Curiouser and Curiouser: Exposing the Collections Through Social Media presented at the Mid Atlantic Association of Museums 2013 Conference. Hosted by Maureen Lane and Brittany Baksa, The Phillips Museum of Art

1. Curiouser and Curiouser
Exposing Collections Through Social Media
Alice Finding Tiny Door Behind The Curtain
Tenniel Illustrations for Alice in Wonderland
1865
Sir John Tenniel
The Project Gutenberg, www.gutenberg.net

2. Agenda
INTRO: Where do we go from here? Maureen Lane & Brittany Baksa,
Franklin & Marshall College
FACEBOOK: Rachel Kassman, Development and Marketing Manager, The
Jewish Museum of Maryland
BLOGS: Erin Blasco, Education Specialist, the Smithsonian’s National
Museum of American History
TUMBLR: Heidi Herr, Outreach Coordinator for Department of Special
Collections, Librarian for Philosophy and English, The Johns Hopkins
University
TWITTER: Zerah Jakub, Manager of Education Outreach and Leadership
Programs at George Washington's Mount Vernon
Q&A:

3. Join the conversation on twitter
#MAAMsm
(not case-sensitive)
Giant Alice Watching Rabbit Run Away
Tenniel Illustrations for Alice in Wonderland
1865
Sir John Tenniel
The Project Gutenberg, www.gutenberg.net

4. Social Media Toolkit
http://bit.ly/19UGHzg

5. FACEBOOK
Rachel Kassman
Development and Marketing Manager
The Jewish Museum of Maryland
www.facebook.com/jewishmuseummd

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TOTAL IMAGES: 55,345

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17. …
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41. ❑
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42. Blogging
Erin Blasco, Education Specialist, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of
American History

43. Exposing collections through a blog
What I’m going to talk about:
● Why expose collections
● Just a little NMAH blog background
● Advice you can actually use from our most
awesome posts

44. Why expose our collections?
● Indicators in public survey data and metrics
● Collections make us unique in a crowded market
(History Channel, PBS, NatGeo)
● As digital storytellers, we know objects are great
jumping off points for digital narrative on the blog
@erinblasco
blascoe@si.edu

45. Background on the blog
● Share the authentic voices of
museum staff, community,
volunteers, interns, leadership
● Learn in public, think out loud,
bring readers behind the scenes
● Spark conversation and relevant
connections to what people are
talking about now
@erinblasco
blascoe@si.edu

46. Background on the blog
September 2012 - September 2013
Google Analytics overview
@erinblasco
blascoe@si.edu

47. Epic win worth learning from #1
● Reader curiosity
● List format
● Post can deliver on
the title’s promise
● Cool angle on
familiar topic
● Illustrated with
collection objects

48. Epic win worth learning from #2
● Frequently Googled
question
● Good timing before
the holiday
● Starts where the
reader is;
approachable
@erinblasco
blascoe@si.edu

49. Epic win worth stealing from #3
● Posted along with big
news of acquisition
● First person was ok
here
● Familiar topic, new
angle
● Duh, muppets
@erinblasco
blascoe@si.edu

50. @erinblasco
blascoe@si.edu

51. A few changes that have worked well
● Intro and teaser text above each post
● Send ego massage e-mails loaded with stats
@erinblasco
blascoe@si.edu

52. Making invisible online readers more
visible
@erinblasco
blascoe@si.edu

53. Make the editorial calendar an
invitation to party
@erinblasco
blascoe@si.edu

71. Twitter
Zerah Jakub
Manager of Education Outreach and Leadership Programs
The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of
George Washington at Mount Vernon
@Zerahlynne
@GWBooks

72. A little bit of history……
Twitter handle changed from @MVforTeachers to @GWBooks on August 29, 2013

73. #MuseumSuperBowl
“Hosted” by @GettyMuseum
in 2012 & 2013
OPPORTUNITIES
#MuseumOlympics
“Hosted” by @SFMOMA in 2012

75. CHALLENGES
●
Editorial Calendar…..What Editorial Calendar?
●
To Schedule or Not To Schedule?

76. Scheduled Tweet
with Ow.ly link to
Collections image

77. Clicking the Ow.ly
link brings you to a
secondary site to
view the image

78. A non-scheduled
Tweet with an
uploaded image
allows your
audience to view the
image as part of the
Tweet
Look at that bling!

80. CHALLENGES
●
Editorial Calendar…..What Editorial Calendar?
●
To Schedule or Not To Schedule?
●
It takes time, but Find Excuses To Share