The Old Lookout's Facebook Page

The first true social networking tool I want to discuss in the context of The Old Lookout's online presence is Facebook. As I've previously mentioned, at the moment we use an open group under the title 'The Old Lookout Gallery Broadstairs' to promote various exhibitions and the gallery space itself.
The main types of posts that are made here are the exhibition posters each week, 'sneak peek' images of the work on display, updates by artists that are showing at the OL, and questions/posts by visitors.
The group can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/134297706595506/

A Facebook page can be a good tool for engaging potential visitors, promoting discussion, and keeping an archive of previous exhibitions and events. This is one of the most popular social networking sites, and, when presented in the right way, can really enhance a gallery's image. In the case of The Aldeburgh Beach Lookout, for example, their Facebook page really encourages a friendly and relaxed response from viewers, and has one voice, one tone that is consistent for the readers. They also include a different photo album for each exhibition they show, which allows the marketing to continue even after the exhibition has ended, and provides evidence for potential visitors of what to expect at the gallery.
Their posts are mainly informative and, similarly to The Old Lookout, include posters for the exhibitions alongside a short description of the piece.
I really feel that this gallery has done it right in terms of their Facebook presence.

In an online article, Facebook's Manager of Small and Medium Business Growth, Kirby Koo, suggests some of the things that make a successful Facebook page for a small business:

"1. Get to know your fans
The best way to get your fans to talk about your business with their friends is to understand what they care about. Use Page Insights regularly to track which posts sparked conversations and sharing, then try to keep posting this kind of content.
It’s worth remembering that no matter how engaging your posts are, not all of your fans will see them in their News Feed. To make sure that more people see your posts, you can use Page Post ads which are a great way to reach a wide audience and get more people to Like and engage with your Page. And because these ads are telling people what their friends are Liking and interacting with they are much more effective because of that social context.

2. Stand out from the crowd
Don’t forget that people’s News Feeds contain a lot of information and they are busy so probably won’t have time to read everything. Your posts are a reflection of your business but keep them short and snappy, ideally less than three lines. Pictures are also a powerful way to grab people’s attention so try to include related images when you post.

3. Post regularly
It’s important to keep up the conversation with your fans so that you build a real relationship with potential. You wouldn’t stop talking to a friend for six months and then try and start up a conversation out of the blue, so you should treat your Facebook Page in the same way! There are no hard and fast rules for the optimum amount of posts and only you know how often your fans want to hear from you. If you run a small shop for example you may want to post a few times a week when new products come in, however often you decide to post, make sure you post consistently.

4. Start conversations
Your Page should be a place for conversations between you and your fans. You can ask people questions and make them feel involved with your decisions. Your Page is a real online community, so you can use it as a way to gather feedback about your business.
Facebook’s Questions feature allows you to ask your fans for ideas about how to improve your business. People can agree with an existing answer with a single click, or add a different response – this is incredibly easy and means your customers can engage with minimal effort. “Fill in the blank” posts can be particularly useful if you want to give your customers a very simple way to engage with your post by asking them to finish your sentence." (full article can be found here http://www.stylist.co.uk/stylist-network/how-to-use-facebook-for-small-businesses)

For me, I feel that on a Facebook page it is most important to engage with people who have liked the page or joined the group. As Koo notes, people's news feeds are usually jam packed with similar kinds of posts, so the viewer needs to be offered something that they couldn't get just from looking at the gallery's website. Consistent posts are also important - it can be off putting when you click onto a Facebook page only to find out that the last post was made a month ago. 
However, before I get ahead of myself, I want to just do a quick run down of the main strengths and weaknesses of The Old Lookout's Facebook group as it is.

Strengths:

• Anyone can post content on the group - not just one voice, encourages diversity.
• There doesn't have to be only one person who is responsible for making all the posts on the group. 
• People can ask questions and get quick responses - either from someone connected to the gallery or from another visitor.
• A nice way to informally post images of current exhibitions and posters for upcoming ones.
• Artists themselves can post about their exhibition should they choose to.
• A way for artists to continue the publicity for their work even after the exhibition has ended.
• Good way to engage with visitors in a more informal way.

Weaknesses:

• Anyone can post content on the group. Can also be a weakness because there are be people who just want to advertise their own page/product and have nothing to do with the gallery. Can encourage spam posts.
• There isn't one unified and consistent tone of The Old Lookout. 
• Most people who are members of the group don't actively post or contribute to it.
• No information on the page - opening times, location, a link to the main website etc. 
• An essence of having to be accepted into a club (being accepted to join the group by administrator) - the whole idea of having to apply to join, as opposed to just 'liking' a page privately.
• Not posted on very often, in most cases less than a third of people who are members of the group actually read the posts.

One of the main issues that I find with this group is the fact that people can end up posting spam, which may not get picked up for a few days. This post is an example of how open groups can be abused for the purpose of advertising.

These types of posts can end up muddying the waters of the real, important and interesting posts that people make on the group. These types of spam posts could be avoided by either making the group private (which, I agree, defies the point of using Facebook for marketing purposes) or creating a page which people can 'like'. With a page as opposed to a group, only those which have been designated as the administrators of the page can make public posts under the name of the page. Anyone is free to comment, whether they have liked the page or not, but posts of updates and photos would appear under the name of the page. This is what most galleries I have seen have been using, still allowing artists to comment on the page's wall with details about their exhibition if they wanted to. I personally feel that this would be a better option, particularly if images of the different exhibitions could be posted onto this page as well.
If we were to stick with using the open group, I do feel that there should be more details in the description. At the moment it just says "THE 2012 SUMMER SEASON BEGINS VERY SOON!", which is both out of date and not very helpful to visitors. I also feel that the main website should be on display somewhere that is easy to find, so people can gain access to information about contact details, location etc. It might also be nice to get some discussions going, in order to involve the members of the group a bit more.
In terms of passing on information to members of the group, I do feel that The Old Lookout's Facebook presence is relatively good. However, I don't think that it is particularly successful in drawing new potential visitors in. Given that the group is linked to on the main website, I feel it should be representing the gallery in a much stronger and more unique way than it is currently doing. This doesn't necessarily mean posting more often, but perhaps just engaging with the group members a bit more. However, credit where credit is due, the posts which are made every week detailing the new exhibition are good and consistent, and go some way to helping create a bit of a buzz around them. In my opinion, with more of the same and fewer spam posts our presence on Facebook could really help to represent the gallery well.

Artist in Residence Week 6 - Lisa Hawkins.

Last week at The Old Lookout we welcomed local artist Lisa Hawkins, with her exhibition Freedom From The Known. This included a series of small paintings, sketches and photographs which were all designed to encourage a meditative feeling in the viewer. The paintings, which feature abstracted blocks of colour, are best viewed when stepped back away from, in order to take in the entire image rather than focusing on small details. In contrast, the much smaller sketches include short lines of text, thoughts form the artist, which need to be viewed much closer in order to read. Lisa noted to me that she wanted to encourage this to-ing and fro-ing that the viewer has to do, to keep the momentum constantly changing. This is reflected in the polaroid photographs that were also included in the exhibition, which were mostly new images, but interspersed with older family photos.

As part of the exhibition, Lisa also encouraged viewers to leave her a drawing, which was done on the same type of paper stock that her sketches were on. This linked it into the exhibition well, and it seemed like people really relished this idea. This was helped by the fact that it was anonymous - no one had to put their name on their drawing and it was dropped into a box. There were some really lovely results, which Lisa suggested she might be able to use in her artwork in the future. This makes a further connection to another theme of the exhibition, of things being one of a kind. The typewritten text, paintings and polaroids are all one offs, and cannot be reproduced in exactly the same way again. This small, unique work exhibited in a small, unique space I feel really related to people - Lisa mentioned that she wanted people to feel relaxed and at ease in the space, allowing their minds to wander and relate the images or words to their own personal experiences.

In terms of the practicality of the space, Lisa did encounter a couple of problems when it came to viewers being able to buy work. Although she did note that she had never thought of this as a 'selling show', she would have sold more work than she did had lots of people not wanted to pay on credit card. Obviously there are no facilities for this, and when people said they would go and get cash out of a machine, for the most part these sales were lost. Having said that, she did sell some work, and even had a couple of people fighting over one of the paintings! Once again, she also found that several people initially only came up to look at the building, but in most cases did end up staying and looking round the show. However, it was suggested that it might be a good idea to have some more information about the history of the building for people to look at and take away as almost another form of marketing - making more of the uniqueness of the space and the building. Lisa did have a flying visit by one of the men who used to spend time in The Old Lookout when it was a functioning lifeboat watch - a real character who said he loved that the building was still being used and open for the public to see in a more contemporary way.

Overall, Lisa said that she had really enjoyed the week, and almost everyone had a positive reaction to the show, being touched by the images and words. She noted that not having to pay for the use of the space is much more freeing for the artist, it can be used to show experimental work to gauge an audience's reaction. However, she knew that she didn't want to alienate people with controversial artwork or even over-the-top advertising, and instead let the viewers discover both the space and the work itself in a calm and meditative way.

The Old Lookout's Main Website - Strengths and Weaknesses.

I'm fast approaching the halfway point of this research internship, so I thought that now would be a good time to start drawing some conclusions about The Old Lookout's online presence as it is. Of course, once we have more definitive evidence of the demographic of visitors to the gallery, we can make any changes according to their feedback. In terms of the gallery's use of social networking websites, it will be interesting to find out how people generally find out about events/things to do in Broadstairs - whether they look to internet resources or rely more on posters/adverts and word of mouth.
The most simple and pragmatic way to start to look at The Old  Lookout's online presence is through examining its strengths and weaknesses. I can then bring all of these thoughts together and form some more substantial conclusions after looking at all the factors. I think a good place to start is The Old Lookout's main website, at http://beyondtheview.org.uk/the-old-lookout/

Again, I've been looking at some articles based on the use of websites in small businesses. Although with The Lookout we are not particularly trying to increase sales or make more money through advertising online, rather trying to attract more visitors, the fundamentals of a successful website are pretty much the same. In an article for The Guardian titled What Makes a Good Business Website?, Abidemi Sanusi suggests that: "A good website has great content, is regularly updated, intuitive, easy to use, and, ideally, has a good visitor-customer conversion rate." (http://www.guardian.co.uk/small-business-network/2012/sep/17/successful-website-for-business). For me, primarily the website has to work: information should be where the navigation bar says it's going to be; I should be able to find out all the information I need to, or be directed to somewhere I can; it should be easy to find through a search engine; it shouldn't be too busy or complicated to use; and the design should reflect the personality of the company it is representing. Sanusi also notes that: "Bad navigation and information architecture (the way you structure your content) can cost you in lost sales. So keep it simple and intuitive – it works." and goes on to say "Online is great, but website visitors like humans too. Ultimately, your customers are human, not virtual, so make sure your contact details are clearly visible on every page of your website."

An article for The Entrepreneur website is also quite useful in identifying the most important things for small business websites (article can be found here: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217499) The list of 10 things that all small businesses should have on their website is as follows:

"1. A clear description of who you are
2. A simple, sensible Web address
3. An easily-navigated site map
4. Easy-to-find contact information
5. Customer testimonials
6. An obvious call to action
7. Know the basics of SEO
8. Fresh, quality content
9. A secure hosting platform
10. A design and style that's friendly to online readers"
       

For me, the ones that are the most important are numbers 1, 3, 4, 8 and 10. Regarding a website's description, John Zhunag is cited as suggesting that: "Someone who stumbles upon your website shouldn't have to do investigative work to figure out what, exactly, it is that you do. That means clearly stating your name and summing up your products or services right on the homepage." A good example of this being used well can be found on the website of The Beaney museum and library in Canterbury.

One of the first things a visitor can read on this website is that: "The Beaney is an Art Museum and Library situated in the heart of the historic city of Canterbury.  Following a careful repair and restoration project the Beaney House of Art & Knowledge re-opened its doors to the public on 5^th September 2012. This fabulous new facility provides state of the art exhibition galleries, a brand new library, excellent learning facilities and a varied programme of events and activities for all ages." This brief paragraph succinctly sums up what The Beaney is all about, where it is, and how long it has been open. I feel that this introduces the business well. In general, the rest of the Beaney's website is a bit cluttered for my taste, but all of the information is certainly there. They also seem to have regularly updated pages about different exhibitions and events. Although it is certainly a much larger institution, The Beaney has only been re-opened for about a year, which means it will be looking to gain new visitors.

In terms of The Old Lookout, in general I think the online presence is quite good, especially for a gallery of this size. However, I want to look in detail at the strengths and weaknesses of its website, in order to see where improvements could be made.


Strengths:

• Opportunity - other projects on the website, if someone is looking for them they might stumble across The Old Lookout's page.
• Makes a connection between CCCU and The Old Lookout.
• Has a concise list of exhibitions coming up and for the entire season.
• Good, clear details about opening times and how to contact. Also the phone number is there whichever page you are looking at, which makes it very clear for visitors to see.
• Links to social media are obvious, but not as if they have been pushed too much.
• Description is kept up to date and encompasses a good general description of the gallery.
• Videos explaining all about the gallery is on the front page - gives all the info in a interesting and stimulating way. Means that the viewer doesn't have to read the description if they don't wants to - can still know what the gallery is all about.
• Consistent tone throughout all text - text in general is concise and informative.
• Map, helps people visualise themselves going there - helps tourists make plans.
• If I accidentally clicked on to the page would I know quickly what it's all about? YES.

Weaknesses:

• Threat - Could the other projects distract attention away from The Old Lookout?
• Mailing list doesn't appear to work, neither does Twitter feed - doesn't look professional. Upon entering an email address this pop-up appears:

• All project pages have the same look/style - doesn't necessarily allow them to have their own personality. Burton is more slick/more traditional gallery space, Old Lookout is completely different but their pages on Beyond the View are much the same. (I'm not sure if this really is a weakness, but worth commenting on)
• Current exhibition page doesn't have much information on it, could be improved by featuring the poster for the current exhibition, or a press release if the artist had one? Perhaps a link to the artist's website etc.
• URL is not just the gallery's name - potential visitor couldn't just guess it. Also, when just googling 'The Old Lookout', the first result is not relevant to us. However, when adding 'gallery', the page on Beyond The View is the top result.
• Something noticeable on other gallery's websites the this one lacks is images of previous exhibitions, or even a list of past exhibitions on a webpage. The Old Lookout doesn't have one. I also feel there should be a few more images on the website in general, although this is supplemented in some ways by including the exhibitions films instead.

Overall, I do feel that the website is successful at getting all the relevant information across to potential visitors. It functions well for the most part, and contact details, location and opening times are clear and easy to find. However, I think the email subscription box either needs to be fixed or removed, with the same going for the embedded twitter stream. It also might be nice to include either a list of past exhibitors or some photographs of past exhibitions, to give the viewer more of an insight into what kind of thing to expect at The Old Lookout. Saying this, it might be easier to have this kind of information on the Facebook or Twitter pages, and keep the website simple and only containing the more important details. With regards to The Old Lookout's page being in amongst other projects on a larger website, I can think of both pros and cons for it being like this. On balance however, I do feel that it is successful in creating a link to CCCU and the Media, Art and Design faculty, which adds credibility both to the university and the gallery itself.
Although a gallery's website doesn't necessarily count as its social media presence, I still feel it is an important tool in gaining and sustaining the interest of the gallery's visitors.

Artists in Residence Week 5 - Steve Ibb and Francesca Flowers.

The exhibition down at The Old Lookout in the fifth week of our summer season was Atmosphere: Through Air and Water, comprising photography by Steve Ibb and sound art by Francesca Flowers. The images on display document Steve's sailing voyage in the arctic circle, with atmospheric seascapes in vivid colours, some crisp and clear, and others more abstracted, focusing more on shape and tone. They also featured a block of ice, connecting back to the arctic seascapes, which melted throughout the day and created natural, beautiful shapes. There were also several separate artefacts - a framed polaroid, a portfolio of separate, personal work and images hung from the ceiling, bringing several different layers to the space. This was all set to the background of recorded sounds of the sea by Francesca, played in a surround sound style, so that the experience of standing in the coastal-themed space was immersive.

As Steve mentioned, and I agree, The Old Lookout Gallery is the perfect location for this subject matter. Had this exhibition been placed in a different location there may have been a different mentality, a different outcome for the visitors. For me, the contrast between the two different views of the sea was very effective - the icy, cold, menacing views in the photographs accompanied by the recordings of crashing waves, contrasted against the views out of the window of a sunny, warm, inviting seascape. I also relished the connection between some of the items featured in the images and artefacts in the building itself - oars, rope, the blue twine used to hold up the black and white images, for example. I also felt that the strong colours in the photographs, which were mentioned by a lot of visitors as an interesting factor, work well against the black wooden background. In terms of the public's reaction to the exhibition, Francesca noted that, although she expected her sounds would likely fade into the background and go relatively unnoticed, visitors did comment on how it brought more of an atmosphere to the gallery space. Steve also suggested that his work resonated much more with people who had been on similar journeys, who had seen the same sights as him. Similarly to Jon, the artists chose not to use information labels or captions for the images, to encourage rapport with the visitors to the gallery. However, they also noted that most of the time they really had to make an effort to engage with visitors; the artist has to make the first move in terms of striking up conversation and discussion.

Once again, Steve and Francesca both noticed that there were a few people who just came up the stairs and wanted to look at and find out about the building, as opposed to the current exhibition. Added to this, some people mainly came up to ask about the SEAS archive, and where they could get their family photographs scanned in. This relates to the South East Archive of Seaside Photography exhibition that was taking place at the Pie Factory Gallery in Margate at the time. Steve and Francesca kindly redirected them, and suggest that this confusion may be down to the fact that there has been a lot of marketing about the Pie Factory exhibition, and may have got confused in people's minds with the SEAS exhibition in August at The Old Lookout. However, this may not have been all  a bad thing if the visitors that came by mistake did stay and look at the exhibition anyway! Another thing that Steve mentioned was that he was surprised to see that not many people immediately made the connection between the images on display and the block of ice. He felt there could have been more interactive elements in their show in order to engage the viewers.

Overall, both artists said they had enjoyed their time at The Old Lookout. Steve did note that he came into the exhibition expecting to sell quite a few pieces of work, and in that respect he was disappointed. However, as a residency, Francesca suggested, it really works. They both also felt that it was a good opportunity to collate the images and sounds together as a show. It was said that the low-key nature of the building and the way exhibitions are put together at The Old Lookout really is an asset, and that for this type of subject matter, it is a near-perfect location to exhibit in.

Case Study 4 - The Aldeburgh Beach Lookout, Aldeburgh, Suffolk.

The Aldeburgh Beach Lookout is a gallery and art house situated, much like The Old Lookout, right on the beach at Aldeburgh. This town, similarly to Broadstairs, is a popular seaside destination, with its roots in the fishing trade. Now, the old lookout tower functions as a gallery/exhibition space, offering artists week long residencies and the opportunity to sell work in the shop next door. Now, it is quite clear that both the Aldeburgh Beach Lookout and The Old Lookout both function in very similar ways. To save both myself and any readers of this post confusion I'll be referring to the former as the ABL Gallery, and its Broadstairs counterpart as the OL Gallery. Mm. Lots of lookouts.

The ABL Gallery, image from http://www.aldeburghbeachlookout.com/home

Clearly, the basis of both of these galleries is very similar, except that the ABL has a bit more of an emphasis on selling work that the artists in residence make. Therefore, I thought it would be interesting to compare the online presence of this gallery with that of the OL - given that the running of both seems to be almost the same will the online marketing be as well? The only slight difference between the way the artists work in these two galleries is that with the OL, artists come to the exhibition space with work that has already been made, whereas at the ABL, the artist uses their residency to make new work, culminating in an exhibition at the end of the week. Also, after the artist has left the gallery, their work is still kept for sale in the Art House next door. The director of the gallery also runs an informal Art Club from this location, where members of the public and practicing artists are encouraged to come along and talk art over lunches, dinners and glasses of wine on the beach. Memberships have to be bought, the sales of which alongside those of art pieces appear to make the gallery self-financing.

In terms of the online presence of this gallery, it is no surprise to learn that they have their own website at http://www.aldeburghbeachlookout.com/. Here, visitors can access information about the concept of the gallery, contact details, the names of the artists who have conducted residencies there in the past and the current artist in residence, alongside links to mentions on external sites and a pdf of the gallery's brochure.

The website they have is relatively clean and simple looking, but with almost all of the information that potential visitors would need to know. However, what isn't obvious to me is the opening times. For me this is one of the most important details, and should be easy to find on the website. However, it does provide lots of information about the concept of the gallery, the kinds of things they show and links to photos of events and exhibitions. Something I think really works is placing links to PDFs of leaflets/articles about the gallery for people to easily access. Again similarly to the OL Gallery, there are links to videos on Vimeo and Youtube that show both individual exhibitions and the gallery more generally. I notice that they don't have their own account on either of these networking sites to unify all these different videos together, which is something that I feel is slightly lacking. It is nice that the short films are available for the public to watch, to get more of an idea of what to expect at the gallery, but I do think they should all be in one location online. This may increase the chance of members of the public accidentally stumbling across them and knowing where to find out more information about the gallery.

Aldeburghbeachlookout from FOMEproductions on Vimeo.
Personally, I think the short films about The Old Lookout are a really strong way of giving the public all the information they need about what to expect from the gallery in an interesting and visually strong way. This also goes for the various videos about the ABL gallery, but I do feel it would be more helpful if they were all together, on one channel or account.


Also available on the gallery's main website is a link to their Facebook page, which as far as I can see is the only social networking site they actively use. This page looks to be kept regularly updated with images from exhibitions and events, links to the artists in residence' personal websites and articles about the gallery in local press.

For me, one of the best aspects of the gallery's Facebook page is the opportunity to post up images form each artist's week in residence. There is a separate album for each event, which not only allows potential visitors to see what kinds of things go on, but also acts as an archive of each exhibition, documenting it and allowing it to be shared around and have a life even after the art has been taken off the walls or the play has ended. The images tend to feature each artist with a piece of their work, which I think is a really nice way to preserve each event. Also, importantly, the images of lots of gatherings on the beach and smiling artists with their work gives a much more informal impression of the ABL gallery, which contrasts to the look of the main website. The tone of the written posts is informative, but relaxed, which again lends itself to a feeling of friendliness from this page.

Alongside giving a bit more of a relaxed look at what goes on at this gallery, the essential information is also shown at the top of the Facebook page, which I feel is very important. Again, they do lack the opening times, but contact details and the location of the gallery are there. I also think that having links to articles written about the gallery is a strong advantage in terms of marketing. Having said this, the number of 'likes' the page has indicates that there may not be a huge audience for the kind of online publicity that the gallery is using here.

Overall, I feel that this gallery's online presence is good in terms of their representation on Facebook, but the tone and general feel of their different sites is not consistent. Their main website is informative, but doesn't necessarily capture the relaxed, informal feeling that their Facebook page does. However, I do feel that all the links to different pages and articles from their main site are helpful, and demonstrate that the gallery is quite well established in Suffolk. The videos that are linked here are also helpful in giving more of a general impression of the types of the events the gallery hosts. The similarities between the Aldeburgh Beach Lookout and The Old Lookout Gallery at Broadstairs are extensive. I do feel like the ABL's Facebook page is stronger that the OL's, but on the other hand, the OL's representation on Twitter is strong instead. Given that both of these galleries have similar groundings and operate in almost the same way, it is interesting to see the different ways they have chosen to advertise themselves. Both have strong overview videos, which is not something that I have come across very often in other galleries, but I feel remains one of the best ways to get the general feeling and attitude of the place across to viewers and potential visitors.

And on a personal note, I had no idea that there was any other gallery which was even slightly similar to the Old Lookout, so discovering that there is somewhere else like us that really works is a very happy revelation.

Artist in Residence Week 4 - Jon Stamp

In the past week The Old Lookout has played host to Jon Stamp's collection of his great-grandfather's photographs from his time in the navy, titled And What Did We See? The images on display were a mixture of framed reprints; albums of original images and postcards; Jon's great-grandfather's diary from his time at sea and recordings of the extracts form the diary interspersed with sea-songs. The idea behind the exhibition was to bring this very personal piece of family history and present it to the public, demonstrating that although the images were not taken by a professional photographer, rather a passionate amateur, they are still beautiful works of reportage.

After having spent some time in and around the gallery on this beautifully sunny weekend, I managed to hear people's reactions to the exhibition first hand. In the time that I was there, and also from what Jon told me at the end of the week, the reaction to this work was incredibly positive. People seemed genuinely interested in the history, and pleased that such an archive had been saved and treasured. Jon was brilliant at engaging the visitors as soon as they entered, introducing them to the exhibition and demonstrating his passion and knowledge of the work. This really stood out to me here, perhaps because the project is so personal to the artist, but is also easily related to by the public. It seemed that people really connected to the fact that the images were not produced by a professional, earning his money as a photographer, but someone working in the navy. It seemed to provoke the public to tell their own stories about relatives who had served in the army, navy or air force. Jon did mention to me that he had deliberately not used caption labels for the images, so that if people were interested in knowing more about the image they would have to talk to the artist. I felt this really created a rapport and showed how their stories and feedback was not only valuable to Jon's confidence in the work but can enrich its history with other people's input and memories. From what I observed the visitors were made to feel comfortable in the space and with the images.

Of course the issue with reflective frames was highlighted by one visitor, but Jon didn't seem to have a problem with it. He did note that some people mainly came up to the gallery because they wanted to know about the building, which was taken on board and he actually made a little information sheet that people could take away with them. Jon also noted that some people were only really interested in the archive of original content - the diary and photo albums. However, this did still pique interest. Judging by the amount of good feedback in the comments book alone, I would say that this exhibition really did connect with people who came to see it. Particularly with the good weather we had over this week, numbers of visitors particularly on Saturday and Sunday were very good. Fortunately, on these days friends of the artist had come to visit, so Jon could pop off for quick breaks without having to close the gallery. He did note that it would have been of benefit to have a second person there all the time so he didn't have to close at all. Overall, Jon is clearly passionate about both this work and the use of The Old Lookout as a gallery space, saying that he really relished being able to explain and discuss the work and listen to people's reactions and own personal stories relating to the subject matter.

Social Media - How it can be useful for small businesses.

I've been reading lots of articles over the past few days on the subject of social media use within small businesses. Now although galleries are normally small businesses, with The Old Lookout being a non-profit organisation, some of the suggestions in these articles don't necessarily apply. However, fundamentally, most small businesses use social networking sites to increase their customer base - to spread word-of-mouth about their company faster than making contacts in person. This idea does link to what we are trying to do with the gallery: increase and widen our visitor base. However, as there is no money changing hands, we are not offering a product, but a free service. Therefore, there are no real competitors based on price, rather the quality of the service we are offering.
Anyway, what I am trying to say is that not all of the suggestions and opinions from the articles I have looked at will be entirely relevant. However, things to do with building a community and a loyal fan base do apply.

So I thought I'd start by looking at the social media websites that are most popular amongst small businesses, but that we don't currently use. This is to see whether diversifying the sites we use could improve The Old Lookout's online presence.

1. LinkedIn
Although LinkedIn is an extremely popular site used by professional individuals, I had no idea that it could accommodate businesses as well. However, as described in an article for PC World by Nathan Segal, LinkedIn groups we launched in 2009, and are "communities based on common interests, experiences and affiliations." (http://www.pcworld.com/article/2030078/) These groups appear to be more of a source of contacts - a way to share professional expertise rather than appeal to potential customers/visitors directly. The other thing about LinkedIn is that, as the pages are designed more for appealing to potential employers, they can all look very similar and very corporate. In my opinion, this doesn't suit the mentality of The Old Lookout at all. Although the running of the gallery is smooth and professional, the space was never designed to be a clean white box in which to show art. I feel the personality of such a gallery or small business needs to leak into its online presence, which is not something that would be easy using such a corporate online tool.

2. Google+
This is a social media tool that I have seen a few smaller galleries around the country use. Its main attraction is the ease of connecting this social networking site to some of Google's other online products, such as Blogger, Picasa and YouTube. Similarly to Facebook, the user can make updates and posts linking to outside pages, albums of photos or videos. The user can also join 'circles' of other businesses relating the theirs. Unlike LinkedIn, this does appear to be more popular with businesses that need to inject some of their personality into their pages. For example, a gallery I have been researching in Norwich called the Anteros Arts Foundation, which is also a non-profit organisation, makes use of this tool. This gallery is a bit more of an established charity, with quite a diverse range of exhibitions, workshops, courses and studios that members of the public can use.

Their Google+ page gives a good impression of the kind of institution it is. They have uploaded plenty of pictures into public albums, so that potential visitors know what kind of place they will be going to. An example of the 'circles' in use here is making links with Norwich Tourism, Arts Council England and The Theatre Royal Norwich.
To me, this seems like something that The Old Lookout could consider using in terms of the connection with other social media sites. However, in the case of this example, what is on this page is very similar to that which is on their Facebook page. If there are going to be 2 sites that are similar in functionality and are being used in the same way, it would definitely make sense to only use the most popular one. According to Jean Folger in her article Implementing a Small Business Social Media Strategy "one billion people actively use Facebook every month." (http://www.investopedia.com/university/implementing-small-business-social-media-strategy/), which suggests that it might have more of a widespread appeal, especially in the younger demographic.

3. Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, Vine etc.
Although all of these different social media sites have general appeal, it is difficult to see them being used successfully to promote a small business. I think the issue could be that each site is generally a bit more limited to certain demographics than larger ones like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. In an article for Forbes by Meghan Casserly, small business expert Steve Strauss is cited as suggesting that, on the subject of Pinterest for example, "For the female demographic or consumer goods there's more engagement there than anywhere else." (http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2013/06/07/making-social-marketing-make-sense-for-small-business/) Although this may be a bit of a generalisation, I do believe that these kind of smaller sites don't offer the wide range of potential viewers that larger, more established ones do. Not wanting to be signed up to too many different sites, I think it's probably best to leave out the more niche ones in favour of more of a diverse audience.


In terms of the usage of social media for small businesses, the main aims for outcomes seem to be: engaging the customer (in our case, visitor); building a reputation and a community and spreading the word. Folger also cites Hannah Twigg, a digital producer, in her article as suggesting that: "Social media allows [small businesses] to have direct communication with their customers". This link, one that the owner might not be able to establish just through word of mouth, can help spread the word about the business more quickly than simply relying on word of mouth. Twigg also suggests that people trust other people they know for recommendations far more than any "sophisticated marketing campaign." It essentially introduces a way to encourage word-of-mouth marketing.

This is the theory. However, it remains to be seen whether putting lots of time/resources into online marketing is the best option for the demographic of visitors that come to The Old Lookout. If the kinds of people that this gallery attracts don't tend to find out about events in Broadstairs through social media or online marketing then the kind of online presence that we already have doesn't really need to change. However, if we discover that actually, local people do look to Facebook and Twitter for updates on things happening in the town, but not many of those people found out about the Old Lookout through these tools we may need to address the balance slightly. When we come to the end of the summer season at the gallery and we have gathered all the data we can, it will give us a chance to see where best to improve online marketing, or if it needs to be improved at all. Potential changes could involve making more use of one website over another, making more or less regular updates, involving potential visitors more online or changing the type of thing we are putting out there to viewers. Once all the information about our demographic and the types of things other similar galleries are doing has been gathered together, I will be able to make more informed judgements on our online presence as it stands.

Artists in Residence Week 3 - Neil Massey and Rachel Johnston.

In the third week of this summer season The Old Lookout welcomed 2 CCCU graduates with their exhibition exploring the different uses of light design, titled Illuminated. This show brought together several different aspects of the two artists' work, featuring infrared landscape photographs, long exposure seascapes, images of beaches made using gold leaf, photographic slides and a light installation piece representing the moon and the sea. With everything linked both tonally and in subject matter, the varying techniques used to create the exhibition were brought together to create an interesting and multi-layered space.

Neil and Rachel noted that they had generally received a very good reaction from people visiting the exhibition, including one lady who donated £20! From reading people's reactions on feedback forms, it seems that the public liked to see young and up-and-coming artists exhibiting confidently. And, as always, having the artists there to talk people through their work and answer questions is commonly identified as being a positive thing. I personally relished the connection between the work and the location of the gallery; being able to look at pictures of the sea and hear it just outside never fails to fascinate me! However, Rachel did note that they found the lighting in the gallery didn't particularly suit the exhibition they had - the glare on the framed images from the windows opposite in particular. She suggested that it might be a good idea to have spotlights that can clip onto the top of the wall, as when the strip lights were on she felt the lighting was very yellow-tinted.

Their busiest day was Saturday, and Neil noted that most of their visitors came in just because they were passing - both artists really appreciated the location. They did note that although they feel the banner and A-board do draw people in, more of the same kind of advertising could encourage even more people up the steps. In terms of the location, Rachel also said that being next to the sea all day provided her with great opportunities to draw and paint whilst she was at the Lookout, meaning that she could enhance her own practice throughout the residency.
Both artists sought to do some of their own marketing, with Rachel having regular contact with The Broadie magazine, which she thought might be a good option for marketing events in Broadstairs.
The pair also sold pieces of work - some postcard-style images and also a few larger framed images. 

For me, I really appreciated the variety of work that Neil and Rachel had produced and that we were able to accommodate in the gallery. I feel that the diversity of the art sustained interest and provided something that everyone could appreciate and relate to.

Case Study 3 - The Gallery at NUA, Norwich.

Now that I have found a gallery that is very similar to The Old Lookout, both in size and the manner in which they are run, I thought it would be a good idea to look at somewhere that maybe has a slightly higher profile, but is still institutionally run and owned. The Gallery at NUA is the main exhibition space for Norwich University of the Arts students, and features their graduate shows in the summer alongside regularly changing exhibitions. Similarly to the Lookout, it is a simple space, which can be transformed according to the style of whichever artist is showing there. Importantly it is also free admission, which, having visited myself several times, is always a draw for people. However, in contrast to the Lookout, The Gallery at NUA offers people to sponsor it, giving them priority invitations to private views and ticketed fashion shows in return. This, presumably, generates revenue as well as being funded by the university. Also, in off-season months the gallery is available to rent, therefore pushing it more into the commercial galleries category.
However, as an institutionally run space, I still feel it would be worthwhile to look at their online presence, and what kind of tone they take in their updates. I also think it would be interesting to know who actually makes the tweets/updates - whether it is the person in charge of curating the gallery in general, or different students/contributors depending on the exhibition.

Images from https://www.facebook.com/galleryatnua

As expected, the gallery does have a section on the main NUA website. Although this site looks clean and slick, the actual functioning of it is not entirely clear. When the visitor first clicks onto the NUA website, a link to a page about the gallery doesn't appear obvious. You have to click through a few menus to be able to find it.

However, once the viewer has accessed the gallery's page, all the information is there, even if it is not arranged in the most helpful way. Rather than having several different pages, one for each aspect that a visitor might want to know about, everything is on the one page. This is probably because it is part of the university website. Having said that, the style of the page is consistent, and when clicking through to 'Exhibitions Archive' the right kind of information that potential visitors may want to see is provided.

On the front page of the website, links to the gallery's social media pages are quite obvious, which is good. As far as I can see, and similarly to what I have already found, they mainly use Facebook and Twitter.  In contrast to both The Old Lookout and The Ben Oakley Gallery however, the NUA Gallery has a page as opposed to a group on Facebook, on which visitors can see updates, but cannot make their own. You can also 'like' pages like these.

What is particularly noticeable in a good way about their Facebook page is that as soon as the viewer clicks on the link, the address, opening hours and contact details of the gallery are right there, easy to see and to access (excuse the fact that my Facebook language is set to French). In a way, this makes the details more accessible than they are on the website - as long as a potential visitor knew the name of the gallery they could immediately access this information, along with a map and photos of private views etc.
However, the updates on this particular page don't seem to be very regular - when I scroll down 5 posts or so, the last one was made at the end of April. This shows that this page is not kept particularly up to date. One of the main purposes of businesses using social media for me is to provide the viewer with something that they wouldn't be able to access by looking at a poster or a banner, for example. The passing on of new information needs to be quick and easy for the viewer, so having a page that is not kept up to date is probably not very useful.
For me, this page had both strengths and weaknesses. The information that would allow the viewer to get to the gallery, and not arrive when it's closed is very easily accessible. However, when the page is not updated often enough with different information, such as which exhibition is on at the moment, what the gallery looks like inside, what visitors can expect there etc, it can look unprofessional.

In contrast, the gallery's twitter page appears to be regularly posted on, but not too much as to seem overwhelming.

In a similar way to the fact that I immediately noticed the information on the Facebook page, what I notice here is the lack of information. Anyone clicking onto this page by accident should be drawn in by information/images provided, whereas here I feel that the viewer would just be confused. Consistency between a gallery's different sites I feel is important; on each page the viewer should know exactly what they are going to be reading about and should have relevant links that can direct them to other online profiles. For me, this is completely lacking here.
Having said that, the tweets themselves do give the information that perhaps is lacking on the Facebook page. Again, behind the scenes kinds of images and links to articles about exhibitors work feature a lot. There is more of an emphasis on selling work from The Gallery at NUA than at The Old Lookout, perhaps because it is more overtly a university-owned gallery, and the students are encouraged to sell work. The tone of the tweets is consistent, and conversational enough so as not to look stuffy, but not entirely relaxed and informal. On a couple of occasions they have also referenced local businesses in the area: "LATE NIGHT OPENING TONIGHT - 9pm - why not take in our Degree Shows on your way to a Thursday night drink @norwichplay". This helps create more of a community feel, even though the gallery is in the middle of a city, which I feel would appeal to potential visitors.

Overall, I feel that the online presence of this gallery is relatively strong. However, there are just a couple of issues which could be easily rectified - unifying the information about opening hours/contact details/address across all of their pages would ensure that whichever page a viewer visits, they are still provided with all the information. Also updating both social media pages regularly would help with this too. I feel that the use of a page is stronger than an open group on Facebook, but this may be something I need to look into in further detail. The Gallery at NUA have kept their online presence relatively simple, which I think works in this case, and keeps everything uniform across the different websites.