Case Study 2 - The Ben Oakley Gallery, Greenwich, London.

When asking around about small galleries that are essentially non commercial, the Ben Oakley Gallery in London was mentioned as somewhere that does the majority of their marketing online. I had never heard of this gallery, but did some digging and I really think it fits the bill as a good comparison for The Old Lookout.

So the Ben Oakley Gallery is a unique gallery space situated in Greenwich's indoor market. From what I have discovered so far, it appears to show a range of contemporary art, including street art and sculpture.

Image from http://www.shopgreenwich.co.uk/shops/ben-oakley-gallery

Similarly to The Old Lookout, the space was not originally designed to be a gallery space, but it does invite artists to use it in different ways. They both have a unique look to them, which has been embraced rather than changed.

This gallery seems to embrace social media for advertising, with a regularly updated twitter account, facebook group and website.

On twitter, the gallery has managed to inject their page with plenty of personality, by using a background image that sums the place up and using a very informal and conversational tone in their tweets. Similarly to The Old Lookout, the 'tweeter' posts behind the scenes photos of the work on display, also posting informal pictures of people visiting the gallery. A hash-tag has also been created, meaning that anyone who uses it makes themselves connected to the gallery. The impression that the viewer gets through reading tweets and viewing photos is of a very laid back informal place to show art. I feel this definitely appeals as a relaxed place to visit when in the area.

This gallery, similarly to the Lookout, makes use of an open Facebook group.

Again, Oakley posts glimpses of the work that will be on display in an informal way. He also takes on quite a jokey tone, clearly not taking his promotion of the shows too seriously. This would make me personally feel relaxed about going to visit, rather than if the owner was posting in a very serious and formal way. Again, these kind of open pages that anyone can post on are occasionally in danger of being exploited by people trying to advertise their own projects, which have no bearing on the subject of the page at all. Saying that, it doesn't seem to actually happen much in this case, perhaps because of the frequent posting by the owner.
However, the gallery also has a page that the viewer can 'like' to stay updated with what is going on.

With these kind of pages, it is easier to keep track of who is allowed to post updates, with anyone still being able to comment on the posts, but not make ones of their own. It is difficult to say which one of these two options on Facebook works best, as both have benefits. I think I might need to dig a bit deeper into this!

Lastly, unsurprisingly, there is also a website.

The most important aspect of the website in my opinion is that it matches the theme of the rest of the gallery's online presence. I also think contact details, opening times and address should also be easily accessible on the website, and it should be the first thing to come up when googling the name of the gallery. All of these factors have been ticked off here as far as I can see! The only problem I have encountered on this website is that some of the links don't work. I'm not sure if it just a one off, or whether they have never worked. If the latter is the case, then it really does dent the gallery's image a bit, as visitors should be able to access the information they need as easily as possible, without too much faffing about!

Overall, I feel that this gallery's online presence is very strong. The tone of the posts on Facebook and twitter is consistent, and not too formal for the kind of place it is. I also feel like the image spans all the different social networking sites well, with a slight exception in the design of the website. I think this is probably down to one person who takes responsibility for all the tweets and updates, Ben Oakley presumably. This means that the humour and informality of the posts is consistent, which lends itself to a relaxed image of the gallery being portrayed to the visitor. However, I do feel that only one type of page should be used on Facebook, in order to direct all viewers to one place and save posting the same things on both accounts.