Project: Mediating Collection and Community

By Julie Arrison-Bishop

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to participate in Kira Houston’s undergraduate research project, Mediating Collection and Community: In Lockdown and Beyond. Kira is a recent graduate of Clark University where he majored in Art History and Spanish. Kira recently started a new role as the Outreach Coordinator at Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center – a great match for his talents and skills.

Kira’s project sought to compile resources by and for museum professionals, social media managers, and scholars. The project hopes to present the impact of COVID-19 on museum social media management as a vehicle for exploring the ever-growing importance of a museum’s online presence. Combining insights from interviews with industry professionals and highlights from relevant literature, this blog will serve as an archive for museum professionals interested in examining the impact of COVID-19 on the arts & culture industry. Part time-capsule and part toolbox, this project is not a static publication; it is an evolving dialogue.

For me, participating in this project was a cathartic and reflective experience. I have gained a few strong opinions about social media management, especially since 2020, and this interview process helped me to understand where those mindsets stemmed from.

Social Media is Essential to Marketing

No matter what anyone tells you, the social media jobs of 2012 are quite different than the strategic importance of social and digital media to an organization’s marketing plan for 2022. Consistent collaboration between social media managers and other institutional staff is a must in this day and age of complex, multi-channel communications.

It’s important that social media managers and marketers open up their world to the institution to build support for their role. In many places, there is still a mindset that a post should take mere moments to create. Those of us who work with these tools know that is not the case. “It’s not just what you see online, it’s all the work that went into the thing you see online. There’s just so much planning and so much thought that goes into it.”

Social media also thrives on being social. Posting cannot be a “set it and forget it” mentality. Two-way communication expands the role of social media managers and their responsibilities.

Social Media Managers Need Support and Self-Care

Sharing the positive outcomes of social media engagement is important, but more important is advocating for boundaries and self-care for social media managers. Those of us that have managed accounts have had to deal with aggressive trolls, hate speech, degrading comments, and overwhelming dread in our jobs. “For many social media managers, cleaning up hostile reactions online can take an emotional toll, especially when it feels like other staff haven’t “witnessed” the events the same way they would witness an in-person act of aggression against employees.”

“It’s really important for social media managers to have outlets and places to talk about the things they see, hear, and deal with online. It’s really important for leadership staff… to give people the opportunity to step back and take a break.”

You can check out our January 2023 blog post to learn about some more tips for self-care.

Meet Your Audience Where They Are

This tenet is two-pronged. First, it’s important to consider multiple ways to communicate. As much as this has complicated a marketers job, it’s important to not talk to an empty room OR to assume that you audience has seen your tweet, post, email, and calendar listing in a digital or print newspaper. You need to put your message in all of the right places and ensure that the tone fits the channel.

It’s also important not to jump onto social media platform fads too quickly. In recent years, Snapchat and TikTok have been places where well-meaning board members and leadership teams have pushed human resources without realizing the time it takes to create engaging content. There are times when a new platform may not be a good fit or a legacy platform needs to be reconsidered if your audience is not there and not engaging.

There is no Magic Bullet

Social media managers and content creators must respond to an ever-changing marketing landscape. What creates a viral post one day may not resonate a week later. You might have 3000 people engage with a post about a snow closure on one weekend and 10 angry patrons show up to a locked door on the next snow day. Performing consistent and meaningful assessments and setting KPIs can help with strategy and tactics and ensuring that your content is getting out to as much of your audience as the algorithm will allow.

Progress over Perfection

Communication for museums and nonprofits has shifted in the past three years. Prior to 2020, I worked with and for organizations where video projects needed to be polished and perfect before launching into the world. The industry has seen a change in more natural content, online conversations, and video footage that shows situations as they are in real-time. Embrace some imperfection to forge relationships with your online audiences.

In the interview, I recounted my first Instagram Live experience: “What I think is so interesting is prior to the pandemic, even myself, being in marketing, it was so much like… ‘If it’s not perfect, it’s not happening.’ And I think one of the things that you had to do is you had to get yourself out there, you had to be out there in front of your supporters, your members, your future potential visitors, and be sharing things. I did my first Instagram Lives during the pandemic out of a post-it note stuck to my hand! I think prior to the pandemic I would have been very fearful about putting out anything in that kind of methodology… The pandemic just allowed us freedom.”

Is There Hope?

As much as social media can be a dividing factor and a way to spread misinformation, it can also be an extremely powerful tool to advocate and organize news and information. “Where we are with social media… there’s no turning back. We don’t know where we’re going to be even a year from now with social media. That’s another one of the challenges. Institutions need to invest in a social media plan, policy, and training for their staff. Success is possible with planning, internal advocacy, leadership support, and an investment in the resources.