Questions to think about the performance of museums on social media. Usres engagement, digital strategy.

1. Museums and Social Media:
8 challenges, questions
Conxa Rodà
Museu
Nacional
d’Art
de Catalunya
Barcelona, 2013
Image: http://yvonneta.wordpress.com/2013/01/25/las-laboresdiarias-de-un-community-manager/

2. Social media are a strategy element of
museum communication
As well as an active presence on Wikipedia or
working for the Open Content of our collections.
All in all, aimed to make our content more
accessible to users on the maximum number of
platforms and with quality.
The new digital scenarios, among them, social
media, make it easier for us.
But… are we museums doing it rightly enough?
See next 8 questions to ask ourselves:

3. Do we know our audience on social networks?
Image: www.friendfiler.com/targeting-social-media-audience/

4. To be considered:
 beyond numbers
engagement
 which of our content attract +answers,
+comments
 how do we measure?
 we need an internal analytics culture
continuous
contextual
distributed throughout the organization

5. Do we explore/use the specificity of
each network and platform?
Image: http://gestorhumano.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/porque-soy-un-community-manager/

6. To be considered:
 each network has its singularity and voice
 learning how to use it will allow us to get out
the most of each one, to become more
interesting for our users
 automatisation may not be a best practice.
Is it handy? Yes. Does it save management time?
Of course! Is it efficient? Less so
 automatisation dangers:
we ignore the uniqueness of each network
we repeat the same message to users that may be
following us on different platforms

7. Do we interact? Or are we just
broadcasters?
Image: http://marketingland.com/short-attention-spans-and-social-media-how-to-fight-back-2435

8. To be considered:
 the very nature of social media is built upon
conversation, interaction
 from museums, sometimes, we still consider
digital media as a one-way communication
 they are a splendid opportunity to talk to our
audience, to be part of the conversation
 we need to know how to engage users, and
make them wish to share our content,
performance

9. What we put out there is just an
announcement board?
Image: http://hombreradio00.blogspot.com.es/2010/08/perifoneos-paralelos-i.html

10. To be considered:
 It’s like chatting with friends and just keep talking
about ourselves
 we need to generate content and functionalities
that attract & engage = storytelling!
 use social media (and the blog) to share the
museum behind-the-scenes
 be generous, disseminate third-party content that
may be of interest to our users

11. Is social media activity distributed
throughout the museum?
Image: http://programmedevelopment.com/public/uploads/images/people_puzzle_clr.png

12. To be considered:
 or is it the matter of just one departament or,
even worse, of one single person?
 it’s not fair to leave the CM (community
manager) alone
 editorial criteria and guidelines should be set
 foster collaborative work on social media (not
just for sustainability but to provide a richness of
perspectives)

13. Have we measured the effort needed?
Images: www.jpvillani.com.ar/tag/sisifo/
http://nurianetworking.com/featured-slider/community-manager /

14. To be considered:
the more social we want to be, the more work it
means
 the more we grow our circles of friends and
followers, more dedication needed to interaction
 opening a profile is done quickly, nurturing it
takes time!
 more and more “essential” networks appear
every day → prioritise and select become
necessary according to the museum’s mission
and objectives

15. Do we have mobile users in mind?
Image: http://queaprendemoshoy.com/community-manager-interno-o-externo/

16. To be considered:
 access to social media from mobile is increasing
continuously
 immediate, easy and ubiquitous use make it very
attractive to upload and share pictures, mainly
 related to Wifi facilities inside museums
 is our social content mobile-friendly? Do we inform
when links are PDF o video?
 do we make use of the features and possibilities of
geolocalisation? of gamification?

17. Do we have a Social Media
Strategy?
Image: www.flickr.com/photos/briansolis/5610145329/

18. To be considered:
 is it well worked out? Does it help us to fulfil the
museum’s objectives?
 measure before opening new profiles
 for social media also a content strategy is needed
 is our social activity integrated as well inside the
museum for our visitors?
 if we did prepare a strategy, do we revise it? Do
we adapt it to the evaluation results? Or to sudden
changes?

19. Museum Computer Network Conference, Atlanta 2011. Photo: Conxa Rodà

20. To be continued…
 Social Media are today a strategy component of
museum communication
 Museums are active on social. Plenty of excellent
examples out there. On average, we just need to
improve the way we use it to make it
→ + creative
→ + emotional
→ + quality

21. Share, debate, let’s talk!
Thank you!!
Conxa Rodà @innova2
Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya @MuseuNac_Cat
www.museunacional.cat