Charlotte, Lots of good suggestions have been named, so I wanted to throw in a completely different angle here. Larry made mention of it, but did not go in depth in his response. There is a marketing technique that can help your website and Facebook page become more searchable. It's called Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which today is incredibly important as many online users are not looking to go straight to a webpage, they just hit Google for a keyword search. I haven't yet worked with a service for this, but there is literature both on the web and in books (such as this site I found: http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/) that helps you think more about what keywords are on your homepage or Facebook page, and what you can do that might just take a little ingenuity to make your museum more marketable and more widely "found" during searching. Sometimes just being able to target a variety of audiences through your webpage (using some synonyms) can help people get to your page sooner without having to know exactly what your acronym is, what your web address is, or where you're located. Hope this is helpful, and also a broader reach solution that is seems like you were hoping for. Best, Lesley ------------ Lesley Langa Information Policy & Access Cetner (iPAC) College of Information Studies University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742 [log in to unmask] OR [log in to unmask] On Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 2:19 PM, Ephraim Rotter <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > Charlotte, > > One method to consider is to stop thinking of your Facebook page as a > billboard for announcing events, and to start thinking of it as a parallel > museum. While we have some crossover, our Facebook members and "real" > members are different crowds - the Facebook group being mostly people who > grew up here in tiny Thomasville, GA but are now scattered across the > country. Try using your page to post original content - images in your > collection that are not on exhibit, images of artifacts, scans of documents > like letters, newspaper articles, diary pages, etc. Engage your users - > ask *them* to identify things for you, name who is in pictures, ask them > their opinions on things you might try at the museum...you'll be amazed at > the information that comes from "crowdsourcing" - and don't batter them for > donations, etc. Once in awhile is ok, but most Facebook users enjoy the > "freeness" of the content. The donations, memberships and sales will come > as people come to think of your page as a daily site visit. All the other > things, which are good suggestions - having existing members and board > members sign up, putting in web page links, etc., are nice but in the end > are meaningless if you're not creating good content to keep the visitor > interested..."likes" for "likes sake" is not the goal, the goal is to have > an engaged online presence that will be a benefit to > your museum...otherwise, someone may "like" your page once, then hide it > from their newsfeed if all you're doing is announcing events at a museum > hundreds/thousands of miles away. That's what I do. > > If you don't already, also set up a PayPal account so when folks eventually > ask about memberships, there will be an easy, online way for folks to > donate...and please be sure to visit our Facebook page in the link provided > below! :) > > *Ephraim J. Rotter > *Curator > Thomas County Historical Society > Museum of History & Lapham-Patterson House > 229-226-7664 > [log in to unmask] > www.thomascountyhistory.org > facebook fan page<http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/pages/Thomasville-GA/Thomas-County-Historical-Society-Museum-of-History/145318935547> > ** > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Charlotte Reineck <[log in to unmask]> > *To:* [log in to unmask] > *Sent:* Mon, February 28, 2011 12:33:38 PM > > *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 > > > > ------------------------------ > > To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link: > http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1 > > ------------------------------ > > To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link: > http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1 > -- ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).