Alison McCandlish, IHBC’s lead consultant for Social Media (SM) at our 2022 Aberdeen School (15-18/06), has collated participation data in this final School SM NewsBlog post, covering our impressive reach across users and networks, at 2.4 million impressions.
… Sharing authentic stories is really important in heritage….Social media can play a key role in this…
Alison writes:
As part of this year’s Annual School in Aberdeen we encouraged virtual and in person attendees to share their reflections and insights through using Twitter and other social media platforms. You may have seen our previous ‘digital thanks’ posts, this blog builds a little on this to share the statistics on our virtual reach, and ponder some of the ways to develop this in the future.
… used analytical tools to monitor the ‘reach’ of the event…. looking at the school hashtag #IHBCAberdeen2022…
Throughout the period leading up the Annual School, and following the conclusion of the School we used analytical tools to monitor the ‘reach’ of the event on Twitter by looking at the school hashtag #IHBCAberdeen2022.
A hugely impressive 472 Tweets from 62 different people led to a reach of 2.4 million impressions on twitter.
There were peaks in the use of the hashtag on the day of the Day School, which is to be expected as many people ‘live tweeted’ what they were hearing at the Annual School, however there was also discussion leading up to the conference, and afterwards.
The most popular day to tweet was Friday (also the day of the Day School!), but Monday and Wednesday were also popular days. You can see from the graphics that people also used related hashtags and topics to discuss things at the School, and this short snapshot of data gives us some interesting insights into the possible reach and potential for using social media to share the work of the Institute and its members.
…472 Tweets from 62 different people led to a reach of 2.4 million impressions…
Recent NewsBlogs have highlighted the positive feedback gained from delegates attending the hybrid virtual school format (see the IHBC NewsBlog). Now we want to build on the reach of the Annual School and develop the momentum gained through sharing stories of Aberdeen at future Annual Schools – #IHBCSwansea2023 – and help mark #IHBC25 through digital and physical means.
Sharing authentic stories is really important in heritage, both to engage with new audiences and promote success within and outside the sector. Social media can play a key role in this and a number of recent publications and initiatives stress the skills needed to help with raising this awareness including:
- The Heritage Sector Resilience Plan for England stresses the importance of providing advice on the use and presentation of evidence, storytelling and narrative (see page 11)
- The Pan Wales interpretation plan is intended to be used by as many heritage interpretation providers in the country as possible
- The first UK wide digital heritage survey Digital Attitudes and Skills in Heritage (DASH) survey
- The Culture Hive Digital Heritage Hub launched in (Arts Marketing Association/ Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and National Lottery funding)
- Historic Environment Scotland’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Strategy encourages capturing and recording of intangible cultural heritage.
We will shortly be developing an IHBC Guidance Note for our Toolbox on using social media for historic building conservation professionals and would welcome your input into this. Can you share good examples of heritage digital storytelling campaigns such as a community group who uses Facebook really well, a Twitter account which you really enjoy following or an innovative historic building video creator? Are there any ways that you think we could help you improve your own digital professional footprint, or work with others who are seeking to share stories about historic building conservation?
See previous digital thanks for the tours HERE and the blended Day School and virtual IHBC Heritage MarketPlace HERE
