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FROM THE U .S . NAT IONAL ARCHIVES
TODAY’S DOCUMENT
10 B ILL ION DOCUMENTS, 1 DAY AT A T IME
TODAY’S DOCUMENT
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
KEY SOCIAL MEDIA OUTCOME:
MORE TUMBLR FOLLOWERS
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”:
5. Cute (animals always a hit on Tumblr)
6. Resonates with audience (Tumblr demographics)
7. Legitimately Compelling
8. Radar (thanks Tumblr)
HOW TO DRIVE FOLLOWERS ON
TUMBLR:
MEASURING SUCCESS:TODAY’S DOCUMENT FOLLOWER METRICS
5/16
/201
1
6/4/
2011
6/23
/201
1
7/12
/201
1
7/31
/201
1
8/19
/201
1
9/7/
2011
9/26
/201
1
10/1
5/20
11
11/3
/201
1
11/2
2/20
11
12/1
1/20
11
12/3
0/20
11
1/18
/201
2
2/6/
2012
2/25
/201
2
3/15
/201
2
4/3/
2012
4/22
/201
2
5/11
/201
2
5/30
/201
2
6/18
/201
2
7/7/
2012
7/26
/201
2
8/14
/201
2
9/2/
2012
9/21
/201
2
10/1
0/20
12
10/2
9/20
12
11/1
7/20
12
12/6
/201
2
12/2
5/20
12
1/13
/201
3
2/1/
2013
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
Tumblr Followers Avg increase per day
MEASURING SUCCESS:TODAY’S DOCUMENT MILESTONES
Date Followers Milestones & Tumblr Radar Posts
5/11/2011 0 Launched
5/25/2011 Featured in Tumblr Spotlight
7/15/2011 945 1,000 followers
7/21/2011 1939 Jesse Owens 36 Olympics
7/28/2011 2508 2,500 followers
8/4/2011 4245 Gemini X
8/19/2011 6449 Nixon & Elvis
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
• 13 “Radar” posts• Featured in Spotlight & Storyboard• 2011: 10,000 followers in 6 months• 2012: 10,000 followers in 3 months• 2013: 10,000 followers in 1 month
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.
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?
LIMITATIONS &NEXT LEVEL
Tumblr:Todaysdocument.tumblr.com
Twitter:@todaysdocument
Facebook:facebook.com/todaysdoc
Mobile App - iTunes/Android:go.usa.gov/rnm
Email:[email protected]
THANKS !
Darren ColeWeb & Social Media Branch
National Archives and Records [email protected] / @dcole7