Social Media: Why Nings, Blogs, and Podcasts Should Be Partof Your Museum’s Marketing Toolkit to Reach New AudiencesPresentation developed by Kelli Nowinsky, Shaun Holloway, Chris Hurtubise, Kevin Pfefferle & Doug Buchanan, COSIThe Ohio Museums AssociationMonday, April 6, 2009

Goal of this presentation: To promote a higher degree of social media literacy.

To get there, we’ll:Define social media.Talk about what’s at stake.Strategize.Look at some very cool tools.

“Social Media in Plain English”Source: commoncraft

What Social Media isn’t…Social media isn’tprint—it’s faster and cheaper.Social media isn’t amonologue.Social media isn’t exclusive. Anyone with a computer, cellphone, PDA, and an internet connection can join the conversation.Social media isn’t centrally controllable in the traditional sense.

So what isSocial Media?Social media are electronic technologies and practices that people use to create, collaborateand share content - opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives - with each other.*What do you think?*Source: Wikipedia

Examples of Social Media ToolsWikis: Wikipedia Social networking: Facebook*, LinkedIn,Ning*Presence applications: Twitter*Video sharing: YouTube* and ViddlerNews aggregation: Diggand RedditPhoto sharing: Flickr* and Webshots*Social bookmarking: del.icio.usVirtual reality: Second LifeBlogging: WordPress*and bloggerWhat others are you using?

Why Should You Care?Nearly 247 million Internet users in the U.S. alone; that’s 73% of the population. Source: Internet World StatsFacebook: More than 175 million active users. Facebook’s fastest-growing demographic are people 35 and older. Source: FacebookBlog reading has risen 66% on a global scale in a year; 60.3 million Americans have read a blog. Source: National School Public Relations Association / Ohio43% of online consumers belong to a social network Source: National School Public Relations Association / Ohio74% of social network users message friends as part of their daily routinesSource: National School Public Relations Association / Ohio64% of teenagers ages 12-17 engage in at least one type of online content creation, up from 57% in 2004Source: National School Public Relations Association / Ohio87% of parents of teenagers are onlineSource: National School Public Relations Association / OhioMore than 40% of women in their 40s have social networking profilesSource: National School Public Relations Association / Ohio

The Emerging Communications Model: Traditional vs. DecentralizedNew ModelOldModel

Start building your social media strategy:Find the relevant networks.Listen to what people are saying.Plan how to be useful.Engage with them.

The Three Rs of Marketing 2.0Be Real: Ditch the old marketing hype. Tell the truth. Admit your mistakes.Be Relevant: Don’t interrupt people with information they don’t need or want – you’ll get tuned out. Find out what they want and need to hear from you.Be Responsive: Marketing through social media isn’t a monologue. Customers expect you to respond – fast!

COSI’s Current StrategyGain insight into communities of interestBuild our brand visibility and authorityInfluence and promote our products & resourcesLink building for traffic and search engine optimizationDrive traffic for ad revenueTalk with the people!

Nine cool tools – and how to use them.

Webshots and flickr are photo- and video-sharing sites that provide you and your Guests with a variety of ways to enjoy photos and videos of your facility, events, and programs.Guests can view COSI's Photo Albums or upload their own COSI photos to share them with friends and family…we then link to them.

Photos taken by COSI Team, then uploaded to webshots.

Photos taken by Guests, then uploaded to flickr.

Awesome photo taken by Tim Purdue, then uploaded to flickr.By sharing this, Tim became more than a Guest. He became a brand ambassador.

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to the question: "What are you doing?"Fans can follow COSI's Twitter updates (“tweets”) for short bits of science news, COSI announcements, answers to questions, and more.

1,472 people are following COSI on Twitter.

Facebook is used by millions of people every day to keep up with friends, upload photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.Using Facebook, Guests can become a “fan” of COSI and a friend of RATiO (our lovable basketball-playing rat mascot) to get updates, special offers, and behind-the-scenes stuff.

Keeping the Facebook page updated is a team effort.

YouTube is the leader in online video and the premier destination to watch and share original videos worldwide.COSI's YouTube Channel features homemade COSI-produced videos, film trailers, even videos produced by our Guests.

Flip videocamera. About $150.We shoot almost anything (as long as it’s short and entertaining).

YouTube Example: What do frogs eat?

Ning gives everyone the opportunity to create their own social networks for anything. Ning powers the largest number of social networks on the internet. COSI's Nings include a Camp-In Memory Station for former and current campers and a social network built around COSI's Miracle-Gro Capital Scholars program.

The kids are having fun with this one...

The grownups are having fun with this one...

WordpressWordPress is the world’s largest blogging tool, used on hundreds of thousands of sites seen by tens of millions every day. COSI's blogs include thoughts from COSI CEO David Chesebrough and a behind-the-scenes look at the development of our Lost Egypt exhibition.

COSI WordPress Blogs

Use Google to keep tabs on yourself: Set up a Google Alert with your museum’s name. You’ll receive a regular email of news, blog posts, and videos that mention YOU.

Keeping tabs on yourself: Google Alert for “COSI”Some of the content isn’t relevant, but when it is, you’re bound to learn something new.

Podcasting: A podcast is a free video or audio series that you download from the web or iTunes and play on your computer, iPod, or other digital audio device.

Audio Podcasting ToolsRoyalty-free music tracks are available online. About $30.iTunes lets listeners find your podcast and download new editions easily.A digital recorder plugs right into your computer with a built-in USB port. About $100.Desktop audio editing software is easy to use. About $30.

Audio Podcasting Getting the word out: I embed a link to my newest podcast in each monthly edition of COSI’s Teacher e-NewsCOSI’s Learning Lab PodcastJanuary 2009

So, we’ve:Defined social media.Talked about what’s at stake.Strategized.Looked at some cool tools.

What does it all mean?The power is with the consumer.Consumers are beginning in a very real sense to own our brands and participate in their creation.We need to begin to let go.A.G. LafleyCEO, Proctor & Gamble

So are we done?Nope. There are indications that Generation Y’s (ages 18-24) “cravings for consumer technology applications are leveling off.” The percentage of Gen Y:Reading blogs or listening to podcasts remained flat at 45%;Watching and posting videos on the Internet dropped 2%;Using social-networking sites rose only slightly to 82%from 80 percent (boomers went from 18% to 28% in the same period)Source: Accenture comparison of Winter 2008-2009 survey data with previous year.

Contact us!Chris Hurtubisechurtubise@mail.cosi.orgDoug Buchanandbuchanan@mail.cosi.org