Social Media – Staff Breakfast

British Museum staff members were taught about the ever-changing and exciting world of Social media at our weekly Staff Breakfast towards the end of May.

Our Museum experts Kathryn Havelock, Suzy Hogg, Kate Carter and Stephanie Maxwell gave a presentation on the benefits of using social media platforms such as Twitter, Tumblr and blogs in cultural heritage institutions.

As museums try to reach new visitors and spread their messages across the world, using the digital space can be an infinitely rewarding way to make yourself heard.

Among the main points to consider for cultural heritage institutions thinking of “going digital” are:

Reach – who is your target audience, and how will you reach them? Are you looking to communicate locally, nationally or globally? Do you want to talk to children or adults, visitors or other museum professionals?

Relationships – how will you maintain relationships with people on social media? What kinds of relationships do you want to have with your audience: informal, casual, or committed?

Revenue – Will social media be a way for your institution to make money? By promoting fundraising efforts, or offering advertising space for local businesses, for example? Or simply by bringing in more visitors!

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While a great way to get in touch with the public, using social media is not always just about getting online: an continous process of building, measuring and learning can be useful for you to practice your own digital strategy.

This is exactly what the ITP team are currently working on – a way to use social media in the best way possible to sustain our global network and to keep everyone talking!

We are currently planning our new communications plan with our departments at the BM – so watch this space for updates and please, give any suggestions in the comments below!