The Social Media World of Compton Verney

Let me first introduce myself, I’m Kiran Compton Verney’s Digital Marketing Intern. With an iPhone firmly in my right hand, a camera around my neck and a selfie stick hiding in my bag, it’s safe to say no day is ever the same as I help the Compton Verney team shape and maintain our online presence.

The world of digital is forever changing, with an abundance of social digital platforms to choose from. Arts organisations have been working hard, innovating and experimenting to find different ways to reach audiences. We’re extremely lucky here at Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park to have such diverse content potential right on our doorstep, ranging from arts collections to the behind the scenes of exhibitions, beautiful images of our ‘Capability’ Brown landscape to fun coverage of our events.

Being a newbie Digital Marketer but having been brought up on social media, I wanted to share the challenges, tips & tricks I’ve learnt whilst working here:

Keeping it Visual

Let’s start with some easy statistics; Image posts on Facebook gain roughly 39% more engagement than text posts, Instagram users on average are 4x more engaged than Facebook and Twitter users. Audience love visual-led content, which is brilliant right? As an arts organisation this can surely be used to our advantage, as our buildings and surroundings are full of creativity. However, keeping these images fresh and interesting can be challenging. Luckily for Compton Verney, we have a wonderful volunteer photographer who takes high quality images for us, as well as passionate staff and volunteers who are always snap-happy around the site.

Structure, Strategy and More Structure

Planning is always a good idea, particularly if your organisation is spread across multiple social media networks. I could easily spend hours flicking between different tabs of social media sites, trying to figure out what to post/retweet next, before I know it there are a hundred tabs open in my browser and I’m lost in the depths of my internet browser. I found what helped me most was having a simple content plan for the week to organise my time efficiently. I’m also left with plenty of time to gather other instant content to upload, which importantly creates an authentic feel to our organisation’s online presence (more on this in the next point).

Here is my weekly planner (adorable right?!)

It might be useful for you to plan daily, weekly or monthly depending on how ambitious the content is you’re planning.

Authentic is Fresh

Authenticity is arguably one of the most addictive reasons why we love social media. As users we can view instant reactions to what’s happening in the ‘here and now’. I feel this can humanize your organisation and can make the user feel like they are getting the ‘exclusive scoop’ of what’s going on. Some of Compton Verney’s most engaging posts have been quickly captured and shared media.

A foggy morning at Compton Verney

Art Conservation in the Naples Collection

Explore & Experiment

Exploration and Experimentation I feel is the most important aspect I’ve learnt about social media marketing. The digital world is booming and there’s lots of content out there, however there are lots of users ready to consume it. Being brave and trying new ways to communicate with your potential audience can be rewarding. There’s also lots of free ways to monitor your social media statistics, which is extremely useful to find out which content works best. Watch the bigger trends, create your own (be sensible of course) and most importantly enjoy yours and other’s content, as sharing has never been so fun.

CVgiraffe #NationalCatDay

Please feel free to check out Compton Verney’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We’d love to hear from you, comment or get touch through social media, if you have any questions or tips to share too!