A Toe In The Water Social Media at National Galleries of Scotland Tessa Quinn 21 October 2010

Beginnings nationalgalleries.org

National Galleries of Scotland Welcome to the National Galleries of Scotland. Our collection of Scottish and international art is among the best in the world, and is housed in five galleries across Edinburgh. We are open daily and entrance is free.

Where We Are Now nationalgalleries.org

Getting Social August 2008 AddThis Bookmarks RSS Feeds

Flickr Commons January photos added Thousands of daily views Direct links to nationalgalleries.org Building communities and sharing knowledge with enthusiasts Intended to build up visible works in timed stages – never quite happened!

Some Positives and Negatives ⊕ 18th organisation to have launched a presence there, and the first Scottish organisation to do so Lots of visits - in the first 24 hours of launch we received 33,400 viewings Great comments from engaged audience ⊝ Lack of click-backs to nationalgalleries.org No resource to reply to comments, develop partnerships or add more images.

Importance of Dialogue When a blogger asks for comments but never replies back, it's like beginning a conversation and then leaving a room when someone else starts talking. Amb:IT:ion Keynote Jim Richardson, Managing Director of Sumo

What We Learned Have clearly defined aims Involve other departments Allocate sufficient staff resource Need a plan

HEADS UP blog April 2009

Getting Serious

Aims of social media at NGS Reach new audiences and engage in a different way with our current audience utilising the enthusiasm our staff, fans and followers. Increase our online profile and reach, including digital contacts and traffic to nationalgalleries.org. Engage in a dialogue/ conversation with our audience encouraging audience loyalty, engagement, participation and feedback.

NGS Social Media Strategy Initial Strategy (2010) Assess corporate issues of use, such as staff use of social media, technical infrastructure and copyright considerations Engage staff across departments Establish and prioritise goals for all social media platforms Launch NGS Facebook by Summer 2010 Develop operational processes for development, maintenance and review of all social media platforms Ongoing Strategy ( ) Promotion of social media initiatives Monitoring the efficacy of profiles / sites Integrate the development of social media and networks with overall Communications Strategy

Facebook Launched July 2010 and developed by New Media, Press and Marketing Connect with both existing and currently untapped audiences in more collaborative ways than is currently possible with main site Tie in RSS feeds, Flickr images, Heads Up Blog 580 people ‘Like’ us Run on a pilot basis and, at first, primarily used to promote the public programme.

Integration

Connect

Put Yourself in the Picture

Is it working?

How Sociable?

Blog Stats

Blog Thoughts “Thank you for keeping me and other lovers of the gallery in the picture about developments. You are doing it in a very imaginative and enjoyable way.” KCB Wilkie - September 23, :34 pm About 1000 visits per month and growing especially since linking with Facebook Stories and information is being picked up by press Great opportunity to tell some of the more anecdotal collection stories Frequently read by staff Bloggers get a buzz and a sense of pride to be able to speak to our audience Good to get good comments – “Sometimes you forget that people actually like us”.

Facebook Stats

Facebook Demographics

Facebook Thoughts Behind-the-scenes is popular e.g. Blog, flickr photos, youtube video Gives a dynamic feel to What’s On e.g. Peter Liversidge performances Provide an alternative ‘voice’ to nationalgalleries.org – complementary not contradictory Fans have commented and ‘liked’ art from across the collection not just modern/contemporary Facebook has offered the opportunity for us to see our Collection in different ways, i.e. flagging up artists’ birthdays, specific events in calendar, pop culture facts and relating them to our works We get immediate feedback from our visitors and supporters – we have the potential to ascertain what is popular, appropriate, welcome and necessary

nationalgalleries.org nationalgalleries.org in last 12 months: 4.7 million pages viewed +12% year-on-year 1,034,500 visits (2834 daily) +18% year-on-year

Aims Revisited Reach new audiences and engage in a different way with our current audience utilising the enthusiasm our staff, fans and followers. Increase our online profile, reach and traffic to nationalgalleries.org. Engage in a dialogue/ conversation with our audience encouraging audience loyalty, engagement, participation and feedback.

The Future Integrate more online Tweet Partnerships – other organisations, other digital initiatives and our audience Integrate online and social with in gallery visit

Thank You Tessa Quinn Head of New Media