Sumo

I think that Twitter gives arts organisations a chance to communicate on a one-to-one level, they can give a follower a behind-the-scenes look at a production or a new exhibition, and they can reach out to new audiences.

One project for which we recently used Twitter was Ask a Curator. This was a worldwide question and answer session which let the public ask the people who work in museums and galleries about art, history, science or anything else they wanted (My favorite question was have you ever been naked in the gallery, and the answer was ‘Yes’).

The event was incredibly popular and our hashtag (#askacurator) became the most tweeted thing on Twitter that day, both worldwide and in the UK, trending above Tony Blair on the day his memoirs were published.

Following the event, we contacted people who had asked questions and found that they had enjoyed having the chance to exchange messages with curators, many also told us (over 80%) that it made them want to visit the museums that had taken part.

Though most participants would not see Ask a Curator as marketing, this was a brilliant, low cost way of engaging the public and far more effective then the annoying ‘we’ve got a new exhibition’ tweets that so many museums seem to send out.

So I think Twitter is a fabulous marketing tool, but perhaps it’s best used by those who don’t realise that it is marketing!