Creating Your Social Media Strategy: A Workshop

As cultural consumers spend more time on social media platforms, thorough and thoughtful institution-specific social media strategies have become a communications necessity. This workshop is designed to guide participants in developing actionable social media strategies for their respective organizations, building from industry case studies, peer best practices, and audience research. Featuring a mix of brief, informative presentations on social media trends and applications, as well as dynamic small-group roundtables, the workshop will provide participants with the opportunity to learn from industry professionals as well as from the collective experiences of peers.  

We will kick off the workshop with a scan of recent audience and new media research that examines how culture-seeking audiences utilize social media in their everyday lives, spotlighting their expectations and desires for how such online interactions can enhance their connection to arts organizations. Drawing on the key takeaways of this research presentation, we will lead a set of small group discussions during which each of the workshop instructors will share a series of nuts-and-bolts steps for social media implementation applicable to museums and institutions of all sizes. We will also discuss the ways in which different demographic segments utilize social media, and where differences between these segments are breaking down, so that each participant is armed with the necessary information to activate affinity activities at their respective institutions.

Workshop participants will then reconvene for a presentation of best practice case studies from cultural institutions across the country and around the globe that offer inspiration and new ideas about developing greater connectivity and synergy in online communities, as well as outline some of the objectives of institutional online strategies. We will include an in-depth look at some of the Guggenheim's social media-based projects and strategies.

We will then break into small, moderated groups one last time to discuss the case studies and participants will have the opportunity to share other social media examples they find compelling and effective. The session will conclude with a review of the social media planning worksheets and guidance for the participants on how to activate and/or expand their institution’s social media strategies, including where to focus resources, which platforms to use, how to fund a social media campaign, and how to build institutional buy-in.