Social media 101

30 Jun 2015

Today marks the sixth Social Media Day – a day to recognise and celebrate social media’s impact on communication. To mark the occasion we’ve published a couple of quick tips you might like to consider when starting or reviewing your social media account….

Find the right social media channel(s) for you.

There are currently 910 registered social media platforms out there, but which one is right for you? Before signing up to a plethora of social media channels, figure out which channels would be of most value to your arts organisation. What is the purpose of your social media platform? Is it to drive visitors to your website or blog? To sell artworks or concert tickets? To take a survey on the services you provide?

The most popular social media channels – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and Vine – have different functions when it comes to format, audience and reach. For instance, Instagram is image-driven, while Twitter is king at timely mirco-news. Comedians and performers thrive on Vine and Youtube, while Facebook is effective at offering a multi-media approach via links, videos, images and blurbs.

Accompany your posts with visuals

Social media is visuals-driven, so consider using images and videos to tell your story. According to a recent social media study,* incorporating images and videos to your Facebook and Twitter posts increases your audience engagement through URL clicks, retweets and comments. Items that are popular with Arts Queensland audiences include event and exhibition previews, behind-the-scenes of artists at work, and social images from launches and arts talks. So start snapping!

Build your audience

Where does your target audience ‘live’ on social media? Who are your influencers? Are they journalists who tend to broadcast on Twitter? Do they run community art events on Facebook? Are they designers or artists who publish new works on Instagram?

Grow your audiences by ensuring your content is relevant to the community, and compelling enough for people to share or retweet. Provide resources, share industry tips, ask for feedback. Don’t just talk about yourself and your organisation, share information from other pages that would be interesting to your sector. Turn colleagues into cheerleaders for your organisation; encourage them to forward information that could be great content for social media, and ask them to help spread the word by sharing or retweeting posts to their own databases.

Incentivise

Another way to gain followers (and to reward them) is to incorporate giveaways and promotions that align with your organisation, or that assist with your upcoming campaign, survey or call-to-action plan. It’s also a great way to beef up your subscription list. Prizes can include gallery memberships, arts publications and festival tickets.

Use hashtags

Hashtags are like digital bookmarks that enable you to discover, categorise and monitor topics, as well as real time or on-going chatter on social media, particularly on Twitter and Instagram. It’s also a great way for people to find out about your organisation by employing a signature hashtag that distinguishes your organisation, and by also partaking in similar hashtag topics, such as #artsmarketing or #culturaldevelopment.

Hashtags are also a wonderful way to unify interests on a global level. For example, people around the world can post selfies of themselves visiting museums and galleries as part of #museumselfie, or exchange social media tips on #SMDay.

Think 24/7, post 24/7

In today’s ever-connected digital environment, the idea of a 9–5, Monday–Friday social media routine has become obsolete. Social media never sleeps. Likewise many artists get inspiration and create works round-the-clock. So experiment with scheduling by posting content during times when people are most likely to check social media, including work commutes and lunch breaks, on weekends and during the evenings. This is even more crucial if your organisation intend to attract international audiences.

Monitor your audiences

If social media is to be your organisation’s main communications channel and first point of call, then consider investing in social media management tools to better monitor audience growth and engagement. Some of the systems available, like Hoot Suite, Sprout Social and Buzznumbers, provide you with reporting statistics, and lets you see how many people are responding to your content, where they come from geographically and demographically, and when are the best days and times to post items to ensure maximum reach. ArtsHub also provides its members with daily social analytics digests. You can also determine whether people are clicking on the links you post on social media by translating your URLs into bit.ly links, and tracking them.

Here are more tips on using social media effectively:

10 social media tips for arts organisations

How to Effectively use Hashtags to Promote your Art

5 Ways Artists Are Using Social Media Incorrectly

Here are 18 social media marketing tips for anyone using social media for business

*According to the Wishpond infographic, Facebook posts that include images attract 53% more Likes, 104% more Comments, and 84% more URL clicks than average posts. While BufferApp states images on Twitter gets 89% more Favourites, 150% more Retweets and 18% more URL clicks. Meanwhile, the CISCO report claims that 69% of all consumer traffic in 2017 will be in video form. 

Feature Image credit: Jason Howie | Source: Flickr.com