During the fall semester I took a course dedicated to one of my favorite topics – social media in museums. The course, offered by the GW Museum Studies Department and taught by Erin Blasco from the National Museum of American History, explored how museums create content and manage online communities. Throughout my undergraduate and graduate careers, I have been exposed to numerous institutions through various internships. At many of these organizations, I was tasked with managing and enhancing their online presence through social media. This course, however, was the first formalized education I received on the topic and as such was a very rewarding experience – one that has advanced my current placement managing social media at The George Washington University Museum and the Textile Museum.
During the semester, students in the class developed a fictional, month-long social media campaign for Object Project, an exhibition at the Museum of American History. The campaign had to engage a specific audience with educational and promotional content related to the exhibition. Additionally, it had to demonstrate the ability to convert the audience in a positive way, whether that be by increasing engagement, followers, or comprehension within the audience. We, as students, were given free reign with use of platform, content selected, and methods used to create the campaign.
I decided to capitalize on the nostalgia felt around the time between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays to create my campaign. Using the hashtag #PastPresent, I wanted to engage Facebook users between 40-60 years old who already follow the museum and enjoy sharing content within their own network. Posts made by the museum would be of objects from Object Project that these users may have used in their own homes or have seen their parents and grandparents use. Additionally, my plan would encourage a dialogue between the museum and the audience through weekly discussions in a Facebook group associated with the campaign. It would be a place to encourage deeper engagement with the content and museum staff for those users who felt connected to the objects, their stories, and the stories of others.
This semester I have directly applied what I learned to the GW Museum and the Textile Museum’s social media strategy. Thus far, the museum has participated in three international campaigns sponsored by other museums and I have launched a campaign for the opening of our feature exhibition “Diaspora: Stories of Migration” using the hashtag #DiscoverDiaspora. Completing this course and final project prepared me to think holistically about social media campaigns. After the completion of this course, I feel well versed in all areas of a social media campaign. From the content and strategy to the support of other staff members and audience interaction, I am much better at setting and achieving strategic goals.