In this article
This resource looks at the pros and cons of the main platforms: Twitter, Instagram and YouTube and shows the ways these platforms are being used or can be used to engage with an audience. There are many ways arts and culture organisations are being creative in their use of social media, so we share examples and ideas for you to consider below.
When embarking on an audience engagement campaign, questions to ask yourself are:
Are you engaging with your audience? What’s your long-term goal/purpose?
Once you have decided on your “why”, think about what platform will be best to deliver your ambitions.
Once you’ve taken into consideration all the above, there might be other “call to actions” or campaigns that you can run alongside your content such as:
Each of the major social media platforms has different features from live streams to videos or blogs and threads, that will allow you to share your content in unique ways or in ways that best suit your work and match your resources.
There are plenty of examples of these features being put to good use in the arts and culture sector currently. Below are some pros and cons of the main platforms with a selection of examples and best practice from the sector along with ideas of ways you can use other social media platforms to engage with your audience.
Twitter is a very versatile platform that enables you to share videos and audio, run polls, live streams, microblogs and more.
Below are some fantastic Threads being shared from creatives in the arts and culture sector that contain ideas on how to use the platform creatively:
Encouraged their users to explore their online collections of smocks and rural garments, and then make their own in the new Nintendo game, Animal Crossing.
https://twitter.com/TheMERL/status/1242751265869910016
Sue shares early European artefacts with a Covid-19 twist.
https://twitter.com/SueBrunningBM/status/1239127744551833601?s=20
Another good way to use threads is to do a Q&A with your audience, and you can ask them to add their questions to your thread link.
https://twitter.com/ArtsPro/status/1239939549788135426?s=20
A curator showcases some of the artefacts from the museum using a bingo machine to pick out the artefact he is going to talk about.
https://twitter.com/BarnsleyMuseums/status/1240941575531790336
Instagram has a plethora of features that can be used to connect with your audience from Instagram Stories/Live, IGTV and Polls. The platform is a great space to create informative content and engage in fun ways with your audiences.
Below are some examples of cultural organisations that are using Instagram in fun and creative ways.
The Field Museum often have questions or call to actions in their post copy that encourages their audience to engage with them. The museum does this by using a combination of light-hearted copy and educational content pieces.
https://www.instagram.com/fieldmuseum/?hl=en
They use a mixture of educational and informative posts and highlight their story well by posting behind the scenes videos, previous campaigns and events held at the museum and more.
https://www.instagram.com/natural_history_museum/?hl=en
YouTube is a platform that is often overlooked when it comes to building an audience. However, when used correctly, organisations can develop truly engaged communities.
If you are an organisation with video content, then this is a perfect time to either re-share or repurpose your video content. Below are some great examples of cultural organisations that not only have hours of content for you to get lost in but a growing audience who tune in weekly for new content.
The Tank Museum delivers new content every week and have lots of different playlists about its collection as well as interviews and thought pieces from its staff and other tank enthusiasts.
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheTankMuseum/videos
The British Museum, as you can imagine, has a wide range of content that it covers on its YouTube page. A strong example is its Curator Corner series, sharing a new video from its curators every Monday.
https://www.youtube.com/user/britishmuseum/videos
Below are some more resources which can tell you more about how to approach social media.
The team at Nottingham Lakeside Arts discuss why it reevaluated its audience segments and the effect that it has had on its overall social media strategy.
If you are nervous about shooting content on your phone, Digital Culture Network Tech Champion, Dean Shaw has created a how-to video that will equip you with the confidence to start creating content using your mobile device.
The Museum of English Rural Life demonstrates how it became a Social Media First organisation as well as how it approaches content and its collections.
Reaching new audience by connecting its artifacts with the new video game Animal Crossing, the story about MERL was picked up by gaming blog Polygon
The Digital Culture Network is here to support you and your organisation. Our Tech Champions can provide free 1-2-1 support to all arts and cultural organisations who are in receipt of, or eligible for, Arts Council England funding. If you need help or would like to chat with us about any of the advice we have covered above, please get in touch. Sign up to our newsletter below and follow us on Twitter @ace_dcn for the latest updates.
Original article by Haydn Corrodus, August 2020.
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