Social Media Training

           Went to an all day training last week.  The topic was social media - in particular Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.  The workshop was aimed at non-profits and was sponsored by the Texas Forts Trail, a state funded program promoting tourism in West Texas.  (Note: In the early days of settlement, a line of forts to protect settlers was established from Ft Worth to what is now the Mexican border.  These forts were moved westward from Ft. Worth as settlement expanded.  The fort in Abilene, which was only used briefly, was founded in the 1850s) But I digress.  I figure I’m the last person in the world to join the 21^st century and learn about the value of these social media applications for organizations like archives.  I don’t even have a smart phone but will have to have one if I start using Instagram. 

One of the most appealing aspects of social media is that usage is free, but as the trainer pointed out "nothing is really ever free".  You can sign up for free, but to expand your audience you have a choice of different levels of paid ads.  They are reasonable and they do offer stats to measure their effectiveness, but you have to have a budget that includes outreach expenses and many non-profits don’t.  Of course the biggest expense for all social media apps is time.  To be of any value content must be ever changing.  For an organization that means staff time both in meetings to decide what should be added or by an individual assigned to constantly add more information. According to the trainer, the first step if you are an organization is to establish guidelines of what will be uploaded to social media.  Next for all of the apps except Twitter the information must contain graphics.  Sometimes all of the effort may be worthwhile and sometimes it may not be.  It certainly is something to consider before you commit your organization or yourself.

            Facebook is a good example of an app that needs frequent attention. As you probably know, you have to start with a personal page in order to launch a business page.  I think the most valuable benefit of these apps is to provide links to your website.  As the trainer suggested these apps can help promote special events, new exhibits, the availability of new collections, and get you known. Still you really have to consider if it is cost effective.  If you have enough staff and an advertising budget go for it, if not you really need to consider what your goals are and what you hope to achieve.  Maybe local newspaper and radio coverage reaches your audience more effectively. I’m going to see for myself with facebook.  Don’t think the others would work well for me, but they sound fun - all except Twitter which has no appeal to me.  I guess you either love it or hate it or so I'm told.