Facebook: Top 10 Museums
Creating Community Online
Museums around the globe are embracing the digital era, using platforms like Facebook to connect with audiences in innovative ways.
From the world-famous to the delightfully offbeat, here are our top 10 museums that have stood out on Facebook with their engaging content and community-building initiatives. Many of these standout museums are taking advantage of Facebook’s "Featured" section, a powerful tool to highlight important content and connect more deeply with their audience.
Spotlighting 10 Museums
The Benefits of the "Featured" Section on Facebook
Many of these standout museums are taking advantage of Facebook’s "Featured" section, a powerful tool to highlight important content and connect more deeply with their audience. Here’s why museums use the "Featured" section and how they can set it up:
Why Use the "Featured" Section?
- Showcase Key Content: The “Featured” section allows museums to pin important posts, highlighting significant events, exhibitions, or announcements. This ensures that key content remains visible to visitors regardless of when they visit the page.
- Enhance Engagement: By featuring high-quality, engaging content, museums can attract more interactions from their audience. This could include highlighting behind-the-scenes looks, educational content, or interactive posts that encourage visitors to participate.
- Promote Community Initiatives: Museums can use the “Featured” section to spotlight community-driven projects or collaborations, helping to build a sense of community and belonging among their followers.
- Drive Traffic to Important Links: Featuring posts with links to ticket sales, virtual tours, or donation pages can help drive traffic to these crucial areas, supporting the museum’s operational and financial goals.
- Highlight Popular or Relevant Content: Museums can keep popular posts, such as those that have received a lot of engagement, or posts that are relevant for a longer period, at the top of their page for ongoing visibility.
How to Set Up the "Featured" Section on Facebook
Setting up the “Featured” section on your museum’s Facebook page is straightforward. Here’s how you can do it:
- Log into Your Facebook Page: Make sure you are logged in as an admin of the page.
- Navigate to Your Page’s Timeline: Go to the timeline where your posts are displayed.
- Find the Post You Want to Feature: Scroll through your posts and find the one you want to pin.
- Click on the Three Dots: On the top right corner of the post, click on the three dots to open the menu.
- Select “Pin to Top of Page”: Click on “Pin to Top of Page.” This will move the post to the top of your timeline and keep it there until you unpin it.
Adjust as Needed: You can change the featured post anytime by unpinning the current one and pinning a new one.
By effectively using the “Featured” section, museums can ensure their most important and engaging content is always prominently displayed, enhancing their ability to connect with and engage their audience.
Addressing Low Engagement on Facebook
Despite their popularity, even renowned museums like the National Gallery in London and the Louvre sometimes face low engagement on Facebook.
This can be due to several factors, including Facebook’s algorithm changes, audience preferences, and the competitive nature of the platform where users have a vast array of content to choose from. For the Louvre with over 2.6 million page likes, their posts often receive less than 1% engagement. This low engagement rate can be attributed to several factors, including Facebook’s algorithm changes, audience preferences, and the competitive nature of the platform where users have a vast array of content to choose from.
Why Low Engagement Matter
Low engagement rates can be particularly concerning for marketers for several reasons:
- Inefficient Use of Resources: Time and effort spent on creating and posting content that doesn’t reach or engage a significant portion of the audience can be seen as wasted resources. Marketers need to justify the return on investment (ROI) for their time and efforts.
- Algorithm Impact: Facebook’s algorithm favors content that generates high engagement. Posts with low engagement are less likely to appear in users’ newsfeeds, further reducing visibility and interaction. This creates a vicious cycle where low engagement leads to even lower visibility.
- Brand Perception: Consistently low engagement can negatively impact the perception of a brand or organization. It might suggest that the content is not resonating with the audience, or worse, that the audience is not interested in what the organization has to offer.
- Missed Opportunities: With limited engagement on a broad platform like Facebook, museums may miss out on connecting with highly interested and engaged niche audiences. Specialized platforms might offer better opportunities for meaningful interactions.
Why Spending Time on Low Engagement Platforms Can Be Detrimental
- Opportunity Cost: Time spent on managing and creating content for a platform with low engagement could be better invested in platforms where the audience is more active and engaged. For instance, niche social media platforms designed specifically for the art and museum communities may yield better results.
- Burnout and Frustration: Consistently low engagement can lead to burnout and frustration for marketers. Seeing little return for their hard work can be demoralizing and may affect the overall productivity and creativity of the marketing team.
- Misallocation of Budget: Marketing budgets are often limited, and spending on ads and promotions on a platform with low engagement might not be the best use of funds. It’s essential to allocate the budget to platforms where it can have the most impact.
- Diluted Focus: Trying to maintain a presence on multiple platforms can dilute the focus and effectiveness of marketing efforts. Concentrating on a few platforms where the target audience is most active can lead to better results.
Exploring Alternative Platforms
To address these issues, museums might consider exploring specialized social media platforms designed specifically for the art world, such as “Museum Match” available on the Art Scene: Meet More Friends app. These platforms are tailored to the needs of museums and art enthusiasts, offering a more targeted and engaged audience. By leveraging such niche platforms, museums can connect more effectively with people who are genuinely interested in their content, leading to higher engagement and a stronger online community.
In conclusion, while Facebook remains a widely used platform, consistently low engagement rates suggest that museums may benefit from reallocating their marketing efforts to more specialized, niche platforms that can offer higher engagement and better ROI for their marketing activities.
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