Tips for art centres and museums on social media:
There are various ways museums advertise, such as through newspapers and online advertising. However, in order to reach the younger generation, they need to target them through a more modern device – social media. Social media is a great way for people to express their creative side – whether it be through pictures on ‘Instagram’ or creative tweets on ‘Twitter’. Here are a few tips for how Museums and art centres should be using social media:
· General rules – As mentioned in previous blogs, to gain a good social media presence, you should follow these first few tips: Following – Follow your target audience on Twitter. You could see who follows other museums, or who is in your local area. Regular content – Content should be relevant to the industry, however, not monotomous. It shoud also be posted out regularly along with reTweeting others posts.
· Pictures – Museums should post pictures which relate to the creative audience. This should be advertising upcoming exhibitions, or just everyday pictures from the centre. Ensure that they are of high quality and are interesting to your target audience. (Your followers are much more likely to look at posts which have pictures attached!) This also gives a creative ‘feel’ to your platform.
· Competitions – Run competitions and promotions such as a student discount. This may attract your target audience to come and see the museum for the first time, possibly resulting in ‘word of mouth’ and them coming again with friends. Competitions could encourage users to reTweet or rePost the content, increasing it’s customer reach and awareness.
· Relevance – If there are any upcoming events such as London Fashion Week, arts centres and museums could include this in their marketing stretegy. These types of events are talked about widely through social media channels and could, therefore, go hand-in-hand with a promoted exhibition related to fashion. Possibly creating a hashtag on Twitter to increase its awareness.
It is all about creativity and getting across to the younger generation that museums and arts centres can be modern too. Social media is the best way to do this as it approaches them where they are comfortable and has the potential to become viral, getting the best coverage possible for you!