MuseumNext

One of the questions I often get asked at conferences is how can people convince the management of their museum to give up control and jump into the social media space.

I think the question of control is really important, because while you have always been able to project a message through brand, advertising and PR (as well as everything else your organisation does), you have never had control of this once it has been released into the world.

While there is a perception that using websites like Twitter and Facebook reduces your control, in actual fact it can make it easier to ensure that your organisation is connecting with visitors, because unlike traditional media, the social media space talks back.

It would be naive to think that these conversations didn’t happen before social media, the only difference now is that you are able to listen to this feedback. This gives a museum more control, because it gives you the information you need to constantly improve as an organisation.

So when someone next tells you that they are worried about the lack of control you’ll have if you set up a Flickr account or start using Twitter, ask them how much control they think you have over traditional media, because having control over the look of an advert or the tone of voice of a press release isn’t the same thing as having control over how that is received by your audiences.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 3:49 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.