If you asked someone five years
ago what makes a cultural heritage institution relevant, they would say it
would needed a webpage. Today, they
would most likely point to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. The
fact of the matter is that social media is everywhere and it isn’t going away
and a lot of libraries, archives, and museums have recognized this need. Two such institutions that have been trying to
keep up are the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the Buffalo and
Erie County Public Libraries (herein, Buffalo Libraries). Each of these organizations utilizes several
major social media outlets, but are they doing so effectively?
LACMA has accounts on the
following sites: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Tumblr, Snapchat,
Instagram, and WordPress. While
statistics on WordPress, Tumblr, and Snapchat are not available, the other sites
reach a combined audience of 803,448 through “likes” and “followers” (see chart below). Even though we would like to think we don’t
judge a book by its cover, we obviously do.
My first impressions of LACMAs sites are that they are clean and
streamlined. There aren’t superfluous
links, hard-to-read colors, and a lot of text crowding the pages. LACMA’s homepage has links to their Facebook,
Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, and WordPress accounts. Snapchat is missing because it is a mobile
app, but YouTube is not represented. The
last upload to that site was four months ago, so it is not as if they have not been loading content there. This is an
oversight on their part that I would recommend they fix if they want users to
view their videos.
On their Twitter page, LACMA does
a good job of cross-promoting with other institutions and artists. If they are exhibiting a collection, they
will tag the artist and often hash tag their name. They also visually represent themselves well
on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr through frequent photographs of events and
exhibits. This is effective because it
not only tells the user that a new exhibit is on display, but also shows a
sample of the collection, a picture of the artist, and/or photographs from a
related event. As the tweet below shows, LACMA is also on Pinterest. Their boards showcase common elements in their collection, with such boards as "Faces," "Summertime," and "Animals." They also share pins of the museum through the years and photos of the museum undergoing conservation efforts.
Their WordPress blog also
showcases photos of events, collection highlights, and upcoming goings-on at
the museum. This year LACMA made the
news by becoming one of the first museums to use Snapchat (username: lacma_museum). Maritza Yoes, LACMA’s social media manager
stated in an August press release that “Snapchat stems from our enthusiasm for
experimental approaches to social media” and thinks that the smart phone app is
a great way to “reach a younger audience.”
They may be on the right track, since the article states that 43% of 12-
to 24-year-olds use Snapchat at least once a day.
LACMA does not have a social
media policy posted on their website, but they seem to have a visual
standard. They have successfully
utilized their logo across all of these sites so people who see it will
automatically recognize the institution.
The font is uniform and their colors are used frequently throughout
their posts. Overall, LACMA has a strong
social media presence and has shown themselves open to trying new social media
outlets—they just need to remember to keep up their uniform look and keep
relative to their user base.
Buffalo Libraries have also
trying to keep up with the ever-changing world of social media—though on a
smaller scale. They currently utilize
Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and Tumblr with a combined audience of
13,076 (excluding Tumblr, see chart below). Their Pinterest
page also has a separate account for their Children’s Program. While Buffalo is a smaller city than Los
Angeles and, arguably, less “glamorous” of a place to follow, there are aspects
of their social media presence they could improve upon. Their Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr account
pictures are all different and none seem to represent the mission of the library. Facebook has a rather bland
photo of somewhere the inside of the library and an ugly picture of the outside
of one of their branches. Twitter has a
photo of a buffalo as its icon and Pinterest has a word cloud of text
associated with libraries. A uniform
design would streamline the overall appearance of their social media presence. Their homepage has a banner across all pages
and that could be a place to start, though I also suggest a new logo be developed
that better illustrates the Buffalo Libraries and their place in the community. Their YouTube page is also sadly lacking in
content with 17 uploads, five subscribers, and the last post made a year
ago. If they want to reach more people,
they would be wise to upload more videos.
Their calendar has a lot of events and a few of those could be
appropriate to upload videos of. Kids
and parents alike would probably enjoy seeing themselves online and, therefore,
would be more likely to “share” the videos with family and friends through
other social media sites. If the site
continues to be dormant, I suggest the page be taken down for fear that they
will appear uninvolved and, consequently, uninteresting to the public.
While their YouTube account may
be sparse, their Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest accounts are not. As of this writing, they have all been
updated within the last day. Most posts announce
upcoming events and relevant news stories.
I would caution the Buffalo Libraries not to over-post on their Pinterest
pages. A lot of their boards are helpful
with announcing events, but they also contain superfluous boards such as “Cookbooks,”
New York Times Fiction,” and “New Music.”
Pinterest users are not using the site as a catalog and these extremely
large boards only end up cluttering their page.
On the other hand, the Buffalo
Libraries do a good job of keeping in contact with their users. After I started following their Twitter page,
I was sent a direct message thanking me for following them. This communication is important with Twitter,
since users tend to expect more immediate responses on this site. For example, if you have a problem with a
restaurant’s service, a way of letting them know is by tweeting at them. Oftentimes when they respond it is apologetic
and offers to remedy the situation—an unresponsive institution appears to be
the unfeeling institution. The libraries
also does a fairly nice job of cross promoting themselves. Their Facebook account has a link to their
Twitter page and their homepage has links to all their social media accounts.
Social media has been described
as a “relationship,” so it is important that libraries and museums fight to
stay relevant in an increasingly digital world through strengthening this
relationship. Keeping in contact with
users, frequent updates, and the willingness to embrace new social media
platforms are great ways for them to achieve this. The following must be kept in mind, though, to
make this relationship work:
·
Keep the user updated on changes to their sites,
both physical and digital
·
Talk about challenges
·
Own up to your mistakes—don’t try to hide from them
and be honest
·
Highlight individual staff members
·
Response time is important
·
Promote your pages
*information as of 11/10/14
