Engaging Your AudienceThrough Digital TechnologiesSession No. 1

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Who do you want to reach?• What audiences are you currently reaching?

• Think about an audience you are not reaching

• How might technology help you reach that audience?

Engage Your Audience: Social Media• Get on social media • People use social media as a newspaper• You can gain new connections• People use social media (Facebook especially), to

find general info

• Be more than just a presence• Post photos• Have a “voice”• Do “behind-the-scenes”

• Make friends, expand your reach• “like” other institutions• “share” others’ updates

Engage Your Audience: Web Presence• Get a website• Searchable for general info• Easily provides information about programs, events, etc.

that might otherwise require a phone call

• Make it a GOOD website• Opportunity to make a good impression• Engage visitors before they visit• Provide information not available at the museum or over

the phone• Share resources

Engage Your Audience: Digitize!

• Digitize!• Not everyone knows what you have (and they should!)• Protects fragile items from overuse• Broadens sharing ability

• Share collections online• Broadens your audience considerably• Makes primary source research easier• Gets potential visitors (and donors) excited about the

collection

Engage Your Audience: Get Smart• Smart phone parity approaches

• Be smart-friendly• Website• Exhibitions• Events• Surveys• Apps

• Are you constructing Binaries?

Find Your Demographics• Look online

• Importance of surveying your audience

• What to do with the results?

Reach NEW Audiences• Who do you want to reach?

• Why do you want to reach that audience?

• What makes you think you are not currently reaching that audience?

Brainstorm! Types of Audiences

Engage New Audiences• You’ve got your new audience, now what?

• How can online technologies help you engage your new audience?

• What does using online technologies offer your museum that you might not otherwise be able to do?

The Take-Away• Use your technology manual!• Engage or reengage existing audiences• Really think about your website and how best to use it• Consider joining a social network or reexamine your existing

strategy• Start digitizing! Every little bit counts• Get smart and be smart-friendly

• Research your area demographics and start reaching out to new audiences• How can technology help?• Use those surveys

• Start implementing new ideas and don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

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