Social Media - What do we already have?

So before I can think about how to compare the social media coverage of The Old Lookout with other similar galleries, it feel it would be relevant to look at what we have already and how it is being used.

This article by Erica Swallow for Mashable, suggests the most useful social media services for small business to use.
http://mashable.com/2010/10/25/social-media-small-business-services/
Swallow suggests that in terms of communication, the most useful and successful service to use would be Twitter. She notes that:

"For quick, effective communication, though, our vote goes to Twitter. The micro-blogging service enables businesses to quickly and effectively enhance customer service, business development, public relations and even lead generation. Through these types of communication, businesses humanize their brands, making them seem more friendly and approachable.
Not only that, unlike many other social sites, Twitter is easy to set up due to its minimalist approach. While setup and growing a following entails a bit of a learning curve for new users, maintaining a Twitter presence is simple once you've got it together. In short, Twitter is a big win for small businesses."

Twitter
The idea that this social networking site allows the business to be humanized and become more approachable I feel particularly applies to The Old Lookout. This is the site that I would suggest is most often used by the gallery.  At the moment, its twitter feed mainly posts information about upcoming exhibitions, behind the scenes images, and links to the videos made by Ben Rowley, which are also posted on the Vimeo account.
The person tweeting on behalf of the Old Lookout, let's call them the tweeter, at the moment takes on quite a conversational tone. The key to keeping a twitter audience, in my humble opinion that is, is making regular updates, and offering the viewers an insight to something that they wouldn't ordinarily get to see. This is why I feel that the behind the scenes and sneak peeks of work to be shown in the gallery are particularly successful here. I would suggest that these things help to create a buzz around new exhibitions.
However, the thing to question here (and we will hopefully find out the answer through extended research) is whether this type of marketing and publicity is right for the demographic of visitors to the gallery. I am neither suggesting that it is right or wrong, but it may be something to consider when reviewing the opinions of visitors/non users to the gallery.

Vimeo
The Old Lookout also makes use of Vimeo as a platform for posting videos made by Ben Rowley, the filmmaker in residence, amongst others.

As far as I have seen, this aspect of the gallery's publicity is relatively unique. Not only does posting videos on here allow for marketing for the current exhibitions, it can also help to keep interest around the gallery going outside of the peak season. This in turn keeps advertising for each individual exhibitor going post-exhibition.
Swallow notes that YouTube may have access to a larger audience, and for this reason rates it above Vimeo for business use. However, aesthetically, I feel that Vimeo is more suited to the type of videos the gallery makes, and this website has more of a base for art films than YouTube (where if you're not careful you may find yourself drowning in videos of cats pretending to be ninjas).

Facebook
The Old Lookout also makes use of Facebook. Most small galleries and businesses would make their own business page, however, at the moment we only have an open group. This allows anyone to join the group and make posts, as opposed to a page, where only the owners of the page can make updates.

Allowing anyone to make posts has both benefits and problems. On the one hand, a greater diversity of information can be passed on to members of the group. It also allows individual artists to advertise their own shows at the gallery. However, in these kinds of groups, it is very easy for people to simply advertise themselves, and things that have no relation to the gallery at all. For example, someone may join the group simply to get the marketing for a new website, unrelated exhibition etc to a wider audience. This can sometimes muddy the waters a little bit, and make it a bit unclear what is related to the gallery itself.

Own Website - Beyond the View
Lastly, the website Beyond the View, which acts as a base for all the external projects that the university runs (SEAS Photography, The Yurt, Burton Gallery etc), has a section dedicated to The Old Lookout. Although the gallery doesn't have its own website as such, this is the place where all of the official information is posted, including opening times, events and contact information.

All the information is available here for potential visitors, and the website is kept regularly updated, which is good. Also, when googling 'the old lookout gallery' this link is the first to come up, which helps users find what they want to know quickly. Having a section as part of a larger website may also increase the chance of people coming across the gallery online by accident, for example whilst looking at some other aspect of the university's arts output. This page also acts a base for access to all the other social networking sites, which not only promotes the individual pages, but also creates cohesive links between all of the gallery's online presence.