What did you want to find out at the start of your project?
I wanted to figure out a way to leverage our social media accounts to increase engagement and raise the community’s awareness of RAIN and our activities. Our experiment initially set out to test if sharing images from RAIN’s permanent collection online on a regular schedule will foster online engagement with RAIN and expand our following on social media.
What did you actually do?
Our experiment shifted to instead better understand online audiences by evaluating online audience growth on Squarespace, Instagram, and Mailchimp Newsletter subscriptions over a period of time (broken into 3 time periods of evaluation).
We rolled out our online campaign to promote our most recent exhibition, this campaign ran from mid-February to mid – March.
We analyzed data from MailChimp, Instagram, and Google Metrics asking questions around audience growth & engagement
What was the most difficult thing you found?
Our experiment had to shift following a change in priorities in the middle of the planning and research for the project
This experiment has reinforced the fact that we need an overarching communications strategic plan as in the interim, whilst change has been ongoing, social activity and communication plans have needed sign-off.
What surprised you?
I was surprised to see just how much data each communications platform gathers, and what can be gleaned from that data.
What is next for you and/or your organization?
We will be applying what we learned from this program to future communications and we will be meeting with our communications committee to work out a clear communications strategy.
Additionally, we will use what we learned from this program to continue tracking our audience engagement and reach through our website, social media, and newsletter communications.
What 3 quick takeaways would you give to help future participants/your current fellow participants?
Flexibility within your experiment or your expectations is important.
Don’t underestimate the importance of data collection.
Reach out if you’re up against an issue or aren’t sure how to work around a shift in priorities.