From Social Media Week DC event on defining and measuring social media success in museums and arts orgs. Presentation by Darren Cole of the National Archives on their use of Tumblr for "Today's Document." #smwMuseSocial

1. TODAY’S DOCUMENT
FROM THE U.S. NATIONAL ARCHIVES

2. TODAY’S DOCUMENT
10 BILLION DOCUMENTS, 1 DAY AT A TIME

3. KEY SOCIAL MEDIA
OUTCOME:
MORE TUMBLR
FOLLOWERS
Primary Goals (per strategic plan):
•Build Awareness and Appreciation
of National Archives Mission &
Holdings
•Public Engagement
Secondary goals:
•Education
•Improve Access
Platform Advantages:
•Highly visual – less is more; easy to
curate
•Viral Nature of Reblogs
•Followers bring more followers,
more than any other SM platform

4. HOW TO DRIVE
FOLLOWERS ON
TUMBLR:
1. Engaging content
2. Know your audience
3. Let content speak for itself
4. Tumblr Radar (bonus)
Ideal Post:
Sea Otters post w/ 9992 “notes”:
1. Cute (animals always a hit on
Tumblr)
2. Resonates with audience
(Tumblr demographics)
3. Legitimately Compelling
4. Radar (thanks Tumblr)

5. MEASURING SUCCESS:
TODAY’S DOCUMENT FOLLOWER METRICS
Tumblr Followers Avg increase per day
80000 800
70000 700
60000 600
50000 500
40000 400
30000 300
20000 200
10000 100
0 0

6. MEASURING SUCCESS:
TODAY’S DOCUMENT MILESTONES
13 “Radar” posts
Date Followers Milestones &Tumblr Radar Posts
5/11/2011 0 Launched
•
5/25/2011 Featured in Tumblr Spotlight • Featured in Spotlight & Storyboard
2011: 10,000 followers in 6 months
7/15/2011 945 1,000 followers
7/21/2011 1939 Jesse Owens 36 Olympics
•
7/28/2011 2508 2,500 followers • 2012: 10,000 followers in 3 months
8/4/2011 4245 Gemini X
8/19/2011 6449 Nixon & Elvis
• 2013: 10,000 followers in 1 month
11/13/2011 10001 10,000 followers!
11/14/2011 10305 Brooklyn Bridge
1/19/2012 13500 Edgar Allen Poe
1/27/2012 14324 NYPL Lions in snow
3/14/2012 16884 Alaska Dog Team
4/15/2012 19798 Sea Otters/Exxon Valdez
4/17/2012 20017 20,000 followers
6/21/2012 25020 25,000 followers
7/23/2012 28049 Sally Ride
8/16/2012 29982 30,000 followers
8/29/2012 31031 Michael Jackson Patent
9/18/2012 34614 F.M.Shaw Flying Machine
10/20/2012 40032 40,000 followers
11/15/2012 44834 Beer Can House - America Recycles Day
12/18/2012 50543 50,000 followers!/Wright Flying Machine Patent
1/22/2013 60082 60,000 followers
1/29/2013 62317 Storyboard feature
2/9/2013 65079 65,000 followers

7. MEASURING SUCCESS:
TODAY’S DOCUMENT PUBLIC COMMENTS
• Oh snap, the U.S. National Archives have a
tumblr? Followed.
• How am I supposed to work knowing that there is
a National Archives tumblr?! Intellectual heroin.
• ...Gah! @TodaysDocument is on tumblr!!!!... #score
• THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES ARE ON TUMBLR. …Oh,
happy day!
• @TodaysDocument is the best Twitter feed. You
should probably follow it.
• Love the National Archive's @TodaysDocument
project. Fun way to explore our nation's historical
docs - good and bad.
• Inordinately excited that the National Archives
has a tumblr& is on Twitter @TodaysDocument.

8. LIMITATIONS &
NEXT LEVEL
Limitations:
•Followers ≠ Engagement
•Difficult to create a 2-way
dialogue
•Difficult to indentify comments
•“Answer” posts have spotty
reception
•Possible to “lose control” of viral
content via comments & rumors
•Lack of content metrics makes
tracking popular posts difficult
•Real engagement limited by workload
& Federal Agency policy
•Content balance:
•Historically Relevant vs.
•Popular vs.
•New/fresh content
Next Steps:
•Need better post metrics & comment
tracking
•User Engagement via crowd-sourced
submissions?

9. THANKS !
Tumblr:
Todaysdocument.tumblr.com
Twitter:
@todaysdocument
Facebook:
facebook.com/todaysdoc
Mobile App - iTunes/Android:
go.usa.gov/rnm
Email:
Todaysdocument@nara.gov
Darren Cole
Web & Social Media Branch
National Archives and Records Administration
darren.cole@nara.gov / @dcole7