Strategic use of social media can help your organization tap into enthusiast communities and open up access to your collections and expertise. In this session, learn how to select and use the right social platforms for your target audience, topic, and available resources. We’ll discuss how to leverage free tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Tumblr, and Google Hangouts to connect with today’s audiences and engage them in meaningful conversations about your work. This presentation was given as a webinar, part of the Connecting to Collections series on Outreach activities for small museums and libraries. You can watch the webinar and access other materials here: http://www.connectingtocollections.org/courses/outreach-activities-for-collections-care/

1. Connecting to Collections: Outreach Activities for Collections Care
Engaging Audiences with Social Media
Presented by Dana Allen-Greil
November 14, 2013

2. By the end of this webinar you will be able to:

3. By the end of this webinar you will be able to:
Set Goals
Articulate goals
for social media
efforts
Select Platforms
Select a social
channel that
matches your
audience and
goals
Create Content
Begin planning
for social
content
development
Evaluate
Assess the
performance of
your social
media efforts

4. By the end of this webinar you will be able to:
Set Goals
Articulate goals
for social media
efforts
Select Platforms
Select a social
channel that
matches your
audience and
goals
Create Content
Begin planning
for social
content
development
Evaluate
Assess the
performance of
your social
media efforts

5. By the end of this webinar you will be able to:
Set Goals
Articulate goals
for social media
efforts
Select Platforms
Select a social
channel that
matches your
audience and
goals
Create Content
Begin planning
for social
content
development
Evaluate
Assess the
performance of
your social
media efforts

6. By the end of this webinar you will be able to:
Set Goals
Articulate goals
for social media
efforts
Select Platforms
Select a social
channel that
matches your
audience and
goals
Create Content
Begin planning
for social
content
development
Evaluate
Success
Assess the
performance of
your social
media efforts

7. Benefits
Things to Consider
Takes time
Free/inexpensive
Requires skill in
Easy to use, does not require communications and
writing
technical knowledge
Large potential audience
Easily shared
Gets picked up by search
engines
Not housed on your
website (unless you put it
there)
Your audience may not be
there

8. 1. SET GOALS
What outcomes are you hoping to achieve with social media?

9. Social media is active
Show
Share
Connect
Discuss
Interact
Build
community
Publish
Crowdsource
Collaborate
Co-create
Empower
Mentor

10. What do you
want to do
with social
media?
Open access to
collections and
expertise
Brand your staff as
experts
Keep fans updated on
progress
Build excitement about
an event or exhibition
Tap into enthusiast
communities
Bring people behind
the scenes
Engage audiences in
meaningful
conversations
Ask for feedback
Encourage audiences
to take action

12. Who do you want to reach?
Volunteers
Local
community
Researchers
Teachers
History buffs
Youth
Potential
donors

13. ―Everyone‖
is not a useful
audience segment

15. Name
Age
Bio
Interests
Social networks
Technology

18. 2. SELECT PLATFORMS
Where are your audiences online? How can you connect with them?

19. Digital Engagement Framework
See: digitalengagementframework.com

20. Phases of engagement
Reach is about making a first connection with new audiences
or connecting with existing audiences on new channels
• Where will you go to find your audience?
• How will you use your assets to connect with the audience on this platform?
Source: Digital engagement in culture, heritage, and the arts (2013)

21. Phases of engagement
Engagement is about strengthening existing relationships.
• What can you offer to keep your audiences interested?
Source: Digital engagement in culture, heritage, and the arts (2013)

22. Phases of engagement
Engagement is also about entering into a value exchange with your audience.
• How will you invite audiences to participate?
• What will you ask them to do?
Source: Digital engagement in culture, heritage, and the arts (2013)

23. Phases of engagement
Engagement is also about turning fans into advocates for your organization.
• How will you activate your fans and encourage them to share their enthusiasm for
your organization with others?
Source: Digital engagement in culture, heritage, and the arts (2013)

24. Facebook
Good for sharing images, videos, links, and engaging in discussions via comments

25. Twitter
Good for short bursts of information with links, images, and live chats using hashtagss

26. Pinterest
Good for organizing and sharing images and videos with links back to the source

27. Instagram
Good for sharing new photos and videos

28. Tumblr
Good for encouraging reblogs of images and other content

29. Vine
Good for creating short (6 seconds) video and sharing on Twitter

30. Google+
Good for improving your search engine rankings and for sharing YouTube videos

31. Google+ Hangouts On Air
Good for broadcasting conversations with up to 10 users

32. Reddit
Good for hosting ―Ask Me Anything‖ sessions

33. Facebook
Images, video, links, conversations
Twitter
Short form info, live discussions (use hashtags), links
Pinterest
Images (with links back to your site), videos
Instagram
Photos, videos
Tumblr
Shareable images and quotes
Vine
Short (6 seconds) video
Google+
Live video Hangouts, improving search rankings
Reddit
Ask Me Anything

34. Percent of Internet Users Who Use:
0
20
40
60
80
Any social networking site
67
Facebook
100
67
Twitter
16
Pinterest
15
Instagram
Tumblr
13
6
Source: ―The Demographics of Social Media Users,‖ Pew Internet (2013)

35. Platform
This platform is especially appealing to:
Any Social Networking Site
Adults ages 18-29, women
Facebook
Adults ages 18-29, women
Twitter
Adults ages 18-29, African Americans, urban
residents
Pinterest
Women, adults under 50, whites, those with
some college education
Instagram
Adults ages 18-20, African
Americans, Latinos, women, urban residents
*and teens!
Tumblr
Adults ages 18-29
*and teens!
Source: ―The Demographics of Social Media Users,‖ Pew Internet (2013)

36. Google+ Users
Popular platform
Source: GlobalWebIndex
Mostly male (70%), 18-34
Source: Plusdemographics.com

37. What kind of content do you have to share?
Mostly
images
Are they
already
on your
website?
Yes
Mixed
Mostly
video
Do they
already
exist?
No, I am taking
new photos
Yes
No, I am creating
new short videos
(images,
links,
discussion)
Do you
want to
reach…
The widest
possible
audience
A niche or
enthusiast
audience

38. 3. CREATE CONTENT
What content can you use to connect with and engage audiences?

40. Identifying content opportunities
What existing assets can be repurposed? What new content needs to be created?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Images
Video
Blog posts
News articles
Access to experts
Links to your website
Quotes
Questions and prompts

41. Photos perform best on Facebook
Photo posts typically receive
120% more engagement on
Facebook

42. Tip: Upload image to Facebook
Don’t just rely on the link preview

43. Tip: Upload image to Facebook
Don’t just rely on the link preview

44. Tool: PicMonkey
Picmonkey (free browser-based tool) makes creating images with text overlays and collages super simple

45. Tip: Include images on Twitter too
Tweets with photos get TWICE the response
Source: Twitter Best Practices

46. Caption contests

47. Identification
Mystery objects, dates photographs were taken, people, places

48. Identification
Mystery objects, dates photographs were taken, people, places

49. Behind the Scenes

50. Behind the Scenes

51. Behind the Scenes

52. Behind the Scenes

53. Behind the Scenes

54. Important dates & observances
Breast Cancer Awareness
Voting Day

55. #ThrowBackThursday (#TBT)
A hashtag that is popular outside of our sector as well

56. #TuesdayShoesday

57. World Cat Day

58. Star Wars Day (May the Fourth)

59. Q&A
Schedule special days/times to make your experts available to answer questions

60. Tweetups
Invite active Tweeters to join you behind the scenes and tweet about their experiences

61. Types of Content We All Love
• Makes us laugh (or happy)
– The internet loves clever
• Teaches us how to do something very specific
– Tutorials, actionable advice
• Reveals ―secrets‖
– Behind the scenes!
• Challenges our assumptions
– Mythbusters
• Visualizes information
– Slideshows, infographics
Source: Gregory Ciotti

62. Thinking about New Content
• What do people want to know? What
motivates them?
• How can you enrich and serve their
questioning?
• How can you develop understanding through
dialogue with people?

64. Match content type to desired action
What do you want fans to do?
Respond
‣ Questions
‣ Fill in the blank
‣ Calls for submissions
(photos/video/text)
‣ Caption contest
Share
‣ Call to action with the
word ―share‖ or ―retweet‖
‣ Request to identify people
/ tag people in photos
‣ Images designed for
sharing
Like
‣ Timely news
‣ Inspirational, moving, or
humorous content
‣ Deadline reminders

65. Facebook best practices
• Short
– 100-250 characters (less than 3 lines) get 60%
more likes comments and shares
• Regular
– 5 x a week
• Encourage interaction
– Questions, fill-in-the-blank (90% more
engagement)
• Call to action
– Include ―share, ―like,‖ etc. in the first 90
characters
Source: Facebook Page Publishing Best Practices

66. Twitter best practices
• Short
– Tweets less than 100 characters get higher
engagement (easier to retweet)
• Frequent
– A few tweets per day, scheduled throughout the day
• Replies and mentions
– Include usernames to reply or mention
• Hashtags
– Include relevant hashtags
• Photos
– Tweets with photos get twice the response
Source: Twitter Best Practices

67. Evenings & Weekends are Key
Content posted later in the day gets
more likes and shares (8pm ET peak)
Content posted on Saturday and
Sunday gets more likes

69. Tip: Schedule your posts
Facebook
Twitter
Note: Must use ads.twitter.com interface
Or use a free 3rd party service such as
HootSuite, Tweetdeck, or Buffer

70. Source: Nonprofit Marketing Guide

71. Voice and Tone
• You might want to use the same corporate
voice outlined by your communications
guidelines…or you might not
• What do you want your personality to be?
• How will you maintain consistency across
multiple authors?

73. Use Content Calendars for Efficiency
Pre-planned content frees up time to monitor news & replies
Date
Time
(EST)
Message
Link
11/14
8:40am
Today in 1851: Herman
Melville’s classis, Moby
Dick, is published. Did you
read it in school?
bit.ly/HVgnJM
11/14
6pm
"...a concentrated Beef
Juice...given in either cold
water or milk." The
manufacturer listed
diabetes among more than
16 illnesses Bovinine Beef
was thought to treat. More
on our Diabetes Month
Pinterest board:
bit.ly/18X4sk5
The Gunboat Philadelphia
was built in 1776, sunk
during a naval battle with
the British, and spent over
100 years at the bottom of
Lake Champlain. Today, you
can explore it in 3D.
bit.ly/1aEMbZr
11/14
9pm
Image
Monthly
‣
Include entries for each day
of the month AND for each
platform
‣
Write posts, check character
count, and indicate links
and images to use
Yearly
‣
List relevant holidays and
observations, events and
exhibitions
‣
Identify assets
(e.g., images, video) that
need to be created

74. Roles and procedures
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Who writes/creates?
Who edits?
Who reviews?
Who publishes?
Who monitors comments?
Who responds?
Who evaluates and reports?

75. Consider the content ecosystem
Content can be created
once and deployed
across multiple
platforms.
Tailor the posts for each
channel but keep the
core message the same.
Website
Blog
Google+
Content
Ecosystem
Tumblr
Twitter
Exhibits
Events
Facebook

76. ―In the National Museum of American History, there is a cabinet full
of keys—keys that fit the 73 cars in the automobile collection. Most
are sitting under car covers...but now the covers are coming off!‖

77. A dozen Facebook posts piqued interest prior to the vote, announced
the voting period, and then announced the winners.

78. We used HootSuite to monitor the use of our hashtag
#Race2Museum and other mentions of the initiative on Twitter

79. A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.

81. In addition to traditional television news, we used the museum’s
blog and YouTube account to tell the story of ―moving day.‖

83. Results
3 Weeks the voting period was open
24,000 Public votes received
6.5% Increase in visitation in January and February
53,000+ Pageviews to related blog posts
20,300 Pageviews to vote opening post; most popular
blog post of all time

84. IFTTT (If This Then That, ifttt.com)
Use this tool to syndicate content across platforms

85. 4. EVALUATE SUCCESS
How do you know if you are achieving your goals?

86. ―Vanity‖ metrics
Likes, followers
Simply Measured
Twittercounter

88. Content Analysis
Review performance of posts on a monthly or quarterly basis
Twitter
• Which tweets were the
most:
Facebook
• Which posts were the
most:
Retweeted
Clicked
@Replied
Favorited
• Liked
• Commented
• Shared
•
•
•
•

89. Tweet Performance
Go to ads.twitter.com to view analytics

90. Facebook Performance
Go to ―Page Insights‖ to view analytics

91. Today’s Document: Key Outcomes
todaysdocument.tumblr.com
• Primary Goals (per strategic
plan):
– Build Awareness and
Appreciation of National
Archives Mission & Holdings
– Public Engagement
• Secondary goals:
– Education
– Improve Access
• Platform Advantages:
– Highly visual – less is more;
easy to curate
– Viral Nature of Reblogs
– Followers bring more
followers, more than any
other SM platform
Source: Darren Cole, Web & Social Media Branch, National Archives and Records Administration, http://www.slideshare.net/danagreil/03-darren-cole

92. Measuring success
Today’s Document Follower Metrics
Tumblr Followers
Avg increase per day
80000
800
70000
700
60000
600
50000
500
40000
400
30000
300
20000
200
10000
100
0
0
Source: Darren Cole, Web & Social Media Branch, National Archives and Records Administration, http://www.slideshare.net/danagreil/03-darren-cole

93. If you have a little ca$h…
Increase reach with inexpensive advertising
Facebook ads
Promoted tweets
Promoted Twitter accounts

94. More tips for social media success
•
•
•
•
•
•
Follow other users
Like and comment on other users’ content
Respond to comments
@mention others in your posts
Use hashtags
Spread out posts (vary day, time of day)

95. Other indicators of success

96. Other indicators of success

97. Which metric is the most important?
Revisit your goals
• Creating advocates?
– Shares and retweets are your most valuable
metrics
• Engaging in dialogue with a community
– Comments and @replies are most valuable
metrics
• Reach?
– Page likes and followers are most important
metrics

99. By the end of this webinar you will be able to:
Set Goals
Articulate goals
for social media
efforts
Select Platforms
Select a social
channel that
matches your
audience and
goals
Create Content
Begin planning
for social
content
development
Evaluate
Success
Assess the
performance of
your social
media efforts

100. Recommended Resources
1. #musesocial hashtag on Twitter
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23musesocial
2. Engaging Museums blog
engagingmuseums.com
3. Know Your Own Bone blog
colleendilen.com
4. Edgital blog
edgital.org
5. Digital Engagement Framework
digitalengagementframework.com

101. Thanks!
DANA ALLEN-GREIL
Email
Twitter
Blog
danagreil@gmail.com
@danamuses
engagingmuseums.com