Webinar Highlights: How Museums Can Experiment with Social Media to Boost Audience Engagement During Coronavirus

As the coronavirus continues to prevent museums and cultural organizations from welcoming audiences to their physical spaces, the importance of digital engagement has increased exponentially. In the face of this all, many organizations are embracing the opportunity to use this time as a period of experimentation, especially with regards to social media and other digital channels.

This past Wednesday, over 2,500 museum professionals joined Brendan Ciecko (CEO & Founder @ Cuseum), Hilary-Morgan Watt (Digital Engagement Manager @ Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden), & Emily Haight (Social Media Manager @ New-York Historical Society) as they talked through the ways museums can begin experimenting with social media, hashtags, digital outreach, and other means to boost engagement among their audiences. 

Watch the full recording here.

Here are a few of the biggest takeaways from the conversation.

1. Ideate & Collaborate with Your Peers

In these uncertain times, some of the most successful ideas materialize when you have a network of coworkers and colleagues to bounce ideas off of. For example, the highly successful #MuseumBouquet initiative was a joint effort between Hilary-Morgan and Emily, with the participation of museums and individuals across the world.

One of the big challenges of experimenting with new ideas and campaigns is determining which hashtags and initiatives will be successful. While it can be hard to know what campaigns will take off, a little bit of planning goes a long way. For #MuseumBouquet, Hilary-Morgan and Emily used an online survey to heat test the level of interest from other organizations, as well as solidify their initial partners for distribution.

Over 80 museums and cultural organizations provided initial feedback and signed on to take part, greatly increasing the chances of success and visibility. The entire museum community is in solidarity right now, and you have colleagues at peer institutions who are encountering the same challenges. Now is the time to reach out and collaborate!

2. Focus on Your Mission

Experimentation and exploring new ideas are essential to success with social media. At the same time, museum professionals working in social media and digital have noted a feeling of being overwhelmed due to the sudden deluge of ideas and suggestions for content projects from various colleagues. How, then, do you cut through this noise and pursue the best initiatives?

The concept of making all initiatives mission-centric is an important one. 

“I’d encourage consistency from your brand, mission, and content. Not that there can’t be moments of creativity and a new spin, but if we’re highlighting works from our collection, we should probably keep doing that to provide what our audiences expect of us, and some sense of normalcy.”
- Hilary-Morgan Watt

Additionally, there are existing (and widely acclaimed) checklists and frameworks available for ensuring your digital content is hitting all the right notes.

The important things to remember here are keeping your organization’s goals and audience top of mind. 

3. Use Humor Tactfully 

This is a very difficult time and humor might look tempting, but consider the risks. Certain museums, like the Museum of English Rural Life, already have humor as a central and expected part of their brand and voice. However, if this is completely new territory for you, it could hit the wrong note with your audiences.

“It's great when museums are able to take advantage of trending names and when museums can imbue their content with a little bit of humor and joy. But, I think you have to be really careful about the way you do that and think about your audience first. If your audience doesn't play that kind of game, it's probably not appropriate for you to do it now.”
- Emily Haight

During times like these, it’s best to avoid controversial memes and sarcasm, and focus on soothing content, cute animals (if you have them), and light-hearted touches.

4. Be Human

Right now audiences do not want to hear a filtered, institutional voice. On this point, both Emily and Hilary-Morgan echoed one of Ryan Dodge’s most essential adages: be human.

When drafting your messaging, strive for warmth and real, personal touches. Recent museum social media sensations, like Tim the Cowboy, can attribute much of their success not just to light-hearted aspects, but to the fact that they are offering genuine human connection.

As you continue to experiment with new social media ideas, this is a guiding principle to keep in mind. Be human.

This is just the beginning for exciting experiments in #musesocial. In the coming weeks, keep your eyes out for the #MuseumSunshine campaign. This latest brainchild of Emily and Hilary-Morgan will be open to participation from anyone, with a goal of bringing cheer and light to social media feeds.

Looking for more information? Check out our Coronavirus Resources Page.

Further Reading:

• 4 Ways Museums Can Successfully Leverage Digital Content And Channels During Coronavirus (COVID-19)

• How to build high impact content

• Webinar Highlights: How To Captivate, Connect, And Communicate With Your Audience During Coronavirus

• Museums closed due to coronavirus crisis send each other virtual flowers to spread joy on social media

• Hundreds of Museums Around the World Are Sending Each Other Bouquets of Art Historical Flowers to Spread Love in a Dark Time