MW2011

Published Paper:

Social Media and Organizational Change

Keywords:

social media

Keywords:

leadership

Keywords:

management

Keywords:

strategy

Keywords:

audience engagement

Keywords:

social media policies

Keywords:

organizational change

Keywords:

organizational structure

Keywords:

social media coordination

Keywords:

managing social media

Abstract:

There has been great attention placed on how to work in the social media space. This includes how to work with social media in order to improve brand recognition, build a fan base, engage visitors, and expand programming. But you cannot accomplish any of this without staff members who understand how social media can be useful to their work and their institution.

There are critical questions concerning how to sustain, organize, and implement social media within an institution. How do we manage the "brand" with so many people creating content, while also being flexible and bringing out the many voices in an institution?

How to manage social media is a question asked by museums of all sizes and types. We will identify trends in the field as well as available resources that can help facilitate best practices for using social media. We will compare different approaches at different types of institutions (large vs. small, history vs. art museums, local vs. international)

The authors of this paper are from various parts of the country, from different type of museums and ranging in size. With our multiple perspectives, we will address:

Internal social media policies and guidelines and how best to introduce and maintain them
How social media can be coordinated. Should you distribute management of social media content across an organization, or should there be one point of contact?
Tactics for educating and training staff about what social media is and how it can further the mission
The new expectations for current staffing positions held within the museum

Promoting a cultural shift that embraces collaborative, agile ways of interacting with our peers and our audiences is critical to our success. We know that different museums have very different attitudes and comfort levels with social media. While risk-taking may not be for every institution, all museums must face the ever-changing world of online engagement. Social media is already altering how museums interact with the public and how museum professionals approach their jobs. This change is fast-paced. It is important that we address it and embrace it as a community.

Type:

Paper - in formal session

Organizational Change

Authors:

Dana Allen-Greil

Susan Edwards

Jack Ludden

Eric Johnson

museumsandtheweb.com - organizational structure

Social Media and Organizational Change