Charlotte, This conversation just came up in the AASLH's Small Museums Listserve.....  Here is what I mentioned in that thread.

Alas there is no secret formula, and I dare say there is no "average" for Facebook followers.    We're a small-to-mid-sized, specialized (firefighting) museum in a Suburb of Chicago.   We've been on Fb. about a year and have over 660 "follow/likers". 

How did we get that many?  As with everything, you get out what you put in.   About 200+ are personal Facebook "friends" of mine -- that is, people I/we know and/or interact with somewhat routinely, (members of the local business community, friends, local firefighters, etc).  Of course the beauty of Fb is that your posts/interactions with me are shared with your friends (who hopefully will want to join) and then their friends will see, and so on -- and so on -- and. . .  So I dare saw the first few friends is a lot harder than the next, and the second hundred is easier that the first - and so on . . . (at least up until you've reached the six-degrees of separation, and maxed out all your friends, who know your all your other friends).  

We also ask/remind everyone leaving the museum, "if you like what you saw - friend us on Facebook to keep in touch. . . "    We also have the link clearly posted on EVERY page of our website (I noticed you had it clearly on the front page).

Once you GET friends/fans/follow/likers you need to concentrate on keeping them -- and that requires a bit of trial and error and finesse.   How much should you post? (daily, weekly?)....  What kind of posts?  Only things happening at the museum, or things that your follows might find interesting (general-interest historical happenings, or perhaps cultural events at other museums or venues)? .... All these are variables that will be different for each museums (depending on your fans and their demographics).

With all this said - we've had great success with Facebook!  We've posted a couple (sleepy) events - and the over-sold!   We posted "it's cold and snowy outside, but we're open and we're the only ones here - come visit" -- and we had three families come in!

Social Media is a fascinating - fun - and frustrating new tool in our marketing toolbox.  There are a lot of places offering loads of good information and advice.  One of my favorites is TechSoup -- http://techsoup.org -- Search the Learning Center - (lots of great beginner articles) and also the free user forums.

Good luck - feel free to find, friend, fan, like me (and the Aurora Regional Fire Museum) on Facebook and I'll do the same with our museum!


- David - 
David Lewis, Curator
Aurora Regional Fire Museum
www.AuroraRegionalFireMuseum.org
 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Charlotte Reineck <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Mon, Feb 28, 2011 11:33 am
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Facebook "Likes"



Hi, Listers--

Anyone have advice on how to obtain Facebook "Likes" for our small, local museum's Facebook page? We're not interested in pursuing advertising through FB, but we would certainly like to increase our FB and website traffic and visibility.

Here's our website:
http://www.haymarketmuseum.org/

Here's our Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Haymarket-Museum/171551349533355

Your ideas are most welcome. Thanks very much.

Charlotte Reineck
Alexandria, Virginia



      


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