We're working on a guide to social media for historic sites and history and heritage organizations.  It will be available individually in electronic form at no cost.  If the first one is well-received, we'll do a follow up with more advanced topics.  (To be notified when the guide is available, and for occasional updates on The History List, sign up here.) 

We're looking for your experiences, insights, recommendations, and questions regarding increasing awareness of and attendance at your site and events, including . . .

• Using Twitter, Facebook, Vine, Google+, YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, Flickr, HistoryPin, Pinterest, and others
• Policies and practices, including getting started, gaining followers, growing and expanding, and managing growth
• Handling reviews and recommendations, including Trip Advisor, Yelp, Google, and others

Here's an example of a great tip we received from Matt Wilding, who heads the web and social media efforts at The Freedom Trail Foundation:

Everyone knows you’re supposed to use hashtags, but often they’re not used very well. Using a tag regularly that might be used by someone else (such as #thisdayinhistory, #history, #mapoli, etc) is a good strategy, but a really good way to boost visibility is to find ways to tie what you’re posting to what’s going on in the world. For example, we have used #pirates when the Pittsburg Pirates are being buzzed about. #Occupy and #OccupyBoston were handy during the Occupy Movement to post about the British Occupation.

Our goal is for this to be useful regardless of the size of your organization or your level of experience with social media.

Please send problems you've encountered, your solutions, your ongoing struggles, your questions, and your successes and failures.  We'll attribute your tips and suggestions to you—unless you'd rather we not.  Just let us know.

Your contributions can be as short as a single sentence or question, a few bullets, or a longer form case study with before and after data points.  

Our deadline for submissions is July 20.  Send us a note, and please include links and screenshots, where appropriate.  

To receive updates on The History List, including information on the guide, sign up here.

And check out the case study we wrote last year about Matt's ongoing "On this day" campaign of 365 videos, which are posted on YouTube and promoted through Facebook and Twitter.

Update on The History List on social media

We started with Facebook and Twitter accounts for The History List.  We recently added Facebook and Twitter accounts under the "Seeing History" name.  

Going forward, the accounts for The History List will primarily focus on the interests of the organizations that participate on The History List, including ways to increase awareness and attendance.  Seeing History is primarily focused on individuals and families looking for something interesting to do in their communities or as part of planning a trip.  The recommendations on Seeing History are drawn from listings on The History List.  In the months ahead we will introduce additional ways organizations can publicize the events they list on The History List through social media.

Using QR codes at historic sites and living history museums to meet the needs of mobile visitors was discussed recently in the closed LinkedIn group for the Association for Living History, Farm, and Agricultural Museums (ALHFAM):

Question: How to Interpret a Living History Museum with QR Codes?

I am looking to design a QR code tour for our living history site and my problem is that there are so many possibilities that it's hard to narrow it down. What works? Where to start? Does anyone out there have a success story or advice to share?

Some of the respondents reported that they'd implemented these and had some statistics.  

Using The History List is another option to meet the needs of all mobile visitors.  Since our move to a responsive design is complete, a historic site can publish the URL to their page on The History List and users of smartphones and tablets can use it for a tour of the facility.  Pages on The History List can have as much text and as many photos and videos as desired.  There is no cost.  More information on the way in which history organizations can use The History List, with links to examples.

The discussion that follows is my response, edited slightly and with links added.  The photos of the preservation month campaign "This Building Has History" from the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the Boston Landmarks Commission from May 2012—the signs were still up in February 2013 when these pictures were taken—are discussed below.

Using QR codes at historic sites and other ways to meet the needs of mobile visitors

If the goal is to increase a visitor's understanding of and interaction with a place, I'm skeptical of the utility of QR codes and am interested in seeing the key stats in Neil's report.  Making your site— both your website and your physical site— easy to use for people on tablets and smartphones seems like a smarter way to spend additional time and money.

The reach of QR codes

Based on the "20% of 50%" figure quoted, you're starting with 10% of your population who even has the ability to call up the information.  If 1 in 4 people actually does—a very generous estimate—you're reaching 2.5% of your visitors.

Question: When was the last time you saw a QR code?  Now, when was the last time you pulled out your smartphone and scanned a QR code?  We notice the codes because they stand out graphically, not because we've scanned them and found great content.

Updated May 19, 2013: Rachelle Clayton added this anecdote to the original discussion:

I was recently at a tourism conference where the speaker was pushing QR codes and their benefits. I did a quick poll of the tables around me. Out of six tables of ten (60 people), all into social media and enhanced visitor experiences, 100% had smartphones or iPhones. One had ever scanned a QR code (in a provincial park), and only that person knew how to scan or even had the app to do it. 

Responsive design as a way to reach mobile visitors

Instead of creating a tour based on QR codes, invest in a website built using responsive design.  For an example of the way responsive design works, look at Old Sturbridge Village's page on The History List. 

If you're on a laptop or desktop, take your browser window and re-size it—make it narrower, like a tablet, or narrower still, like a smartphone—and you'll see that the content automatically rearranges so that you don't have to zoom in to read it or scroll side to side. 

With responsive design, users on all devices with browsers, including tablets and smartphones, are able to consumer your content just by visiting your site.  They don't need a special app.  A new report shows that 9% of all web traffic to US sites was from tablets and another 7% was from smartphones; both numbers continue to grow. 

To go back to our thought experiment: When was the last time you used your tablet or smartphone to browse the web?

What responsive design means for historic sites and living history museums and facilities:

- Ensures that a growing percentage of your web visitors have a great experience.  The design of some sites today makes them unusable on a smartphone.  (If you wonder what your site looks like on the dozens of different combinations of devices, browsers, and OSs that your visitors use, there are online services that you can try our for free.  We use crossbrowsertesting.com.)

- Enables you to forestall development of a dedicated application for iOS and Android.  Or, if you already have created them, track the use of your apps and the cost to build and update them and compare that to the cost of creating and maintaining a single website that works across all platforms.  (A dedicated app makes a lot of sense for folks like ESPN or American Airlines, but it's unlikely to generate a rate of return that's high enough for most of us.)

- Solves your outdoor use problem.  Simply add the URL of the section of your site with your tour to your signage and materials, such as http://www.ExampleHistoricSite.org/tour.  (For those with really long URLs, you might also print a URL that's created using a URL shortener, such as bit.ly or goo.gl.)

Responsive design options for historic sites and living history museums and facilities

- For sites built on WordPress or another content management system (CMS) that has a responsive framework: WordPress and some of the other CMSs that have responsive templates, so if your site was built on WordPress or another that has a responsive framework, talk with the person who handles your site about implementing responsive design.

- For sites built using other CMSs: It's become easier for developers to build these sites, which use HTML5 and CSS3, since the introduction of Bootstrap from Twitter and other frameworks.  If your developer hasn't talked with you about this already, ask them.

- For all sites: Regardless of what you do with your own site, you can take advantage of your organization's responsive page on The History List.  Listings are free.  As you saw above, the organization pages are responsive. (Soon the entire site will be.)  You can, at no cost, build out a page for your facility that is as long and detailed as you wish, with dozens of pictures and video clips and thousands of words of text on the page, and then publicize that URL.  (Use a URL shortener, such as bit.ly or goo.gl to generate a URL that's much shorter to enter.)  All at no cost, and without making any changes to your current site.

Learn more about the way in which your organization can use The History List to attract and serve visitors.

More about the photos above

The photos are of the "This Building Has History" May 2012 QR campaign from the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the Boston Landmarks Commission.  The pictures were taken when I came across the campaign en route to an event at Old South Meeting House in February 2013. 

The first one I saw was on the pillar.  I thought at first it was a handbill.  Once I got closer, I read the explanation, dug out my iPhone, looked through my apps to find a QR reader, scanned the code, and clicked on the link.  This brought up a webpage with a PDF similar to to the one to the right.  In order to read it on a smartphone, you had to zoom in and then scroll side to side and up and down.  (The link returns a 404 error today.) 

The irony is that they could have simply plastered the very same PDF on the pillar and skipped the QR code entirely.  

The PDF to the right is the one that comes up when you scan the poster on the door in the photo above.

The green sign, which can be read easily by everyone, is nearby.

As with many programs that start out with good intentions, it appears that this became focused on a particular tactic (QR codes) and lost site of the goal (increase awareness and appreciation of historic buildings).  One way to spot such a problem in advance is to think through the user experience carefully.  And throughout, tracking expenditures and focusing on results helps you keep the program from drifting off-course.

Modifying the campaign

Here's what could have been done instead with a QR codes and some of these same assets:

- Develop a flier that has information about the building and has a QR code for additional information that doesn't fit or can't fit on the flier.

Using the one to the right as an example, remove the "Now" photo, which doesn't add any value when you're standing in front of the building, and put the QR code there.  Link the QR code to a page with a slide show with pictures of the location over time or a video clip of someone who campaigned for the preservation describing those efforts or of an historian describing the importance of the Old Corner Bookstore.

In the case of this location, now a quick service restaurant, don't put the flier on the door people are using to enter and exit the store, but put it off to the side where someone can read it without disturbing others.

Reducing the density of text and adding bullets with key points or a pull quote will increase the likelihood that more people read at least part of the information.

For more information, and at the end of the campaign, rather than breaking the links, redirect them to a site that can easily be read on a smartphone—such as a site created using a responsive design.

Updated July 28, 2013

Yes, The History List includes hundreds of organizations and their events.

However, individual presenters, such as authors, filmmakers, and lecturers, performers, costumed interpreters, musicians, artisans and craftsmen, and other experts who present history-related programs can take full advantage of The History List by using an Organization page and listing themselves as the “organization" and then adding their events.

There are two requirements: These must be scheduled events, such book tours, lectures, or programs or exhibits at an historical society, history museum, or historic site, and they must be directly relate to history.

It's three simple steps:

As with listings for organizations, there is no cost. 

The slides that follow walk through this and provide tips and examples.  To view the slides full screen, click on the icon with the four expanding arrows on the right end of the grey bar below the window with the slides.

If you are unsure of whether your program, event, or exhibit belongs on The History List, ask us.
 

Wouldn't it be great if we saw more like these? 

There are thousands and thousands of summer camps and programs.  Now there's one resource just for history summer camps and program: "The History List Guide to Summer Camps and Programs at Historic Sites and Institutions."  And as with listing other types of events on The History List, there is no cost your organization and program.  

Learn more and view examples of listings for summer programs at historic sites.

You can add your history summer camp or program to "The History List Guide to Summer Camps and Programs at Historic Sites and Institutions."  Start here.

Following on the heels of the holiday campaign to raise awareness of holiday events and programs at historic sites and institutions, we are going to compile . . .

The History List Guide to Summer Camps and Programs at Historic Sites and Institutions

An estimated eight million kids attend a summer camp.  With so many great summer programs for kids at historic sites and institutions, we want to raise awareness so their parents can select a program that will . . .

"Make it a summer they'll never forget!"

To participate, simply add your event using the "Add events" link above and check the "Kids camp" box near the bottom of the form, as shown in this screenshot. 

You'll need to be signed in first.  For immediate access, sign in with Facebook, or you can request a free account on The History List.

Once signed in, you have essentially unlimited space for text, pictures, and video.

It's copy-and-paste simple, and anyone—staff, interns, or volunteers—can enter or edit.  This means that one person can enter information and later another person can update the listing without having to get the account information for the person who originally made the entry.  (See several examples of organization and event entries.)

In the coming days you'll see a green appear next to your listing.  We'll also add links that make it easy for anyone to see a list of the summer programs and sort them by distance to travel and by date.

FAQ

• What is the definition of "summer camp or program?"  Any multi-day program for kids.  It doesn't have to involve tents or include sleeping overnight.  Yes, the icon shows a tent, but it's not meant to be literal.  (If you can come up with an icon we use instead of this one, we'll sing your praises and send you a t-shirt.  We tried dozens before settling on this one.  The icon has to be easily recognizable and telegraphic at the very small size we use, and consistent with the design of the site.  If you have one that meets those criteria, send it in.)
• What about the "at historic sites and institutions" part? Similar to our criteria for The History List as a whole, if someone would be puzzled as to why your organization and "camp" are listed here, even after reading the description, then it probably doesn't belong.
  • We have a traditional sleep-away summer camp in the mountains that's been in operation in the same place every summer since 1912.  Unless the site is historic in some way or something involving history is a significant part of the summer program, it's probably not a fit.
  • We have a week-long summer arts program in our National Register-listed property.  Being in that setting one would think that the attendees would gain an appreciation for the historic structure and perhaps the history behind it even if the  program itself doesn't have anything to do with history.  Many historic properties use special events and programs to generate the revenue necessary to remain viable.  Increasing awareness of those is one of the main goals of The History List, so please add your organization and summer camp.
  • We have a one-day program for kids at our history museum every Friday during the summer.  While that surely must be fun for the children who participate, it's definitely different than what one expects from a list of camps, which would be programs that are typically four to seven days long.  So list your event, just don't check the "Camp" box.
• How do I make my program stand out?  Create a complete, detailed listing for your organization and your summer camp, including text, pictures, and even video.  You have essentially unlimited space to add as much as you wish.  Explain your program and answer the key questions parents and kids might have.  There will be a place to include a link to your site for more information.
• How do I report a listing that shouldn't be included?  Send us a message or click on the "Flag" link at the bottom of the listing.
• I had a great experience at the camp I attended and want to let others know about the program.  Outstanding.  Add your comment in the "Comments" area at the near the bottom of the listing.  Go into detail.  Others who are considering this program will be glad you did.

If you have questions or suggestions at any point, please let us know.  Finally, if you're involved with these types of programs, you'll enjoy these bumper stickers we wished we saw.

The entire list of summer camps and programs is at www.TheHistoryList.com/camps.