Evaluating Social Media: American Association of Museums (AAM) 2010

Evaluating Social Media
We’re here to talk about:
navigating sea of social media technologies
planning for implementation
developing metrics
defining success
challenges
applying lessons learned to other online and offline efforts

Your conversation influencers
Dana Allen-GreilNew Media Project Manager, National Museum of American History@danamuses
Angelina Russo, Ph.D.Associate Professor, Swinburne University@artech05

Angelina Russo, PhDAssociate Professor, Swinburne University
Angelina Russo leads the ARC research project Engaging with Social Media in Museums at Swinburne University, which brings together three Australian museums and the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum to explore the impact of social media on museum learning and communication. Between 2005 & 2008 she led the research project New Literacy, New Audiences which examined the development of user-generated content in collaboration with six major Australian cultural institutions.
In 2006 Angelina received the prestigious Queensland Premiere’s Smithsonian Fellowship and in 2007 an Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship. Angelina holds a Bachelor of Design in Human Environment Design from University of South Australia and a PhD in Architecture and Design from University of South Australia.

Dana Allen-GreilNew Media Project Manager National Museum of American History
Dana manages a range of new media projects including online exhibitions, e-mail newsletters, interactive kiosks, mobile interpretation, online fundraising campaigns, blogs, social media strategies – you name it.
Projects she’s most proud of include: the “O Say Can You See?” blog (for which she’s managing editor); the Smithsonian’s first YouTube contest (a national anthem singing competition); and the major redesign of the museum’s Web site in 2005.
She’s fascinated by the possibilities of Twitter, and has recently contributed two chapters for the book, Twitter for Museums.
She teaches the graduate course, “Museums and Technology,” at The George Washington University.

This is going to get social…
Tweet using hashtag #aamSocial(Note: conference hashtag: #aam10)
Text to 202.550.9095

What is your biggest social media challenge?
Send a tweet to @pollwith the message
“26514 + your answer”
Send a text to 22333with the message
http://www.polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/LTM2MjQwMjExNg

Sticky
Museum Matter
Presentation to
American Association of Museums
23 May 2010
Associate Professor, Angelina Russo, PhD

Reflections on social media
Can we connect across typologies?
Collaborations across the sector are vital
Enable audience to develop a sense of national stories
how do audiences translate and use materials at a local level?

Reflections on relevance
big issues of today – whose problems are they?
Build visibility of holders of research data, researchers, technologists – a network of different skill-sets
There need to be many paths for describing data

Reflections on audience
Need to know who you are trying to reach
A clear value proposition (what's in it for them?)
Social media provides transparency - builds on goodwill

Relevance
Connecting with relevant issues
Working with audiences
Measurements of success

Listening
through aggregation sites like Google Alerts, RSS feeds etc. for topics which are sticky

Identification
Identify sticky issues
From what standpoint can the museum discuss?
How can this discussion add value to the community?

Taking a stand
Statement either through an internal or external blog/ radio/ tv
Interview/ youtube video - some form of media that connects this issue with the museum for audiences

Communication
Dissemination re-distribute through multiple social media sites (Facebook, Ning, Twitter, broadcast tools etc) and you capture the interest through Listening (Google Alerts etc).

Demonstrating Relevance
Now you have a form of front end evaluation for topics which are of interest to the public and which you as a museum can contribute to and add value to.

Innovation
model where different individuals can contribute where they feel most comfortable

Making museums relevant to the entire community…
Desiree Rogers

Next steps…
Identify potential projects
Experience: multi-platform design & scientific communication (end-to end program which captures imagination, curiosity and illustrates relevant issues)
Engagement: co-created content, multiple channels (blog, game, physical exhibit)
Environment: flexible practices, organisational management (exhibition scheduled due to public interest)

Engagement
what type of engagement you are hoping to achieve based on the issue

Environment
what resources do you have available to you?
Staff
Audiences
Independent content creators
Educators
Other organisations

Audience engagement
Content creators as beacons of cultural production
Situate creators as leaders in their field
Give voice to end-users
New networks
Potential engagement in pilots and/or cultural prototypes

Experience
not everything has to end in an exhibition and/or website.

Creating a discourse
agility in responding to issues is sometimes more (or at least just) as valuable than scheduling an exhibition.

Evaluation
decide upfront what your measures of success will be for each experience.

Coordination
Delegate ownership across the museum; the coordination needs to be led by someone.

How good are you at this whole social media thing?
We’re good!
We’re great!
We’re learning!
We stink.
Find tweet from @danamuses and click link to poll
or use this URL: http://twtpoll.com/ykz916

How good are you at this whole social media thing?
http://twtpoll.com/ykz916
We’re good!
We’re great!
We’re learning!
We stink.
“If you chose anything except #3, you’re wrong.”
-Jim Sterne, Social Media Metrics

Evaluating Social Media: A 6 Step Process
See “Measuring, Analyzing, Reporting” in Twitter for Museums for details.

1. Listening
They say brilliant conversationalists are actually really just great listeners…
What are people saying about you?
What aren’t they saying but you wish they were?
Flickr photo by vagawi

Basic: Searching on Twitter

Fancy: HootSuite columns

Search for:
Your museum’s name (including abbreviations and variations)
Exhibition titles
Key objects (e.g., “ruby slippers”)
Your topic focus (e.g., Holocaust history)
Hashtags
Places to search:
Technorati
Social Mention
Google

The virtual tour you always wish you had? YouTube

A keyword goldmine: del.icio.us

The image you want to portray? Flickr

Search as conversation
When people arrive at your site from a search engine, they are looking for something in particular and are communicating their intent.
When people search for something on your site they are communicating their inability to find it through your navigation.
-Jim Sterne, Social Media Metrics: How to Measure and Optimize Your Marketing Investment

RSS feeds are your friend!Google Reader Play
http://www.google.com/reader/play/

Create a listening post
http://www.netvibes.com/thedailyinfluence

Create a “Makeshift Twitter Archive”
Categorizing by a human (time intensive but valuable)
Bookmark tweets in delicious using Firefox Bookmark Add-on and tag them (can also then be sucked out as RSS for other uses; can also track blog posts, photos, videos, etc. this way)
Passive collection
Use a 3rd party notification tool (e.g., TweetBeep) and have it send alerts to Gmail (highly searchable).
Create a TweetScan Twitter Backup (CSV or HTML export).
See “Using Twitter for Research” by Beck Tench in Twitter for Museums

What Twitter lists say about you
http://www.mustexist.com/list_tags/amhistorymuseum

Defining success
“Success in social media is not found in how many people got your message; it’s found in how many people thought your message was remarkable.”
-Jim Sterne, Social Media Metrics: How to Measure and Optimize Your Marketing Investment

2. Benchmarking or Where are you now?
Your “baseline” is your line in the sand.
Followers/fans
@ replies and retweets
Clicks to your Website coming from social media
Search engine rankings for key terms
Flickr photo by Egan Snow

Where are your peers?
Benchmarks help you understand where you are in relation to something else. They are points of reference, standards by which your efforts can be measured or judged.
Flickr photo by JACoulter

Finding your peers: GraphEdge
Who else is your audience listening to?
GraphEdge presents a list of other users ranked by what percentage of your followers also follow that account.
For each peer on your shortlist take a look at their follower numbers, how actively they're tweeting, etc.
Capture only the details you want to focus on in your own efforts.

Putting it into practice
Environment
Engagement
Experience
Evaluation

Short term
Communication
Directing visitors to your collection
Responding to topical issues in simple ways, ie: twitter
Campaign
Raising awareness of events which relate to this issue
Linking existing programs/events to topical issues ie: facebook

Medium Term
Critique
In-depth analysis of topical issues of the day
blog postings which give historical context to important issues
Conversation
Engaging in conversations on reputable sites
Demonstrating relevance by referring existing conversations to your collection (ie: blogs, wikis)

Long Term
Connection
Between your organisation and public
Your onsite and online activities
Your collection and public interests

Experience
This one is relatively easy.
Most organisations have determined what they want
Find out what your organisation aims for and work with that!

Environment
This one is trickier…
it’s about looking at what you currently do and how you can connect the dots so that your online and onsite experiences match up!

Engagement
This one is the most contentious. It regularly produces
a cold sweat in management
resounding indifference in many staff
discussions re: the authority of the organisation
a desperate call for more resources
A look of hopelessness and despair

Evaluation
Increasingly, evaluation needs to occur in two parts. One is relatively easy, the other more laboured…
Tracking of metrics – whether using free or commercial services

Evaluation
Active strategy of research to find out
What are others saying about democracy?
Where they are saying it?
What you can contribute to that discussion?

What do you need to make this happen?
The most common response is…
Time
Training
Staff
Senior management buy-in

But there’s more!
Commitment
from top down and bottom up
Collaboration
between departments and individuals
Connection
with what matters to the public
Cooperation
To achieve the policy aims

3. Setting goals
Where do you want to go?
What is your definition of success?

Goals?

Consider not
“What can I do with social media?”
but
“How can social media help me achieve the museum’s mission?”

Ask:
“What is unique about social media?”
and, more importantly, “What can I bring to social media that is unique?”

What is your #1 social media goal?
Tweet using hashtag #aamSocial
Text to 202.550.9095

4 & 5. Measuring and Analyzing
What data should you collect?
How should you collect it?

100 Ways to Measure Social Media
http://www.marketersstudio.com/2009/11/100-ways-to-measure-social-media-.html

You want to do the least amount of work needed to gain actionable insights.
You want to spend your time acting, not analyzing.

Who will find this chart useful?

Response

Where to measure

“Lamest measure of success”: followers
Measuring followers or fans is simply a measure of input
Doesn’t focus on customer behavior or outcomes
Instead use:
Klout: Inbound Messages per Outbound Message (conversation rate)
Are you shouting or having a conversation?

Success vs. Awareness
“Follower numbers, like website traffic statistics, don’t necessarily represent success, but can be used as a rough measurement of public awareness of your account and potential influence.”
See Zambonini

Content analysis
Perform a content analysis—use a random sample or a full set from a small time period and categorize them.
Message type
Tone
Topics

Focus on the “critical few”
Separate the need to know from the nice to know or you’ll be buried in data
Avoid analysis paralysis
See Avinash Kaushik http://www.newcommcollaborative.com/knowledge/877-exploring-social-media-analytics-with-avinash-kaushik

6. Actionable reporting

REVISIT: What is your biggest social media challenge?
Send a tweet to @pollwith the message
Send a text to 22333with the message
http://www.polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/LTM2MjQwMjExNg

Challenge: Transparency
Be human
Post a link to your comment or social media policy
Identify who is behind your accounts
Be sincere
Be willing to listen
Be willing to respond and make changes
Be agile

You’re only human (born to make mistakes…)

A “very crowded cocktail party”
Catch up with old friends
Meet new people
Introduce people to one another
Make connections
Share information
Strengthen ties
Your network of fans are visible to one another
See Elizabeth Stewart, Twitter for Museums

Do you sound like a human?
What department or person in your museum is currently responsible for social media? Are these the right people for the job?
Text to 202.550.9095

Convincing the skeptics
How will these new tasks impact their already busy jobs? (I’m afraid it will take too much time!)
What will the quality be like since resources are at a premium?
Will it distract from the museum’s core tasks?
See “Confessions of a Long-Tail Visionary” and “Clearing the Path for Sisyphus” by Jeff Gates in Twitter for Museums

Convincing the skeptics
What is the most common push-back you get from colleagues in trying to adopt social media practices?
Text to 202.550.9095

The future (is now?) . . . Integrating social media
Is the museum Web site dead?
Incorporating your social media into your existing site—a good idea?
Applying social principles to your site (online and in the building)

A few resources
Mashable, “world’s largest blog focused exclusively on Web 2.0 and Social Media news,” www.mashable.com
Social Media Today, “moderated business community for the web's best thinkers on Social Media and Web 2.0,” www.socialmediatoday.com
SmartBrief on Social Media, “the best news and insights on the business of social media,” www.smartbrief.com/socialmedia
Beth Kanter's blog, How Nonprofit Organizations Can Use Social Media to Power Social Networks for Change, http://beth.typepad.com/

A few tools
FREE
Google Alerts
Tweetbeep
Retweetrank
Twitalyzer
Technorati Authority
Social Mention
Twitter Sentiment
Trackbacks
Blogscope
Wefollow (find topic-based people)
Postrank
Google Analytics
HootSuite
Facebook Insights
YouTube Insights
Flickr Statistics
NOT SO FREE
Attensity
ScoutLabs
Nielsen BuzzMetrics
Hitwise
comScore
Omniture SiteCatalyst
Radian6
WebTrends

Contact
New Media Project ManagerNational Museum of American History
Dana Allen-Greil
allen-greil@si.edu
http://www.linkedin.com/in/danaallengreil
Twitter: danamuses
http://americanhistory.si.edu
http://blog.americanhistory.si.edu

Contact
Associate Professor
Angelina Russo, PhD
angelinarusso01@optusnet.com.au
http://www.linkedin.com/in/angelinarusso
Twitter: artech05
http://www.museum30.ning.com
http://nlablog.wordpress.com

Join the conversation
www.museum30.ning.com

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Evaluating Social Media: American Association of Museums (AAM) 2010

by Dana Allen-Greil on May 24, 2010

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Evaluating Social Media: American Association of Museums (AAM) 2010 — Presentation Transcript