology, sometimes a thousand years!
Written in 196 BC., found in 1799, first part was translated in 1802- took another few decades for the other parts.
Heather, can you read this for me please?.... No? well. Well, let me zoom in on a section. – still not? Oh bummer. Let me change technology from stone to website then, - now I can use technology to translate it for you- can you read this then? –
So- the content is around, the delivery method is not…. As you can see.
Too often oral histories are created, and end up having no longevity.
Good content can outlive technology a 1000 years (many people still read the bible, even though the book format has changed.
Slides with bookcases /rows of stuff
Written in 196 BC., found in 1799,
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kirrus/8596143348/in/photolist-e6BtW5-a9R8va-HpAmzJ-9EUVrx-qCwuKL-aiKCLr-dci9JK-gKpgxf-9dua4D-eQpV8v-8gMPMf-95upeq-eQBieY-8gMPXE-pmcrjq-rsSd2F-aru2z1-nfwhCe-Bi8bA2-aQqY3z-bHTsCv-92PRjU-8gJxNc-bj3rgk-cQtt9y-bgxLUX-LrtXni-9ZDcY6-9duTpc-eQBiZQ-9B3To2-dHmgnt-bujv11-azodoM-aqMT9Z-QZ619H-b93uo2-rQ8Ag2-aMPX7i-8gMPzy-8gJy7e-8gJxWX-DevCid-8gJxTZ-bbKnUH-GA1uuU-HHwmkj-8WwiHT-8gMPDs-qgKvQK
Too often oral histories are created, and end up having no longevity.
Good content can outlive technology a 1000 years (many people still read the bible, even though the book format has changed.
Slides with bookcases /rows of stuff
Did you post your stories online?
Local promotion: This is about your community--in your community--make sure your community knows about it.
BUT, Facebook’s “Memories” post make you feel like your content is being saved for future generations. Marketing gold!
Tag the school, tag the local newspaper and TV station
use their existing social networks to spread the word!
The Be Here project is, at its core, a cultural storytelling project that asks interested parties to put their creativity and passion to use in crafting immersive, factual stories about Baltimore – it’s history, art, culture, people, architecture, etc.
----
is a storytelling project that connects communities, people, businesses, and cultural institutions through new location-based technologies. Smart phones and social media are essential tools that residents and visitors use for information about their surroundings. Be Here capitalizes on mobile technology and offers explorers new ways to discover the surprising culture, history, and stories in a community.
Using free and open platforms like social media and the izi.TRAVEL app it’s now possible for people to share great stories about locations they know, whether it’s a local landmark, a popular park, a small museum, a rich cultural site, or a beloved natural resource. The best part is it only takes a smartphone to connect people, places, history, and culture.
This, together with the fact that a town’s economic success is often tied to a thriving cultural sector – and vice versa, means that Be Here: Main Street strives to forge new connections between government, local businesses and cultural institutions. Such partnerships create guided pathways between points of interest in a community that stimulate culture, tourism, and economic activity. As well as connecting them to a national digital network of cultural stories.
The Be Here project is, at its core, a cultural storytelling project that asks interested parties to put their creativity and passion to use in crafting immersive, factual stories about Baltimore – it’s history, art, culture, people, architecture, etc.
----
is a storytelling project that connects communities, people, businesses, and cultural institutions through new location-based technologies. Smart phones and social media are essential tools that residents and visitors use for information about their surroundings. Be Here capitalizes on mobile technology and offers explorers new ways to discover the surprising culture, history, and stories in a community.
Using free and open platforms like social media and the izi.TRAVEL app it’s now possible for people to share great stories about locations they know, whether it’s a local landmark, a popular park, a small museum, a rich cultural site, or a beloved natural resource. The best part is it only takes a smartphone to connect people, places, history, and culture.
This, together with the fact that a town’s economic success is often tied to a thriving cultural sector – and vice versa, means that Be Here: Main Street strives to forge new connections between government, local businesses and cultural institutions. Such partnerships create guided pathways between points of interest in a community that stimulate culture, tourism, and economic activity. As well as connecting them to a national digital network of cultural stories.
The Be Here project is, at its core, a cultural storytelling project that asks interested parties to put their creativity and passion to use in crafting immersive, factual stories about Baltimore – it’s history, art, culture, people, architecture, etc.
----
is a storytelling project that connects communities, people, businesses, and cultural institutions through new location-based technologies. Smart phones and social media are essential tools that residents and visitors use for information about their surroundings. Be Here capitalizes on mobile technology and offers explorers new ways to discover the surprising culture, history, and stories in a community.
Using free and open platforms like social media and the izi.TRAVEL app it’s now possible for people to share great stories about locations they know, whether it’s a local landmark, a popular park, a small museum, a rich cultural site, or a beloved natural resource. The best part is it only takes a smartphone to connect people, places, history, and culture.
This, together with the fact that a town’s economic success is often tied to a thriving cultural sector – and vice versa, means that Be Here: Main Street strives to forge new connections between government, local businesses and cultural institutions. Such partnerships create guided pathways between points of interest in a community that stimulate culture, tourism, and economic activity. As well as connecting them to a national digital network of cultural stories.
The Be Here project is, at its core, a cultural storytelling project that asks interested parties to put their creativity and passion to use in crafting immersive, factual stories about Baltimore – it’s history, art, culture, people, architecture, etc.
----
is a storytelling project that connects communities, people, businesses, and cultural institutions through new location-based technologies. Smart phones and social media are essential tools that residents and visitors use for information about their surroundings. Be Here capitalizes on mobile technology and offers explorers new ways to discover the surprising culture, history, and stories in a community.
Using free and open platforms like social media and the izi.TRAVEL app it’s now possible for people to share great stories about locations they know, whether it’s a local landmark, a popular park, a small museum, a rich cultural site, or a beloved natural resource. The best part is it only takes a smartphone to connect people, places, history, and culture.
This, together with the fact that a town’s economic success is often tied to a thriving cultural sector – and vice versa, means that Be Here: Main Street strives to forge new connections between government, local businesses and cultural institutions. Such partnerships create guided pathways between points of interest in a community that stimulate culture, tourism, and economic activity. As well as connecting them to a national digital network of cultural stories.
The Be Here project is, at its core, a cultural storytelling project that asks interested parties to put their creativity and passion to use in crafting immersive, factual stories about Baltimore – it’s history, art, culture, people, architecture, etc.
----
is a storytelling project that connects communities, people, businesses, and cultural institutions through new location-based technologies. Smart phones and social media are essential tools that residents and visitors use for information about their surroundings. Be Here capitalizes on mobile technology and offers explorers new ways to discover the surprising culture, history, and stories in a community.
Using free and open platforms like social media and the izi.TRAVEL app it’s now possible for people to share great stories about locations they know, whether it’s a local landmark, a popular park, a small museum, a rich cultural site, or a beloved natural resource. The best part is it only takes a smartphone to connect people, places, history, and culture.
This, together with the fact that a town’s economic success is often tied to a thriving cultural sector – and vice versa, means that Be Here: Main Street strives to forge new connections between government, local businesses and cultural institutions. Such partnerships create guided pathways between points of interest in a community that stimulate culture, tourism, and economic activity. As well as connecting them to a national digital network of cultural stories.
The Be Here project is, at its core, a cultural storytelling project that asks interested parties to put their creativity and passion to use in crafting immersive, factual stories about Baltimore – it’s history, art, culture, people, architecture, etc.
----
is a storytelling project that connects communities, people, businesses, and cultural institutions through new location-based technologies. Smart phones and social media are essential tools that residents and visitors use for information about their surroundings. Be Here capitalizes on mobile technology and offers explorers new ways to discover the surprising culture, history, and stories in a community.
Using free and open platforms like social media and the izi.TRAVEL app it’s now possible for people to share great stories about locations they know, whether it’s a local landmark, a popular park, a small museum, a rich cultural site, or a beloved natural resource. The best part is it only takes a smartphone to connect people, places, history, and culture.
This, together with the fact that a town’s economic success is often tied to a thriving cultural sector – and vice versa, means that Be Here: Main Street strives to forge new connections between government, local businesses and cultural institutions. Such partnerships create guided pathways between points of interest in a community that stimulate culture, tourism, and economic activity. As well as connecting them to a national digital network of cultural stories.
This is about your community--in your community--
The aforementioned program is the core program, which is made possible through the partnership between the Smithsonian and Museum on Main Street. If specific humanities councils are interested in a more tailored experience, or more in-depth programming, the following packages can be purchased in addition. These packages are not sponsored by the Smithsonian, and reflect market price.
Because that is what is ultimately at the core of this program - the goal to connect community members to each other, but also to others. Using the power of storytelling development/partnerships development.
Storytelling has the possibility to do this because you are no longer talking about culture, but about the community – and everyone has some kind of interest in it- because they are part of it.
- business development/partnerships development.
As Seph Rodney wrote in the introduction to the Storytelling Handbook: “We have always told stories. … In inventing stories, we invented ourselves, through telling them to each other, we make a community. … [now more than ever] We need the light and the warmth of stories authentically told and shared. We need them especially from community members who are not typically heard—the citizen storytellers, corner oral historians who have a wealth of lived experience not found in official records or broadcast reports. Our technological tools now allow us to give local voices a new platform; we can pin content to geolocated areas that are triggered through smart phone apps. This initiative is a new and unique form of storytelling, yet it is also part of a deep tradition of making a world for ourselves in which we don’t just survive, but we thrive.”
This slide may not be necessary… or the goals may not fit 100% with YAG… - I am fine leaving it out.
The core goals of the Be Here: Main Street initiative are:
Make cultural content the engine for driving community transformation through partnerships;
Capacity building training with communities for using new (mobile) technologies and the power of cultural storytelling;
Recording and ensure the open availability of stories both in situ and off site through mobile and digital media as well as other means of publicity;
Foster cultural exchange through sharing and learning about what makes each community unique and important;
Create lasting legacy for sharing of location specific content through free and open mobile technologies within communities.
And that’s all she wrote! Does anyone have any questions?