[MCN-L] Content-based social media strategies
Perian - The big difference I see comes when you look at science centers and children's museums vs. institutions that are more focused on adult audiences. While the "core audience" for science centers and children's museums is kids, social media outreach is focused primarily on adults--parents, caregivers, and teachers. That means several institutions using social media to talk about content unique to facilitators rather than consumers of museum content. For example, the Providence Children's Museum has a blog that is really focused on the educational value of play and helping parents understand how the museum can be a useful part of their childrens' learning. The Museum of Life and Science targets mommy bloggers and daddy bloggers specifically, as well as local parents on Twitter. The other interesting thing about science centers in particular is that they frequently use social media to help adults see themselves as part of the science center community/audience. On the surface, that sounds identical to what art/history institutions do - try to help nontraditional, tech savvy audiences get engaged with the content - but it's slightly different. In most cases, science centers acknowledge that, say, a 30 year old engineer probably won't get a lot out of the exhibits. But they DO use social media in particular to make other kinds of opportunities--volunteering, co-creating, special programs--available to those audiences. Instead of promoting all their events, science centers often use social media to focus on events specific to adults without children. The other kind of institution that is really different from others are sites of conscience. I know the Holocaust Museum in particular has been grappling with how to use social media in a way that is appropriate to the seriousness of their topic. I know many museums have this in common (for example, I had an interesting discussion with the folks from the 6th Floor Museum in Dallas about this issue) - they see the ways they can de-formalize their content very differently from staff at other kinds of institutions. They're never going to have the equivalent of AMNH's tweeting whale. Finally, zoos. I think zoos do some of the best work on Twitter (SFZoo in particular). Because visitors take so many photos while visiting, zoos have this huge body of user-generated content they can harvest and celebrate in their social media streams. It seems like zoos more naturally are able to connect people with the "lives" of the artifacts because, well, they're sentient. Nina Nina Simon Museum 2.0 - www.museumtwo.com 831.331.5460 nina at museumtwo.com 1040 Mystery Spot Road Santa Cruz, CA 95065 skype, twitter, yahooIM, flickr, facebook: ninaksimon On Apr 5, 2010, at 10:10 AM, Perian Sully wrote: > Happy Monday everyone! I've got a discussion question for y'all, > prompted by a discussion Nancy (Proctor) and I were having yesterday > about educational outreach: > > Do you think that different types of museums (art, history, science, > etc.) have different approaches for leveraging social media? > > Personally, I haven't seen that there's a consistent difference in the > way types of museums use social media for outreach, but there > definitely > is for institutional websites and web-based programs. The > differences I > have seen tend to be based more on the size and organizational > structure of the museum, rather than the content. But I have to admit > that I haven't done an exhaustive survey of the field. > > Have you noticed differently? Have you adjusted your strategy based on > the type of content being presented? > > ~P > > Perian Sully > Collections Information Manager > Web Programs Strategist > The Magnes > 2911 Russell St. > Berkeley, CA 94705 > Work: 510-549-6950 x 357 > Fax: 510-849-3673 > http://www.magnes.org > http://www.musematic.org > http://www.mediaandtechnology.org > > ___ > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum > Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > > The MCN-L archives can be found at: > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
[MCN-L] Content-based social media strategies
Hi, Perian-- That's a fantastic question. I haven't thought comprehensively about it, but right off the top of my head I do know that we often do focus on our various audiences and their interests when deciding what, whether, and how to tweet, post to Facebook, etc. As a historic house museum (albeit one with gardens and a visitor center/museum), we don't have the same emphasis on our collections that, say, an art museum might have. And because we're kind of personality-driven, in that we are trying to tell the story of Thomas Jefferson and his world, a lot of our content revolves around the man and his own varied interests. Our audiences tend to latch onto particular interests of Jefferson's--gardening, the natural world, political science, food, gadgetry, writing, etc.--and so we make note of things that will interest those audiences before posting them. I suspect that we share with other kinds of institutions some of our approaches to social media outreach: a fair bit of emphasis on events, for instance, amid the other kinds of posts. I personally think that social media has proven most effective in building a community of interested people--certainly more than it is in being a part of a more direct marketing plan. Don't know if this really helps, but those are the thoughts that first leap to mind. --E. Eric D. M. Johnson New Media Specialist Monticello P.O. Box 316 Charlottesville, VA 22902 Phone: (434) 984-7570 | Fax: (434) 977-6140 http://www.monticello.org/ ejohnson at monticello.org -Original Message- From: Perian Sully [mailto:psu...@magnes.org] Sent: Monday, April 05, 2010 1:10 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: [MCN-L] Content-based social media strategies Happy Monday everyone! I've got a discussion question for y'all, prompted by a discussion Nancy (Proctor) and I were having yesterday about educational outreach: Do you think that different types of museums (art, history, science, etc.) have different approaches for leveraging social media? Personally, I haven't seen that there's a consistent difference in the way types of museums use social media for outreach, but there definitely is for institutional websites and web-based programs. The differences I have seen tend to be based more on the size and organizational structure of the museum, rather than the content. But I have to admit that I haven't done an exhaustive survey of the field. Have you noticed differently? Have you adjusted your strategy based on the type of content being presented? ~P Perian Sully Collections Information Manager Web Programs Strategist The Magnes 2911 Russell St. Berkeley, CA 94705 Work: 510-549-6950 x 357 Fax: 510-849-3673 http://www.magnes.org http://www.musematic.org http://www.mediaandtechnology.org ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
[MCN-L] Content-based social media strategies
Happy Monday everyone! I've got a discussion question for y'all, prompted by a discussion Nancy (Proctor) and I were having yesterday about educational outreach: Do you think that different types of museums (art, history, science, etc.) have different approaches for leveraging social media? Personally, I haven't seen that there's a consistent difference in the way types of museums use social media for outreach, but there definitely is for institutional websites and web-based programs. The differences I have seen tend to be based more on the size and organizational structure of the museum, rather than the content. But I have to admit that I haven't done an exhaustive survey of the field. Have you noticed differently? Have you adjusted your strategy based on the type of content being presented? ~P Perian Sully Collections Information Manager Web Programs Strategist The Magnes 2911 Russell St. Berkeley, CA 94705 Work: 510-549-6950 x 357 Fax: 510-849-3673 http://www.magnes.org http://www.musematic.org http://www.mediaandtechnology.org
